Raya Reviews

by StarvinMarvin3.0

Really confusing and not a whole lot of return on investment. Lots of issues with it.
— I’ve updated my profile, but a pic I deleted is still there and won’t go away.
—I can’t customize my search, so I’m seeing guys who don’t live in my city.
—I can’t use location services unless I allow Raya to track my location all the time. Then, even when I gave that a go, it didn’t allow me to look at more profiles, rather, it just showed me active users in different areas of the city
—how do you actually match with people? If I heart a guy, is there a chance we will match like the other dating apps, or is it just going into the ether?
—what exactly am I paying for? I can only see about 20 guys (MAX) a day, and a bunch of them don’t even live in my city. I can’t customize my search by profession, music, height, location, language—anything. If I want to reach out to someone I have to pay extra, and there’s no way to look at photos without going through their cheesy slideshow.
Will NOT be renewing my subscription.

by Franzmaximilian

First of all here are eight people that don't even live in the same state. Okay now wait twenty hours before you can see anyone else. Oh, you live in NYC? Here's six people from Nashville, LA and Spain. What do you think? Pretty cool huh?

Raya is mostly just for people to promote their instagrams at this point. Used to get tons of matches and now nothing, the algorithm is off to say the least. As an experiment I liked my friend's profile to see when I would pop up in her feed, and she has been swiping for months waiting to find me and still hasn't lol. Additionally I screen shot MY OWN PROFILE because I no longer had one of the photos and it flagged me.

So sick. Sick app. 🤘🏻

by Cyrus2020*

After being approached by an employee or “ambassador” of Raya to join - she asked for my info and some recommendations on any friends of mine who also might be interested in joining. From there she had her boyfriend follow up via text message (weird right??) claiming that he would be here to assist me and answer any questions I might have. Keep in mind this girl was directed to me from a high profile friend of mine...so I trusted it. Shortly after responding to this guy, he told me to keep an eye out for a text that would get me right onto Raya , no wait line etc. After a week or two of hearing nothing and I followed up with the two “ambassadors” who to this day have not sent a single response back. I don’t care for dating apps and I could care less to be involved with this one. They hire small influencers to run around on Instagram taking info from high profile people with zero follow up or regard for privacy - an app such as this can only work if people like myself trust it. I have zero trust in Raya or their staff. This is a very bad look and a sketchy system.

by Brightrose

this app has higher quality people on it (attractive people doing interesting things in the world) but somehow it’s impossible to actually connect with anyone through Raya. Their algorithm must be crap or something because it doesn’t work. I have several friends on there and I’ve asked them and they’re having the same experience. And, I see in the reviews that others are finding the same issue. So, this app, you better find a way to make your algorithm work and actually manage to have people match and communicate with each other, or you’re not going to last much longer. Also seems like a pretty small dating pool, because they keep suggesting guys they’ve suggested to me before, and they limit how many people you can see in a day so it’s not like I’m going crazy on there, swiping through a ton of guys… they’re just recycling them 🤷🏻‍♀️

by A1111986

I applied to this app in 2017 and never heard anything from them. Fast forward to 2021 , I thought I’d try again. Well when I downloaded Raya it says I’m still on the waitlist.
I can’t change my application, or even view it! I honestly don’t remember what I put in my initial application 5 years ago and a lot has changed since then. I would like to be able to update my information- I’ve moved, changed jobs, changed my appearance- all factors I assume are important and after 5 years obviously they aren’t planning on letting me in but with my updated information maybe they would.
There is no way to contact customer service through Raya , or view my application.
I’m an actor and model and have been recognized on apps like Hinge or Tinder and would prefer something more exclusive which is why 5 years later I’m still interested in trying Raya .
Come on this app! What’s going on?!

by Brody675

What a waste of time. After hearing the hoopla for years, I decided to check it out. As an artist, this exclusivity with other creatives appealed to me. I heard about the infamous Wait List and their crazy criteria based on Instagram followers, etc. Well, I was immediately accepted as I took it as I have about 20K followers. Immediately there were the fees so I opted for the 1 month bit. Needless to say, I cancelled about 3 weeks in. Every single person on there barely had even 1K social media following (where was this 100K urban myth?!), most were just a bunch a kids interning or assisting in fashion or were hilarious wannabe social climbers. Where were the high profile roster of artists? The exclusive members who needed to meet their selective criteria? It was such a joke. I’m assuming at launch years ago it was the Soho House of the dating apps (which is what I was expecting). It’s basically a BYOB dance club in the Bronx. this app. Um, nope.

