I Used Once Dating App for 7 Days: My Honest Review

I’m about to try the Once dating app, and I’m hoping it lives up to my expectations.

I’m not asking for much—just a dating app that actually works, has fewer fake profiles, helps create real matches, and lets me message people for free. That alone would be enough to make me happy.

That said, my expectations are a bit higher since Once was acquired by Dating Group, a major player in the dating industry. Plus, the app itself boasts over 30 million singles looking to connect both locally and around the world.

Day 1

I just downloaded the Once dating app and opened it for the first time. I was instantly impressed by its welcome screen. The vibrant colors combined with cartoon-style characters create a unique and appealing vibe.

I’m attaching some screenshots so you can check them out.

So far, the app is giving off a positive impression. At first glance, it looks and feels quite premium.

I created my account using my Gmail. Yes, the app does request a few permissions, like access to your date of birth and gender. After granting access, I was asked to provide my birthday, interests, country (only 21 options available), city, at least three photos, and a few other details.

One thing that bugged me was the photo upload process. The app required at least three photos, and I uploaded six. However, the “Continue” button didn’t appear, preventing me from proceeding. I had to close and reopen the app — after which the button became active and allowed me to move forward with all my uploaded photos.

After a few more steps, I successfully created my profile. It took around five minutes, and my profile showed 24% completion.

Surprisingly, within five minutes of creating my profile, I received one like and two matches. I’m almost certain these were bots. Why? Because I hadn’t swiped right on anyone.

If I didn’t swipe right, how could I have matched with someone? A successful match only occurs when both users swipe right on each other. Later, I figured out that anyone can send messages to anyone else without actually being matched.

It’s a bit disappointing — but to be fair, it’s still too early to judge. I’m continuing to explore the app, and I’ll see how things progress.

Day 2

Remember the two matches I told you about? Well, they turned out to be a kind of fake. The app plays a trick on you.

You get matched with someone and start receiving messages. As you keep replying, your gems decrease, and after just 10 messages, you run out of gems. To continue the conversation, you have to upgrade to one of their premium plans.

After confirming my email, I received 50 gems, but now there’s no way I’m going to reply to those suspicious profiles—or any others if I find them suspicious.

I highly recommend that if you are using this app and start receiving messages without swiping, never reply to those messages, no matter how genuine the profiles look.

Only reply to profiles that have genuinely matched with you and seem legitimate. Otherwise, you will quickly run out of messages and be forced to upgrade to their paid plans.

Weirdly enough, when I tried to like a profile, a pop-up appeared saying, “Your profile is being moderated.”

It’s quite unusual, as most dating apps don’t have this kind of restriction.

Still, I’m considering it a safety feature because the app is likely reviewing my profile to ensure it complies with their rules and guidelines.

Let’s see how long the moderation takes. Until then, I can’t do much except explore profiles and make changes to my profile.

Thankfully, after a few hours, the moderation process is complete, and now I can finally try to use the app to its fullest.

Day 3

It’s my third day using the app, and honestly, I’m starting to feel a bit disappointed. So far, I’ve been matched with 12 girls, but most of them seem fake.

There’s only one profile that looks genuine, but even some of her messages feel a little off—and I’m starting to wonder if she might be fake too.

From what I’ve seen, the app really pushes you to use up your free messages quickly. You start getting messages even if you haven’t matched, and if you reply to everyone, you burn through your gems super fast—which you need just to send messages.

What really bothers me is the pricing: every message costs 5 gems, and 40 gems cost $11.99, while 150 gems cost $29.99. So basically, each message ends up costing about a dollar, which feels pretty steep.

I also tried sending some likes, but after about eight, I was already out.

Right now, I’m not planning on paying for anything—I want to see if likes and messages automatically refill after 24 hours or not.

Also Read: Is Kismia a Safe & Legit Dating Site?

Day 4

On my third day, I ran out of likes and messages at around 1 PM. So, on the fourth day, I figured I’d wait at least 24 hours before trying to send anything new—since, with most dating apps, you usually get more likes or messages after a day.

But even after waiting more than 30 hours, I still couldn’t send any new likes or messages. Every now and then, I was able to send a message or two to random matches, but the way it worked seemed totally inconsistent.

Honestly, I have no idea how the app’s algorithm works. All I know is that, once I used up my quota, I was basically stuck with nothing to do.

To be real, I’m pretty disappointed—what’s the point of a dating app if you can’t actually like or message anyone?

On the bright side, I do have to say I’m impressed with the design and overall feel of Once. The app looks fresh and modern, and I like that there aren’t any ads.

It’s super user-friendly, with just four tabs: Discover, My Chats, Activity, and Profile.

Also Read: What is Kismia All About? What Makes Kismia Different?

