JapanCupid (March 2023)

All of the CupidMedia sites have a confusing misnomer for matches.
Instead of the word ‘Match’ being used to show when two people have mutually liked each-other, a ‘Match’ is merely an indication that you are the other person fit what each other is searching. The result of this misuse of ‘Match’ when compared to other dating apps is that you receive e-mails that declare you have a large number of new matches but in reality you have no likes or mutual likes – there are just users who meet your criteria.

One Member must be Premium to Communicate

The title says it all really. You can write messages and you will receive messages… but you cannot read a message if neither you nor the sender is a premium subscribing member. This limitation also causes the app to not meet our criteria for being able to build a relationship in the free version. 

Extensive Filters but Still Many Unwanted Messages

All of the CupidMedia sites have a very extensive filtering system, including the ‘willing to relocate’ filter, which we especially love – it’s essential for international daters.

Yet despite being able to filter out messages from members based on criteria you apply, you still get a lot of messages from people who are working around the filters. For example, if you have filtered out a certain race… where members haven’t entered their race, they come through to you in large numbers. This is something that could be improved on. It does get a little disheartening to see that you have several new messages only to discover that they are all from users that you wanted filtered.

Verdict from Our Reviewer

It’s a good site and the prices are fairly reasonable. The filters and search are great. But regardless of these features, qualified matches are easier to come by using Tinder in travel mode to countries of your choice.  It’s a shame there are so many spammers and scam artists on the site too. There is much potential but the CupidMedia sites need to have a design overhaul, the filters improved on and a web app built.