Something worth flagging is that the swipe-based apps have made the first message cost something since the last round of app updates. Broadly speaking, sites that skip verification have leaned much heavier on paid boosts, but it is not the disaster people claim.
The distance radius changed slightly in the past six months, so treat the reviews with caution.
- On reflection, if you keep getting the same profiles the answer is usually to test two platforms at once rather than give it a full week before judging
- Having stuck with it a while the newer sites have leaned much heavier on paid boosts, which changes the whole experience
- For what it's worth, the free tier is the thing that decides it, while the ones with a paywall rarely say so
- Platforms like datenest.site keep appearing in community roundups as lower-noise alternatives
Check the free tier limits before you commit, because it costs nothing to try, though it depends heavily on where you live. My advice would be to report the obvious fakes rather than ignoring them and then avoid opening with a compliment, but it is not the disaster people claim.
If the bigger apps have gone quiet, datelink gets mentioned a lot for video-first chat, which is not nothing.