We reviewed BeLinked to determine how it works. If you find the idea behind such an app intriguing, read on and find out if it’s right for you.

— Pros and Cons —

Pros

• Robust free version
• Available for both Android an iOS
• Simple but powerful user interface
• Ideal for professionals seeking other professionals

Cons

• Number of matches drops in rural or less economically sound geographic areas
• Some attach an “elitist” stigma to the app

— In-Depth BeLinked App Review —

There are many different types of people in this world. Each one of them will be looking for something different in the person that they seek to date. While some people are more free-spirited and do not confine the search for their soulmate to any specific set of parameters — others seek a more defined structure when it comes to the method applied to their search. Others prefer to only seek partners on whom they can rely for financial and emotional stability.

Just as different social media platforms serve different purposes when it comes to your social life, so too are there radically different types of dating sites to suit a wide variety of dating needs. The BeLinked app is a dating app that focuses on those who need order, reliability, and stability in their lives and relationships.

Although it is in no way connected to LinkedIn, the similarity in the styling of both brands serves to indicate just how derivative of LinkedIn BeLinked is.

You see, BeLinked is a dating app that markets itself as a platform for professionals seeking professionals. BeLinked takes pride in weeding out those prospective matches that are unemployed, that lack ambition, or that are stuck in dead-end jobs. In other words, BeLinked is for the affluent, the upwardly-mobile, and the ambitious.

— Where to Get It —

BeLinked functions exclusively as a mobile app. It is available for both Android and iOS devices. You can download it from either the iTunes App Store or Google Play.

In terms of the reception of the app by those who have downloaded it, those on the App Store have given it an average 2.5-star rating. Those on Google Play have given it an average three-star rating. Both of these ratings would be considered at or below average.

When reading deeper into those who left reviews on both platforms, it became obvious that while most people hailed the app as being innovative, many tempered their enthusiasm about BeLinked by mentioning problems that they encountered with either its performance or overall availability of suitable partners.

— How It Works —

Much as how Tinder is able to access Facebook data to fuel its service, so too does BeLinked access LinkedIn data to fuel its service.

By using the BeLinked API as the foundation of its matchmaking engine and database, the quality of potential matches that BeLinked can present to its users is — across various metrics — of a higher caliber than most other dating apps.

For example, close to 45 percent of its users have average annual incomes of over $75,000. Likewise, over half of its user base has at minimum a bachelor’s degree.

On a curious note, the founder of LinkedIn, Max Fisher, went to high school with one of the co-founders of Tinder, Justin Mateen.

— Registration —

In order to register on BeLinked, you must sync your LinkedIn account to your BeLinked account. The terms of service of the app clearly stipulate that it will never post anything to your LinkedIn account. The synchronization is only used to import certain data about yourself to your BeLinked profile. Currently, this data includes your age, first name, the industry of your profession and a profile picture.

Additionally, you can voluntarily add more information to your BeLinked profile such as age, additional images, specific hobbies, and select the preferred parameters for the partner that you are seeking.

— Using BeLinked —

The user interface for BeLinked is simple and doesn’t offer too many choices on the part of the user. Essentially, users are presented with the profile images of other users based on their preferred partner preferences, their previous swiping history, and their current location.

Each user can then either swipe left or right on each profile that they are presented. Each time a user is presented with another member’s user profile, they are also informed whether or not they have LinkedIn Connections in common with each other.

— User Experience —

In our testing of BeLinked, we found the app to be intuitive and simple to use. It’s lack of additional features or complex options, in our opinion, makes it more appealing. It doesn’t overwhelm your senses each time that you use it. This is ideal if you’re the sort of personality that wants to set something right the first time and not have to worry about it again.

We can see, however, how other personality types — those that need to be more in control or that need to constantly tweak their profiles and search parameters — could feel underserved by BeLinked.

There is also the so-called “elitist” factor. Although from what we could gather from our use of the app, it is not at all an elitist platform, it has not been able to escape criticism from certain media circles that it is exclusive of those who do not belong to a certain economic or academic class.

On a more practical level, we did discover that finding suitable matches was easier with BeLinked when you lived in a highly concentrated metropolitan area. This is likely due to the fact that the majority of its members reside in higher-end neighborhoods. When we conducted match searches in more rural or less economically prosperous areas, the number of potential matches dropped significantly.

— Cost —

BeLinked is free to download and use. There is a premium version that has a cost of $6.99 per month. This option allows you to further fine-tune the search parameters for partners. It adds the ability to filter searches by industry, education level, and city. Female members that upgrade to the premium feature can also see who has expressed an interest in their profile.

Although the premium features do add muscle to the BeLinked search function, we found the free version to be sufficiently robust for the majority of users.