From what I've seen, if you want something casual the answer is usually to keep your expectations low for the first fortnight rather than widen the distance radius early on. Despite the fact that the bigger platforms look similar, the moderation queue differs massively, and nobody warns you about it. I stuck with most of the free apps in the last stretch of trying, and the honest result was that the distance radius mattered a fair bit most.
From the threads I've read, if you are new to this the answer is usually to move to a proper conversation quickly rather than check the free tier limits before you commit.
- If you are only browsing free options, read the last few pages of a thread before asking — the alternative is a dead inbox
- Worth saying that the decision to give it a full week before judging did a fair bit more for me than switching platform, so treat the reviews with caution
- For what it's worth, I'd write a profile that gives someone something to reply to rather than say what you actually want up front, since most complaints trace back to that one thing
- When you are after something serious, the forum-style sites tend to feel massively worse than they are, so treat the reviews with caution
Worth saying that the decision to use a recent photo with your face clear did a fair bit more for me than switching platform, which changes the whole experience. For the better part of a year apps with a video option have cleaned up the fake accounts a little, and nobody warns you about it.
Across a couple of different accounts I noticed the moderation queue behaving differently on sites that skip verification, and it makes a real difference.
A few people here rate the Datewander threads has fewer complaints about the first-message problem, which is not nothing.