LockedSingle Adults Website

Hello-
One of the major goals of the church is to support and assist its single adult population in finding a spouse so they can enjoy the blessings of a temple marriage. This is probably the major reason the church has wards and branches specifically for single adults, world-wide.

However, there are large areas of the world where the population of church members, and correspondingly, single adults, is very small. In these areas, the dating pool for a single adult is very, very small. As a case study, I have a sibling at a major University on the east coast of the US, he is in a singles branch, with on the order of 10-20 people total in the branch. If is future spouse is not amongst these people, his options are to try and visit other singles wards, or use third party websites dedicated to connecting single LDS individuals, such as ldssingles.com, or ldsmingles.com. Unfortunately these and other similar websites suffer from two major problems:

1) There are many such services, each with an increasingly smaller subset of the population, making it time consuming and frustrating to locate people in your area.

2) They are commercial businesses, and to actively communicate with people you must subscribe. Which an even smaller subset of people do.

If the church wants to help its single adults to find a spouse, then I believe it should do everything in its power to facilitate this goal. It is long overdue that the church uses technology to aid this goal.

My suggestion is that the church uses the existing technology that has been developed with LDS accounts, and picture posting, and supplements this with additional text fields to allow single adults to present profiles of themselves, find other single adults, and communicate with them. Most importantly, this should be encouraged by Bishops and Branch Presidents, so that a high percentage of the LDS single community uses it, so that individuals know it is a first class service, and useful tool to aid in finding a spouse.

I am sure people will have concerns about privacy, abuse, or even liability. I believe these can all be handled satisfactorily. One possible way to ensure the right individuals are using it would be to require the Bishop or Branch President to grant access to individuals to use the system, much like dance cards for youth. And perhaps these would need to be renewed periodically.

In summary, I believe as a church we are not doing everything we should be doing to assist our single adults in attaining the opportunities and blessings they desire. We certainly have the capability to create the services that can help them, and I hope that we seriously consider doing so.

-David Erickson

I really want to help create something like this! I have used several of the modern online dating websites including ldssingles, ldsplanet, and most recently Zoosk. I have created profiles but have never really used them because I refuse to pay $15-30/mo for a subscription to talk to people. I have thought of making a completely free version all by myself, but I want to limit it to people who are seeking quality relationships with people who have similar standards. Whatever I develop, I don't want it to turn into a "hook-up" site.

@derickso you make many excellent points. Even in our dense Utah communities young single adults get frustrated. The church universities and those with large institute and FHE programs are awesome because they provide so many opportunities to meet so many people. During my four years at BYU-I I met new people every day. If I didn't graduate high school early and complete 2 years before my mission, I might have left myself enough time to find a wife there after. But unfortunately, I hear of so many graduates who move into dense LDS communities, either for work or to live at home, who date many people in their ward and find no luck and then have no where to turn. We don't go hang out at clubs or bars to meet people, and I don't think I am going to ask someone I meet at Walmart. Of course Ward, Stake and multi-Stake activities help, but for the most part we graduates are stuck with the same 100-150 active (50-75 opposite gender) people until we either move or someone new moves in. And those numbers reflect only who comes to church. It seems to me that only about 10% of those people make it to ward activities where the real "getting-to-know-you" takes place. Ward-hopping is increasingly frowned upon which I completely understand, and so what do we have?

I have the skills and desire to create such a website. I might even start working on something this week (I am very frustrated with other services right now). What I really would like is to be able to authenticate using LDS Accounts. I know the church has many good reasons not to attach itself to a dating web-site - they are notorious for inappropriate behavior, but I think that a matchmaker.lds.org would be pretty amazing!

Thanks for the response and the enthusiasm! Ideally it would be *really* helpful to get church support on something like this, but perhaps a proof of concept would help get them interested.

I think this would be great. As a single guy something like this could be helpful.

