A Quarter Of UK Singles Say They’ve Photoshopped Dating Pics

A quarter of single Brits say they have photoshopped their profile picture, to try and present a better version of themselves to potential matches.

The mobile dating and social app TrueView surveyed 1,000 singles between the age of 18 and 34, asking them if they had ever photoshopped an online dating pic.

And 24.1% of those between 18 and 24 admitted to using the photo altering service to improve their photos.

Of those slightly older – between 25 and 34 – 21.1% said they had used Photoshop in the past.

TrueView co-founder Matt Verity said: “It’s all very well trying to suck in your tummy when someone’s taking a photo of you, or make sure your best side is always turned to the camera, but problems occur if you’ve uploaded a picture to a dating site that has totally erased your flaws, or artificially enhanced your features.

“If people discover that what they see isn’t actually what they get when you eventually meet up, they’re not going to have much faith in anything you’ve said on your profile.”

Research by the University of Connecticut also backs this up – when 671 volunteers were shown photos of singles both touched up and natural, men said they were less likely to trust a woman who had doctored her photo, however they would still consider dating her.

The co-author of the study, Rory McGloin said: “This finding suggests that even when men suspect that a woman may not look exactly like she does in her profile picture, they are willing to take the risk and pursue a date with her. In our sample, attraction seems to be more important than trust.

“Trust is an important part of any relationship and it certainly plays an important role in the forging of new social bonds in the dating context. Yet, we found an interesting relationship between attractiveness and trust for males who were viewing female profile pictures.”

Check out our interview with the co-founders of TrueView below: