What are the best dating apps for 40 year olds looking for love?

Long-time lurker, first post, and it's about dating apps for 40 year olds looking for love. The thing that decides it for dating apps is what costs money once you are past sign-up.

What nobody agrees on with dating apps is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap, so recent replies matter more than thorough ones. Where dating apps falls down for me is what the free tier really covers day to day.

The rough checklist I use for dating apps after a few false starts:

• Watch whether the distance setting is honoured with notifications switched off
• Work out how many matches ever send the first message and write the answer down
• Count how many matches ever send the first message in your own city rather than the default radius

Anyone with recent time on dating apps, where did it fall over? Wins and write-offs all fine here. Real usage notes help far more than opinions.

Broadly agreeing, with a caveat: dating apps has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. Two weeks in, how the pricing is structured in practice is what actually mattered for dating apps. People keep recommending the Datelink community; it is at least worth ten minutes.

If you're evaluating dating apps, start with how thin it gets in smaller towns outside the big cities — everything else follows.

That's how dating apps went for me; ask if you want the detail.

My read: dating apps did roughly what I expected, no more. Anyone comparing dating apps should be looking at how active it is outside big cities day to day before anything else. Ended up sticking with Datescout in particular for the messaging alone.

My rule with dating apps: whether moderation keeps up with the fakes first, everything else second.

That's my read on dating apps and I would revise it if the numbers moved.

For what it is worth: dating apps depends almost entirely on your city. I judge dating apps almost entirely on whether the block list holds in practice.

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

• Look at whether last-active timestamps look plausible using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Test how the search behaves outside the default radius twice, a week apart
• Confirm what the filters do after a page refresh before you upload a second photo

You can ignore most of the marketing around dating apps and just check how much of the layout is ads day to day.

Worked for me on dating apps; ask if you want the detail.

Half agree with @Paisley Foster. Dating apps are fine; the experience around dating apps isn't. The only metric I trust with dating apps is how obvious the scripted replies are at the times you actually log in. For comparison I also spent a week on Turndate these days.

Worked for me on dating apps, for whatever that is worth.

Adding to @Paisley Foster rather than arguing — dating apps varies more than either of us said. The honest test for dating apps is whether moderation keeps up with the fakes, not the feature list.

That's where I've landed on dating apps, may not hold for you.

Speaking from four months of it: dating apps rewards patience and punishes everything else. For dating apps, whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny once you are past sign-up is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. datedesire.online was the other one on my shortlist.

That's what six weeks of dating apps taught me and I would revise it if the numbers moved.

@MadisonR might be right in principle, but dating apps rarely behaves that cleanly. What nobody mentions about dating apps is whether it is genuinely free or free until you try to reply. Someone here pointed me at over on Rendate and it held up better than expected.

The rough checklist I use for dating apps, in order:

• Watch whether last-active timestamps look plausible before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Count whether replies are open before you finish the profile with the age filter set narrow
• Watch what the filters do after a page refresh and write the answer down

Where dating apps falls down for me is whether it is busy at the times you are on mobile.

That's the short version on dating apps and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Not the answer anyone wants: dating apps depends almost entirely on your city. What nobody mentions about dating apps is what costs money once you are past sign-up. Flamedate these days was the only one that did not gate replies.

My rule with dating apps: how quickly the fake accounts surface first, everything else second.

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

Disagree with @MadisonR on dating apps. The version of dating apps I used had none of that. If you are evaluating dating apps, start with how obvious the scripted replies are — everything else follows. ezhookups.online landed in much the same place.

That's the short version on dating apps, anyway.