Non-Monogamy on OkCupid. How to delete or disable your account. How to see who likes you (for free) Photo rules. Community Guidelines. How to cancel a subscription. Why OkCupid hides someone after you send an introductory message to them. How to send an introductory message to someone. On OkCupid, you’re more than just a photo. You have stories to tell, and passions to share, and things to talk about that are more interesting than the weather. Get noticed for who you are, not what you look like. Because you deserve what dating deserves: better. By clicking Join, you agree to our Terms.
We expect everyone on OkCupid to treat each other respectfully, with kindness and compassion. We do not tolerate hateful, hurtful, or harassing content on OkCupid. We consider unsolicited sexual content and messages to be sexual harassment. We don't like jerks, so please don't be a jerk.
Here's the thing. We want you to think about this one rule: treat online interactions as you would even if they were offline. This also applies when interacting with our lovely Billing, Moderation, and Support teams!
- When sending messages, consider what you would say to someone who you just met at a club or coffee shop.
- When uploading photos, consider if the same pose or outfit would be appropriate in public.
- When creating a profile, consider if you'd feel comfortable having a family member or friend read it.
OkCupid is not a magical place where people want to hear about your sexual fantasies out of the blue, or where you can be mean to someone with no repercussions. Treat it as a place where you can talk to other humans about things that matter to you both, and remember that the best way to make a meaningful connection with someone is to treat them well.
Below are our community guidelines and moderation standards. If you see anyone who violates these guidelines, please report them to us right away.
In this article:
Okcupid Website Problems
Harassment
Sexual Harassment/ Explicit Sexual Content
Hate
Violent or Graphic Content
Profile names and profile text
Unique and bona fide profile
Fake accounts
Couples/ joint accounts
Solicitation
Contact information
Illegal behavior
Minors/ under 18
Photo rules
Offsite behavior
Reporting
Harassment
If you wouldn’t say it to someone you just met in person, you shouldn’t be saying it online. Messages should be respectful, appropriate, honest, and kind. We don't tolerate 'negging' (insulting statements disguised as 'flirting') or other rude behavior. This expectation also includes interactions with OkCupid staff. People found to be sending harassing messages will be banned.
Additionally, profile content itself should also be respectful and kind. Profile essays which are found to be overly combative or hateful may be removed or may even result in your profile being banned.
Sexual Harassment/ Explicit Sexual Content
Exposing other people to your sexual fantasies without their consent is rude and inappropriate, and it's not what most people on OkCupid are looking for. If your profile is reported to us as sexually explicit or offensive, it will be banned. This includes kink/ fetish profiles, profiles describing which sex acts they are looking for, etc.
We also do not allow unwanted sexually explicit messages on OkCupid. This includes descriptions of sexual acts/ kinks/ fetishes, sexualized comments about people's photos, etc. Even if someone says they are open to hookups on their profile, it does NOT mean they want sexually explicit messages.
Finally, we do not allow sexually explicit photos or nudity.
We consider this to be sexual harassment and will ban any offenders that are reported to us.
Hate
We take the truth of everyone’s inalienable rights very seriously. Our belief in them has acted as our inspiration since our founding. We proudly stand rooted in inclusivity. There is no room for hate in a place where you’re looking for love.
Any content (including in profiles and messages) that promotes or condones racism, bigotry, violence, hate, dehumanization, or harm against individuals or groups based on things like race, ethnicity, disability, age, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, appearance, or occupation/association with a group is strictly forbidden and may result in you being permanently banned. This includes but is not limited to:
- Symbols of hate groups in photos, racist or offensive memes, etc.
- Hateful slurs, offensive statements, coded language, dog whistles, or references to being a member of a hate group
- Giving approval (even tacit) or statements of support towards a hate group or their ideals
- It also includes your reports to OkCupid staff: if you flag a profile for no other reason than being trans, for example, it may result in your own profile being banned.
Violent or Graphic Content
We do not allow any content in photos, profiles, or messages that is threatening, incites violence, contains graphic or gratuitous violence or gore, or is disturbing or otherwise inappropriate for a dating site. This does also include depictions of self harm which can in turn be harmful for others to see. This content will be removed and may also get you banned.
