Guides

How to join Dateable

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Join Dateable free: pick your side, sign in with Omxus, add a photo, three details and 50 characters about you, then message free and verify with a live selfie.

9 minute readUpdated 2026-09-30

By the end of this guide you have a Dateable account, a finished profile you can browse with, and a verification request in. Keep it open beside the app and work down the page; each step says what to do and why it matters.

Joining is free on both sides. You need one clear photo of your face, the city you live in, and one honest sentence about what you want. Everything else can be written slowly and changed later.

Before you press Join

Five minutes of preparation saves you rewriting your profile next week.

• A photo where your face is clear. Daylight, no sunglasses, no group. Your first public photo must show your face.
• Your city. Members search by place, so give the city you actually date in.
• One sentence about what you want. "Dinners and good conversation with someone who travels" beats a paragraph of adjectives.
• An email you keep for dating. Optional, but a separate address keeps your dating life out of your work inbox.
• Ten minutes with the rules. Read the community rules and the privacy policy before you share anything.

Police advice on dating apps says the same: read a platform's community guidelines and terms before you sign up, and check how it supports you if something goes wrong ¹. The privacy regulator adds: read an app's privacy policy first, and share your location only when you need to ².

Choose your side

Dateable has two sides, and you pick one when you join. Generous members enjoy giving: dinners, travel, mentoring, support. Attractive members bring company, presence and curiosity. People search for these as sugar daddy, sugar mommy and sugar baby; on Dateable the sides carry no gender. Anyone, of any gender, can join either side, and who you are looking for is a separate question you answer later.

You can change side once. Choose the one that describes you now, not the one you think gets more attention. The membership page keeps the current cost details.

Join, step by step

1. Press Join and pick your side. Your side decides which questions your profile asks and how messaging works for you.
2. Sign in with Omxus. Dateable signs every member in through Omxus, and the form opens on Dateable, in the page or a popup. This is the only account you create. Your session then lasts up to 30 days on that device.
3. Enter your display name, date of birth and city. Your date of birth proves you are 18 or over; members see your age, never the date. Your city puts you in the right searches.
4. Say who you are looking for. This field is separate from your side, so a generous woman looking for a man, or an attractive man looking for a man, sets it here.
5. Upload your first public photo, face showing. A profile without a face photo cannot be complete. A person reviews every photo before anyone else sees it.
6. Add more photos if you want them. Up to 12 public and 12 private. Private photos stay hidden until you grant a member access.
7. Write your headline. 80 characters. It sits under your name in search, so it decides who opens your profile.
8. Write your about. Up to 1000 characters; at least 50 before you can browse. This is where members learn who you are.
9. Write what you offer or what you are looking for. Up to 500 characters. Say it plainly; that is the point of Dateable.
10. Fill in at least three profile details. Height, body type, hair, eyes, smoking, drinking, education, occupation, interests. Three is the minimum to browse; more helps people find you.
11. Check the completeness meter. When it shows complete, you can browse and favourite members.
12. Verify with a live selfie. Verification unlocks full Board listings, applying and posting, and gives you the badge and a lift in search.

The onboarding screen walks you through the same order: side, basics, photos, headline, about, verify. The detail for each part follows.

Your basics

Display name

Your display name is what every member sees first. A first name or a name you like works well. Leave your surname out. Police safety advice for online dating: keep your surname, home address and workplace to yourself until you trust the person ³.

Date of birth

Dateable enforces 18 and over from your date of birth. Your profile shows your age and never the date itself. Give your real date: it sets the age other members see, and a wrong age starts every conversation with a lie.

City

Give the city where you want to meet people. If you live in a suburb, the city it belongs to is enough. Nobody needs your street.

Your photos

Photos are the part of your profile people look at first and longest. Take them seriously and keep them safe.

• First public photo: your face. Clear, recent, in good light. This is the rule, and it is also what makes people stop.
• Public photos: up to 12. Everyone who can browse sees these. Show your face, your style, something you enjoy.
• Private photos: up to 12. Hidden until you grant a member access. You can revoke access at any time, member by member.
• Location data is removed. Dateable strips EXIF data, which can include where and when a photo was taken, when you upload.
• Nothing goes up unchecked. A person reviews each photo before any other member sees it.

For choosing and ordering your set, read how to choose your photos.

Your words

Three fields carry your voice: the headline, the about, and what you offer or what you are looking for. Write them in the order below. Each one is short, so draft it, cut it, then save.

Headline, 80 characters

One line that says who you are and what you like. Specific beats clever. Some you could adapt:

Architect who plans good dinners and better weekends away

Law student, 24, happiest at a gallery opening or a long lunch

Recently back in Melbourne, looking for a regular dinner companion

About, 50 to 1000 characters

Fifty characters gets you browsing. Three or four short paragraphs get you replies. Say what you do, what a good week looks like, and one thing people notice about you in person.

I run a small design studio and spend most weekends at the market or on a trail. I like people who are curious, on time and honest about what they want. Ask me about the best dumplings in the city; I have opinions.

What you offer or what you are looking for, up to 500 characters

This is the field that makes Dateable different. Say plainly what the relationship looks like to you: how often, what kind of time together, and what support or generosity means to you. Plain words save both people weeks of guessing.