by Bklyn_Jones

The quality went down and the price went up. Raya used to be $7.99. There were some pretty interesting people on here and you could swipe through a lot of them. Now Raya is $9.99 I only saw about 10 people before Raya told me I have to pay $4.99 to see more people. That’s ridiculous! That’s the kind of behavior you expect from a free app. And even a free app lets you see about 100 people before they cut you off. They claim they want you to form “meaningful relationships” but they don’t let you see enough people to find someone you want to get to know. Raya is a ripoff and I’m definitely disappointed. I will stay for this month but I’m canceling after that. The nerve charging me $10 per month and not letting me swipe through more than 10 people! I thought when you pay you get all the features. 🙄🙄🙄 stop taking advantage of people!!!!!

by Concernedlilg

Raya sounds great in theory but doesn’t actually work. A friend sent me a pass and after 6 months I decided to apply. I was weary that Raya wouldn’t get me and sadly my instincts were correct. Covid and wanting some social interaction was my motivation. It’s great to be discerning and to want to cultivate an interesting group of people. Unfortunately to this app that equates with tons of followers on social media or being well known. The really interesting people of the world are not addicted to their smart phones and posting endless selfies. I am very under the radar, have a private social media and don’t like to obnoxiously name drop the famous people I know /have slept with. But because none of their people know who I am or care to beyond a superficial assessment of what I have to offer according to the internet they decided to waitlist me ( with a friend pass). Grateful I’m not on this platform.

by Anonymous_User_1234567890

Racist and discriminatory selection process against black women. If you look at the screenshots provided by Raya , no black female user (or model) is presented, at the time of this review. The one black guy used works for the company -apparently he fills the quota.

I have multiple black female friends with noteworthy accomplishments in the entertainment industry who weren’t accepted on this app, yet I know of multiple non-black women who literally have done nothing professionally, and have hundreds of thousands less followers on Instagram.

this app mentions it determines the applicants’ worthiness by the quality of the applicants’ followers. The black female friends I speak of have numerous verified accounts following them.

For those who question if this app’s algorithm can account for race, be reminded Instagram is owned by Facebook. I have created ads on both Facebook and Instagram in which I was able to select my audience’s demographics including race, income, education level, etc. When you allow an app or website access to your Instagram, they’re able to see all of the information listed above.

Black women and Asian men are the least sought after groups on dating apps, and discriminatory behavior by apps only worsen the problem. Zero excuses for this app’s racist and discriminatory behavior.

by HelloCrystalG

I was interested in Raya to connect with likeminded, creative souls but when they say it’s for “artists” they mean “influencers” & elitist socialites. It’s hilarious to me that you must have an Instagram account to even sign up, yet when you go to their Instagram account there’s not even 1 post. Not all artists, creatives, entertainers or writers dedicate their lives to the overrated life of swipes, likes and follows. If an app is going to waitlist people, then maybe ask for an actual resume or proof that the person meets that criteria instead of basing it off of looks, followers & the ability to master a plethora of filters.

From the other reviews you can see Raya is Glitch City, white washed, shallow & a tiny pool of the same people over and over again. I’ll stick to art festivals, LA trips, book shops & real life where people can’t wear their filters or have a follower boosted ego.

by Jen The Jew

Sadly after years of being on Raya, I have rarely been shown singles in LA where I live, and have rarely been messaged once we do match. Raya seems like a glorified Instagram with no inspiration for people to find love, just create a highlight real making them all look like celebrities. Many probably don’t even have real jobs or the financial security to pay for Raya . There’s also no help access. I had to reach out on Instagram to find out why I’m being shown singles in foreign countries or NY/Miami. If Raya really supported people in finding love, it would show me options in my city.

by Callitwhatitis

If you want to remember what it’s like to feel the shallow rejection of high school wondering why you didn’t make it into the group of mean girls, then you should “apply.” Only to find that if you do actually get in, the only thing measuring creativity and professionalism is the ability to appear cooler than your craft, unless your craft is spending your daddy’s money in Bali while managing to angle your subtle bikini body and fresh cut French bangs while pursuing a moderate influencer modeling career. The fact that it measures “creativity” based on another app’s social count in ratio with hotness or celebrity association without even asking for a website or profession is telling that this is basically a “hot or not” instafame app that reflects all the feelings of classism for those wondering on the waitlist. It is an excuse for perpetuating elitism culture and selection without substance.

by IG:parkour_mango

I read a review that said something like this and I was confused because this sounds like it comes from someone who is already in Raya . Raya is discriminatory plain and simple. I understand it’s to create a safe space for people but what deems someone “worthy” of Raya ? All I wanted was to get away from the tinder BS and try to find something real but I can’t do that bc I’m not worthy of Raya apparently. Y’all should be ashamed. When you really break it down Raya is pretty messed up. You apply like a job, you wait for a response and more likely than not you’ll get turned away for one reason or another. It’s contribution so discrimination and it’s just not right. Like I’m sure their turning more people away than accepting. Unless I’m an outlier but doubtful

by :$&$&{*{£~€

this app when it first debuted used to be a tight knit community. Over the years, they seemed to “Tier” people based on their celeb status.

