This add-on marks a number of profiles as "online now" whether or not those people are actually on the site. You choose how many men and how many women carry the marker, and the system rotates it.

A new site has the same problem at every hour of the day: a visitor arrives, sees nobody online, and concludes the site is dead. They leave, which makes it slightly more true for the next person.

Even a site with thousands of members has quiet hours. Three in the morning looks abandoned no matter how good the site is.

The green marker breaks that loop: the site looks alive, people write messages, and some of those messages get answered when the recipient next logs in.

This feature shows something that is not true. A member sees "online now" and writes expecting a reply within minutes. There will be no reply, because the person is not there.

That has three consequences worth weighing before you switch it on.

Trust. Members who write to five "online" people and get no answer draw their own conclusion — usually that the site is full of fake profiles. That is a worse belief than "the site is quiet", and it is much harder to undo.

Regulation. In several countries misleading a consumer about a service is a specific offence, and dating sites have been fined for exactly this. Check the rules where your members are, not where you are.

App stores. Apple and Google look closely at dating apps, and misrepresenting user activity is grounds for rejection or removal. If you plan to publish apps, factor that in — see channels on phones.

The underlying problem is real: an empty-looking site does not grow. There are ways to address it that do not depend on a false marker.

Show recent activity instead of current presence. "Active today" is true, useful, and almost as reassuring as a green dot.

Start with profiles, not with status. A site that launches with 200 profiles never looks empty in search. Those come with every plan — see AI dating profiles.

Put real people in the chat. Chat operators answer, which is the thing a green dot only promises. Costs more, works better, and nobody feels tricked.

Bring members back at the same time. Push and email notifications concentrate activity into predictable hours, so the site is genuinely busy when people visit. See bringing people back.

Keep the numbers plausible. Fifty people online on a site with two hundred members is not believable. A handful is.

Treat it as temporary. It is a way to get through the first months, not a permanent part of the site. Turn it down as real activity grows, and off when the site stands on its own.

Make sure messages reach people. A member who writes to an "online" profile must at least get a reply later. Email notifications matter more here than anywhere else — see member notifications.

From the admin panel you choose how many male and how many female profiles carry the marker. Settings can be changed as often as you like.

Switching the genuine "online" indicator on or off for the whole site is a separate setting, available in every plan.

Availability and price: see the pricing page and the add-on card.

Can members tell?
Individually, no. Collectively, yes — people notice when nobody who is "online" ever answers.

Can I apply it only to some profiles?
You set counts by gender. The system picks who carries the marker.

Do I have to disclose this?
Depends on your jurisdiction, and the answer is often yes. If you are unsure, assume yes and check.