Once – mobile phone dating app tested and compared
Overall impression: [Rating:75/100]
“Who are you meeting today?” is how visitors to the Once website are greeted. Behind this short slogan you can already guess the unique selling point that makes this young dating app special: you only receive one dating contact per day and so you have a whole 24 hours of time that you can devote exclusively to it.
The idea behind this is that with conventional dating sites and usually several million members, the attention span that you receive as a single person is usually quite short.
Once wants to change this situation with its special approach and has primarily targeted the young target group of adults between 18 and 35 years of age who are looking for a serious relationship. One match per day, no distractions, no mass emails, full focus! We put the app to the test.
Can this new app from France (based on an idea from South Korea) hold a candle to the top dog Tinder? Are the chances of real flirting and successful partner search perhaps even higher than with the competition, where it is primarily the appearance that determines whether you swipe left or right? Superficiality is Tinder's weakness, and this is exactly where Once wants to score points.
Image video from Once Dating AG
How does matchmaking work?
As already mentioned, you receive exactly one partner suggestion (so-called “match”) per day. You then have 24 hours to write a message to the other person and get to know them better. But how does this match come about?
Pre-selection via algorithm
matchmaking is carried out using an algorithm (software) that uses around 40 criteria - for example age, place of residence, profession, sexual orientation, preferences and interests, etc. - to create a preselection of 15 to 20 potential matchmaking partners . This happens fully automatically in the background and includes the information you have provided in your profile in the calculation.
According to the operator, this is even a self-learning algorithm. This means that the program working in the background takes your behavior into account in future suggestions.
So if you find your first suggestions unsuitable and therefore reject them, the algorithm will learn this and will offer you better alternatives in the future.
Manual selection by matchmaker
In the second stage, the photos you have uploaded are handed over to a so-called matchmaker. He then ultimately puts the couples together based on various details and features in the photos. To ensure data protection, the matchmakers only have access to the photos and not to your name or other information from your profile.
When making his selection, a matchmaker pays attention, for example, to the facial features, facial expressions and style or expression of potentially suitable flirt partners. The surroundings and the place where the photos were taken probably also factor into the consideration. In the end, however, a large amount of gut feeling will probably play a part in deciding who fits together or not.
However, matchmakers cannot rely entirely on their gut feeling. In order to be optimally prepared for what to look for in pictures, Once's matchmakers - who usually match people from home or on the go - go through a week-long training course.
So that the matchmakers take their job seriously, they work on commission. They only receive money when a profile couple they suggest starts successfully writing to each other.
What happens after a match?
If a match is made, your cell phone will notify you via a push message. You can now contact each other. You are then connected to each other and can write back and forth as long as you want.
This is where the big advantage of this dating app comes into play: you have the undivided attention of your flirting partner, who is not sending or answering numerous other messages at the same time.
At the same time, the pre-selection makes the pot of potential partners clearer and the chances of success increase through the matching process. After all, you already know from the match that the other person is not averse to your own profile.
What role do the “crowns” play?
In principle, Once is a fully functional app that can be used completely free of charge. However, if you don't want to settle for a partner suggestion and press the accelerator a little, you can buy so-called "crowns" and can choose your next match from the algorithm's suggestions and, with a bit of luck, you will simply be suggested to it immediately. One crown (approx. €0.99) is due for each suggestion you choose.
If it happens that two or more users have selected you as their next match through the use of crowns, a waiting list will be created. The first crown you can choose yourself is free when you register. All others must be purchased with euros.
You can also use Kronen to send a message to people who have been suggested to you in the past, find out if/when your first message was read, or get to know someone who is online NOW.
Each of these features costs 1 crown. These can be purchased in the App Store or Google Play Store.
Free Services (Basic Membership):
- Registration
- Create a profile with photos
- Receive partner suggestions (1 per day)
- Matchmaking algorithm
- Contact if the match is successful
- Sending and receiving messages
Premium features (crowns as virtual currency):
- Choose yourself who will be suggested to you the following day
- Write a message to people who have been suggested in the past
- Find out if and when your first message was read
- Get to know someone who is currently online
Each of these functions costs one crown (approx. 0.99 euros).
