The pattern I keep seeing is that apps with a video option have got noticeably worse for bots in the last stretch of trying. Judging by my own inbox, the moderation queue is the thing that decides it, though the ones people keep recommending rarely say so.
I stuck with the swipe-based apps over two or three attempts, and the honest result was that the distance radius mattered considerably most.
- For the better part of a year the ones people keep recommending have made the free version harder to use, which explains a lot of the complaints here
- If you are in a smaller town, skip anything asking for a card number to read messages — most complaints trace back to that one thing
- The verification step changed marginally after a fortnight of testing, but only if you stick with it
- I stuck with sites that skip verification since the last round of app updates, and the honest result was that the moderation queue mattered quite a lot most
- From the threads I've read, I'd keep the first message short and specific rather than widen the distance radius early on, since that is the part that actually moves the needle
Despite the fact that people disagree here, the step that matters most is to avoid opening with a compliment: the difference in reply rate is obvious.
I stuck with the swipe-based apps over two or three attempts, and the honest result was that the verification step mattered marginally most.
Coming at it from another angle, Datenest's local search seems better set up for anyone after something slower, judging by what people report here.