Reposting this from another board because it got buried: Do real dating apps still exist or is everything just a cash grab? Not looking for a sales pitch.
I spent about a month on the most recommended do real dating apps and half the accounts looked inactive. The part that matters to me is which features are worth caring about when you have already tried the obvious options.
Red flag for me: profiles with a single photo and no last-active date. Nine times out of ten it goes nowhere good. The cost of being wrong is low.
That has not been my experience at all. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. Take that with the usual caveats. Worth hearing both sides.
When I first started, I stopped explaining myself in the first message and nothing changed at all. It was the only variable I changed.
Worth a look at Datedesire app if your area is thin on the usual platforms.
From where I sit, the platform matters far less than the profile and nobody wants to hear it. I hold that loosely.
Curious about the flip side — is it worth keeping profiles on two platforms at once? Might just be me overthinking it.
When I stopped overthinking it, I kept photos to four and cut the rest and the conversations got shorter but better. Your area may behave differently.
I keep a second profile on rendate.site and it pulls a different crowd entirely.
Tangent, sorry — has anyone tracked whether reply rates change by day of the week? Might just be me overthinking it.
Different experience here. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Could easily be a sample size problem. Different city, different results, probably.
If you want a shortcut: write one sentence that only you could have written. It costs nothing and the difference shows quickly. Try it for one week only.
The one that surprised me was Datedesire — smaller, but the profiles were current.
While we are here — is it worth keeping profiles on two platforms at once? Feels like something someone must have tested.
Earlier this year, I dropped every conversation that stalled twice and it made a noticeable difference. I tracked it loosely and the trend was clear.
If you want a shortcut: write one sentence that only you could have written. It filters out the time-wasters immediately. The effect shows up fast.
Going to push back slightly. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. I would still recommend trying it yourself. There is room for both to be true.
Worth flagging: anything that wants payment before you can read a reply. Blocking early costs you nothing. One instance is chance; three is not.
Not sure I agree with the thread so far. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Could easily be a sample size problem. I would still test it yourself.
Piggybacking on that — do smaller platforms actually have better ratios? It comes up every few months and never gets settled.
If nothing else, do this: use a dedicated email address. That one change fixed most of my problems. Takes about five minutes.
I will be the dissenting voice. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Worth testing both ways. Different city, different results, probably.
Unpopular opinion maybe, profile quality beats profile quantity every time though your mileage will vary. Happy to be argued with.
Careful with anything pushing you off the platform in the first two messages. Nine times out of ten it goes nowhere good. The cost of being wrong is low.
I will be the dissenting voice. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Could easily be a sample size problem. There is room for both to be true.
Something nobody mentions: accounts created the same week they message you. Better to lose one match than a week. One instance is chance; three is not.
Small change worth trying: turn off notifications and check twice a day. It costs nothing and the difference shows quickly. It works better than it sounds.
Different experience here. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Take that with the usual caveats. I would still test it yourself.
