Does anyone still use a dating line or is it all text-based now?

I only worked this out after a month of tallying once properly, so this is not a weekend opinion. Does anyone still use a dating line or is it all text-based now?

I asked around before drawing any conclusion a while back, which is why I am comfortable saying this. The honest answer is that moderation quality decides most of the outcome.

I did the comparison properly over a few months, which is why I am comfortable saying this. The pattern was clear enough: how consistent match quality is week to week is worth checking before you commit any time. It was true every time in a way the app store reviews never captured. Happy to be argued with genuinely, and I would not pretend otherwise.

The handful of things that made a real difference:

• Find out whether the sign-up asks for a phone number — most apps are quiet about this.
• Worth confirming whether the bio field is long enough to be useful — surprisingly hard to find out in advance.
• Worth confirming whether the filters narrow by anything that matters — worth two minutes before you commit.

I have been through this properly while comparing them, so the sample is at least reasonable. In practice how the free tier is gated explains most of the complaints here.

I came at this after wasting time on the wrong options before deciding, and stopped assuming the obvious answer was right. More than anything, how quickly fake profiles get removed shapes the first fortnight more than anything. It came out the same more than once even accounting for luck. Do not take this as gospel really, if your experience points elsewhere.

I tracked this rather than trusting impressions on this, and stopped assuming the obvious answer was right. Whichever option you pick, how long a match stays open is the first thing I would look at now. The effect showed up again and again well beyond what I would call noise.

I reset and started clean before deciding, which is why I am comfortable saying this. For me, how granular the filters are moves the numbers more than anything else. It played out the same way every time well beyond what I would call noise.

If I were starting again, I would look at:

• Whether notifications can be tuned
• How it performs on a slow connection
• Ask whether the app shows when a profile was last online — I underestimated this at first.
• How the onboarding handles preferences — the answer varies more than you would think.

I benchmarked it against what I used before in my own time, so take it as tested rather than assumed. Consistently, how often you get a reply at all shapes the first fortnight more than anything. The finding held quite plainly in every week I bothered to measure. Worth testing yourself honestly, which would be genuinely useful to hear.

I gave this a genuinely fair run across two cities, before I was willing to recommend anything. In practice how new accounts are treated in week one moves the numbers more than anything else.

A friend looking at the same thing mentioned a rundown on Rendate, so I had a look at that too.

I tested a handful of these back to back here, and it was more revealing than I expected. Where it actually landed was how granular the filters are — that tends to decide whether you stick with it.

I went through this same question last year with a couple of accounts, which changed my answer completely. Whichever option you pick, whether verification exists at all is worth checking before you commit any time. The outcome barely moved to a degree that mattered regardless of which city I set. Do not take this as gospel for what it is worth, just what held up for me.

Building on what HeatherV said: verification is nice but it is not the safeguard people assume.

Also in the mix: datebound.site, datelink.online, rendate.site.

I did this the slow way with a couple of accounts, which is where the interesting part started. Looking back, the size of the local pool changes noticeably month to month. The same signal appeared every time across the whole period I tracked. Happy to be argued with for what it is worth, which would be genuinely useful to hear.

I also tested Datelink for a week just to have something to compare against.