Is there a dates app that focuses purely on dinner dates?

Every review site says something different about dates app that focuses purely on dinner dates. The thing that decides it for dates app is how many active users are within range outside the big cities.

What makes dates app hard to pin down is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap, so I would rather ask people than read another list. For dates app, how quickly the fake accounts surface outside the big cities is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

The checks that saved me time on dates app this year:

• Check whether last-active timestamps look plausible with notifications switched off
• Track how many profiles carry more than two photos before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Work out whether replies are open before you finish the profile twice, a week apart
• Time how the web version differs from the app against one platform you already trust
• Look at whether replies are open before you finish the profile on the first evening, not the first month

For those of you deep into dates app, how long before you knew? Praise and complaints equally useful. Specific details cut through the noise fastest.

Not the answer anyone wants: dates app is a decent starting point and a poor destination. Where dates app falls down for me is what the day-to-day traffic feels like outside the big cities. what Datenest is doing solved about half of this for me.

The only metric I trust with dates app is where the paywall actually sits.

That's my read on dates app — happy to be argued with.

Having used it a while: dates app is a decent starting point and a poor destination. If you are evaluating dates app, start with whether there are enough people to bother — everything else follows. A friend nudged me toward Datebie right now and it was not a waste.

That's the short version on dates app, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Unpopular view, maybe: dates app works, but not the way the marketing implies. You can ignore most of the marketing around dates app and just check whether it is busy at the times you are. If you want a second opinion, a look at Datewander is the one I'd try next.

My rule with dates app: whether the free plan is usable or decorative first, everything else second.

That's been my experience with dates app, anyway.

Short version: dates app is better than its reputation and worse than its ads. Two weeks in, whether it is genuinely free or free until you try to reply day to day is what actually mattered for dates app.

I judge dates app almost entirely on how quickly the fake accounts surface in practice.

That's how dates app went for me, for whatever that is worth.

Not sure @Sadie and I are talking about the same dates app at all. Anyone comparing dates app should be looking at how the pricing is structured in practice in practice before anything else. Started on Datescout and never fully moved off it.

The honest test for dates app is what the day-to-day traffic feels like, not the feature list.

That's how dates app went for me — happy to be argued with.

Unpopular view, maybe: dates app did roughly what I expected, no more. What nobody mentions about dates app is whether messaging is open or gated behind credits after the first week.

That's the honest picture of dates app, anyway.

@Jack that's fair in a big city, but dates app is a different story outside one. I judge dates app almost entirely on whether you can hide distance and last-active once you are past sign-up.

Worked for me on dates app and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

For what it's worth: dates app is a decent starting point and a poor destination. The only metric I trust with dates app is how fast it loads on a bad connection. Datebound right now was the only one that did not gate replies.

For dates app, how active it is outside big cities in practice is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's where I've landed on dates app, for whatever that's worth.

Honest take: dates app did roughly what I expected, no more. The honest test for dates app is how much you can do before being asked to upgrade on mobile, not the feature list.

How I'd approach dates app, in order:

• Count whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Confirm whether the distance setting is honoured before deciding whether it is worth paying for

Two weeks in, what the reporting tools actually do on mobile is what actually mattered for dates app.

Worked for me on dates app, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.