Profile names and profile text
We consider your profile's display name and your profile text to be similar to a first message or first impression to other members of the site: we expect both to be respectful and appropriate. If your profile text or name could be seen as offensive, hateful, obscene, or clearly trolling, we will take moderation action, up to and including banning your profile.
Your listed name should be the name you like to go by. It can be your first name, your initials, or a nickname- all are fine. It does not have to be the full name on your birth certificate! We do not check listed names against any kind of ID, and we trust people to enter names they'd like to go by themselves. That said, we will still moderate based on names if they include offensive or obscene language, or make a profile appear to be fake (i.e. using a celebrity name instead of your own).
Unique and bona fide profile
You must create only one unique profile. In addition, your use of OkCupid must be for bona fide relationship-seeking purposes (for example, you may not use OkCupid solely to compile a report of compatible singles in your area, to find people to join a club or group activity, or to write a school research paper).
Additionally, deleting and re-creating your account to get around other member's Passes or Blocks of you is not acceptable. If we see excessive and suspicious account deletion activity we may ban your profile.
Fake Accounts
We do not tolerate any kind of fake accounts on OkCupid. Your profile must be really of you, and must be for dating purposes.
Creating a fake account will get your main account as well as the fake account(s) banned.
Also, your profile details such as age, height, location, etc. must be accurate. We restrict searching and showing profiles based on mutual fit for details like age, location, gender, and orientation for a reason: so that you can find a person who is looking for someone just like you. Changing these details to appear in searches that you would not otherwise is not allowed and will result in your profile being banned.
Couples/ Joint accounts
We do not allow joint accounts or couples accounts. If you want to use OkCupid with your partner for non-monogamous dating, that's cool! However, you'll want to link accounts with your partner instead of having one joint account.
- If you are in a relationship and are dating outside of that relationship without your partner's consent and/or without disclosing your relationship status, that is a violation of our community guidelines and will get your profile banned.
Solicitation
Using OkCupid for commercial solicitation or exchange of money is prohibited. Do not share your own financial information (PayPal, Venmo, Amazon wishlist, etc.) for the purpose of receiving money or goods from other members. Do not attempt to get other member's financial or other private information.
Do not send messages or create accounts for the purpose of driving members to a business or external site. This includes recruiting people for a hobby or activity if it's not for dating purposes.
We also do not allow references to sugar daddy/baby dating, asking for gifts to date, wanting to be $poiled, etc, or phrases like 'Send me $5 and see what happens' on your profile. This all falls under solicitation of money/goods and is not allowed.
Likewise, we also do not allow offers of money for sex, sugar daddies, acceptance of solicitation offers, etc.
Doing any of these will get you banned.
Contact information
We do not allow anyone to post private information for public display, including their own private information, but especially other people's. Violations of other people's privacy will result in a ban.
Okcupid Dating Site Log In
It's always good to be cautious when exchanging contact info. A sign of a scammer, fake account, or someone up to no good is when they are in a hurry to give you their offsite contact info too quickly. This could be because they want to get you away from OkCupid so they can continue talking with you even after we ban them, or they are sharing someone else's contact info to get revenge on them.
Don’t give your phone number out too quickly - If you keep communication on the dating site, then you are much more protected. If the user is discovered to be a scammer or has other bad reports against them then you may see the profile disappear quickly-- this is likely because we've banned them. If a user vanishes and re-appears under another name, that is a very very bad sign. We ban people for good reasons. If you have given them your phone number or email address too quickly then you won’t see if we have banned them.
If something seems strange about the way someone is exchanging contact info, or if they are displaying a phone number or email address prominently on their profile or photos, please report.
Illegal behavior
It should go without saying, but discussion or promotion of anything illegal is not allowed and will result in getting you banned. This includes illegal sexual acts, drug dealing, fraud, threats, or anything else that is against the law. We do not tolerate any kind of discussion about underage sex, including dd/lg fantasies.
