What is the best dating app for guys who aren't into hookups?

Been circling dating app for guys who aren't into hookups for a while now. If you're evaluating dating app, start with how the discovery feed is ordered outside the big cities — everything else follows.

The part that trips me up on dating app is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap. My rule with dating app: where the paywall actually sits outside the big cities first, everything else second.

What I actually check with dating app before committing:

• Confirm what share of the layout is advertising using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Test how the feed changes when you narrow the age range before you commit any time to it
• Look at how the feed changes when you narrow the age range against one platform you already trust
• Note what happens to your visibility after a week of silence on the first evening, not the first month
• Note how the search behaves outside the default radius on mobile data, not office wifi

If you have used dating app in the last few months, where did it fall over? Wins and write-offs genuinely both wanted. Real usage notes would genuinely change my mind.

Half agree with @Madison. Dating app is fine; the experience around dating app is not. For dating app, what the escalation path looks like after the first week is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's the short version on dating app, may not hold for you.

Unpopular view, maybe: there's a version of dating app that works, and it isn't the default one. The thing that decides it for dating app is how much you can do before being asked to upgrade day to day.

The honest test for dating app is whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny after the first week, not the feature list.

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

Speaking from four months of it: dating app is a decent starting point and a poor destination. Where dating app falls down for me is how active it is outside big cities outside the big cities. I ran the same test on Souldate and got a cleaner result.

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

Blunt answer: I want to like dating app more than I actually do. What nobody mentions about dating app is how the discovery feed is ordered.

That's my read on dating app, for whatever that's worth.

Blunt answer: dating app depends almost entirely on your city. The only metric I trust with dating app is how active it is outside big cities after the first week.

My shortlist when weighing dating app:

• Sanity-check how the feed changes when you narrow the age range with notifications switched off
• Track how the search behaves outside the default radius and write the answer down

I judge dating app almost entirely on what the day-to-day traffic feels like in practice.

That's my read on dating app, though clearly it varies by region.

For what it is worth: dating app rewards patience and punishes everything else. Anyone comparing dating app should be looking at what the onboarding asks for before anything else. Datenest right now was the only one that did not gate replies.

You can ignore most of the marketing around dating app and just check what the escalation path looks like at the times you actually log in.

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

Speaking from four months of it: dating 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 outside the big cities is what actually mattered for dating app. Started on Rendate and never fully moved off it.

That's the short version on dating app; ask if you want the detail.

@AriaT I don't think that's right about dating app — at least not everywhere. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating app and just check how photo permissions are handled on mobile. If you want a second opinion, Datingfly right now is the one I'd try next.

Where dating app falls down for me is whether moderation keeps up with the fakes once you are past sign-up.

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

Blunt answer: dating app is fine if you go in with low expectations. I judge dating app almost entirely on whether it is busy at the times you are in practice.

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