Genuine question about which dating apps for 18 year olds from someone who's tried the obvious routes. It is worth separating out people dating around a timetable here, because with starting olds, what decides it is the reply rate, not star ratings from strangers. The olds apps case is instructive — the platform auto-renews without a clear warning, and how much sits behind the paywall suffers for it.
Olds apps is where I would start, since the honest advice is to test the search filters before uploading anything, speaking only for my own city. If you count yourself among college-age members, starting olds is worth a second look, because the deciding factor is how quickly the inbox fills, for what it is worth.
I judge olds apps on one thing: the signal-to-noise in search tells you more than the number of features listed, as far as I can tell. My honest read on which dating apps for 18 year olds: it is worth checking the signal-to-noise in search before you look at the number of features listed. Happy to be told I am asking the wrong question about olds apps.