Reviews

We talk about heartache when love is lost. We talk about hearts fluttering when love is found. We send heart emojis and heart-shaped Valentine's and make hand hearts on Instagram. We're heart-obsessed.

It was only a matter of time before someone harnessed that obsession, added a little science, and tied it to another popular obsession: health and fitness. That someone is Once, a new dating app that uses your heart rate to determine your heart's mate.

Once, which can now be integrated with Fitbit and Android Wear, shows users a single potential suitor each day. The matches are curated by actual human matchmakers, who work their magic by reviewing your profile and the profiles of people you've liked in the past. When you're given your daily match, you have 24 hours to make a move before the match expires.

Your latest date loves movies, thinks soccer is the greatest sport in the world, and is dying to travel to Tanzania. But what do you really know about them?

Before meeting any online date in the real world, you need to feel comfortable. You want to know they're not going to be a con artist or a serial killer or secretly married. Founded in 2007, BeenVerified is a service that allows you to run background checks, which is ideal for checking out your dates.

BeenVerified is a one stop shop that searches a variety of records to bring you the most complete background checks possible. Using it is easy, fast and affordable, eliminating the need for multiple websites or in-person visits to courthouses and other government buildings. A BeenVerified search combs multiple sources and organizes the results into a clear, easy to understand report for your convenience.

Background check services have flourished in the age of digital dating, but BeenVerified offers one of the most comprehensive available. Records are searched across a wide variety of categories, including criminal history, relatives, addresses and property, names and aliases, phone numbers, and social networking accounts.

One of BeenVerified's most unique features is AlertMe, which monitors public record changes and sends alerts when updates are found. You're saved the tedious tasking of having to stay on top of the data yourself. Another special offering, available for an additional fee, is the Live Court Runner service, which dispatches a court runner to county court houses to obtain real-time criminal records.

Use of the site isn't free, but a variety of subscription options are available to suit different needs and budgets. Subscriptions can be purchased for one month, three months or six months. Each comes with unlimited: contact information, phone lookups, property address lookups, email lookups, criminal court lookups, and bankruptcy lookups. More advanced features can be purchased separately.

Once your report has been compiled, it can be accessed from your BeenVerified dashboard. Simply log into the site, select the report you'd like to view, and navigate using the table of contents on the lefthand side. You can view, download, or print your purchased reports at any time.

BeenVerified also offers free mobile apps for an on-the-go experience. An iOS app is available for iPhones and iPads, as well as an Android app and an app for Apple Watch. You could be mid-dinner with a date and run a check to help put your mind at ease. Staring at your smartphone isn't usually encouraged during dinner, but if it saves you from a dating disaster, you get a pass.

By merging public records into a single report, BeenVerified alleviates the need to visit county clerks, search multiple websites, and pay hundreds of dollars to find the information you need to make the dating process carefree and fun. For more information on this service please read our BeenVerified review.

Admit it: you're no stranger to taking selfies. In 2015, it's inevitable that you've at least tried it (even if you deleted it immediately afterwards in embarrassment).

But what if your selfie could do something useful? That's the premise behind dating app Blume, which hopes to solve one of the biggest problems in the dating industry: the uncertainty about who’s actually behind the profiles you're into.

Con artists lurk in the darkest corners of online dating. And even if you manage to avoid the seriously scammy profiles, there's a good chance you'll have a run in with someone who just doesn't match their photos. It's practically a rite of passage for online daters.

On Blume, photographic self-portraits save the day. Users connect via profiles, but match via freshly taken selfies. Deceptive profiles are more easily weeded out, and catfish may be more discouraged from joining in the first place. Add it all up, and you have an app that creates a safe and trusted environment in which users can feel certain about each other's true identites.

Blume users begin with a main screen that shows people nearby. If two people 'Like' each other, they connect. When a connection is made, both parties must send a selfie to each other. The photo lasts seven seconds after it's opened before disappearing forever and, in another shoutout to Snapchat, text can be placed over the picture as an icebreaker.

If you're not in selfie mode when a match is made (because let's face it, you're probably searching while you're languishing in bed with a head-pounding hangover), you can reuse a single selfie up to five times.

If you take a screenshot on Blume, you will automatically be banned for 2 hours for a first offense. Further screenshots result in a 7-day ban, a 30-day ban and, after 4 illicit screenshots, a permanent ban from the app. Blume is serious about keeping conversations, selfies and other user content private.

When a mutual match is made, any text laid over the top of the selfies is automatically transferred into a chat session and full profiles are revealed. Once in the chat, you can swipe left to send further selfies.

If uncertainty about who is behind a profile is the top problem for online daters, the second could be difficulty establishing real emotional connections when you meet through a screen. Blume also hopes selfies will help with the latter by making online dating a more intimate experience.

"We really wanted to solve these problems and make online dating a lot more personal, fun and safe at the same time,” co-founder and CEO Daniel Delouya told Bustle.

Online daters – especially women – often complain about unwanted and lude messages they get from potential matches on dating apps. Some guys are so aggressive with initial contact that they send intimate photos of themselves - the so-called “d*ck pic” - which is offensive to many women, if not even a bit scary. But there is little control dating apps have over messages between two people who swiped right and started communicating, which is why many find it such a frustrating experience.