If feels like there’s 3 levels. Normal people, b/c listers, and A listers. I know this first hand as I’ve seen and used my friends this app who’s an “A lister” in some respects. His matches and browsing is wildly different from mine.

Bottom line, I don’t think this is fair, or legal. We’re all paying for the same service, but something eerie is going on behind the scenes on who the system works, which might be cause for legal action, and months and months of refunds.

by Ohmaykay

To be totally honest I am not sure how I got off the waitlist, but my theory is that I am a business owner in a sort of creative field (publishing). That and maybe they are trying to expand their members in certain geographical areas. Well, I have been swiping for a few weeks and I swear they are cycling through the same 25 people. I have seen profiles 3-4 times. There's almost no one in a three hour radius of me (and I live half an hour from a fairly major city). I have started to chat with one or two people but it just seems fruitless when I know they live five hours away. Yes spotting the very occasional celebrity is fun, but it's otherwise a waste of money.

by BlahBlahMeatball

Decent service with a so-so/survivable app, but recently I’ve noticed that updating this app doesn’t complete and burns massive amounts of battery while attempting to do so.

I have (reluctantly) allowed location to be set to Always, so I suppose some component of Raya is running at the time of the update. But other apps to which I’ve granted “Always” for the location setting update without this issue.

I’ve now twice noticed that my phone got hot, this app was stuck updating (indefinite progress spinner in App Store’s Updates view) and the Settings > Battery screen shows a gigantic amount of battery having been drained by this app recently.

by Some1withAcomputer

I go off and on with online dating, giving it a shot here and there. I have stints of giving relationships a shot and then come back to it, all the while keeping the subscription active. I’ve been on this app for a while, I’d say almost 2 years. it’s not without the same issues as all online dating platforms, people ghost, they match and don’t start conversations, etc. I’ve accepted those as now normal behavior on dating apps. But I do think this app has more attractive and interesting people, so I don’t mind paying for it with the prospect of finding myself a beautiful and creative person. In the beginning I match pretty regularly, but it seems I haven’t matched with anyone in months on this app, despite the tons of new users I’m seeing and liking. I’m wondering if it’s because I’ve been on there for so long they’ve simply stopped showing me? It certainly feels that way. I know they claim to be selective and sensitive to the community, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve deemed me undatable or something because of how long I’ve had Raya . Def get in and get out with Raya. Paying for it longer than a year seemingly puts you on their matching blacklist and becomes just a frustrating waste of money. I started up a different dating app recently and the matches are coming in hot. So, not to sound cocky, but I don’t think it’s me. Will not be renewing the next round.

by Onantiad

Traditional dating apps don’t work for me. I kept running into people that felt either threatened by my success or were aggressively trying to take advantage of it. I feel safe in this space. I also find with my crazy hours/touring schedule, I could really only end up with someone who is equally busy and career driven. Raya filters out the static. To me, it doesn’t matter if they only show people in my city because myself and (I’m assuming) most other people on Raya travel so often that it doesn’t really matter. It’s fun and I’m having great conversations. It was frustrating being waitlisted for 4-5 days when all my friends were on it but it was worth it in my opinion. I don’t really want it to be accessible because then it doesn’t serve the same purpose.
Honestly, being a “celebrity” completely takes away your ability to get in on the dating app fun and this has been so fun for my REALLY famous friends to do what everyone else is doing. Great app concept. Yes it’s kind of elitist but isn’t that *sort of* the point?

by LAEMF

Guys will reach out to me on Instagram and say they liked my profile but I didn’t see their’s come up on this app. Or I will like a guy but won’t match with him on this app but will instantly match with him on another app. I’m not sure how this app’s matching algorithm works but it doesn’t seem to work that great or maybe it has changed and it’s less efficient. Idk. A lot of matches don’t even write you and it’s the case with most people I’ve talked to. Like we’re just matching and too cool to message. It’s weird. Now the Instagram function isn’t working for me. An error pops up if you want to click through and see their Instagram profile.