A dinner or an outing most weeks, the odd weekend away, and someone I can talk to about work. I am generous with time and experiences, and I value discretion both ways.

Someone who enjoys introducing me to good food and new places, and who wants a steady arrangement over a string of first dates. I am studying and working, so a regular evening suits me best.

No prices, no rates, nothing about intimacy. The community rules refuse it, and it attracts the wrong people. For more examples and a before-and-after edit, read how to write your profile.

Profile details

Three details is the minimum for a complete profile. The fields are height, body type, hair, eyes, smoking, drinking, education, occupation and interests (as tags). Fill the ones that matter to the people you want to meet. Interests help most: they give someone a first message to write.

Generous members also see two optional fields, an income band and a net worth band. Leave them blank if you prefer. Both are bands, not figures.

The completeness meter on your profile shows what is missing. Complete means one photo, three profile details and an about of at least 50 characters.

Verify

Verification is the step that lets you talk to people. Without it you can browse and favourite; with it you can message, read full Board listings, apply for invitations and post your own.

1. Open the verification tab on your profile. It sits beside your photos.
2. Take a live selfie holding the pose the app shows you. The pose is picked at random, so an old photo cannot pass.
3. Wait for a person to check it. A reviewer compares the selfie with your profile photos.
4. Look for the badge. Your profile shows "Verified" and the month you verified.

Your selfie is deleted 30 days after the decision. Dateable keeps the decision and the date. If you change your first photo later, you verify again, so the badge always matches the face members see first. The verification page explains the check in full.

What you can do at each stage

Anyone, signed in or not, can browse the Board's listing cards. Reading a full listing and applying needs verification. The how it works page shows the whole path from profile to first date.

Settings to check on day one

Open settings before your first message arrives. Five minutes here decides how your first week feels.

• Email. Confirm which address Dateable writes to.
• Notifications. Choose what you hear about. Fewer alerts, calmer week.
• Privacy. Decide who can see what, and check your private album grants.
• Blocked. Where your blocks live. A blocked member never sees you: not in search, on the Board, or in messages.
• Pause and delete. Pause hides you and keeps everything. Delete removes your profile, photos, messages and applications within 30 days.

Protect the account itself. Scammers who get into an account can change the password and lock the owner out; use a strong password you use nowhere else and turn on multi-factor authentication wherever it is offered ⁷.

Your first week

New profiles get attention. Most of it is welcome. Some of it follows a script you can learn to spot early.

When someone asks you to move to another app on day one, you can say:

I keep things on Dateable until I've met someone. Happy to keep talking here.

When someone offers money before you have met:

Thanks, but I don't accept anything from someone I haven't met. Let's see if we get on first.

Anyone who argues with either line has told you what you need to know. Block them, and report them if they asked for money.

Questions people ask

Is Dateable free to join?

Yes. Dateable is free on both sides, every feature: profile, photos, search, messages, private albums and the Board. No credits, no subscription.

How old do you have to be to join Dateable?

You must be 18 or over. Dateable enforces this from the date of birth you enter when you join, and refuses anyone younger. Other members see your age, never your date of birth. Verification checks that you match your photos; it is not an identity document check, so the age rule rests on the date you give.

Can I switch from generous to attractive later?

Yes, once. You choose a side when you join and can change it one time after that. Pick the side that describes you now. Your gender does not decide your side: anyone can be on either, and who you are looking for is its own field you set separately on your profile.

Why can't I message anyone on Dateable yet?

Finish your profile: one photo with your face, three profile details and an about of at least 50 characters. That lets you browse, favourite and message. Then take the live selfie in the verification tab. Once a reviewer approves it, you can apply for invitations on the Board and post your own.

Who can see my photos on Dateable?

Nobody, until a person has reviewed them. After review, your public photos show to members who browse. Your private photos stay hidden until you grant a specific member access, and you can revoke that access at any time. Dateable strips location and camera data from every photo when you upload it.

What does a complete Dateable profile need?

Three things: at least one public photo that shows your face, at least three profile details such as height, occupation or interests, and an about section of 50 characters or more. The completeness meter on your profile shows what is missing. A complete profile can browse, favourite and message; verifying unlocks the Board.

Can I hide my Dateable profile without deleting it?

Yes. Pause your profile in settings. A paused profile is hidden from everyone and keeps all your data, so you can come back where you left off. If you delete instead, Dateable removes your profile, photos, messages and applications within 30 days. Choose pause if you might return.

Sources

1. Victoria Police (2025). Safety tips when meeting someone from online.
2. Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (2026). Mobile devices.
3. New Zealand Police (2026). Safety advice.
4. Sexual Assault Resource Centre, North Metropolitan Health Service (Government of Western Australia) (2021). Safe online dating.
5. Wolbers, H., & Dowling, C. (Australian Institute of Criminology) (2024). Routine online activities and vulnerability to dating app facilitated sexual violence.
6. Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (2026). Photos and videos.
7. Scamwatch (ACCC) (2026). Account or identity takeover scams.
8. WA ScamNet (Government of Western Australia, Consumer Protection) (2026). Sugar baby scam.
9. Scamwatch (ACCC) (2026). Relationship scams.