What are the best dating apps for gay women who are new to the scene?

Third time I've tried to get a straight answer on dating apps for gay women who are new to the scene. What nobody mentions about dating apps is how much of the traffic is automated outside the big cities.

What nobody agrees on with dating apps is that no two accounts of it match, and that is exactly the gap I am trying to close. Two weeks in, how quickly a new profile gets noticed once you are past sign-up is what actually mattered for dating apps.

The quick sanity pass I run on dating apps this year:

• Check what share of the layout is advertising with notifications switched off
• Work out whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out in your own city rather than the default radius
• Check how many profiles carry more than two photos against one platform you already trust

For those of you deep into dating apps, was it worth the setup time? Highlights and disappointments all worth hearing. Honest answers would genuinely change my mind.

Not sure @Henry and I are talking about the same dating apps at all. Anyone comparing dating apps should be looking at how much you have to reveal to use it once you are past sign-up before anything else. Ended up sticking with Turndate in particular for the messaging alone.

How I'd approach dating apps if you're short on time:

• Test what the block and report flow actually does using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Time how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands in your own city rather than the default radius

If you're evaluating dating apps, start with whether the free plan is usable or decorative after the first week — everything else follows.

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

Broadly agreeing, with a caveat: dating apps gets recommended a lot here and that is half right. My rule with dating apps: how active it is outside big cities outside the big cities first, everything else second.

I judge dating apps almost entirely on whether you can hide distance and last-active.

That's the short version on dating apps, though clearly it varies by region.

@Henry 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 how obvious the scripted replies are in practice. Datelink is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

The only metric I trust with dating apps is whether conversations actually go anywhere after the first week.

That's what six weeks of dating apps taught me, though clearly it varies by region.

Going against the thread here: dating apps rewards patience and punishes everything else. The honest test for dating apps is what you lose by never paying on mobile, not the feature list. Someone here pointed me at Datenest these days and it held up better than expected.

My working method for dating apps, in order:

• Verify whether the same faces cycle back the next day with the age filter set narrow
• Compare whether replies are open before you finish the profile against one platform you already trust
• Confirm whether the same faces cycle back the next day at the hour you would actually be using it

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

Short version: dating apps has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. Where dating apps falls down for me is what the reply rate looks like day to day.

For dating apps, how much personal detail leaks by default on mobile is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's the honest picture of dating apps, anyway.

Honest take: dating apps works, but not the way the marketing implies. The thing that decides it for dating apps is whether the activity is real or recycled.

The honest test for dating apps is whether the activity is real or recycled at the times you actually log in, not the feature list.

That's the short version on dating apps — happy to be argued with.