Young singles in Iran have long been using Western online dating sites to meet each other, with over 300 operating within its borders. But now, the government wants to get involved in residents’ personal lives by creating its own online dating website – drawing users away from Western sites, which are perceived to encourage sex before marriage.

The move is prompted by a growing divorce rate among young couples – especially those under 30 – which has the country’s leaders concerned. Government officials link the high divorce rate to the “immoral” tendencies of the way Western dating sites operate, which they perceive are intended for more casual hook-ups. So now, the government is appealing to young peoples’ technologically-savvy tendencies to push their own agenda among online daters. The big question is: will it actually attract users?

In a country where Internet access and social media is tightly controlled by religious authorities, it seems an unusual step for the government to jump on the online dating bandwagon. The Iranian government has long been weary of online dating sites, but now with rising divorce rates, they want to turn things around.

The challenge comes with the dating site itself – hamsan.tebyan.net is run by the Islamic Development Organization, an institution under the supervision of the Supreme Leader that “promotes the Islamic lifestyle,” according to a report by the BBC.

Basic profile information is not shared among users – including pictures, hobbies, and interests like favorite movies or food. Religious authorities deem this type of sharing as “immodest.” Instead, users are only able to see things like a match’s height, weight, and parents’ professions.

There are some government-approved dating websites that operate in Iran, which offer for a young couple to meet and date under the supervision of a cleric, typically in the cleric’s office. The couples’ parents can be brought in if it seems there is likely a match to be made.

Single residents of Iran used to Western online dating sites are skeptical of the government-run site. One told BBC Persian: "Matches would be chosen by the people running the website, and I can't trust that they would make the right decision. Other websites have arithmetic that match candidates according to their likes and dislikes, but this one is entirely arbitrary," he said.

Right now, the service only operates in Tehran, but the government plans to open it to other cities.

Your knight (or lady) in shining armor could be waiting online. Or your next hookup. Or even your new best friend. But so are identity thieves, hackers, and other unscrupulous folks who range from not-so-nice to downright nasty.

Online dating is like a playground. Most people you meet are good. They're out there to have fun and meet each other. But a few of those people are bullies, and your best bet is to steer clear of them.

One of the biggest online dating bullies is the catfish, a person who pretends to be someone they're not and uses that false identity to lure others into deceptive online relationships.

How do you investigate a potential date if something feels fishy? It's time for some digital research. It might seem creepy at first (and if you were stalking your ex, it would be), but in this case you get a pass. You have to take care of yourself, and a good offense is the best defense.

Look for the following red flags during your investigation:

• Their profile looks like it was put together in 30 seconds. The profile of a serious dater should look like time and effort went into it.
• They don't have social media accounts. Maybe they just think they're being radical by staying off social media. Maybe. But it's far more likely in this day and age that someone who doesn't have any social media accounts doesn't exist.
• They have more than one profile on a single social media site. How many Facebook accounts does one person need? Answer: one. More than that could mean something suspect is going on.
• Their social accounts have very few friends. Most of us are on social media to be social. If an account only has a handful of friends, you have to wonder what else it exists for.
• Their photos don't look right. Are they all modeling photos with no pictures of activities? Has no one else posted a photo of them? Are there no signs of family or friends in any of the pictures? Are their photos completely devoid of tags? These are all possible red flags.
• They contact you outside of your dating service. You've been chatting on OkCupid and suddenly they reach out to you on Facebook. Time to take a step back and reconsider who you're talking to. Even if they're not a catfish, that move shows a poor sense of boundaries.
• Their profile is copy/pasted. Some scammers get lazy and use the same info for multiple profiles, or steal the info from real profiles. Run a Google search to see if the same text pops up in multiple profiles. You can also run a reverse image search to do the same for photos.

If you see any of these signs – or worse, a cluster of them – you may be better off backing away.

You've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but how about wearing your heart on your wrist?

Purchase an Apple Watch and you could do exactly that.

Tim Cook called the gadget Apple's “most personal device yet,” so naturally developers jumped at the chance to make it even more personal. The smartwatch won't only shake up how we keep time, but perhaps also how we find love on-the-go.

Several of the biggest players in the online dating game were quick to introduce apps when the Apple Watch launched back in April. Match.com, OkCupid, and Tinder (coincidentally – or not – owned by the same parent company) all released apps designed for the device. Each one is an easy extension of your regular online or mobile dating activity.

But it's not just the biggies who are getting in on the ground floor. A few lesser-known dating services have also sprung up for the smartwatch.

1. Watchme88: This watch-first app helps users meet other users nearby in real-time. Set your preferences (gender, location, age) and when a match shows up within the specified radar, both Apple Watches start to glow. If you're shy, you can send your match a message or a wink before approaching in person.
2. Jack'd: Jack’d claims to be the first Apple Watch app for guys looking to meet guys. Users receive notifications in real-time whenever their profile is viewed by someone nearby. The app also offers key insights on who’s viewed your profile and other revealing stats.
3. The Inner Circle: Think you have what it takes to be part of the inner circle? If the answer is yes, try out this app, which prescreens members to “maintain the highest quality.” The Inner Circle has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, ELLE and more.
4. PlanetRomeo: PlanetRomeo claims to be one of the world’s largest online dating and social platforms for the gay/bi male and transgender communities. Use your Apple Watch to browse profiles, read messages, and save users to your favorites so you'll be notified when they're online.
5. Close Encounter by 3nder: Feeling adventurous? Try a “real-time blind dating app for open-minded people.” The app does away with profile photos to focus on personality. Your watch will vibrate when a potential match is nearby, then you can decide whether to reveal your location. Close Encounter doesn't exist quite yet, but you can read more about its proposed features on Medium.

