Zoosk Review - Was It More Fun Than Games? [2024]

First, who is Zoosk for?

Zoosk is for a wiiiide range of people. It’s for anyone over the age of 18, regardless of their race, religion, or sexual orientation, which was nice to see for an OG. When I was checking out some Zoosk reviews, a majority of the users seemed to be between the ages of 18 and 40 which is great for us!

There are people over 40 on Zoosk, but there’s also something called Zoosk Seniors for those over the age of 50.

The burning q…is Zoosk legit?

With over 35 million members across 80 countries, I would say the Zoosk dating site is pretty legit. It’s also available in 25 different languages so everyone can join in on the fun! Zoosk was created in 2007 and was one of the first dating sites (!!), so it has over 16 years of experience in the dating world.

I gotta admit though, I looked into a consumer-based review site and the ratings were a little rough. Out of 5 stars and 764 reviews, Zoosk received a 2.6 rating. The recent ratings mentioned spam emails, getting the same matches (after the member already passed on the match), and a lack of customer service. Given Zoosk has been around the block for over a decade, and that people tend to share negative opinions more than positive ones, I signed up to give it a fair shot anyway.

While I do believe that Zoosk is legit, just keep the above in mind and explore the free version first before diving in (unless of course, you have a friend who’s a paying member and can vouch for it).

Oh, and ignore anyone without a pic.

What’s the tl;dr on Zoosk?

I know we’re all busy gals so here’s a quick tl;dr on some things I was curious about and wanted to share. All the things I usually worry about (like if there’s a trial, if I can actually delete my account easily, etc) were straightforward on this site. K, let’s jump in:

Is there a Zoosk free trial?: YES! We love a good free trial, and bonus points for how quick and easy the free trial was to sign up for. Plus, it never ends. Here are some of the things I was able to do with my free membership:

• Create a profile

• Look through my matches

• Send limited messages to other free members

• Send virtual gifts

• Earn “coins”

How to cancel Zoosk subscription: There are a few different ways that I could cancel my subscription:

How to cancel the Zoosk dating site from your computer:

• Login to zoosk.com

• Go to settings on the left side of the menu

• Click on "subscription" on the right side

• Choose "cancel subscription" at the bottom of the page

• Hit "unsubscribe" and pick a cancellation reason

• Confirm your cancellation

How to cancel the Zoosk app from your phone:

• Sign into zoosk.com

• Click on the 3 lines in the top left side

• Look for the gear icon at the top and tap on it to get to settings

• Choose "subscription"

• Scroll to the bottom, click on "cancel subscription" and follow the steps

Does my subscription auto cancel if I deactivate, too?: If you purchase your subscription via a third party such as the Google Play Store or Apple's App Store, you’ll need to cancel according to the third party's terms and conditions. Same thing goes for deleting (deactivating) your account.

How to delete Zoosk account: You can’t technically delete your account and all your data, but you can deactivate it, which removes your access, and visibility to others. If you subscribe to Zoosk, you’ll need to cancel your subscription before you can deactivate your account. Once you deactivate your account, no one will be able to view your profile, and you’ll lose your subscription benefits and connections.

After canceling, (or if you're not a paying subscriber), you can follow these steps to deactivate your Zoosk account:

How to deactivate Zoosk account on your desktop computer:

• Sign into zoosk.com

• Go to settings

• Tap on "Account" then "Account Status"

• Click on "Deactivate Account"

• Choose "Deactivate" at the bottom of the page

• Pick your reason why deactivating the account and click on "Continue Deactivation"

• Confirm by tapping on "Deactivate account"

How to deactivate Zoosk account from the Android app:

• Open your Zoosk app on your Android

• Click on the 3 lines at the top left corner

• Tap on the gear icon, then settings

• Go to "Account" then "Account Status"

• Click "Deactivate"

• Pick your reason for deactivating

• Click on "Continue" to confirm

Is there a Zoosk app?

Yaas girl! You can download the app at either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. I’m a big fan of this so I can check matches without needing my desktop.

What’s the sign up process like for Zoosk?

The Zoosk sign up process has 12 steps so it's a little lengthy, but not too bad, tbh. Pro tip: Pour yourself a glass of wine so you don't notice how long it takes. Then, find a comfy spot to sit, and flex those fingers because we're about to get started!

1. First things first - download the Zoosk app (or sign up online). Once I downloaded the app, I was asked to sign in with email, or log in with my Facebook or Apple Account. Since I'm a newbie, I clicked on "sign up" down below so I could get this party started.

   

2. On to the next! I chose my gender identity and who I'm looking for. Spoiler alert: You have only 2 options for each, man or woman. Then I filled out my birthday, email, and picked out a password. Easy enough.

   

3. Then I was asked to add my city or zip code.

   

4. Now the fun part - pics! I chose my faves, paying attention to the fact that more pics means more likes. Someone needs to tell the UI or design person at Zoosk that they need a better example of “be in a well-lit place” because that photo looks blown out...

   

5. Thennn I was asked to choose my body type, which I don’t think I’ve been asked before during sign up. 🤔

   

6. Do I have children? Can't say that I do.

   

7. Now here's where my education comes to good use! What I don’t like about some of these questions is there’s no way to choose “rather not say” or skip if you’re not comfortable with sharing.

   

8. When choosing my ethnicity, I noticed that you can only pick one. There is an option for mixed ethnicity or “other” though, so while you can’t be specific, you can at least choose that.

