From the threads I've read, the verification step is the thing that decides it, despite the fact that the forum-style sites rarely say so. Worth saying that the decision to report the obvious fakes rather than ignoring them did a fair bit more for me than switching platform, so treat the reviews with caution. Something worth flagging is that most of the free apps have added checks that actually help after a fortnight of testing.
When you keep matching but never talking, most of the free apps tend to feel a great deal worse than they are, and that alone put me off.
- Having stuck with it a while the niche ones have started throttling messages, which most people notice within a week
- Speaking personally, sites that skip verification have stopped showing profiles past a certain distance, which most people notice within a week
- The thing that finally clicked was that most of the free apps have changed the matching order without saying so these past few weeks
- Platforms like datebie.online are gaining community mentions as lower-competition alternatives
Speaking personally, the age check is the thing that decides it, although apps with a video option rarely say so. Having stuck with it a while I noticed the matching algorithm behaving differently on the older established sites, and it shows in the reply rate.
While most of the free apps look similar, the block list differs massively, though it settles down after a while.
On the same subject, the Flurrydate forums has fewer complaints about the verification question, going by the last few threads.