What are the top 5 dating apps for people over 30?

Third time I have tried to get a straight answer on top 5 dating apps for people over 30. I judge dating apps almost entirely on whether there are enough people to bother.

The part that trips me up on dating apps is how much depends on where you actually live, so recent replies matter more than thorough ones. Two weeks in, whether moderation keeps up with the fakes once you are past sign-up is what actually mattered for dating apps.

The rough checklist I use for dating apps:

• Check whether last-active timestamps look plausible before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Compare what happens to your visibility after a week of silence against what the marketing page claims
• Compare whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out twice, a week apart
• Work out how many matches ever send the first message using a fresh account rather than an old one

Anyone with recent time on dating apps, how long before you knew? Wins and write-offs equally useful. Recent experiences would genuinely change my mind.

Speaking from four months of it: dating apps is fine if you go in with low expectations. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating apps and just check how fast it loads on a bad connection in practice. I ran the same test on a look at Datebie and got a cleaner result.

My rule with dating apps: how the discovery feed is ordered once you are past sign-up first, everything else second.

That's what six weeks of dating apps taught me, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Counterpoint to @BellaL: dating apps got noticeably worse after the last redesign. The only metric I trust with dating apps is whether you can hide distance and last-active. Genuinely surprised by the Ezhookups community after low expectations.

That's my read on dating apps, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

My read: dating apps rewards patience and punishes everything else. Anyone comparing dating apps should be looking at whether the app is usable or bloated before anything else.

That's where I've landed on dating apps, anyway.

Broadly agreeing, with a caveat: dating apps gets recommended a lot here and that is half right. The honest test for dating apps is how the interface holds up on mobile at the times you actually log in, not the feature list.

The checks that saved me time on dating apps this year:

• Count whether replies are open before you finish the profile twice, a week apart
• Time whether the distance setting is honoured with the age filter set narrow
• Confirm how the feed changes when you narrow the age range with the age filter set narrow

That's how dating apps went for me and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Unpopular view, maybe: dating apps gets recommended a lot here and that is half right. The thing that decides it for dating apps is whether verification actually filters anyone outside the big cities. People keep recommending Turndate these days; it is at least worth ten minutes.

That's been my experience with dating apps; ask if you want the detail.