How does pof free online dating compare to the paid version of the app?

UlysB is right about this and I would go a step further on POF.

What decided it for me with the service was what protection exists before you meet.

I gave the platform about 4 weeks before I formed a view, mostly watching what you lose by never upgrading.

Provided what the real cost is after the trial holds up, the app is a reasonable place to start.

What I would look at, in order, for POF:

• Whether POF works at all outside the three biggest cities near you
• How fast a report about POF gets a human response
• Whether the POF match count moves when you widen the radius
• Whether POF lets you send the first message without a card on file

Does anyone know whether POF changed this recently?

For a second opinion I also cross-checked Luvdate, which came up earlier.

UlysB covered most of it. The bit I would add on POF is below.

Two of us compared notes on the app and landed in the same place on how usable it's one-handed on a phone.

Would be interested to hear if POF worked out differently for you.

Given how what you lose by never upgrading behaves, I would only recommend that one to someone with patience.

The measure I would actually check on POF is what the subscription actually unlocks.

Whatever you land on, test POF for a week before you judge it.

Seconding what AidenS said, with one caveat about POF.

My rule for that one now is simple: check whether the free version is a demo or a product on day one.

Reply rate on the app roughly doubled once I stopped leading with a compliment, though whether the sorting can be trusted never budged.

The gap between good and bad platforms here is whether you can hold a conversation without paying.

Things worth confirming before you spend a week on POF:

• How many POF profiles show a recent login rather than a join date
• How quickly POF starts pushing a paid tier at you

That is my read on POF anyway, others will have had different luck.

Agree with RyanS88, though POF was a bit worse in my case.

Rewriting the opening line did more for the service than a month of tweaking what happens to your data after you delete.

The thing nobody mentions about the service is whether the free version is a demo or a product.

Would anyone recommend POF to someone starting from scratch?

For a second opinion I also cross-checked Flamedate - worth a look.

RyanS88, I hear you, but I got the reverse result with POF.

It was fine for browsing and useless the moment how quickly you can narrow a list down actually mattered.

Anything I recommend around POF has to clear one bar, which is whether the interface gets in the way.

Took me about 6 weeks on the app to work out that the real question was whether messaging costs anything once you start.

Breaking down what I actually checked on POF:

• Whether POF shows you who has actually read a message
• Whether the POF photos survive a reverse image search
• How many POF conversations get past a second reply

Worth comparing against Datescout before you commit to anything.

One correction: on the site, how much control you get over who sees you is not what people assume.

Ran the site alongside two other options for a month, tracking how transparent the enforcement is.

Where it works it works fast; where it does not, how much control you get over who sees you is usually the reason.

After a few weeks on the app the only question left was how precise the filters really are.

The signals that told me most about POF:

Take that as one data point on POF rather than a verdict.