Minors/ under 18
You must be 18 to use OkCupid. We do not allow minors to use OkCupid. Although all profiles only allow you to enter an age over 18, sometimes people will lie about their age. If you suspect a profile of being made by someone who is under 18, please report them to us.
If we find someone to be knowingly engaging in inappropriate conversation with someone who has revealed themselves to be under 18, we will also ban that profile.
Photos
A more detailed list of photo rules can be found here, but here is a summary:
- Photos should include your face (profile photo album), or be pictures you've taken (elsewhere).
- We do not allow any photos with nudity or explicitly sexual content.
- We also do not allow any hateful imagery (white power/ nazi images, racist meme photos, etc). This will get you banned. Any photos of anything overly violent, offensive, illegal, disturbing, or otherwise inappropriate for a dating site will be removed and may also get you banned.
- Photos with contact information on them (including phone number, email address, kik, Facebook address, etc) will be removed. Repeated violation of this rule or other suspicious behavior may result in the profile being blocked as well.
- Photos of you as a kid, or of your kids but without you in the photo as well will be removed.
- Finally, we will remove any image where the copyright holder has asked to have it removed, or where we strongly suspect the user is not the copyright holder (e.g., stock photos).
- For multiple offenses or extreme cases, profiles may also be banned and removed.
If a photo is removed you will be emailed and told that this has happened and warned that repeated offenses might get you banned. This warning isn't a fake one, and we will ban your account for multiple infractions.
Offsite behavior
We do ban for extreme offsite behavior. Please report any instances of offsite abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, theft, or anything else illegal or that makes you feel unsafe. (Note: we will not tell the person you're reporting to us that you have reported them or why they were reported).
In these cases, we encourage you to reach out to law enforcement as well, who we will cooperate with where needed.
Reporting
Please help us by reporting anything or anyone that does not follow our community guidelines.
You can report a profile by clicking the three dots icon to bring up a report button. More detailed instructions are here.
A note on false reporting:
In some cases we will ban an account if we've found it to be creating false reports against other users. This includes flagging/reporting trans or nonbinary users for no reason other than their gender or orientation, false/ made up reports of bad behavior, etc.
A final note:
While our community guidelines cover most instances of moderator action, it is not an exhaustive list, and we do retain the right to ban anyone from OkCupid for any reason if we see fit.
You can Like people by:
- Choosing them in Discover on the app by dragging their picture to the right
- Choosing them in Discover on the web by selecting the heart (like) button
- Selecting Like on their profile on either the web or the app
Liking people is a great way to let them know that you're interested! When you like someone, it lets us know you’re interested in them, so we make an effort to show you to them around OkCupid much more often, so they have a chance to see you and like you back. And when you both like each other, we always let both of you know, for free.
You can see the list of everyone you've Liked on your liked users page (and if you're a Premium member you can also see everyone who's liked you!).
Passing
If you've changed your mind, you can Pass someone to remove them from your Who You Like list. Visit their profile to tap/click the Pass button (or the pink X sign).
Passing means that you don't want to Like or message that person right now, and you'd prefer not to see them come up in your matches right now, but it doesn't hide them from you forever!
If you'd prefer to never see someone's profile again you can still block them (see more information on blocking here).
If you ever run out of matches, your Passed matches may recycle, so you'd get a second chance to see them again at that point -- you'd also pop back into their results as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why am I seeing people I passed on?
You won't see anyone you've passed on within 30 days. If there’s somebody you’d prefer not to ever see again on OkCupid, you can block/ unmatch with them. Blocks never automatically reset.
I accidentally Passed on someone I meant to Like. What do I do?
Passing on someone doesn’t hide them from you forever.
You can reset passes from your privacy settings.
>On the app, tap Profile, Account Settings, Privacy, then 'Reset' under passes
>On the desktop website click here to go the Privacy Settings page, then click 'Reset your passes'
Resetting passes doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be added back to the top of your Discover queue, but you should see them again if they match your current search filters.
If you still need help, you can email support@okcupid.com