We still remember back in the day when WhosHere was extremely popular. Question is, how does it perform today? Does it still hold up on its own? Has it been entirely supplanted by newer and more modern apps?

Maybe you used WhosHere in the past and are curious about giving it a try again. Maybe you are just looking for something different in your online dating routine. Whatever your motivation, whatever your curiosity — make sure to read our review of WhosHere. It will provide you with the information that you need to determine if WhosHere should still merit your attention or if it is just a relic of a bygone era.

— Pros and Cons —

Pros

• Free
• Text-based chat, video chat, and VoIP communication features
• Available for iOS and Android
• Easy to use
• Fast registration process

Cons

• Browser-based version not as strong as its mobile versions
• Presence of banner ads in the free version
• Results vary by geographical location

— In-Depth WhosHere App Review —

Back in 2008 — when the iPhone was barely one-year-old — an online dating app called WhosHere appeared on the scene. Innovative in the sense that it took advantage of the power of the iPhone to help people meet each other, it spearheaded the movement toward social proximity dating apps.

What’s “social proximity dating,” you ask? It covers all of those apps that we now take for granted that use your smartphone’s GPS location to help you meet like-minded people in your immediate area.

You might be asking, is an app that has been around since 2008 still relevant? That’s exactly the same question that we had. That is why we recently took WhosHere for a test drive.

— WhosHere’s Current Platforms —

Originally, WhosHere started strictly as an iPhone app. In the present day, it is available for both iOS and Android devices. It also has a web browser version that you can access via any computer. The browser-based platform, however, is limited in functionality compared to its mobile versions. On the web version, most of your communication functions are not available. The web-based platform is intended primarily as a way to check on your account when your smartphone is not available.

It was the opinion of our testers that the web-based version is not maintained as frequently as either of the two mobile apps. In our opinion, WhosHere’s web-based version should be updated or deprecated. In its current state, it does not reflect well on the potential of the WhosHere’s platform overall.

The mobile versions performed quite well in terms of speed and stability. On both iOS and Android, our testers did not encounter any technical difficulties.

— Registration Process —

Registering for an account on WhosHere is a fast and simple process. It requires new users to link to their existing Facebook account. WhosHere only uses your Facebook account to verify that you are a real person and to avoid duplicate accounts. They never post anything to your Facebook timeline.

— Building Your Profile —

Profiles are rather compact on WhosHere. This, however, does not mean that they are shallow in details. From your profile settings, you can identify your age either specifically or as an age range. You can also select your sexual orientation and you have the option of letting your phone’s GPS determine your location or manually enter it yourself. There is also space to enter your physical attributes such as height, weight, eye color, etc. Space is reserved so you can add a few lines about yourself to make your profile more distinctive. It is just important to remember that all of this information should be concise and easily digestible by those who look at your profile page. WhosHere profiles are not that long.

Your profile settings is also the section from where you can adjust the search parameters for the WhosHere search engine. You can filter this by the last time that members logged in — be it a few minutes or weeks. Our testers found that the optimum entry for this setting should be three days. You can also filter by distance. The option to exclude profiles that do not have an image attached is also available.

WhosHere provides a unique filtering setting known as the “Jerk Filter.” When you activate this filter it will remove from your search results people who have been reported to the site administrators for behavior that broke the site’s code of conduct.

— Features and User Interface —

The features on WhosHere are nothing groundbreaking. They consist of a search engine that presents users with a scrollable list of potential matches. These are subdivided into tabs labeled “near,” “favorites,” “featured,” and “emailed.”. The labels are self-explanatory. The “featured” tab includes members who due to their activity have earned priority positioning.

Just bear in mind that this priority positioning is directly affected by whether or not the user has used one of the paid options available on WhosHere. Free users rarely get featured.

In terms of communication features, WhosHere scores highly. They allow members to use an email messaging function as well as instant chat, video chat, and a VoIP telephone service. We found this myriad of communication features to perform quite well. We were pleased to discover that the communication features are available for free.

Additionally, since you do not have to reveal your personal information to other members it offers a great degree of anonymity and security.

— Cost —

WhosHere can legitimately be described as a free app. However, it does offer a few paid options. For example, if you wish to permanently remove the banner ads that appear at the top of your screen you can do so with a one-time payment of $19.99. Likewise, in order to improve your chances of appearing in the featured section, you can send other members digital gifts. To do this, you must purchase a block of points. Different digital gifts have different point costs. According to the terms of service, the more expensive your digital gift, the higher you will rank in the featured section.

A block of 10 points will cost you $0.99, 30 points $1.99, 100 points $4.99, and 10,000 points $19.99.

WhosHere also has a feature that they call “plane ticket.” This allows you to place your profile in circulation any place on the globe. In other words, if you were to live in Los Angeles but want your profile to be circulated and featured in Paris, you can do so. A 24-hour “plane ticket” will cost you $1.99. You can also choose the 30-day option for $9.99.