I have started drafting up a design/plan document with some specifics. I plan to do a poll of my friends asking how many would use a dating website created by/run by the church. I know I would but I may be odd. As for a "proof of concept", what exactly would we need? I mean I could just develop the entire project and then present it to them and ask if they would like to integrate it into singles wards. If they decline I could ask what changes might make them change their minds. What do you think it would take to get their approval without a working prototype? I have some ideas about user management and access controlled by YSA bishops. There would have to be content filtering and a moderating system even still. I like the idea of a user moderated site where users can report inappropriate behavior or even rate a person using a dating etiquette rubric so that the users can get feedback about themselves but can also watch out for users with bad ratings. Violators of rules can "clear their names" by speaking with their bishops and receiving counsel. Does anyone know if there is an official channel for presenting such ideas? My cousin works in the church's software development center and I could feed it through him but I don't know how effective that would be. Maybe it would be most effective, I don't really know. Any thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated.

tyjoti89 wrote:Does anyone know if there is an official channel for presenting such ideas?

The official channel for presenting an idea such as this one is through your bishop to the stake president. Your stake president is part of a coordinating council composed of a number of stakes in your region and presided over by an area seventy. He reports to the area president or a member of the presidency of the Seventy, depending on where you live in the world.

The challenge of helping single members is a real one, whether they are young single adults or older members who are single. It begins with your ward and the ward single adult committee. Each stake also has a young single adult and a single adult committee. Our area has a regional single adult council that functions under the direction of the chairman of our coordinating council (the area seventy I mentioned).

Our single members are actively involved in furthering this work. Our coordinating council has been authorized to do much in the way of using modern-day social and electronic media to assist these members according to the guidelines that are already in the current Handbooks and under the direction of the general authorities who oversee this part of the vineyard. Every suggestion is carefully considered, and many are passed on to Church Headquarters for their consideration.

And we use the ones we like while we are waiting. [grin]

Thank you. I don't think I would have thought to talk to my bishop about this but I think he would absolutely love the idea and would be happy to pass it on. I am excited to get this thing going! Partly because I love projects like this and partly because I want to use the finished product. :]

tyjoti89 wrote:rate a person using a dating etiquette rubric so that the users can get feedback about themselves but can also watch out for users with bad ratings. Violators of rules can "clear their names" by speaking with their bishops and receiving counsel.

The church is very sensitive to the kinds of information they collect. I think that's well over their comfort level.

tyjoti89 wrote:Does anyone know if there is an official channel for presenting such ideas? My cousin works in the church's software development center and I could feed it through him but I don't know how effective that would be. Maybe it would be most effective, I don't really know. Any thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'd ask your cousin.

I do know this - the developers can't work on anything they like. The effort has to be sponsored by a church department. You need to figure out which department(s) are the best bet and pitch it to them. As far as I know, there is no "Single Member" department. So it's likely you're going to have to appeal to the Priesthood Department.

russellhltn wrote:the developers can't work on anything they like.

This makes sense if I were wanting to hand the project off to someone else to develop, but this is a project I would like to manage. I don't expect the church to allocate resources to this. I am considering it a service project that I will thoroughly enjoy. I haven't worked in a team development environment yet, but I would love to get some experience by setting up a volunteer crew.

Are all of the projects on this site official church projects? I thought that they were more like beta projects. Looking at the list of projects now though, it looks like they are all pretty official. Did it use to be this way? I thought that there were a lot of "my kind" of projects on this site in the past. Just cool ideas that warranted a group effort and provided an opportunity for service, putting skills to use, only being accepted as church official after proving themselves in some way or another.

russellhltn wrote:The church is very sensitive to the kinds of information they collect. I think that's well over their comfort level.

Is there a place in the handbooks or elsewhere where I can find more specific information on this topic? I think it would be useful to know what kinds of information we need to avoid "collecting" to make this an acceptable application. I know quite a bit about data coarsening to protect private data. My internship was all about that. I see on Mormon.org profiles we can probably collect gender, age, and ethnicity, but the ages are grouped quite broadly. That might be a problem as age matters quite a bit to most people in the realm of dating. If people can't provide information about themselves for others to view, it might make this an impossible task. I wonder how the church would view the use of screen names, or allowing users to set visibility settings on each piece of data. There are obviously a lot of risks with online dating and I have and plan to spend much more time thinking of ways to keep people safe and their information secure.

tyjoti89 wrote:Are all of the projects on this site official church projects? I thought that they were more like beta projects. Looking at the list of projects now though, it looks like they are all pretty official. Did it use to be this way? I thought that there were a lot of "my kind" of projects on this site in the past. Just cool ideas that warranted a group effort and provided an opportunity for service, putting skills to use, only being accepted as church official after proving themselves in some way or another.