TOP
- Free membership with no restrictions
- User-friendly, modern & clear app
- The fastest growing dating app after Tinder
- Self-learning algorithm (suggestions get better over time)
- High authenticity of the members
- Efficient mobile dating through pre-selection
- Focus on one person per day, ensuring undivided attention
- Effective exclusion of spam and harassment through unwanted messages
- Profile is more “protected” than on Tinder & Co. (not visible to everyone)
FLOP
- Initial partner suggestions may not be very suitable
- Matches must respond within 24 hours or no contact will be made
- Little influence on partner suggestions
Costs & prices: (as of July 2016)
Crowns (virtual currency):
- Once is completely free in the standard version
- 5 krone as a virtual means of payment for additional services can be purchased for 4.99 euros. For 30 crowns you pay 24.99 euros.
The Love Declarers test Once
Conclusion:
Once has the usual functions of mobile dating, but impresses with its individual approach, which aims to bring more romance and depth into the rather superficial and fleeting world of mobile dating. We were also positively surprised by the fact that real people (matchmakers) ultimately select the partner suggestions and you still don't have to pay any fees for it (matchmaking included in the free version).
- The self-learning algorithm also makes a good impression, even if the suggested flirt partners may be a little unsuitable at the beginning. After all, the program first has to learn what the user likes and doesn't like. This means that you have to have a little patience at the beginning.
- But this is actually always a basic requirement for any serious search for a partner, regardless of which medium you use.
At the same time, with Once you have less of the feeling that you are just an article on a meat inspection and your own profile is more “protected” because only potential matches can view it.
However, every dating app is only as good and promising as the people who use it. Therefore, as with other apps, it can happen that conversations quickly fizzle out, you receive unimaginative messages, the other person suddenly stops answering, you don't receive any really suitable suggestions, etc.
- However, this is not due to this application in particular, but simply to the fact that when searching for a mobile partner, you always share the other person's attention with your real life.
However, this app definitely offers a promising approach and its free use is definitely worth a try.
Overall impression [Rating:75/100] Intuitive app with an individual approach Number of registered members [Rating:80/100] approx. 1.5 million users worldwide (including ~100,000 in DE) Activity/authenticity of members [Rating:90/100] Few fakes thanks to Facebook coupling, active user base privacy [Rating:70/100] Usual data protection Member checking [Rating:95/100] Facebook coupling Women's quota NV no figures known Search filter [Rating:20/100] no search with your own criteria, automatic identification of suitable candidates Costs & Fees [Rating:90/100] Free standard version, premium functions approx. €0.99 per application Features & Functionalities [Rating:60/100] Short profile, few functions Usability & operation [Rating:95/100] Great design and high ease of use, installed quickly Free services [Rating:90/100] Standard version can be used free of charge Customer Service & Support [Rating:80/100] Support via email, matchmaking by real people Feedback members [Rating:70/100] Users mostly satisfied 
Not so good...way too expensive! You can only answer a chat request if you pay 2 crowns. 5 crowns cost €10… honestly! I'd rather go to Paarship with a decent customer base and in the end I'll be cheaper! Tinder is completely free, but unfortunately there are also a lot of strange people... Once you can't even test it for free... first probably fake requests to throw in money and then 3 contacts within a 300km radius... no thanks! Think about marketing it differently, I'm happy to pay, but not like this!
I don't really understand how this differs from tinder, lovoo etc. Here you even judge people based solely on their appearance, whereas with lovoo you can at least take a look at their profiles. The matching here is only based on the “you think you’re pretty” principle. So for me it is by no means an “innovative” dating app
I am very disappointed with the app. It's actually supposed to be the "better Tinder", but there are so many things wrong... hopefully the developers will make improvements
I don't really know what to think about it. The app is not bad, but definitely too expensive. 10€ for 5 crowns, that's pretty big. The price-performance ratio doesn't fit, I think lovoo and badoo are better.