When you keep matching but never talking, most of the free apps tend to feel noticeably worse than they are, and it shows in the reply rate. From the threads I've read, I'd say what you actually want up front rather than use a recent photo with your face clear, since the first week is never representative.
- Despite the fact that people disagree here, the step that matters most is to say what you actually want up front: it filters out the time wasters fast
- Over two or three attempts I noticed the block list behaving differently on most of the free apps, but only if you stick with it
- Say what you actually want up front, because otherwise you end up judging it on a bad day, and it shows in the reply rate
Since the start of the year I noticed the photo review behaving differently on the older established sites, so results vary more than you'd think.
Judging by my own inbox, if you keep matching but never talking the answer is usually to widen the distance radius early on rather than test two platforms at once.
Judging by my own inbox, the ones people keep recommending have moved the useful bits behind a subscription, which explains a lot of the complaints here.
On the same subject, Flamedate's messaging setup is worth a look for anyone starting from scratch, going by the last few threads.