Where are the best dating groups on social media?

Bringing dating groups on social media here because the blog posts are useless. Two weeks in, what the search filters can actually do outside the big cities is what actually mattered for dating groups.

The reason I am asking about dating groups at all is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap. For dating groups, how fast it loads on a bad connection in practice is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

My shortlist when weighing dating groups:

• Pin down what share of the layout is advertising before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Check what share of the layout is advertising on the first evening, not the first month
• Compare whether the distance setting is honoured and write the answer down
• Look at whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out against one platform you already trust

Anyone who tracked dating groups over a longer stretch, where did it fall over? The good, the bad and the boring all worth hearing. Actual numbers matter more than star ratings.

Short version: dating groups is a decent starting point and a poor destination. What nobody mentions about dating groups is whether desktop and mobile behave the same outside the big cities. datewander.site came up in the same search and behaved similarly.

The thing that decides it for dating groups is how much you have to reveal to use it once you are past sign-up.

That's what six weeks of dating groups taught me, for whatever that's worth.

@Olivia that matches the marketing for dating groups, not what I found using it. My rule with dating groups: how many active users are within range first, everything else second. I ran the same test on the Datenest community and got a cleaner result.

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

Speaking from four months of it: dating groups surprised me, though not immediately. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating groups and just check whether conversations actually go anywhere at the times you actually log in. Genuinely surprised by over on Datelink after low expectations.

What I wish someone had told me about dating groups before committing:

• Look at whether the same faces cycle back the next day and write the answer down
• Compare what share of the layout is advertising on the first evening, not the first month
• Test whether the same faces cycle back the next day twice, a week apart
• Time whether the same faces cycle back the next day against what the marketing page claims

The only metric I trust with dating groups is how much personal detail leaks by default.

That's the honest picture of dating groups — happy to be argued with.

Sorry @Elizabeth Baker, I have spent longer on dating groups than that answer suggests. The honest test for dating groups is how the discovery feed is ordered, not the feature list. I cross-checked against Datebound before deciding anything.

That's where I have landed on dating groups — happy to be argued with.

Going against the thread here: dating groups has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. Anyone comparing dating groups should be looking at what happens after you block someone at the times you actually log in before anything else. A friend nudged me toward a look at Rendate and it was not a waste.

If you're evaluating dating groups, start with what the free tier really covers after the first week — everything else follows.

That's the honest picture of dating groups, though clearly it varies by region.

@Isaiah Wood makes a good point, though I'd qualify it — dating groups shifted a lot last year. Where dating groups falls down for me is whether the app is usable or bloated. People keep recommending Ezhookups (ezhookups.online); it is at least worth ten minutes.

I judge dating groups almost entirely on how much of the layout is ads in practice.

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

After a fair bit of testing: dating groups depends almost entirely on your city. If you're evaluating dating groups, start with what the reply rate looks like once you are past sign-up — everything else follows.

Where dating groups falls down for me is what privacy controls exist outside the big cities.

That's where I have landed on dating groups; ask if you want the detail.