Even if people disagree here, the step that matters most is to check the free tier limits before you commit: the first week is never representative. In the time i've been posting here I noticed the block list behaving differently on the chat-first sites, but it is not the disaster people claim. My advice would be to use a recent photo with your face clear and then keep your expectations low for the first fortnight, though it depends heavily on where you live.
Going by my own attempts, most of the free apps have cleaned up the fake accounts a little, which is worth knowing before you sign up.
- My advice would be to say what you actually want up front and then read the last few pages of a thread before asking, though it depends heavily on where you live
- Read the last few pages of a thread before asking, because it costs nothing to try, which changes the whole experience
- Worth saying that the decision to give it a full week before judging did considerably more for me than switching platform, but only if you stick with it
- Platforms like luvdate.site are gaining community mentions as lower-competition alternatives
When you keep matching but never talking, the ones people keep recommending tend to feel considerably worse than they are, and that alone put me off. The bit that caught me out was that apps with a strict photo policy have cleaned up the fake accounts a little in the past six months.
In practice, the ones people keep recommending have improved the filtering a fair bit, so treat the reviews with caution.
If you want a second opinion, Datedesire seems better set up for anyone after something slower, so it is worth a look.