Yes, all projects are official. See Introduction to LDSTech Projects on the wiki for more information. The page Internal leadership on project teams has additional information on how LDSTech projects are run.

There have been refinements in how the process works but projects have always been official even from the start.

That was very helpful information. I am sorry I didn't look around more before.

I have posted my idea on https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Sharing_ideas ... h_projects. I have also read the church's privacy policy and I think that this is very doable. Also I gave some thought to what department might want to support such a project. Do you think that the LDS Family services department might be interested? It was stated earlier

The effort has to be sponsored by a church department. You need to figure out which department(s) are the best bet and pitch it to them. As far as I know, there is no "Single Member" department. So it's likely you're going to have to appeal to the Priesthood Department.

Is there a list of departments openly available? I have already shared this idea with my cousin (who works for ICS) and I plan to share it with my YSA Bishop. Thanks for all your help!

tyjoti89 wrote:Do you think that the LDS Family services department might be interested?

Doesn't seem likely to me. If you look at the web page, it seems to fall more into the area of Professional counseling or social work. They're not involved with the general membership.

dianek.robbins wrote:so what happened with this idea? Very little is being done to help single adults find each other thru the church, especially if you are over 30. there are 3 devotionals for young single adults in 2017 but when asked what the church is doing for the adult singles there is silence. Firesides focus on things that are gospel related but not address the plight of singleness or offer a solution. it is like the church doesn't know what to do with so the subject is avoided.

If your stake has a single adult representative, I would suggest you start there. If not, one of the counselors in your stake presidency is responsible for single adults. He will be able to direct you to other resources.

Then I would become involved with the activities of the multi-stake coordinating council where you live. Most of them have effective communication channels to keep single adults aware of planned activities.

Our stake has regular firesides and activities, and other stakes (but not all) do the same. Stakes in the coordinating councils in our area host two regional single adult conferences each year. These activities and conferences are the places where you will meet and associate with other single adults.

Personally, I do not believe the Church will set up a dating site. It is far too risky, in my opinion. So the next best place to meet other single adults is through regularly planned Church activities. In places where the Church is strong, there will be many. In places where there are not as many Church members, you will have to travel to meet other single adults who are members of the Church.

I am in the latter category. I know from personal experience that it is not easy.

It's not the mission or job of the church to play match maker. They help us out by teaching us correct principles and what not but the responsibility to find our eternal companion falls on us singles and no one else. There are websites out there that cater to LDS Singles, but they like any other dating site, are only as good as the people who use them. And yes I know how boring and frustrating the stake/regional sponsored activities can get as well, believe me. There are only so many dances and event nights we can tolerate and then we finally roll our eyes and stop going.

I suggest you don't limit yourself to dating only members, and also move to an area that has a larger LDS singles population if you are desperate enough. Otherwise, the singles life aint so bad.

I would love to see sa Members only website where we could sign in and browse and message members for free or for a very small monthly membership fee. I am now on LDSPlanet and I get more "I like your photo" tags than anything. Unpaid members or frauds contact me who are not paying members therefore are just sending flirts etc. I know that dances are not as fun when I was younger. I think it would be a great idea to have the church involved or a way to sign in with our membership number. There are thousands of fraudulent men and woman trying to pose as americans when they are not. I want to meet men who have recommends who are worthy of me. I'm sure the feeling is mutual for worthy men. I have been divorced since 1999 and have never been sealed. It is my prayer of course. We need a Utah Singles Website where we can meet, chat and post pictures. It doesn't have to be extravagant. About me, Thoughts on the Gospel and a place to list what we enjoy doing hobbies etc. it's been hard to find love and companionship. I'm a singles representative in the Albian Ward and I would love to be part of this. underatuscanysky@yahoo.com is my email. I'm 52 years old and hopes that my feedback helps.

