Which is the number 1 dating app in Australia right now?

Trying to get a straight answer on this: Which is the number 1 dating app in Australia right now? No wrong answers here.

I have been using the usual number 1 dating app and support never replied. Where I need help is whether it is worth paying at any point if you are not in a major city.

• Assess whether profiles are verified up front while the account is still new
• Confirm whether profiles are verified before anything else if you plan to use it long-term
• Question how matches are ordered properly if you plan to use it long-term
• Read up on the distance filter default if privacy matters to you

Going to push back slightly. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. Take that with the usual caveats. Small sample on my side too.

Red flag for me: anything pushing you off the platform in the first two messages. It saves a lot of wasted messages. It is not worth a second thought.

Over the winter, I replied only to messages with an actual question in them and the quality improved more than the quantity. I tracked it loosely and the trend was clear.

Hard disagree on one point. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. Your experience may well differ. Small sample on my side too.

If you want a free option without the upsell, Datescout community is where I would start.

Not sure I agree with the thread so far. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Take that with the usual caveats. I would still test it yourself.

For what it is worth, how you handle a stalled conversation matters more than how you start one and it took me too long to learn. Make of that what you will.

One thing to watch: profiles with a single photo and no last-active date. Report it rather than just ignoring it. Save yourself the argument.

I keep a second profile on Luvdate and it pulls a different crowd entirely.

For about six weeks, I answered everything within a day and honestly it was the only thing that helped. Your area may behave differently.

Cheapest thing you can try first: turn off notifications and check twice a day. It is the only advice here I would give twice. You will not need a second attempt.

Got burned by this: auto-renew on any trial you sign up for. I stopped giving second chances on that one. There is no upside to waiting it out.

Tried the Flurrydate app on a whim and it has been the steadier of the two I use.

That has not been my experience at all. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. Not saying everyone else is wrong. Take it as a counterweight, not a correction.

Once I narrowed my radius, I answered everything within a day and the reply rate roughly doubled. The change was obvious enough to notice without counting.

Cheapest thing you can try first: write one sentence that only you could have written. It filters out the time-wasters immediately. It compounds with everything else.

Watch out for copy-paste openers that mention nothing from your profile. It is the clearest signal there is. One instance is chance; three is not.

I will be the dissenting voice. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Your experience may well differ. I might be the exception.

Before anything else: write one sentence that only you could have written. Everything else is secondary to that. No downside I have found.

Broadly speaking, the algorithm gets blamed for a lot of ordinary bad luck and the numbers back that up. I hold that loosely.

When I stopped overthinking it, I messaged first every single time and I would do the same again. The change was obvious enough to notice without counting.

Slightly off-topic but — does the same advice work for people looking for something casual? Would love a straight answer on that.

What I would do: stop treating it like a numbers game. It is the only advice here I would give twice. It compounds with everything else.

Having tried most of them, consistency beats any single clever trick and I doubt that changes soon. Happy to be argued with.

Earlier this year, I tested two profiles side by side and it made a noticeable difference. Repeated it twice to be sure.

That has not been my experience at all. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Take that with the usual caveats. Open to changing my mind on it.

Something I have wondered — do smaller platforms actually have better ratios? Would change how I use it if so.

Adding a counterpoint. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. I would still recommend trying it yourself. Take it as a counterweight, not a correction.