Day 5

I kept getting more likes and messages, but something stood out to me—there are these pre-built messages you can send if you’re feeling hesitant.

Honestly, though, I think it’s better to send your own message, even if it’s just a simple “Hi.” When everyone uses those canned messages, it all feels the same and kind of fake—at least, that’s been my experience.

Even on my fifth day, I couldn’t really do much. I still wasn’t able to send messages or likes.

Sure, I could have upgraded to a premium plan; the basic 1-month subscription is $14.99 in the US and £19.99 in the UK. But when almost every message feels fake, there’s no guarantee I’d start getting real conversations—even if I paid for a subscription.

Buying extra gems is really expensive, too.

Honestly, I’m not feeling any excitement on this app anymore. It’s just starting to feel boring. The people I see around me are the same ones I saw on day one. Over five days, I’ve seen maybe three to five new profiles—hardly any variety.

Let’s see how things go tomorrow.

Day 6

Well, today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. I’m still getting new likes and messages—even though I haven’t matched with anyone—but I still can’t send any new likes or messages myself.

One thing I did notice is that the message frequency has actually dropped by about 20%. It kind of feels like the app’s algorithm has figured out that I’m not going to convert to a paying user, so it isn’t trying as hard to engage me anymore.

Something I forgot to mention—on my second day, I purposely asked a few girls to move our conversation to WhatsApp. I just wanted to see if they’d respond in the same way or if there’d be anything fishy in their replies.

But every single reply suggested that they only wanted to chat on the Once app. Which, of course, means I’d run out of gems and eventually have to pay for a subscription just to keep the conversation going.

Another weird thing I noticed: I’ve messaged a bunch of girls, and their profiles always show statuses like “Last seen 5 hours ago” or “Last seen recently.” But the moment I send a message, they suddenly come online and reply almost instantly.

If I stop replying—because I’m out of gems—not a single one ever messages me again.

Normally, when you chat with a real person, there’s a good chance someone will send more than one message to keep the conversation going. But with bots, they pretty much just wait to respond to your questions and almost never send more than one message at a time; they just reply to everything all at once, and that’s it.

So, honestly, my sixth day with the Once dating app hasn’t been exciting at all.

Day 7

It’s my seventh day using the Once app, and so far I’ve had 23 visitors and 15 likes. Despite all that, I’ve only matched with two girls, yet my inbox is filled with chats from 15 different girls.

Of those 15 conversations, I actually initiated only three; the other 12 were started from the other side. But since most of these incoming messages have a really similar vibe, I can’t help but feel like a lot of them are bots, not real people.

Today, I got two more likes and two new messages—from girls or maybe just more bots. But every time I try to reply, a pop-up appears asking me to upgrade to a premium plan.

Honestly, I have a feeling that if I keep using the app, the likes and messages will continue rolling in. But I’m also pretty sure that as soon as I pay for a subscription, the attention will drop off to almost nothing—because that’s happened to me before on other dating apps.

All in all, today’s experience was just as unexciting as the last few days, and my motivation to keep opening the app is fading fast.

So, my seventh day on Once was pretty boring.

You might also want to check out my SayHi App Review to see how it compares.

Would I Keep Using the Once Dating App?

No, it’s the end of my seventh day, and I’m just deactivating my account and uninstalling the app.

There are some dating apps that keep you hooked, making you come back again and again. Unfortunately, the Once app is definitely not one of those.

Wait..I just noticed something: when I tried to delete my account, the app offered me a deal—“Stay with us for just a few more days and get 20 Gems for free. Deal?” And I could claim the 20 Gems immediately.

It felt like the app really understands why people stop using it.

I ended up claiming the 20 Gems, sent 4-5 messages, and just like before, I was out of gems again.

So finally, I deleted my account—it only took about 10 seconds, and the process was simple. After that, I uninstalled the app.

You might also want to check out the Cougar Dating App Review.

Should You Use the Once Dating App?

Honestly, I don’t recommend using this app. You can try it for three or four days if you want, but for long-term dating, it’s better to skip it.

The profiles I saw over the seven days were pretty much the same as on day one, and the way they communicate really makes you question if they’re even genuine.

I’ve shared my completely honest review for each day, and based on that, I’d say it’s better to avoid this app.

Of course, others might have different points of view, but I don’t think their experience will be drastically different.

Pros and Cons of Once Dating App

Clean, modern design with no ads
Easy to use with simple navigation
Quick signup and profile moderation feel safe

Most profiles seem fake or bots
Messages feel scripted and suspicious
Messaging is pricey—about $1 per message
Likes and messages don’t reliably refill
App slows down engagement if you don’t pay

In short, it looks good but feels expensive and untrustworthy for real dating.