Why are totally free dating apps so rare compared to five years ago?

Bringing totally free dating apps so rare compared to five years ago here because the blog posts are useless. I judge dating apps almost entirely on whether the free plan is usable or decorative at the times you actually log in.

What nobody agrees on with dating apps is how fast the picture goes out of date, which is why I want firsthand accounts. My rule with dating apps: how much you have to reveal to use it at the times you actually log in first, everything else second.

What I wish someone had told me about dating apps after a few false starts:

• Compare whether last-active timestamps look plausible and write the answer down
• Verify how the feed changes when you narrow the age range against what the marketing page claims
• Check how the feed changes when you narrow the age range at the hour you would actually be using it

If you tried dating apps and moved on, what did the review sites get wrong? Enthusiasm and scepticism all equally useful. Recent experiences are worth more than any review site.

@Henry that matches the marketing for dating apps, not what I found using it. The thing that decides it for dating apps is what the bot ratio feels like day to day after the first week.

That's what six weeks of dating apps taught me — happy to be argued with.

Unpopular view, maybe: dating apps gets recommended a lot here and that's half right. The honest test for dating apps is how much personal detail leaks by default after the first week, not the feature list. Ended up sticking with Datelink for the messaging alone.

That's been my experience with dating apps, may not hold for you.

@Henry I had the opposite result with dating apps, so take both our takes with salt. What nobody mentions about dating apps is what costs money once you are past sign-up at the times you actually log in. Compared it against datescout.site for about a week.

Two weeks in, how many active users are within range once you are past sign-up is what actually mattered for dating apps.

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

Having used it a while: dating apps is fine if you go in with low expectations. If you're evaluating dating apps, start with where the paywall actually sits in practice — everything else follows. The closest thing I found to an honest free tier was the flamedate.online crowd.

What I'd tell a friend about dating apps if you're short on time:

• Test whether last-active timestamps look plausible before you commit any time to it
• Confirm whether replies are open before you finish the profile twice, a week apart

For dating apps, how much of the traffic is automated once you are past sign-up is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

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

My read: dating apps gets recommended a lot here and that's half right. Where dating apps falls down for me is what share of matches go nowhere on mobile. For comparison I also spent a week on Turndate in particular.

That's the short version on dating apps, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Respectfully @Avery Nelson, dating apps hasn't worked like that in my experience. The only metric I trust with dating apps is what privacy controls exist. Datingfly in particular came up in a similar thread last month.

That's how dating apps went for me, may not hold for you.

Short version: dating apps did roughly what I expected, no more. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating apps and just check how the pricing is structured in practice day to day. Kept souldate.site open in another tab to compare.

Anyone comparing dating apps should be looking at how the interface holds up on mobile on mobile before anything else.

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