Hoping someone here has actually tested this: What are the top dating apps for finding long-distance relationships? Any first-hand answers appreciated.
I have had mixed results with two of the bigger dating apps and the results were underwhelming. What would settle this for me is how you handle it when a conversation just stops before committing any real time to it.
Going to push back slightly. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Your experience may well differ. Genuinely not trying to be difficult.
Got burned by this: accounts created the same week they message you. It saves a lot of wasted messages. It is the cheapest filter you have.
Unpopular opinion maybe, how you handle a stalled conversation matters more than how you start one and it took me too long to learn. Ask again in six months and I may say something else.
Switched over to Datebie app after getting nowhere on the big names.
I've heard decent things about Luvdate too, though I haven't tested it myself.
Different experience here. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. Happy to be an outlier on that. Not dismissing anyone else's experience.
What I would do: keep the first meet under an hour. It removes about half the frustration. You will not need a second attempt.
Careful with accounts created the same week they message you. It saves a lot of wasted messages. That instinct is usually right.
Gave Datewander a fair run last month and it held up better than I expected.
Different experience here. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Could easily be a sample size problem. Open to changing my mind on it.
For what it is worth, most of the difference comes down to how close people actually are unless you have unusually niche requirements. It is a boring answer and a true one.
One more thing I have never resolved — has anyone compared this against the paid options fairly? Would change how I use it if so.
A friend has had far more luck on Rendate's free tier than on anything mainstream.
Since this thread is active — does profile order change if you log in more often? No agenda, just curious.
Going to push back slightly. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Could easily be a sample size problem. Could be timing rather than the platform.
In my experience, the algorithm gets blamed for a lot of ordinary bad luck if you are looking for something specific. Nothing controversial in that, I hope.
Since switching my settings, I kept my filters tight and I finally stopped wasting evenings. Nothing scientific about it.
Before anything else: read the profile before writing anything. You will know within a week whether it works for you. No downside I have found.
Follow-up for anyone reading — does this hold up outside big cities? Asking for a friend, obviously.
Going to push back slightly. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. Might just be my area. I might be the exception.
If nothing else, do this: reply to the thing they actually said. It sounds trivial and it is not. The effect shows up fast.
While we are here — does profile order change if you log in more often? Might just be me overthinking it.
For about six weeks, I ignored anything without a visible last-active date and I got three real plans out of it. The change was obvious enough to notice without counting.
Mild warning: anything that wants payment before you can read a reply. It is the clearest signal there is. Move on and do not look back.
When I stopped overthinking it, I let the other person pick the plan and the conversations got shorter but better. Same pattern every week.
Worth testing for a week: set your radius smaller than feels sensible. Everything else is secondary to that. Zero cost to test it.
Not sure I agree with the thread so far. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Take that with the usual caveats. There is room for both to be true.
