Is there a real dating app free of charge that doesn't sell your data to third parties?

Long-time lurker, first post, and it is about real dating app free of charge that does not sell your data to third parties. For real dating, whether messaging is open or gated behind credits is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

What I keep running into with real dating app is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap. The thing that decides it for real dating is how the interface holds up on mobile.

What I wish someone had told me about real dating, in order:

• Confirm how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands before you upload a second photo
• Track how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Pin down how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Pin down what share of the layout is advertising before deciding whether it is worth paying for

Anyone who tracked real dating app over a longer stretch, where did it fall over? Wins and write-offs both welcome. Real usage notes are the only thing I can act on.

Half agree with @Isabella. Real dating is fine; the experience around real dating is not. My rule with real dating: where the paywall actually sits outside the big cities first, everything else second. If you want a second opinion, what Souldate is doing is the one I'd try next.

That's where I have landed on real dating app and I would revise it if the numbers moved.

Adding to @Evelyn Wright rather than arguing — real dating varies more than either of us said. The honest test for real dating is what you lose by never paying, not the feature list. the Flamedate community solved about half of this for me.

The rough checklist I use for real dating:

• Confirm how the search behaves outside the default radius and write the answer down
• Pin down how many profiles carry more than two photos before you upload a second photo
• Watch how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands and write the answer down
• Sanity-check whether last-active timestamps look plausible before you upload a second photo

What nobody mentions about real dating is how many active users are within range.

That's the honest picture of real dating app, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

For what it is worth: real dating app depends almost entirely on your city. You can ignore most of the marketing around real dating and just check how photo permissions are handled after the first week. For comparison I also spent a week on over on Datescout.

What I'd tell a friend about real dating this year:

• Track what the block and report flow actually does in your own city rather than the default radius
• Confirm how quickly a scripted account gives itself away with notifications switched off

That's been my experience with real dating app and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

@Isabella is describing a version of real dating I have never seen. If you are evaluating real dating, start with how much you can do before being asked to upgrade once you are past sign-up — everything else follows. Ended up sticking with Ezhookups (ezhookups.online) for the messaging alone.

Where real dating falls down for me is how quickly a new profile gets noticed at the times you actually log in.

That's where I've landed on real dating app; ask if you want the detail.

Respectfully @JaydenH, real dating hasn't worked like that in my experience. Anyone comparing real dating should be looking at how much of the traffic is automated at the times you actually log in before anything else. Datenest in particular came up in a similar thread last month.

The only metric I trust with real dating is what the day-to-day traffic feels like at the times you actually log in.

That's been my experience with real dating app, for whatever that's worth.