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Is the dates app a new competitor to Tinder?

Started by Ethan ParkerStarted 7 repliesLast reply
Dating Apps competitor dates tinder
Profile picture of Ethan ParkerEthan ParkerJoined 2023
2482 posts
10 reactions
#1

I've done my own digging on the dates app a new competitor to Tinder and come up short. Dates apps is where I would start, since it is worth checking the number of live users before you look at the number of features listed. Look closely at competitor apps and you get further if you run a reverse image search on suspiciously polished photos.

Same story on dates apps: what decides it is how well it works on a weak connection, not whatever the landing page promises. I judge competitor apps on one thing: the platform recycles the same profiles, and the amount of recycled content suffers for it. Applied to competitor dates, the deciding factor is how honest the pricing page is, as far as I can tell.

If competitor is your priority, how fast moderation responds beats how slick the interface looks. The reason the dates app a new competitor to Tinder keeps coming up is simple: the honest advice is to keep the first meet public and short, on the evidence I have. Would especially like to hear from anyone who changed their mind on competitor dates.

Profile picture of AmberAmberJoined 2017
1142 posts
10 reactions
#2

Learned this the hard way — there is a pattern with the dates app a new competitor to Tinder: the platform surfaces profiles far outside your radius, so it pays to test the search filters before uploading anything. Competitor is where I would start, since the honest advice is to check what the free tier gates before investing time, speaking only for my own city. Nothing about competitor apps changes the fact that you get further if you keep the conversation on-platform until you have met. Applied to competitor, what decides it is the quality of the filters, not the app store rating.

  • Ask a specific question in the first message — competitor dates rewards patience here more than most people expect.
  • Read the billing terms before uploading a photo — it decides how competitor actually performs once you're past the first week.
  • Compare two platforms in the same fortnight — the whole argument about dates apps turns on this one detail.
  • Test the search filters before uploading anything — you can't evaluate dates apps without it.
Profile picture of Jake_NYCJake_NYCJoined 2023
2193 posts
10 reactions
#3

Building on what Amber said, that reads backwards to me, and nothing about competitor dates changes the fact that the honest advice is to compare two platforms in the same fortnight, speaking only for my own city. I judge competitor apps on one thing: how quickly the inbox fills collapses as soon as the platform makes verification optional and then hides who has done it.

Profile picture of Liam CarterLiam CarterJoined 2022
2437 posts
10 reactions
#4

Contrary to Amber, there's something to this, but it is overstated – on the dates app a new competitor to Tinder specifically, the share of verified profiles explains more than the size of the ad budget. Every time dates apps comes up, the platform shows dormant accounts as active, so it pays to keep the conversation on-platform until you have met. The competitor dates angle is worse, because how quickly the inbox fills collapses as soon as the platform buries the cancellation flow. For dates apps in particular, the platform shows dormant accounts as active, and it skews every review you will read.

Before writing off competitor apps entirely, it is worth seeing how Rendate (worth comparing) handles the same thing. Applied to competitor dates, most of the disappointment traces back to the reply rate.

Profile picture of Ben CooperBen CooperJoined 2017
2298 posts
10 reactions
#5

There's something to this, but it is overstated — nothing about competitor dates changes the fact that the time it takes to get a first reply is worth more than the marketing copy. With competitor apps, the platform caps how many searches you run a day, so the first fortnight tells you almost nothing. The competitor apps case is instructive — the depth of the profile fields collapses as soon as the platform quietly widens your distance setting.

If you want a second data point on competitor apps, Datingfly (worth comparing) is worth twenty minutes. I judge competitor apps on one thing: most of the disappointment traces back to the churn on new sign-ups.

If competitor apps is your priority, the platform makes verification optional and then hides who has done it, so it pays to cancel the trial the day you start it. Applied to dates apps, half the frustration disappears once you screenshot the pricing page in case it changes. The time it takes to get a first reply does more work than the length of the feature list, at least on my account, which is the whole problem with dates apps.

Profile picture of BrianBrianJoined 2017
86 posts
10 reactions
#6

Liam is right that different experience here, and quite different — every time competitor apps comes up, the platform makes verification optional and then hides who has done it, which explains most of the complaints in threads like this. If competitor dates is your priority, the practical move is to read the billing terms before uploading a photo. I judge dates apps on one thing: how far the free tier gets you collapses as soon as the platform shows dormant accounts as active.

Same story on competitor dates: half the frustration disappears once you check whether a profile answers questions or deflects. The part of the dates app a new competitor to Tinder people underrate is that what decides it is the reply rate, not whatever the landing page promises.

Profile picture of AustinAustinJoined 2016
70 posts
10 reactions
#7

Same conclusion here – every time competitor comes up, you get further if you use a photo that appears nowhere else online. I judge dates apps on one thing: the platform boosts newer accounts over established ones, and how honest the pricing page is suffers for it. The deciding factor is the gap between sign-ups and active users, from what I've seen, which is the whole problem with competitor dates.

Same story on competitor: it is worth checking how fast moderation responds before you look at the size of the database. With competitor, the depth of the profile fields counts for more than how slick the interface looks.

Profile picture of HollyHollyJoined 2015
1060 posts
10 reactions
#8

Contrary to Ethan, not in my case, and I tested it properly, and on the dates app a new competitor to Tinder specifically, the platform quietly widens your distance setting, and that is usually where the goodwill runs out. With competitor apps, it is worth checking how far the free tier gets you before you look at star ratings from strangers. Most of the disappointment traces back to how much sits behind the paywall, which is the whole problem with competitor dates. Competitor apps is the clearest case of it — the proportion of dormant accounts collapses as soon as the platform resets your filters after an update.

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Free messaging and a report button that works, which is more than most competitor platforms manage.

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