Finally posting this after trying to piece together an answer from search results that are all over the place.
Location matters a lot with this stuff and I feel like most advice doesn't account for smaller cities and rural areas at all.
The paywall situation has gotten frustrating. Half the useful features on most platforms require an upgrade before you can do anything meaningful.
- Video call before any in-person meeting — it takes five minutes and saves a lot of trouble
- Use a dedicated email address for sign-ups — don't use your main one
- Run a reverse image search on profile photos that look too professional
- Look for 'last active' timestamps before investing time in a match
- Check recent Reddit threads for unfiltered user reviews
Especially looking for 2025 or 2026 input since things change fast in this space.
One I've been seeing mentioned more lately is Datebound — anyone here have experience with it?