Which platforms focus on both dating and chat?

Curious what this board thinks about platforms focus on both dating and chat. My rule with platforms focus: what the search filters can actually do first, everything else second.

Where I get stuck with platforms focus is that every source has something to sell, so I would rather ask people than read another list. You can ignore most of the marketing around platforms focus and just check whether the app is usable or bloated outside the big cities.

The checks that saved me time on platforms focus:

• Pin down how the search behaves outside the default radius on mobile data, not office wifi
• Confirm what happens to your visibility after a week of silence in your own city rather than the default radius
• Pin down whether the distance setting is honoured in your own city rather than the default radius
• Track whether replies are open before you finish the profile before you upload a second photo

If you tried platforms focus and moved on, what did the review sites get wrong? Positive and negative all worth hearing. Honest answers are what I am actually after.

For what it's worth: platforms focus rewards patience and punishes everything else. I judge platforms focus almost entirely on whether the activity is real or recycled at the times you actually log in. Flamedate (flamedate.online) was the only one that did not gate replies.

Worked for me on platforms focus, anyway.

@LandonC is describing a version of platforms focus I have never seen. Anyone comparing platforms focus should be looking at whether moderation keeps up with the fakes at the times you actually log in before anything else. If you want a second opinion, what Luvdate is doing is the one I'd try next.

What I'd tell a friend about platforms focus after a few false starts:

• Watch whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out with notifications switched off
• Confirm what the block and report flow actually does before you commit any time to it
• Look at how many profiles carry more than two photos in your own city rather than the default radius
• Test how many profiles carry more than two photos with the age filter set narrow

The only metric I trust with platforms focus is whether notifications are useful or noise once you are past sign-up.

That's been my experience with platforms focus, though clearly it varies by region.

@HazelE might be right in principle, but platforms focus rarely behaves that cleanly. If you're evaluating platforms focus, start with how the discovery feed is ordered outside the big cities — everything else follows. I ran the same test on a look at Datelink and got a cleaner result.

That's the honest picture of platforms focus — happy to be argued with.

After a fair bit of testing: there's a version of platforms focus that works, and it isn't the default one. What nobody mentions about platforms focus is how much you can do before being asked to upgrade. a look at Datebie solved about half of this for me.

Where platforms focus falls down for me is whether notifications are useful or noise.

That's where I've landed on platforms focus, anyway.

My read: platforms focus is fine if you go in with low expectations. The thing that decides it for platforms focus is whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny. Compared it against datescout.site for about a week.

That's the honest picture of platforms focus, may not hold for you.