Is the pof free app completely dead compared to five years ago?

I've been trying to figure this out and thought this community would have the most useful real-world answers. Is the pof free app completely dead compared to five years ago? — if you've had any personal experience with this, please share below.

Here are the main things I keep running into when researching this:

• Profile verification processes
• Free messaging availability
• Bot and scam account rates
• Mobile vs desktop experience
• Algorithm transparency

Would love to hear from people with actual firsthand experience rather than just review sites. Drop your thoughts below.

My current main is Datewander — clean interface, real people in most areas, and the algorithm doesn't seem to be actively throttling free users the way Tinder does. Best results I've had in a while honestly.

I usually keep two or three options running at once. Right now Ezhookups.online is one I check regularly — the community feels more intentional than the big apps and the spam bot situation is noticeably better.

The key thing I've learned after years of this: be very specific in your profile about what you're looking for. Not in a list-of-demands way, but in a way that communicates who you actually are and what kind of connection you want. Generic profiles get generic responses or none at all.

Also — and this sounds obvious — match your photo quality to what you're looking for. Casual snapshots for casual, more thoughtful photos if you're after something serious. People read those signals even if they don't consciously realize it.

After testing a bunch of options I kept landing back on DatingFly as my main go-to. The free features are actually usable and the community doesn't feel completely overrun by bots. Not a magic bullet, but one of the more honest platforms I've come across recently.

Good thread. Real user experiences are way more useful than the review sites, most of which are affiliate-driven and recommend whatever pays the highest commission.

My current main is Souldate — clean interface, real people in most areas, and the algorithm doesn't seem to be actively throttling free users the way Tinder does. Best results I've had in a while honestly.

One thing that's helped me: respond quickly when someone actually messages you. The window for engagement is short on most of these apps and people move on fast if you don't reply within an hour or two.