I looked at this from a few angles across two cities, before forming any view. The thing nobody mentions is that whether the app works on a slow connection predicts your reply rate better than anything else. The difference persisted fairly clearly for both of the accounts I tested.

I checked this against my own numbers without rushing it, rather than just skimming a couple of apps. The measurable difference came down to whether photos are checked before publication, which sets the ceiling on what you can achieve. The pattern repeated to a degree that mattered regardless of how active I was.

I have changed my mind on this twice once properly, before I trusted my own conclusion. Cutting through it, the size of the local pool turns out to matter far more than the interface.

Things I wish I had checked sooner:

  • How long before the first upsell prompt appears — it decided things for me.
  • Whether there is a desktop experience at all — check it on a real account, not a demo.
  • How much information is public before you match — surprisingly hard to find out in advance.

I looked at this from a few angles here, which changed my answer completely. The honest answer is that the ratio of active to dormant profiles decides most of the outcome. It repeated quite plainly despite what the marketing implied. It cost me nothing to verify genuinely, before committing any real time.