Dating app The Grade aims to change that. Back in October, they launched the controversial “Peer Review” feature on their dating app, essentially letting other users provide direct feedback for online and offline experiences with other singles on the app.  This move was met with skepticism, with some wondering if angry and jilted matches might lash out and tarnish the reputation of someone else on the site, simply because there was no third party witness. Essentially, users could say whatever they wanted about a date.

The Grade surveyed its users to see how they actually felt about the new feature, and according to the company’s findings, 71% of people believe that Peer Review helps weed out the creeps.

Case in point: the majority of The Grade’s female users believe Peer Review provides a safer and better-informed dating experience. And according to a statement released from the company… it finally eliminates the "d*ck pics." Of the 11% of men who admitted to sending an unsolicited photo of their private parts, 90% reported that they would stop if they knew a match could review them.

Could this lead to better dating behavior – knowing that other people are watching and reviewing you?

It seems likely. The Peer Review feature provides feedback from other singles, mainly to help inform users’ decisions to swipe right or left. In fact, The Grade reports that 78% of singles are more likely to “like” (or swipe right) someone with a good Peer Review grade, while 88% are less likely to “like” someone with a bad Peer Review grade.

Ninety-five percent of The Grade’s users are pro-Peer Review, and 85% of the 15,000 peer reviews submitted so far have been positive. Results show that the most common reason a user would give someone a negative review is if that person was already in an existing relationship or lied about their profile details.

Despite the controversy, The Grade might be on to something – accountability for behavior in online dating. That is something most of us can get behind.

There’s a new dating app on the market, and this one puts safety first in a big way. Blume has just launched an app that claims to solve the catfishing problem in online dating.

If you’ve been online dating, you’re probably familiar with the term catfishing. It happens when one online dater tries to deceive another online dater by lying about who he is, his intentions, even his photos and Facebook profile. Usually, people trying to “catfish” other online daters are trying to gain access to financial or personal information, taking advantage of someone else’s vulnerability.

Many dating apps have tried to address the problem by providing “verification” of some sort for everyone who joins a website, usually by having you sign up with your Facebook profile. But some have managed to get around the restrictions, taking advantage of other online daters by sending fake pictures and messages.

Blume has gone one step further by making verification part of the communication process. When you are ready to message someone you mutually “like” (similar to Tinder’s swipe), you cannot proceed without first taking a selfie in that moment. Only when both matches take and send the selfie so each can compare and make sure it’s the same person – are they allowed to communicate. (This might also prompt some late-night hair and make-up attention – instead of hanging out and swiping in your pajamas, one of the benefits to online dating.) You have seven seconds to compare the photos (like Snapchat) before they disappear. Once you take the selfies and they are accepted, then you can begin chatting.

While this is a compelling hook and many people do enjoy taking selfies, this might also be a detraction for using the app. Most of us want to appear camera-ready, and might not like the way we look in selfies, or want to spend time taking the right picture, in the right light, in the right outfit (of course). One benefit is that the photo disappears – but a potential hazard is that you might think your curated profile won’t look the same as your selfie – and that your date might not think you’re the same person.

Not to mention, if you like to sit at the bar or restaurant swiping Tinder while waiting for your friends, this would not bode well for Blume. A poorly lit bar with lots of people around might not be the ideal time to take a selfie for some people. Or even sitting in a café having a coffee.

But if you’re willing to give it a shot and take your chances with your selfies, go for it. It might be the latest online dating craze.

Cinderella had to find Prince Charming the hard way. You can find your fairytale romance on a new dating website designed for Disney lovers.

Specialized dating sites are hardly a new phenomenon – there are sites for farmers, vegetarians, even zombies and morticians – but MouseMingle.com has been the talk of the digital town since its recent debut.

"Traditional internet dating sites don't understand the passion people have for all things Disney,” reads the MouseMingle homepage. “But we do."

The site was created by Dave Tavres, a Disney devotee who once worked as a Disneyland Railroad engineer. He says he never flirted while on duty at the resort, but found it difficult to find women who shared his passion for Disney while he wasn't on the clock.

Tavres told Mashable the idea came to him after friends asked why he hadn't experimented with online dating. "I told them I had tried them, but there was no way to narrow down the searches to find women in the right distance and age range who loved Disney,” he said. “That was the inception moment."

MouseMingle celebrates all things Walt. Users identify their “Disney nerd level” and discuss subjects like favorite Disney songs. The profile questionnaire includes queries like “What type of Disney shopper are you?” and “What type of annual pass do you have?” Newly registered members are also prompted to indicate whether they're in the market for a "Park Pal," friendship, dating or marriage.

Scroll through pictures on the site and you'll see countless snaps of people at the park or dressed as their favorite characters. Some Disney employees are also getting in on the action, sharing photos of themselves in their Disney work uniforms.

Users can browse profiles for free, but you'll need a monthly membership to contact another user. The monthly fee is $12.55 – a reference to 1955, the year the original theme park opened. Far away from the magical kingdom? Don't worry, you don't need to live near a Disney park to use the site. MouseMingle members can live anywhere in the world.

"There are countless single Disney fans that live in the spaces between Disney parks,” Tavres explained to Mashable. “Those people often have a greater passion for Disney, as they don't get to visit as often."

What started out as a high-tech solution to Tavres' singlehood problem has reportedly gained thousands of users is its first week. "My hope is that people literally around the world will find the site useful," he said to Mashable.

Looking for your happily ever after? Join MouseMingle and some day your prince (or princess) might come.