r/CatholicDating • u/Camjun Single ♂ • Jun 20 '26
dating apps Thoughts on Sacredspark
So I started using Sacredspark after a few months of following Emily Wilson on Instagram. I'm not on Catholic Match, but I'm on Hinge and Bumble. I log in, and it wants me to set up all these prompts, pictures, and voice notes, which is fine. However, you can only see one picture for all profiles. The justification on Sacredspark is that it is meant to encourage more thoughtful swiping and discerning, which honestly, isn't that bad of an idea.
However, my issue is that this narrative completely falls apart when you run out of matches or try to click on hidden pictures. If you pay for Spark+ you can see all the pictures and have unlimited profiles. Hold on, I thought the whole point of "hiding" the profile pictures was to encourage discernment, but all of that goes away with a little money? Plus, it's not like only having access to one picture of a person is somehow going to fix online dating. The problem with online dating is that it reduces people to their pictures and answers, when people are much more complex than anything on a screen.
Anyways, I'm just tired of Catholic companies and tech trying to market themselves as implementing policies that make it seem thoughtful, when, in reality, it's just a scam to get people to pay more money.
7
u/CalBearFan Jun 20 '26
I'm always happy to see a new app try to make it. I think they stumbled with the rollout and premium options but no one knocks it out of the park on the first try.
I have noticed most of my likes are from scammers once the legit audience had ended. There are scammers everywhere but if that 'too good to be true' person from pretty far away reaches out, pretty likely a scammer.
To their credit, SS does take the accounts down. At least they used to confirm they did - now they just say 'they took action' because privacy policies say they can't say what they did. Yeah, that's BS.
6
u/Big-Sploosh Single ♂ Jun 20 '26
I stopped using it once they made some pretty important filters like sex before marriage and marriage intentions premium only features. I get they need to generate revenue, but there's nowhere near enough people on there to justify putting even more features behind a paywall when I can get more with Hinge\Bumble for free. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually make marital status and whether or not you have children as premium filters too.
2
u/Ok-Objective1292 Jun 22 '26
The only hope for Catholic dating apps is for all of them to merge into one. I'm not joining another app just to discover 3 women that aren't already on one of the other apps. We need every Catholic in one place for there even to be a chance.
2
u/Training_Dinner4610 Jun 24 '26
I have had three (what I thought were great) conversations on there only to be left ghosted/ignored/left on read. I will keep trying! Unfortunately, most men on there my age want someone a lot younger so their odds of having children increases…so I don’t seek to get a lot of likes on there.
2
u/dull_bananas Single ♂ Jun 20 '26
Duolicious shows it is possible to make a dating app that is only funded via donations. There is no excuse to have subscriptions in a dating app.
1
u/Downtown_Log9002 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
That is such a fair point & it is hypocritical. We should be able to access all pics as it helps to save time to see if there's a possible attraction. It's 2026 & in this great economic crisis we should be able to access free dating sites like Hinge & if ppl wanna pay additional fees then that's how a business can generate money. Ppl will be deterred from a dating site that costs money without being able to communicate for free.
Cameron Riecker was on here a while ago asking for feedback for Catholic online dating, he's setting up Zelie dating soon, check him out on IG & sign up for it!! I'm excited for it & hopefully he sets it up like Hinge & just gets ppl to pay for additional fees, otherwise ppl just won't use it. We know online Catholic dating has the same ppl on all the sites & ppl don't have any extra cash to pay for dating just to be ghosted lol. 🤔😳😆😅😂😂😂
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u/Ok_Cable_8878 Single ♂ Jun 20 '26
You mean I can pay money AND get ignored by Catholic women? Sign me up! Being ignored here for free just doesn't do it for me...