Or maybe you're not into the big names or the underdogs. In that case, you have a solid middle-of-the-road option in Coffee Meets Bagel. The company released an Apple Watch version of its popular app that simplifies the dating process by focusing on only one potential match each day.

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There’s something to be said for taking things slowly. In fact, I advocate for this in my book Date Expectations. When you first start going out with someone, even if the chemistry is there – you don’t really know him/her – so it’s best to take things one step at a time, and date other people too. The problem is that people have taken this idea to an extreme, and instead prefer to “hang out,” because dating is such a commitment.

Yes, even meeting someone for a drink can be too much commitment in some daters’ eyes.

A recent article in Mic.com outlines this as the “chill” dating phenomenon. According to the writer Kate Hakala, the current dating currency is "your degree of chill." That is, you are more apt to get dates if you prove yourself to be indifferent to relationships. In other words, she says, become an “emotionless robot” who has no accountability or concern for others’ feelings, and you will find yourself at the top of the dating heap.

This is not good news for many daters, who, despite efforts at passing themselves off as “chill” – never mind all those unanswered texts and strings of messages and dates who disappear - actually care about finding a relationship. Instead, daters are having to accept bad behavior guised in the form of being relaxed about dating. If you have expectations, then you are too high maintenance.

Perhaps it has to do with the way we communicate now – making plans via text, wehre it is easy to cancel last minute without having to make excuses face-to-face. The rise of dating apps like Tinder, where new singles are always accessible, 24/7 hasn’t helped much either. It has turned dating into a commodity – where we all believe peoples’ feelings don’t matter so much because in the grand scheme of things, we can find someone else.

I tend to take a more cautious and critical approach to chill dating. I don’t think it is helping people with their relationship skills. In fact, I think it’s creating a culture of anxiety-ridden daters, who have no idea what to make of their dates and feel really uncomfortable having any kind of conversation to define their relationship.

I don't think it’s a bad thing to talk about your feelings. In fact, it’s incredibly freeing. If you aren’t feeling it with someone after several dates, don’t just disappear. Break up with your date. Allow for some closure. There’s nothing chill about playing around with other peoples’ feelings. Just because you don’t take the relationship seriously doesn’t mean you should assume your date is on the exact same page as you. Chances are, she’s not.

Being chill isn't doing you any favors - maybe it's time to take some chances with someone you're attracted to instead and see what happens.

A study was recently released about users of dating app Tinder, which found that over 40% of the Tinder population is either already married or in a relationship.

While dating apps do attract users with less virtuous intentions, and some people feel compelled to meet for random hook-ups through a dating app even while they are in a committed relationship, there is an interesting question: what if some of these non-single users don't even know they have an online dating profile?

Turns out, there are many people who think deleting a dating app from your phone is the same as deleting your profile - but it isn't.

Dating apps and online dating sites make it kind of tricky to get rid of you altogether – after all, they attract people (and investors) based on user numbers, so they are not motivated to make it obvious how to delete your account. Many Tinder and dating app users delete the app from their phones, mistaking this from deleting their profile altogether.

So perhaps we shouldn’t be so cynical when it comes to daters’ intentions. Maybe instead, it’s good to take you through the steps of how to delete a profile for the most popular apps:

Tinder

Many people make the mistake of deleting the app from their phones and thinking their profiles will be deleted, too – but this isn’t the case. To delete your account, go to “Settings” in the app, select “App Settings” then scroll down to “Delete Account.” You’ll get a message that says it was deleted, so you know for sure. (Keep in mind – this deletes all your messages and profile information, so you can't get it back.) If you paid for the Tinder Plus service, Tinder makes it one step harder to cancel: you have to cancel your subscription via email. Bear in mind, if you log in to Tinder again after deleting your account, it creates a whole new account for you.

OkCupid

OkCupid, unlike Tinder, gives you the option of letting your profile be disabled, which means that if you decide to use the service in the future, you’ll still have access to those old photos, profile, and messages. If you prefer to delete it altogether, you can go to “Settings” in either the app or desktop version and select “delete account.”

eHarmony

eHarmony is tricky to delete, because it takes two steps. First, go to “Settings,” then “Account Settings,” then “Billing” then “Close Account.” Then according to some to make sure it’s completely deleted, you have to send an email to deletemyinfo@eharmony.com with the subject line “Delete my Account Information.”

Hinge

Hinge doesn’t allow you to delete your account from your phone, but only from a computer. Go to the Hinge website for a link to your Facebook App settings, and then delete Hinge from there. Once you have done this, then you can delete the app from your phone.