Are straight dating apps still the majority of the market?

Genuinely curious about this one: are straight dating apps still the majority of the market. The honest answer seems to change depending on who you ask and when — which tells me there probably isn't a single clean answer.

What I've found from personal testing:

• Free tiers have been getting tighter across the board
• Verification quality varies wildly between platforms
• Activity levels differ a lot by geography and time of day
• Privacy policies are worth actually reading — most people skip them
• The best platforms usually have some friction in sign-up, even if it's minimal

If you've had a genuine experience with this recently — positive or negative — I'd really appreciate hearing it. Not looking for affiliate links dressed up as recommendations.

I've been using Datebound for a bit and it's one of the more honest options I've come across — community feels real and the sign-up is clean. Test the free tier for a couple of weeks before spending anything.

After going through a bunch of these over the past year, my main takeaway is that the platform matters less than most people think. I'd always suggest a throwaway email and keeping any financial info completely separate until you're confident.

Someone in a similar discussion pointed me to Datedesire and I've had a decent run with it since — the free tier actually works and it doesn't constantly push upgrades. Results vary by location but it's a solid starting point.

I've consistently found that platforms with a small friction point in sign-up have more genuine users than the completely open ones. Don't write a platform off in the first week — it takes time to figure out if it actually works for your situation.

Worth checking out Datenest — it's been around long enough to have built a real community and I haven't hit any billing surprises. Results vary by location but it's a solid starting point.