Guides

Search and filters: find the members worth your time

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How to search Dateable by city, age and interests, read a result before you open it, keep a shortlist in favourites, and see who viewed you.

9 minute readUpdated 2026-09-30

By the end of this guide you will have run a search narrowed by place, age and interests, and built a shortlist of members in your favourites. You will also know what the Viewed and Viewed me lists tell you, and what to check before you send anyone a first message.

Search lives at the Search tab of the members app. It works best in short, deliberate passes: a few filters, a careful read of each result, a short list kept, the rest let go.

What you can do, and when

What search shows you depends on how far through setting up you are. Each step opens a little more.

So the fastest way to a useful search is to finish your own profile first. It takes a photo, three profile fields and a short bio. How to write your profile walks through it. A complete profile also lets you message anyone you find. The selfie check in how to get verified adds the badge and a lift in search.

What a profile tells you

Filters work on what members put in their profiles, so it helps to know what a profile holds. Every member chose a side when they joined: generous or attractive. Either side can be any gender, and "looking for" is its own field, so a search for the people you want to meet starts with side and looking for, not gender alone.

• Basics: display name, age, city and side. Age comes from the date of birth given at joining. Dateable shows the age and never the date, and every member is 18 or over.
• Words: a headline of up to 80 characters, an about section of up to 1000, and either "what I offer" or "what I am looking for" of up to 500.
• Details: height, body type, hair, eyes, smoking, drinking, education and occupation.
• Interests: tags the member picked, such as the things they like doing.
• Generous side only: income and net worth bands, both optional. A blank band means the member chose not to say, nothing more.
• Badge: "Verified" and the month, once a reviewer has matched a live selfie to the profile photos.

Not every member fills in every field. Keep that in mind when you filter: a strict filter on an optional field can hide someone who simply left it blank.

Run your first search

1. Open the Search tab. Home also shows members new near you and recently active, which is a good warm-up, but Search is where you set your own terms.
2. Set the place first. Profiles carry a city, and a city is the filter that decides whether a first date can happen at all. Start with your own city; widen it later if the results are thin.
3. Set an age range with a little room at each end. Age is shown on every profile. A range two or three years wider than your ideal catches people you would have liked and costs you only a few extra results to skim.
4. Add one or two interests, not ten. Interest tags are the quickest way to find someone you would enjoy an evening with. Each tag you add shrinks the list, so start with the one you care about most.
5. Leave the finer details open on the first pass. Height, body type, drinking and the rest are useful to narrow a long list. On a first pass they mostly hide people who left the field empty.
6. Read the results, not just the photos. Look at each headline and the first lines of each about section before you open a profile. The next section shows what to look for.
7. Adjust one filter at a time. Too many results: add an interest or tighten the age range. Too few: widen the city or drop a detail. Changing one thing at a time shows you which filter was doing the work.

Which filters appear on the Search screen, and in what order, is still being settled. The profile fields above are what a search can draw on; use whichever of them the screen offers.

Read a result before you open it

A good search gives you a list. Judgement turns it into a shortlist. Most of what you need is in the headline, the about section and the badge.

Signs of a member worth a closer look:

• A headline written for a reader: specific, a little personal, not a slogan.
• An about section that sounds like one person, with plans, places or preferences you could ask about.
• "What I offer" or "what I am looking for" that matches what you want, in plain words.
• A Verified badge, ideally with a recent month.
• Photos that look like the same person across the set.

Signs to slow down:

• A blank or one-line about section with a glamorous photo.
• Promises of large sums, paying off debts, or anything that sounds too generous for a stranger.
• Wording that pushes you to talk somewhere else, such as a messaging app, before you have said hello.
• Details that do not add up: an occupation, a city and photos that tell three different stories.

People polish their profiles everywhere. In a Pew Research Center survey, 71% of US online daters said it is very common for people to lie to seem more desirable, and half said fake accounts set up to scam people are very common ¹. Treat a profile as the start of a conversation, not a verdict.

Keep a shortlist with favourites

Favourites is your shortlist. Once your profile is complete you can favourite any member you can see, and your favourites wait for you in the Matches tab.

1. Favourite as you search, then message later. Reading ten profiles and writing ten messages in one sitting leads to the same message ten times. Collect first; write when you can give each person your attention.
2. Keep the list short. Five to ten members you would really like to meet beats fifty you half remember. A short list means each first message is written for one person.
3. Prune it every week or two. Unfavourite anyone whose profile has changed in a way you do not like, or who never replied. A shortlist you trust saves you time at every search.
4. Check Favourited me. The Matches tab also lists members who favourited you. It is a signal of interest, not a message, so there is no reply owed. Read their profiles the same careful way before you do anything.

When you are ready to write, open the profile again, pick one detail they wrote, and build your message around it. How to send a first message has the three-sentence method. A simple opener built on a detail from their profile:

"Your about section says you'd fly to Hobart for one restaurant. Which one? I've been looking for an excuse to go."

Viewed and Viewed me

The Matches tab keeps two more lists. Viewed shows the profiles you have opened. Viewed me shows members who opened yours.

• Viewed is a memory aid. Use it to find someone you saw yesterday and forgot to favourite.
• Viewed me is a hint, not an invitation. Someone may have opened your profile from a search, from Home, or by accident. It tells you they looked; it does not tell you they are keen.
• Your views count too. Opening a profile can show up on that member's Viewed me list. Browse the way you would be happy to be seen browsing.

