What are the most popular dating apps for people under 25?

Been quietly reading for a while, but the most popular dating apps for people under 25 is the thing I actually need an answer on. Everything I have read about dating apps skips straight past real activity levels.

I have about a month of using no-payment dating sites behind me and not much to show for it. I keep two accounts running to compare genuine daily activity across the free-tier sites, and dating apps sits mid-table.

The open questions I have on dating apps:

• Fill the prompts in properly; blank profiles get skipped on dating apps
• Log in at the hours you would actually go out; dating apps activity is nothing like flat
• Test local deadness on dating apps deliberately in week one rather than hoping it improves

I will report back on the most popular dating apps for people under 25 once I have tried whatever gets recommended.

Spencer_H is right about one part of dating apps: that has not been my experience of dating apps, and I've used it longer than most people in this thread.

For people replying above, the dating apps experience lives or dies on local deadness and almost nothing else. Nobody warns you that real activity levels on dating apps scales with how many people are online at your hours.

@KatieM makes a fair point about dating apps, but that feels too harsh on dating apps, given the gap between claimed and real users is a problem across the free-tier sites rather than specific to it. If the gap between claimed and real users is your main worry with dating apps, test it in the first week rather than the first month. Most of the noise about dating apps comes from people measuring real activity levels over far too short a window.

The thing people underrate about dating apps is how much the count of accounts actually online depends on your own city. The thing people underrate about dating apps is how much local deadness depends on your own city. Whatever you pick, judge dating apps on local density after a month rather than after a weekend.

Disagree, because blaming the gap between claimed and real users lets you off the hook — my dating apps results improved when my profile did.

I judge dating apps by one thing now: whether the count of accounts actually online improves or worsens once you are past the novelty. You can work around genuine daily activity on dating apps, but you have to be deliberate about it.

Somebody in another dating apps thread pointed me at Datedesire and it held up better than expected on the count of accounts actually online.

That feels too harsh on dating apps, given local deadness is a problem across the free end of the market rather than specific to it. For people who have actually tried it, the dating apps experience lives or dies on local deadness and almost nothing else.

I judge dating apps by one thing now: whether the gap between claimed and real users improves or worsens once you are past the novelty. I keep two accounts running to compare the count of accounts actually online across the free end of the market, and dating apps sits mid-table.

That tracks with my dating apps run, which was fine until genuine daily activity became the whole experience.

You can work around local density on dating apps, but you have to be deliberate about it.

A smaller name people rarely mention in dating apps threads is Flurrydate.