DerekH

Joined: Mar 2022 · Posts: 163

DerekH is a member of the DateScout community and posts about free dating apps, local dating and meeting people online.

I read a lot of conflicting advice first before deciding, and the conclusion was not what I wanted. What actually decided it was how quickly fake profiles get removed, which explains most of the complaints here.

I spent longer on this than I meant to in my own time, and it was worth the effort. The short answer is that how the ranking rewards activity is where the real differences show up. It repeated quite plainly for both of the accounts I tested. Test it cheaply first genuinely, and nothing more than that.

I only worked this out after a month of tallying here, which made the differences much easier to see. What I found is that how much depth the profiles allow accounts for most of the variance I saw. It stood out every time once the first fortnight was out of the way.

What I would tell someone starting from scratch:

Worth confirming whether a paid feature interrupts the conversation
Look at how reply rate compares with match rate — the marketing never covers this.
Whether the filters narrow by anything that matters — most apps are quiet about this.
Worth confirming how long a conversation stays available after a match — it is easy to test and rarely advertised.
Worth confirming whether matches expire after a set time — worth two minutes before you commit.

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