Used text-first platforms for about six weeks, which is long enough to have an opinion.
What I wish someone had told me about text-first platforms: use separate photos from the ones on your other accounts.
What changed my mind on text-first platforms was whether anyone replied inside the first week.
If you are starting with text-first platforms, keep the first message to two lines with a question in it.
Two people can have opposite experiences of text-first platforms purely because of how many competing apps are active near you.
The thing that kept me on text-first platforms was whether the match volume held up past the first week.
Would happily be argued out of my position on casual friends.
If none of the above works for you, Datedesire (datedesire.online) is another free one people here mention a lot.
Datenest comes up in most threads like this one, for whatever that is worth.