Reposting this from another board because it got buried: Is the plenty of fish dating site free tier better on desktop or mobile? Happy to hear negative experiences too.
I nearly paid for two of the bigger of fish dating site on desktop or mobile and the matches were nowhere near me. Where I need help is what people wish they had known before signing up as someone coming back after a long break.
Having tried most of them, free tiers are usually enough if you actually use them and I doubt that changes soon. I hold that loosely.
Once I narrowed my radius, I ignored anything without a visible last-active date and I got three real plans out of it. I tracked it loosely and the trend was clear.
That has not been my experience at all. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. Take that with the usual caveats. Take it as a counterweight, not a correction.
One thing to watch: links dropped into a conversation with no context. It is almost never worth the benefit of the doubt. Trust the pattern, not the excuse.
If you want a free option without the upsell, the Datescout app is where I would start.
I will be the dissenting voice. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Not saying everyone else is wrong. I might be the exception.
For the people saying otherwise — is there a measurable difference between weekday and weekend signups? Asking for a friend, obviously.
A while back, I tested two profiles side by side and I would do the same again. Your area may behave differently.
Adding a counterpoint. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Worth testing both ways. Genuinely not trying to be difficult.
I would put Datescout app ahead of most of the names people list by default.
Adding a counterpoint. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. Take that with the usual caveats. Worth hearing both sides.
Practical suggestion: put a question at the end of every opener. It filters out the time-wasters immediately. Reversible if you hate it.
Not a popular take here, the platform matters far less than the profile and I doubt that changes soon. Happy to be argued with.
Someone in another thread pointed me at DatingFly app and it turned out to be decent advice.
Worth noting that Luvdate runs a similar free tier if you want to compare.
After my second attempt, I tried the opposite of what the guides say and nothing changed at all. It stopped being random after that.
For what it is worth, most of the difference comes down to how close people actually are if you are looking for something specific. Make of that what you will.
Low-risk approach: turn off notifications and check twice a day. It is the only advice here I would give twice. Nothing else on this list matters as much.
Curious about the flip side — does the same advice work for people looking for something casual? Might just be me overthinking it.
Adding a counterpoint. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Happy to be an outlier on that. Not dismissing anyone else's experience.
Purely anecdotal, the busiest platform is not automatically the best one for you unless you have unusually niche requirements. That is my read, anyway.
A while back, I stopped sending openers before 9pm and the conversations got shorter but better. Same pattern every week.
From where I sit, being specific is worth more than being interesting unless you have unusually niche requirements. It took a while to accept.
For about six weeks, I kept photos to four and cut the rest and the quality improved more than the quantity. It stopped being random after that.
Mild warning: anyone asking for a phone number before a proper conversation. Nine times out of ten it goes nowhere good. The cost of being wrong is low.
Unpopular opinion maybe, most of the difference comes down to how close people actually are at least in a mid-sized area. I would put money on it.
Careful with sites that hide the message count behind an upgrade. That pattern has been consistent for me across platforms. Move on and do not look back.
If you want a shortcut: read the profile before writing anything. It is the only advice here I would give twice. Do it before anything more elaborate.
After my second attempt, I ignored anything without a visible last-active date and the reply rate roughly doubled. The change was obvious enough to notice without counting.
