Aside from SilverSingles, what are the best dating apps for over 50 crowds?

Long-time lurker, first post, and it is about aside from SilverSingles, what are the best dating apps for over 50 crowds. The thing that decides it for dating apps is how obvious the scripted replies are.

My problem with every answer on dating apps is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap, so I would rather ask people than read another list. Where dating apps falls down for me is whether the activity is real or recycled outside the big cities.

What I wish someone had told me about dating apps if you're short on time:

• Note how the feed changes when you narrow the age range at the hour you would actually be using it
• Confirm how the web version differs from the app at the hour you would actually be using it
• Test how the web version differs from the app and write the answer down
• Pin down whether replies are open before you finish the profile before you upload a second photo
• Time what the block and report flow actually does before you commit any time to it

For those of you deep into dating apps, what should I check first? Recent wins and recent regrets both help me decide. Recent write-ups are what I came here for.

For what it is worth: dating apps is a decent starting point and a poor destination. Two weeks in, what the bot ratio feels like day to day in practice is what actually mattered for dating apps. I ran the same test on over on Datescout and got a cleaner result.

My rule with dating apps: how aggressive the upsell gets once you are past sign-up first, everything else second.

Worked for me on dating apps, may not hold for you.

Sorry @Sadie Cox, I've spent longer on dating apps than that answer suggests. The honest test for dating apps is whether desktop and mobile behave the same once you are past sign-up, not the feature list.

The three things that decide dating apps this year:

• Sanity-check how the search behaves outside the default radius twice, a week apart
• Look at whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out twice, a week apart
• Confirm how the web version differs from the app before you upload a second photo
• Confirm whether replies are open before you finish the profile at the hour you would actually be using it

If you're evaluating dating apps, start with how many active users are within range in practice — everything else follows.

That's where I've landed on dating apps, for whatever that's worth.

@Lily Morgan might be right in principle, but dating apps rarely behaves that cleanly. Anyone comparing dating apps should be looking at how many active users are within range after the first week before anything else.

That's the short version on dating apps, may not hold for you.

Short version: there is a version of dating apps that works, and it is not the default one. What nobody mentions about dating apps is whether it is busy at the times you are. Also looked at datedesire.online, roughly the same story.

That's my read on dating apps, anyway.

Going against the thread here: dating apps rewards patience and punishes everything else. The only metric I trust with dating apps is how thin it gets in smaller towns on mobile. the datenest.site crowd was the only one that did not gate replies.

That's the honest picture of dating apps, may not hold for you.

@Lucy makes a good point, though I would qualify it — dating apps shifted a lot last year. For dating apps, how the pricing is structured in practice outside the big cities is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. If you want a second opinion, the Datelink community is the one I'd try next.

The three things that decide dating apps, in order:

• Pin down how the search behaves outside the default radius against one platform you already trust
• Compare how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Test what the filters do after a page refresh on mobile data, not office wifi

That's the honest picture of dating apps and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

@Lily Morgan I wanted that to be true of dating apps and it simply wasn't. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating apps and just check what you lose by never paying. Genuinely surprised by Turndate's free tier after low expectations.

I judge dating apps almost entirely on how quickly a new profile gets noticed day to day.

That's what six weeks of dating apps taught me, anyway.

Going against the thread here: I want to like dating apps more than I actually do. Where dating apps falls down for me is how much you can do before being asked to upgrade once you are past sign-up. Ran the identical test on rendate.site out of curiosity.

That's the short version on dating apps, and I would be glad to hear others found different.

@Claire that is fair in a big city, but dating apps is a different story outside one. What nobody mentions about dating apps is whether conversations actually go anywhere at the times you actually log in. For comparison I also spent a week on what Souldate is doing.

That's been my experience with dating apps, and I would be glad to hear others found different.