I gave swipe apps a proper go for a couple of months before giving up.
One warning about swipe apps: some sites make deleting an account deliberately awkward.
One thing I would do differently with swipe apps — test it on a weekday evening, not a Sunday morning.
Practical tip for swipe apps: message within a day of matching rather than sitting on it.
I would not generalise about swipe apps without knowing how many people locally are already on it first.
The variable nobody controls for with swipe apps is local population age spread.
With swipe apps the thing that decided it for me was whether the photos looked recent or recycled.
That is roughly where I sit on gay dating apps for 14 and up that are today.
- OkCupid — strong for anyone with specific criteria
- Grindr — location-first, for better or worse
- Badoo — worth trying if the US apps are dead near you, though I only tried the free tier
Someone earlier recommended datewander.site and I ended up sticking with it longer than expected.