Dating Site Review | JOYclub

JOYclub Germany is a well-known sex and kink-positive dating site, but now the JOYclub app and website are available in English. In serving our vision to be the most trusted BDSM and Fetish community, we asked Victoria Blisse to sign up to find out how much kinky JOYClub dating can be done at the click of a mouse or a tap of your finger!

JOYclub Visual Appeal | Black, basically

Both the JOYclub app and website are black with little pops of red and dull blocks of grey. The native app looks slicker than the old, blocky website does, but neither are particularly pretty or imaginative. How many sex or kink related sites are red and black? More than not, I'm sure.

While it might not have the most innovative look, it's relatively easy on the eye and also not too difficult to find your way around. Sometimes you get some text which is obviously from JOYclub Germany, for example when I log in to the website, the message that pops up is in German. I assume it’s saying that my details are being checked or something like that, but I don't know. That’s a little bit confusing for anyone who doesn't speak German.
 

JOYclub Navigation and User Feel | Lots of menus

You can use the JOYclub dating site online, but if you want, you can download the JOYclub app in Google Play or the App store, where it’s called JOYCE (which did confuse me at first). I expect this is because of specific rules around apps listed in these stores. The logo is a red pixelated heart, so you know you've got the right app.

Sign up is easy, but only if you're a man, woman or a couple - it's a real shame that there are no other gender options. Next, you can pick from 'straight', 'bi-curious', 'bi' and 'homosexual for your inclination' (which is a strange way to put it) but again, it'd be good to have other options as spectrums of gender and sexuality are both vast and complex.

There are several multiple-choice questions to fill in for your profile and a space to write a short intro - as well as an area to let people know what you're into and what you're not.

You can tell it's not designed exclusively for kinky people as there aren't any specific kink questions to answer, but you can put whatever you like in your profile.

The JOYclub app and JOYclub dating site are quite different once you log in. It's clear that the native app is a streamlined version of what is on the web version. However, both are easy to navigate with menus everywhere. It might take a bit of time to work out what to find by clicking through all the menus, but the main headings are quite descriptive.  
 

JOYclub's main page. 

JOYclub Community Feel | Only online 

There is much more of a dating focus on the JOYclub app. You can share statuses, so there's a little community feel, but mostly it's about matching with people for dating. It's not particularly kinky either, but you can find other kinksters from topics in the forum and joining particular kink specific groups. However, most of the groups are from JOYclub Germany, so unless you speak German, they're not easy to access, and most of the events mentioned are German ones.

On the JOYclub dating website, there's more of a community feel with groups and a forum to look round. There are areas where JOYclub Germany members are apparent from the use of the German language - this must be where the sites overlap. You can, of course, use Google Translate when you're looking at the forum posts, but be aware Translate doesn't always work correctly!

There's a verification process for members, which is very good as you can be sure you're talking to a real human if they have verified their profile.

JOYclub Germany has been established for a much longer time, which you can see by the number of members from Germany. There are members in the UK, but there weren't many members within a 10KM radius of Manchester, for example. If you're looking for a local, this might not be the best option for you. However, there are lots of members from all over the world.

If you're interested in travel or in sex that doesn't need two people to be in the same place, then the JOYclub dating site could be the site for you!  
 

Is JOYclub free to use? Yes, for six months

I love the fact that the JOYclub dating site gives you six months free straight away. It's a very generous trial period, and you'll know after six months of use if it's something you want to continue to use or not. In terms of available upgrades, one month's Premium access is around $30, but there are deals for buying several months at once.

There are numerous benefits for upgrading, but how useful is the site without Premium access? Not useable at all. You can view things, but you can't interact.
 

JOYClub Help and FAQs | Joyful! 

There are some comprehensive FAQs, but on the same page, there’s also a contact form, so all the helpful things are in one place!
 

JOYclub Conclusion | Good but not local

I enjoyed using the JOYclub app and the JOYclub dating site. It's easy to use, and there are lots of members.

Unfortunately, many of the members are not even in the UK, let alone local to me. Also because JOYclub Germany came first, there's a lot of German text still littered around the site which looks a little unprofessional, and I could've been missing out on important information.

It isn't a kink dating site, but JOYclub dating is definitely kink-friendly, and with six months for free, it's worth joining up if you're not too fussed about the drawbacks of its German and vanilla focuses.

Victoria Blisse was an erotic author and sex-positive Reverend. She helped shape fetish.com and FET from the very beginning and we're eternally grateful for her passion and creativity. Sadly, she passed away in January 2024. We hope that whenever her articles are read, she'll be honored.
 

Have you tried JOYclub? Do you agree with our review? Tell us in the comments below. Spanks for reading!

Cover image released from Shutterstock.com