Lumen App: New Dating Site Specifically For Over 50s

Recently we were approached by Lumen to review their new dating app – the Lumen app (click HERE to find out more). Of course, as all our readers know, both Grace and I are happily married. We are not, therefore, in the market for a dating app. However we do have, ‘SASSY’, who, whilst she is a great contributor to this magazine, is actually single and looking as they say!

I think the Lumen app is so positive as it reflects our own philosophy that just because we are over 50 we are not dull and boring. We still have a lot to offer and can enter the dating market. Having listened to various radio programmes about online dating I can see that it is frustrating for the over 50s to be on a website with much younger people. From the outset any man joining this app is basically agreeing that he is happy to date a woman over 50 i.e. he is not looking for a much younger partner.

Lumen is a joint venture from Charly Lester, who has been in the dating industry for over 5 years and Antoine Argouges, former product manager and head of Revenue at Match.com, Badoo, and Bumble. The Lumen app has received £3.5 million investment from Andrey Andreev, the dating titan behind Badoo and Bumble.

Co-founders: Charly Lester & Antoine Argouges

The Lumen app is specific to over 50s (which neither Tinder nor Bumble are), and is not swipe-based. Their focus is on safety – 100% profile verification – and quality conversations – the app is designed to encourage daters to write good introductory profiles, and to communicate properly with other users. Users will be shown potential matches based on shared interests.

Charly told me, “Rather than anything gimmicky, we want to create an app which active ‘young’ over 50s can have an enjoyable dating experience, whilst also not feeling patronised.”

I asked Charly to briefly sum up what is so different about the Lumen app.

1. Lumen is the ONLY app which asks everyone to photo verify (other sites offer this, but no others insist upon it).
2. It is the sole app only offering for this age group – other companies treat over 50s like they don’t use phones.
3. We limit new conversations to 3 a day so people can’t be spammed.
4. We require users to send a minimum of 50 characters in their ice breaker message – so that they don’t just say ‘hi’.
5. Every user is required to have 3 photos, an the ‘about me’ section and a ‘what I’m looking for section’ – so the profiles are longer and more detailed than any other free app.
6. Finally the Lumen app is free to join and use.

Of course we need to put this all into action so we asked SASSY to give it a trial even though it had only been launched less than two weeks beforehand.

As a contributor to CountryWives, and in my capacity as a singleton, it seemed only appropriate that they asked me to appraise a new dating app called Lumen.

I have wide experience of dating sites and have probably, over the last 5 years, tried most of them. Here is my one-line summary of the ones I have tried.

Match – a huge range of “matches” but not always the best calibre without being unkind.
Elite – better but there is no option to search – they send you matches.
Plenty of Fish – plenty of photos of men with fish !
My single friend – despite a glowing description by my bestie not a single response.
My single parent – read as above.
Muddy matches – dirty farmers.
Tinder – it really is as people say – mostly for hook ups.

So as you can see the opportunity to try something new was exceedingly welcome. Lumen is a (very) new dating app with a modern and fresh look about it. It is currently building up its members and is only available in the UK though there are plans to launch it worldwide. To be very fair in my review, as Lumen is extremely new (launched beginning of September), I have to admit that there aren’t many people to choose from however more people are joining every week.

Like a couple of newish sites you have to have a face scan to say your pictures do actually look like you which is a great idea.

The photographs and layout are clear and pleasing however I personally would prefer to have the ages and locations of matches without having to click on profile pictures but I am sure that is coming with some fine-tuning. I am sure they will be listening to customer feedback from users like myself.

I am certain in the market where there is a myriad of dating sites having something new will create a draw and I will continue to keep using it in my hope to find a ‘perfect match’.

Thank you to SASSY for trying out the Lumen app and giving us her review.

I have to admit to being a bit intrigued. So I downloaded the Lumen app (click HERE to find out more) in order to have a proper look (I will delete it so that my husband doesn’t think I am off). I like the fact that people much younger than us have recognised that the over 50s are much more able to understand technology than we are given credit for. The app is very easy to navigate and I found it I found extremely user friendly.

“The majority of single over-50s we know are tech-savvy, active, and looking for their next adventure. But this isn’t the reality we see reflected in the dating industry,” says Antoine Argouges, Lumen CEO. “Lumen finally provides a contemporary solution which over-50s can rely on to meet like-minded people”.

Whilst I do not have any use for this app I will be recommending it to my single girlfriends who are looking for a partner. Maybe they just want to go out on a few dates and enjoy some one-on-one male company.

Another company where ageism is not tolerated. Good luck to Lumen. I hope that their app is a success and helps many of the over 50 single men and women to find their match.

The Lumen app is available on Android and iPhone. To find out more about this app click HERE

For more posts by SASSY click HERE.