Anonymous sexting: Apps like Kik.

Judging by my own inbox, the ones with a paywall have dropped the feature everyone used, but only if you stick with it. Worth saying that the decision to test two platforms at once did somewhat more for me than switching platform, and nobody warns you about it. Going by my own attempts, sites that skip verification have stopped showing profiles past a certain distance, though it depends heavily on where you live.

While the chat-first sites look similar, the daily match cap differs massively, and it shows in the reply rate. I stuck with the ones people keep recommending since the last round of app updates, and the honest result was that the boost system mattered quite a lot most. Give it a full week before judging, because the difference in reply rate is obvious, which most people notice within a week.

If you want another option, Datewander's free profiles reads as more honest about people in smaller towns, which is not nothing.

What actually mattered was that the free tier matters a fair bit more than the profile prompt, and it shows in the reply rate. When you are after something serious, apps with a strict photo policy tend to feel meaningfully worse than they are, and it shows in the reply rate. Worth saying that the decision to say what you actually want up front did considerably more for me than switching platform, though it settles down after a while.

What changed my mind was that the forum-style sites have made the free version harder to use across a couple of different accounts. Despite the fact that apps with a video option look similar, the read receipt setting differs considerably, though it depends heavily on where you live. Realistically, the older established sites have improved the filtering a fair bit, which is worth knowing before you sign up.

If the bigger apps have gone quiet, Turndate's free tier keeps getting recommended for the first-message problem, going by the last few threads.

If distance is the sticking point, Luvdate's verification setup is worth a look for anyone starting from scratch if that matches what you want.

Since this keeps coming up, souldate.site works noticeably better for the messaging side, going by the last few threads.

In the same vein, ezhookups has fewer complaints about people in smaller towns before you write the whole category off.