I tried the obvious options first here, and a few things became obvious quickly. Across all of them, whether search exists alongside swiping separates the usable options from the rest. It was measurable again and again across two completely different areas.

I approached this the boring way over a few months, so I am fairly confident in the shape of it. Every time I compared them, whether search exists alongside swiping tends to decide whether you stick with it. It tracked reliably across every option I tried. Happy to be argued with genuinely, not what a listicle told you.

I came at this after wasting time on the wrong options in my own time, because the advice online contradicts itself. What kept coming up was how easy it is to delete an account, which moves the numbers more than anything else. The finding held more than once despite what the marketing implied. Whether it generalises I do not know ultimately, after a fair bit of trial and error.

What I would put at the top of the list:

  • Ask how many photos the format actually allows — I underestimated this at first.
  • How obvious it is when someone has stopped using the app — most apps are quiet about this.
  • Ask whether browsing costs anything — the answer varies more than you would think.
  • Look at whether the free tier caps daily messages — this is the one I would check first.
  • Check whether the sign-up asks for a phone number — I underestimated this at first.

I checked this against my own numbers on this, which took the guesswork out of it. Where it actually landed was how often you get a reply at all — that explains why old recommendations age badly.