FabSwingers has been serving the swinging community for over a decade. We wanted to see for ourselves if the site was in fact “fun, free, and fabulous”. Our testers went to work to bring you this in-depth FabSwingers review.
FabSwingers Review Results
FabSwingers is a free online hookup site for the swinging community that, in our opinion, can be very effective. It is a site that is easy to overlook due to its antiquated design, but missing out on it would be a real shame. Yes, we had our doubts about FabSwingers when we first saw it, but after testing it for a few days – we became FabSwingers converts. If you are into the swinging lifestyle you definitely need your own FabSwingers profile.
-Pros and Cons –
- Really free
- Verification system keeps membership base authentic. Very few fake profiles
- “Old school” interface makes it easy to use for everybody
- Mobile version is not an app, it’s a mobile website
- Cannot use web chat on Apple devices (requires Flash)
There are many specialties and niches when it comes to online dating sites. The swinging and polygamist community make up one of the largest segments in specialty online dating. One of the oldest hookup sites dedicated to the swinging community is FabSwingers. It has been in continuous operation since 2006.
The site uses the tagline “fun, free and fabulous.” Based in the UK, FabSwingers is focused primarily on the English-speaking market. It has users in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the UK. While it has been in operation for over a decade, it had remained under our radar. Recently, however, the site has received an upsurge in media coverage. This brought it to our attention and we decided to prepare a full review of the site to determine just how fun and fabulous it actually is.
– First Impression –
We must confess, when we first visited the homepage for FabSwingers, we were severely under-impressed. For a moment, we thought that we had been taken back in time. Aesthetically, the FabSwingers site resembles something which predates smart phones or high-speed internet. It recalls a website common during the old dial-up days. Of course, as we have learned through experience, when it comes to online dating sites appearances can be deceiving.
– Forget How It Looks, Is It Safe? –
When you come across a dating site that looks as antiquated as FabSwingers, it is normal to question not only its potential but also its level of safety and security.
For that reason, we started our evaluation of the site along the privacy and data protection front. We were pleased to discover that the site uses HTTPS protocols on all of its pages – including on the all-important login and registration page. Also, FabSwingers uses a unique peer-based verification system. Verification is used to https://hookupdate.net/senior-friend-finder-review/ prove to other members of the community that you are in fact a real couple or a real woman. Single men cannot get verified, although they can still join and use the site. Members can verify other members only after they have personally seen them via webcam. While simple, this system appears to work well. During our test, we found most of the profiles on FabSwingers to be real. This was a refreshing surprise considering that free sites tend to be flooded with fake profiles and assorted trolls.
– The FabSwingers Dynamic –
FabSwingers established a winning formula ten years ago of keeping things simple and letting the community participate in its own growth and policing. This has created a community of users that are active and a platform that actually yields results.
On average, 130,000 people visit the site daily. While that may seem small when compared to other hookup sites, keep in mind that the majority of these people are engaging with the community. Other sites may tout larger numbers, but usually, only a small percentage of their figures are composed of active users. FabSwingers like to keep its community fresh. As a result, if your profile does not log in for more than 72 hours, you are temporarily denied access to sections such as the “hot list.” This is where you would normally find the newest members on the site. Full access is restored 24 hours after having logged back into your account.
The community is comprised of couples, single females, and single men. Couples and single females can choose to block messages from single men. This prevents trolling and other awkward encounters. Both couples and females may contact single men even if they have blocked receiving unsolicited messages from them. This sort of community-based quality control is really effective. We were left wondering why larger pay sites don’t apply similar practices.
Contact between members is made through the site’s chatroom. There, you can engage in text-based or webcam conversations. FabSwingers also has forums and boards where members can post invites to real-world meet-ups and other events.
– Is It Really Free? –
We are pleased to report that the word “free” really means free on FabSwingers. The site monetizes itself by displaying advertising on its pages. There is a paid option that gives you “site supporter” status and removes the ads. It has a cost of $8 for 50 days of premium service.
From our perspective, becoming a “site supporter” on FabSwingers is more akin to contributing to someone’s Patreon page. Being a site supporter allows you to save messages from other users indefinitely in your own account folder and it removes the 12 picture limit on your profile. Aside from that, the most noticeable feature is that the banner advertising is removed. FabSwingers doesn’t promote the upgrade too heavily. It seems that if you become a site supporter it is because you genuinely enjoy the community and really want to contribute financially to it. Again, the community mentality is at work here -and again it’s effective.
– Technological Snafus –
While we were impressed with FabSwingers, we do have to mention a few tech-based issues that you should be aware of. First, FabSwingers does not have dedicated mobile apps. You can, however, access the site and its features via a mobile-based website. By typing in the URL on a smartphone’s web browser you can access your account.
Users of iPhones and iPads will not be able to access web chat. This is due to the fact that FabSwingers requires Flash for the web chat feature. There is no HTML5 alternative. Also, when we tried to access web chat through Android devices, we found that in over half the instances it crashed or became dreadfully slow.