Review
Only Lads is a secure, private & hassle-free dating service exclusively for gay and bisexual men. Sign up with your email address or Facebook and start chatting to hunky guys in no time!
The Only Lads Brand
Only Lads is like a gay Match.com. This is a gay owned and operated gay and bisexual chat service. There are over 1 million members here waiting to meet you and strike up a conversation. You can see who is nearby, see who has visited you or see who has recently joined.
Registration
It is free to join and chat on Only Lads. You can sign up using your email address, date of birth and location. An activation code will be sent to your email address – enter this online and away you go. Alternatively, you can sign up via Facebook without the requirement for an activation code.
The registration form for the email version mirrors the rest of the site in that it is clean, clear and really spaced out. This not only makes the desktop experience crisper, it also optimises the mobile experience too.
Desktop/Mobile Capability
Only Lads is available as a downloadable app on both iOS and Android devices. So when you are set up, you can take your chats on the move and not be restricted by your location. On the train, in a café or whilst sunbathing in the park – take your chats wherever you wish for them to go! In more ways than one!
User Experience
You can create your own profile and update it with profile pictures, which helps you to showcase yourself properly to other members. Vice versa, you also get to know others a lot easier and faster too. The best thing? It’s all completely free! Sending messages and reading replies is all free – which is quite refreshing for a site in this category.
The look of the site is incredibly refreshing and modern too. The layout is clear and easy to navigate, with crisp attention to detail and the colour scheme throughout. Visually, the experience is quite brilliant at Only Lads, but there is a definite lack of additional features or options for things to do. A website designed as well as this would really benefit from some games, competitions, forum boards or cam-sharing features to really bring it in to the modern day.
Safety and Security
Only Lads features a dedicated support centre if you are struggling to use the service or if you wish to troubleshoot a specific issue. This acts as a typical FAQ section with answers to common queries. There’s also a ‘Date Safe’ section on site, which gives you tips and chatroom-based advice for a wide range of topics. Anything else, you will have to contact the site owners about. But, good luck with this! Here’s why…
Customer Service
The contact information is very hard to locate on this website. You will find a contact form on the ‘Corporate’ page of the site. You will find the link to this tucked right away in the bottom right hand corner (in the footer section). So although the site does provide an option to get in touch, it’s frustratingly hard to find!
Conclusion
The Only Lads website, service and interface is incredibly well designed and developed. Everything is crisp, sharp and beautifully set out with minimal clutter and no advertisements. You can tell immediately that the site has been optimised for both desktop and mobile use just by looking at the block-type layout and site structure. They even offer a dedicated app for both iOS and Android devices, so top marks all round for development!
Unfortunately for the Only Lads brand, the simplicity doesn’t stop there as the experience itself is actually quite basic too. There is a definite lack of additional features or options for things to do, like contests or match-making games. Even the profile information for each user is basic, with pre-determined criteria and questions to answer. You can upload photos, but video/cam sharing is not possible. So for a site that looks and feels incredibly modern, the experience itself is lacking behind a lot of other competitor sites out there.
To round up, we think Only Lads is better than your average gay chat site in terms of design and layout, but a little behind in terms of functionality and experience. Still though – that design! We give Only Lads a 6.6!
