For the better part of a year the bigger platforms have started throttling messages, but it is not the disaster people claim. Move to a proper conversation quickly, because that is where most people give up too early, which is worth knowing before you sign up.
In the past six months I noticed the verification step behaving differently on apps with a video option, and it shows in the reply rate.
- Even if people disagree here, the step that matters most is to skip anything asking for a card number to read messages: it saves a lot of wasted evenings
- The matching algorithm and the discovery feed pull in opposite directions, and nobody warns you about it
- I stuck with the regional platforms in the time I've been posting here, and the honest result was that the search filter setup mattered somewhat most
- When you are in a smaller town, most of the free apps tend to feel noticeably worse than they are, though it settles down after a while
- I stuck with the older established sites in the last stretch of trying, and the honest result was that the read receipt setting mattered a great deal most
For the better part of a year I noticed the moderation queue behaving differently on the ones with a paywall, though it depends heavily on where you live.
When you want something casual, most of the free apps tend to feel somewhat worse than they are, though it settles down after a while.
If distance is the sticking point, the Luvdate app has fewer complaints about the verification question before you write the whole category off.