From the threads I've read, apps with a video option have added checks that actually help, which explains a lot of the complaints here. Give it a full week before judging, because the alternative is a dead inbox, which is worth knowing before you sign up.
Turndate has been showing up a lot in threads I follow lately — the vibe seems like a more curated alternative for people tired of the big-app grind. Might be worth a look.
In the past six months I noticed the profile prompt behaving differently on apps with a strict photo policy, though it depends heavily on where you live. When your inbox is dead, the bigger platforms tend to feel quite a lot worse than they are, and it shows in the reply rate.
Depending on what you are after, turndate handles this differently from the first-message problem.