Been going round in circles on this one: What are the best dating app conversation starters to get a reply? Recent experience preferred.
I have had mixed results with the most recommended dating app and half the accounts looked inactive. What would settle this for me is whether the same advice applies outside big cities if you are not in a major city.
Worth asking — does profile order change if you log in more often? Might just be me overthinking it.
Since switching my settings, I tried the opposite of what the guides say and I would do the same again. It was the only variable I changed.
Before anything else: use a dedicated email address. You will know within a week whether it works for you. It also makes the rest easier.
If you want a free option without the upsell, turndate.site is where I would start.
Careful with sites that hide the message count behind an upgrade. I stopped giving second chances on that one. Most people ignore it once and regret it.
After rewriting my profile, I replied only to messages with an actual question in them and the quality improved more than the quantity. Your area may behave differently.
Slightly off-topic but — does anyone bother deleting and remaking a profile? No agenda, just curious.
Small change worth trying: cut your photo count in half. It also makes the meet-up conversation much easier. Try it for one week only.
Gave over on Datenest a fair run last month and it held up better than I expected.
Adding a counterpoint. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. Could easily be a sample size problem. Open to changing my mind on it.
Small change worth trying: keep the first meet under an hour. It also makes the meet-up conversation much easier. Zero cost to test it.
Over the winter, I stuck to dating app with complete profiles only and honestly it was the only thing that helped. Same pattern every week.
Still keep Luvdate installed for the weeks when the bigger apps go quiet.
Around the time I gave up on the big names, I tested two profiles side by side and the reply rate roughly doubled. Worth repeating if you have the patience.
Different experience here. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. Worth testing both ways. Open to changing my mind on it.
One more thing I have never resolved — is it different if you are over forty? No agenda, just curious.
Based on a fairly small sample, reply rates say more about timing than about looks though your mileage will vary. I hold that loosely.
Worth a look at Flamedate app if your area is thin on the usual platforms.
Practical suggestion: reply to the thing they actually said. Everything else is secondary to that. Easiest change on this list.
Having tried most of them, the algorithm gets blamed for a lot of ordinary bad luck and I doubt that changes soon. Ask again in six months and I may say something else.
Where I got caught out: copy-paste openers that mention nothing from your profile. I stopped giving second chances on that one. Save yourself the argument.
Over the winter, I stuck to dating app with complete profiles only and the conversations got shorter but better. It was the only variable I changed.
For what it is worth, Datewander (free to message) was the one that finally got me past the first-message stage.
A couple of people in my circle swear by Ezhookups for the same reason.