   

9. Next, I scrolled to find my height. I'm starting to see the light at the end of this tunnel!

   

10. One more to go! But first, I need to choose my religion. You get a healthy mix of options here.

    

11. OMG! Now I can almost go get my dating on! But first, do I smoke?

    

12. Aaaaand done. I was dropped into the main feed where I was instantly shown a member around my age. I like how you know how close or far they are right away. What I found suss though was that all my pics I so carefully picked out disappeared (check out that icon in the far left corner - so not me!)

Also weird was that I already had 3 messages, and one of them was from yesterday? Also, I'm not wrong when I say, who the heck would message a user with no pic??

So how does the Zoosk dating site work?

Zoosk knows how to work it! They use a behavioral matchmaking algo (all praise the algo gods) to determine your potential matches based on who you like and who you send messages/winks to. This matchmaking algorithm is why you don't need to answer a ton of questions about what you like during the Zoosk sign up process.

What are the search capabilities for Zoosk?

After putting all that work into setting up my profile, I didn't want to waste any more time in finding my quality person. Sooo I hit up the search feature to slim down my choices. At first glance, you only have two options to filter by: “recommended for you” and “online now.”

When you click on "create new filter", you can further filter by age and distance. The age range is between 18 and 48, which is strangely specific. What about the 49 year olds that aren’t quite Zoosk Senior level?!

If you're a paying subscriber, you have wayyy more options to search by including:

• Religion

• Relationship history

• Children

• Ethnicity

• Body type

Is Zoosk free?

Like most dating sites, there's def a free version of the Zoosk dating app that lets you get a lil’ taste of what you're getting into. You're really getting more of an appetizer though, since you need to spend some cash to get to the good stuff. Still, I could do a lot more under the free membership compared to what most dating sites offer. Good job, Zoosk!

You can also earn credits on the site that can be used for various things. To earn credits, you can complete actions like…

• Refer a friend to Zoosk

• Participate in raffles/surveys

• Download the app (this is an easy one!)

• By Zoosk coins

• Like Zoosk on FB

Zoosk free trial features

You can do a decent amount of exploring on Zoosk's free trial. Here's what I was able to do by using my free membership:

• View members

• Send a hottie a wink

• Limited search options

• Use the carousel feature

• See who's online

• Zoosk Live for streaming (only available via app, not desktop.)

• Earn credits

How much is the Zoosk paid membership?

So how much is Zoosk? It costs $64.99 for a 3-month membership, or $89.99 for 6 months. It's important to know that the day before your subscription ends, Zoosk will automatically renew your subscription. If you wanna avoid the “I forgot to cancel” tax, make a note on your calendar.

A paid subscription will hook you up with the following:

• All the features of free (Zoosk Live, etc)

• Advanced search filters

• Send unlimited winks and messages

• See who's viewed you

• Unlock access to your SmartPicks

• Communicate with your matches

Not too shabby!

What do I think sets Zoosk apart?

We're all looking for something special, including our dating apps! Here's what stood out to me about Zoosk:

• SmartPicks: a feature that uses algo technology to suggest matches based on profiles that you like or dislike.

• Carousel: This reminds me of my Tinder days because you get to swipe through people's pics.

• Boost: For 100 coins (credits), you get to have your profile featured so that everyone in your area sees it right away.

• Super Send: Subscribers can unlock this feature by clicking on the lightning bolt in the top right corner. Super Send lets you write a message to introduce yourself to a group of people at once. If someone likes what you're saying, they can write you back.

• Zoosk Live: SThis was fun – I’m not always a fan of live streaming, but being able to earn things like “diamonds” for streaming, get gifted “virtual gifts”, watch “battles” etc. The live element makes it gamified, plus I could meet people too.

Zoosk review of the good and bad

Just like dating, Zoosk has its ups and downs, but do the positives outweigh the negatives?

What I liked about Zoosk

Zoosk had a lot of good qualities about it. Some that stuck out to me include:

• Zoosk free trial: I was really impressed with Zoosk's free trial! I could do a pretty good amount of exploring for no price at all.

• Large user base: You can connect with millions of people from 80 different countries. The traveler in me loves this.

• It has age behind it: Since it’s one of the OGs and has lasted this whole time, they’re clearly doing something right. And, I don’t even see them advertised as much as Match.com is.

• User-friendly: This app is easy to view and use. The main feed isn't overly busy, no annoying pop-ups, and profile pics are large and clear.

• Zoosk Live: This just added an extra little element to the dating site, in a way that didn’t feel like a “cam” site.

What was meh about Zoosk

How can you appreciate the good without the bad, right? Here's the not-so-good stuff about Zoosk:

• SmartPicks: You only get a limited amount of these. Restrictions are not my thing.

• Initial matches: Since the sign up process is more about you and not about what you're looking for, you may get a few fails before the Zoosk app can determine who you're into.

• No refund policy: When I was reading through some Zoosk reviews, it seemed like customers weren't too keen on not getting their money back if they weren't happy with the site.

• No true “delete” option: You can deactivate, but not 100% remove your data. Not a fan.

• Messages from the past: I’m still wondering how I signed up and got messages from the day before, but if you’re a savvy dating site user, you’ll know to ignore these.

After trying it, is Zoosk a good dating site?

As one of the OGs of dating sites, Zoosk definitely stands its ground. I thought it was really smart that they gave you a good sample with Zoosk's free trial and the ability to earn credits. Although I was a little hesitant with the messages I received, it definitely let me know that people are on here and looking to make matches, and some of them turned out to be pretty fruitful!

I also like that you can connect with people from all over the world, as sometimes dating apps make me feel like I'm trapped in a bubble.

As far as spam and safety, I’d ignore anyone who doesn’t have a picture, or someone who sent you a message from the past when you just signed up today. 😉

All in all, I would definitely give Zoosk a shot at love.

Visit Zoosk.com