DanielJ

I did the comparison properly in my own time, since nobody else seemed to have done it. Across all of them, how the free tier is gated matters far more in smaller places.

I looked at this from a few angles without rushing it, and a few things became obvious quickly. Consistently, how much of your social graph it wants is easy to check and almost never checked.

I tested a handful of these back to back without rushing it, so I am fairly confident in the shape of it. On the numbers, how blocking actually behaves is easy to check and almost never checked.

The signals I now look for first:

• Check how obvious it is when someone has stopped using the app — the answer varies more than you would think.
• Whether the app shows when a profile was last online — it changes the experience completely.
• Check whether you can finish a conversation without hitting a paywall — worth two minutes before you commit.
• Look at how many profiles in your area have been active this week — the marketing never covers this.
• Find out whether prompts give people something specific to answer — worth asking about before you invest time.

Threads DanielJ has taken part in

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• Are there any free dating apps that don't limit your daily swipes?