Alma~

I think the same problems that occur on LDSPlanet or other dating sites would also occur on an LDS-sponsored site. The Church can restrict access to LDS Account, but anyone can sign up for an LDS Account (member or not). They could make it members-only, but with millions of members around the world there are still bound to be some fraudsters who sign up, either with their own account or with someone else's account. And there would be no way to restrict the site even further to temple-recommend-holding members without running into privacy issues – temple recommend status is private membership information. People who join the site would have a false sense of security, thinking "this is a Church site, so nothing can go too wrong," which would make people even more vulnerable to fraud.

sbradshaw wrote:The Church can restrict access to LDS Account, but anyone can sign up for an LDS Account (member or not).

As evidence of that, this forum requires a LDS Account to join and we regularly have to delete spam from here.

If this was opened up to all members around the world I am sure that they would join such a site, as I for one have tried the other sites and many times have had to deal with scammers of which many are getting really good at pretending to be members of the church. It would be a really good idea if members agree to join they could be shown to be members by using their accounts through the church and it would stop so many from losing out on the chance to meet those that are the real members!

I have been trying for years to find someone and have not given up but have many times when I feel like it and do for a time but go back again in the hope that I will find someone interested. Also it maybe a good idea to ask all members to give everyone a chance to at least chat with them first as too often a lot of good members of the church like to view us sisters online and because they do not live in the same country as them they will not even respond to a message sent to them. Most males no what the rejection is like but for us on these sites it is far higher than it is for them!!!

Today, several activities were announced for "mid singles" ages 30-45. I am confused by the term and looked in the handbook, but only saw SA and YSA listed.

littlecari wrote:I am confused by the term

Mid-singles is not an official Church program. In most usages I have seen, it is defined by local members as a subset of Singles Adults, single members age 31 and up. One of the most often voiced criticisms of the Single Adult program is that activities for older single adults are of no interest to younger single adults, and vice versa. Some priesthood leaders have allowed mid-singles to evolve as a group that includes activities geared for younger single adults.

In many areas, Single Adult activities are simply announced as being of interest to the "younger" single adults or the "older" single adults, without a formal designation off "mid-singles". That said, Church leaders care about members of every age, single or married, and this is one unofficial way some have tried to place some emphasis on one age-group in the single adult universe.

I have found that when those who self-identify as "mid-singles" work closely with their priesthood leaders and follow other Church policies, things usually go well.

Is there a website where you can look up single adult activities in your area?

NKGuire wrote:Is there a website where you can look up single adult activities in your area?

No universal web site.

In high member density areas (such as Utah or California), some areas may operate a website to advertise their among stakes. I'd suggest trying Google or Facebook.

Even in non-high member density areas, I recommend searching for facebook or other social media pages. For example, our stake (Bartlesville, OK) has a singles facebook page. It is the first hit when you type '"tulsa" lds singles facebook'. Note: it is for the age 30+ Singles in our area.

Sorry to revive this post, I will soon find myself in the single category once again, and I was curious if there was an official response to whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will ever have a dating app or website? I agree with the original post, and I while I can understand legal liability I do think that there is a way to navigate those waters in a safe and beneficial way. If someone ended up creating such an app on their own I would be interested in volunteering my time and efforts to assist you in this endeavor.

d12har wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:44 pm Sorry to revive this post, I will soon find myself in the single category once again, and I was curious if there was an official response to whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will ever have a dating app or website?

The forum is for using technology in the church as well as support for certain callings. It's primarily user-to-user support. We do not have any connection to the decision makers for church policy. As such, unless such a thing had been announced or was in beta, we wouldn't know about it.

I'm unaware of any change since the original post 8+ years ago.

All I can suggest is searching the web and Facebook using appropriate caution.

Hello Everyone, I'm starting a new phase of my life as an LDS single SENIOR adult. Now that I'm healed from divorce, I'm feeling free to fly! Now I want to see the world in unison with a worthy priesthood holder who loves the Lord and his church just as much as I do. Now that appears to be searching for a unicorn in the Universal dating pool. So, yeph! Dating app seems a fabulous solution. Sol, I registered on this LDS (not official) dating app interesting, mutual.app/login/ Easy format to navigate. I've meet a couple really nice guys there and a scammer thug, so listen to your gut as always. Take care and God bless

After discussion in the moderator and community administrator area, a decision was reached to lock this thread. It was attracting off-topic posts trying to use the thread as a dating site.