by Sitaraisme

Honestly I like this app. I love that you only see a few people per day, so it’s not just a numbers game. Have met a couple of hot, interesting, successful guys and dated both for a while. Have connected with other interesting men but haven’t met up due to travel schedules. I like pro athletes and it’s full of them which keeps it fun; and there then are other, unique and classy guys that pop up too. I travel so it’s great seeing high quality guys on there when I head go to a new city. I check it out around 2x a week and still have had great success with infrequent use. :)

by NYCdigs

The concept is great however you swipe through the same small pool of people everyday. You’re also limited how many you can swipe. If I swipe no to someone than I don’t want them to keep coming up in my pool of people which is what happens. I say no to the same people over and over again. I feel like there is no one on this thing since I keep seeing the same 30 people over and over again. Also I noticed some of the people on there(some I know) I’m wondering how they even got on in the first place. I had one date out the however many months on there. Not really worth it.

by AstraOnTheAir

I have a few friends who have told me about this app (from celebs I’ve interviewed to industry friends) I tried to apply because I am not a fan of traditional dating apps and would rather try to meet a like minded individual who understands this industry life which we all know is impossible for the “regular” person to comprehend. Well, I was “waitlisted” which ultimately means declined. I’ve been on this list for about 2 years now, never even given a chance or a reason, and have even tried to reach out to find out why - yet I hit a dead end. They say you can get contacted at any time but after this amount of time that has passed, I’m sure it’s not going to happen. I fee that they should at least give a reason why, or after a certain amount of time, open the application process up again. Does anyone have any other suggestions or feedback about their experiences?

by RogueOfWool

Very strange application process. From what I’ve heard Raya seems to be for extremely shallow people who have no real purpose in the world. I don’t feel bad for being waitlisted or rejected as I work in the medical field and actually do something purposeful with my life and am not a self-centered moron.
I don’t use instagram because I have better things to do with my time other than wait for likes. Get off your phone and go get a real life. Try looking for like-minded people around you, not on your phone. Tried this at the suggestion of a friend; yikes what a waste of time.

by ReweiveReviewer

I give it one extra star for the clever idea, trick a bunch of self-centered spoiled rich kid narcissists, I mean “influencers” and similar types of people, to waste their money and time on this elitist app. I think they should charge more since those types can afford it but obviously they want to also trick the (often poorer) wannabes as well. Most of us want nothing to do with those types of people though so there’s no reason to bother with Raya. Most of these 4/5 star reviews are probably fake, sort by Recent and it’s mostly negative reviews.

by Tinder OG

I was waitlisted for a year. I’m a pretty well connected dancer/model. Got a new gig, met a hot chick already on there. Got a referral and my approval was almost instant. Now I’ve been on swiping. I believe the “celebrities” are paid pawns. They showed me a handful of them in my first set of swiping. After that it’s Instagram boys, tech boys, photographer boys..

Seeing a huge lack of ethnicities, everything is pretty bland up in there.. I understand it’s a private society, I like that. So they can’t just advertise to minority groups with high Instagram followers. But I’m sure there’s another way. Mix it up you guys!

I’m paid up so I plan to keep using. I pray it proves me wrong and I get married like that one girl (“baby in three days” did you see that review? lol) good luck ladies! Try to get a referral.

by Little Mermaid 818

Traditional dating apps don’t work for me. I’ve even seen 3 separate guys I met on the others ones for a few dates to find they didn’t even have cars (hey, no scrubs much?). I kept running into people that felt either threatened by my success or were aggressively trying to take advantage of it. I feel safe in this space. I also find with my crazy hours/touring schedule, I could really only end up with someone who is equally busy and career driven. Raya filters out the static. To me, it doesn’t matter if they only show people in my city because myself and (I’m assuming) most other people on Raya travel so often that it doesn’t really matter. It’s fun and I’m having great conversations. It was frustrating being waitlisted for 4-5 months when all my friends were on it but it was worth it in my opinion. I don’t really want it to be accessible because then it doesn’t serve the same purpose. Honestly, being a “celebrity” completely takes away your ability to get in on the dating app fun and this has been so fun for my REALLY famous friends to do what everyone else is doing. Great app concept. Yes it’s kind of elitist but isn’t that *sort of* the point? App could use some updates though cause it’s really slow and glitches a lot.

by NicoleBanner

Unlike your typical dating app you can use this one for work and dating. I also like that you can’t screen shot or you get removed from Raya . I’ve been on it since it started and I personally don’t use any of the other apps such as tinder. Thanks this app