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A dating profile should have six photos. Fewer than four reads as low effort or a thin life; more than seven and the weakest photo drags the set down, because people judge a profile closer to its worst photo than its best.
The number matters less than what each photo does. Six photos that each show something different beat nine that repeat the same angle.
Fixed the profile and still nothing? Sometimes it is the pool, not the photos - the same profile does different numbers on different apps. See which app suits you
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One: a clear head-and-shoulders in decent light. Face legible, no sunglasses, nobody else in frame.
Two: full body. Its absence is read as concealment whether or not that is fair, and putting it further back does not help - people notice the gap.
Three: you doing something you actually do. Not a rented activity - cooking at home, on your bike, at the pottery class you really attend. The point is to let someone picture a life.
Four: social, but you are still obviously the subject. One photo with friends shows you have people around you, and being clearly identifiable stops it becoming a guessing game.
Five and six: variety. Different setting, different clothes, different season. Six near-identical photos read as one photo.
The dog-only photo. Everyone likes the dog. Nobody learns anything about you. Be in the photo with the dog.
The group shot in position one. Covered elsewhere, but it is worth repeating because it is the single most common expensive mistake. Someone looking at it does not know which person you are, and they will rarely open the profile to find out.
Heavy filters, photos where you are tiny in a landscape, mirror selfies in a messy room, and anything more than two years old. Each is the kind of weak photo that pulls the whole set down.
Be careful with photos of children, even your own. Many parents prefer not to post them, and a line in the bio is a better place to mention that you have kids.
Most people do not, and that is fine. Use four strong ones rather than six with two weak, then go and take more.
A friend, a phone, outdoor light in the late afternoon, and two or three changes of location in an hour is enough. Shoot far more than you need and keep the ones where you look relaxed rather than posed.
Put your strongest single photo first and the full body second or third. After changing the set, give it about two weeks before judging, and swap one or two photos at a time so you can tell what made the difference.
Some apps offer automatic photo ordering, and they do not publish exactly how it decides. If you would rather control which photo leads, turn it off and set the order yourself.