Mutual Photo Guidelines

A picture speaks a thousand words and we absolutely understand the struggle of choosing solid profile pics. In fact, many of the single Mutual team members have experienced the struggle before when creating our own profiles. We’ve also manually reviewed every single new profile that gets created so we’ve seen the best of the best and have a handful of best practices to share. Additionally, we work extremely hard to keep Mutual a safe and comfortable place free of creeps! When approving user photos, there are occasionally pics that don’t make the cut because they don’t follow the photo guidelines. We want people to be able to fly through the review process as fast as they can so they can start matching, so we want to share some do’s and don’ts to help you create a profile that will stand out to your potential matches and won’t get slowed down in the approval process.

The Ultimate Photo

We’ll get to what to wear in a minute, but take the following as the world’s shortest guide to taking the greatest profile picture ever.

Be authentic! Everybody is unique and we believe that there’s somebody for everybody. Check out the Mutual Success Stories and see how different everyone is! Conveying what’s most interesting and fun about you in your photos lets potential fans of your quirks and talents know about them sooner. Be your best self!

Face the camera (at least in the first photo)! People want to see your smiling face, not the back of your head. Profiles that don’t include any front-facing photos will most likely not get any matches and probably won’t get approved in the first place. Show yourself!

Avoid group photos (especially for your first photo)! When people find your profile, they want to check you out, not play “Where’s Waldo”. In the majority of your photos, you should be the star just for the sake making it clear who the profile belongs to.

Avoid selfies whenever possible! Taking a picture of your head from barely an arm’s reach away will make your face look a lot rounder than it really it is. I’m not making this up! The next time you look at your face in the bathroom mirror, slowly move closer and closer to the mirror and watch your face turn round and your ears start to disappear. Selfies do the same thing. When you have a friend take a picture for you, try using your phone’s 2x optical zoom and get some distance.

Let there be light! Avoid settings that cast dark shadows on your face or have harsh light that washes you out. The best photos are the clearest.

What to wear?

As a general rule, Mutual is more akin to a ward party for singles than a temple trip or even a Sunday meeting. If you want to wear a suit and tie to wow the ladies or a Sunday dress to woo the guys, go for it! However, at a ward party you should feel relaxed and free to dress comfortably and casually. Mutual’s photo guidelines are the same way. Shorts, sandals, hats, sunglasses and even tank tops all get a thumbs up. Feel free to bring the feather boa. Someone will probably dig it!

What if the ward party is pool party? Then bring on the swimsuit and floaties! Yes, you heard right. Swimsuits aren’t banned on Mutual. Are you forced to wear a swimsuit because it’s a pool party? Of course not. But know that a guy’s profile will never be denied because was flexing shirtless at the beach in a picture and a girl’s profile won’t be denied because she was taking a beach sunset selfie in a two-piece. Bishop wouldn’t kick you out of a party for being outfitted to play in the water… unless you show up in a man thong or micro-bikini. We don’t have a magical rule set for the number of square inches of bare skin that are allowed, but we do expect users to use common sense and we hold the right to deny photos that we feel are a little too racy.

So, swimsuits get a thumbs up when they’re by the poolside, but would you walk around shirtless or wear a skin-tight swimsuit if there wasn’t even a pool at the party at all? Hopefully not. Context matters a lot when our team approves photos. This can’t be emphasized enough. Shirtless at the lake? Okay. Shirtless in front of the gym mirror? Not gonna work! Sandy bikini by the seashore? Makes sense. Bikini in the bathroom? Not today!

No Brainers

Now for a few no-brainers. We think these all go without saying, but we’ll say them just to avoid any confusion. We understand that taste and sense of humor vary among each individual, but the following are taken very seriously and should be absolutely avoided:

• Anything overtly sexual
• Anything intentionally hateful or ill-willed
• Vulgarity
• Racism
• Inappropriate gestures
• Gore and blood

Have fun, be smart, and get out there!