If you notice a member you do not want to hear from appearing in Viewed me again and again, you do not need to wait for them to write. Block them from their profile.

Save the search you like

Once a set of filters gives you a list you like, you will want to run it again. New members join and existing members change their profiles, so the same filters give a fresh list over time.

Whether the Search screen saves a set of filters for you is still being decided. Until it does, keep your settings somewhere you will find them. A line in your phone's notes app does the job:

"Dateable search: Perth, 32 to 45, attractive side, interests: wine, sailing. Tried adding theatre: too narrow."

Run the same search every week or so rather than every hour. New members arrive over days, not minutes, and a weekly pass keeps searching from eating your evenings.

Keep your own search private

Search shows you to other members too, so a few habits keep what you share under your control.

• Pick a city, not a suburb, in your profile. Your city puts you in the right searches. Your street, your gym and your workplace can wait until you trust someone.
• Keep your phone's location services for the apps that need them. Australia's privacy regulator suggests switching location on only when necessary and sharing it with as few apps as possible ³.
• Pause instead of deleting when you need a break. A paused profile is hidden from every search and keeps your data, favourites included, for when you come back.
• Remember who is hidden. A member you blocked never appears in your results, and you never appear in theirs.

More on separate email addresses, photo details and social media in how to protect your privacy.

Before you message anyone you found

A search result is a stranger with a nice photo. A few minutes of checking before you message, and again before you meet, is time well spent.

1. Look for the Verified badge. It means a reviewer matched a live selfie to the profile photos. It confirms the person matches the photos. It is not an identity or age document check, so it is a good sign, not a guarantee. More in how verification works.
2. Screenshot the profile. eSafety suggests taking screenshots of a person's profile and messages before you meet ⁴. If the profile changes or disappears, you still have what they told you.
3. Check the photos elsewhere. Scamwatch suggests a reverse image search on the photos of someone you met online ⁵. A photo that belongs to someone else is the clearest sign you can get.
4. Ask specific questions once you talk. Get Cyber Safe suggests asking about where they grew up, their work and their family, and being wary of new accounts with few details ⁶.
5. Watch for a camera that never works. eSafety lists a camera that "does not work" as a sign of a catfish, alongside disrespectful comments and a profile that does not match how someone acts or sounds ⁴.

If a check makes you uneasy, you can ask straight out:

"Before we meet I'd like a quick video call, five minutes is plenty. Does Thursday evening suit?"

Someone who is who they say they are rarely minds. Someone who keeps finding reasons not to is telling you something.

Search on the Board too

Search finds people. The Board finds invitations. Members of either side post a plan, such as a dinner, an event or a trip, and other members apply. Anyone can browse the Board, signed out included, and filter it by city, kind, when and what the host offers. Reading a full listing or applying takes a verified account.

Many members use both: Search for the slow build of a shortlist, the Board when a plan comes up.

Questions people ask

Why are photos blurred when I search on Dateable?

Photos stay blurred until your own profile is complete. That takes a photo, three profile fields and an about section of at least 50 characters. Once it is complete you can browse in full, favourite and message members. The selfie verification from the verification tab of your profile adds the badge and a lift in search. Finishing both takes most people a single sitting.

Can I search Dateable by age and location?

Yes. Every profile carries a city and an age, and search uses them to narrow your results. Start with your own city and an age range a few years wider than your ideal, then tighten it. Dateable shows each member's age but never their date of birth, and every member is 18 or over.

Can someone see that I viewed their profile?

Assume they can. The Matches tab has a Viewed me list showing members who opened a profile, so opening someone's profile can show up there. Browse the way you would be happy to be seen browsing. If a member you do not want contact with keeps viewing you, block them from their profile; blocking needs no reason.

How do I save a search on Dateable?

Whether the Search screen saves a set of filters is still being decided. Until then, note the filters that work for you in your phone, such as city, age range, side and one or two interests, and run the same search once a week. Favourite anyone worth keeping so they wait for you in the Matches tab.

What does favouriting someone do?

Favouriting adds a member to your favourites in the Matches tab, a shortlist you can come back to. It is not a message. The member may see you on their Favourited me list, so favourite people you would genuinely like to meet. You can favourite once your profile is complete, and unfavourite anyone at any time.

Why can't I find someone I saw before?

Check Viewed in the Matches tab first; it lists profiles you have opened. If they are not there, the member may have paused their account, which hides them from every search, or changed their city or details so your filters no longer match. A member who has blocked you never appears in your results.

Does the Verified badge mean someone is safe?

It means a reviewer matched a live selfie to their profile photos, and the badge shows the month it happened. It is not an identity or age document check. Treat it as a good sign, then do your own checks: screenshot the profile, reverse image search the photos, ask specific questions and suggest a short video call before you meet.

Sources

1. Anderson, M., Vogels, E. A., & Turner, E. (Pew Research Center) (2020). The Virtues and Downsides of Online Dating.
2. WA ScamNet (Government of Western Australia, Consumer Protection) (2026). Sugar baby scam.
3. Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (2026). Mobile devices.
4. eSafety Commissioner (2026). Online dating | How to stay safe.
5. Scamwatch (ACCC) (2026). Relationship scams.
6. Get Cyber Safe (Government of Canada) (2023). Spot the signs of a catfish on dating platforms.