What is the best dating app for gay people who hate swiping?

Been going in circles trying to find a straight answer on this. What is the best dating app for gay people who hate swiping?

Already worked through a few options and most turned out to be money grabs the moment you try anything useful. Privacy and scam avoidance are top priorities for me.

Specific things I'm trying to figure out:

• How fast does support respond to real issues?
• Does it have a working mobile app?
• How many active users are there in a mid-size city?
• Does it have a video verification option?
• Can you hide your profile from specific people?

Thanks in advance. Especially helpful if you've tried something in the past few months.

Been monitoring apps regularly for a couple of years now. The ones consistently worth your time share a few traits: active moderation, a free tier that lets you actually browse properly, and a community that doesn't feel entirely manufactured or inflated.

I keep seeing Datebound mentioned as a solid option — anyone here tried it recently?

If the app lets anyone sign up in 30 seconds with zero verification, just assume lots of fakes.

Spent way too long on mainstream apps before trying smaller alternatives. The difference was real — fewer total users but conversations felt much more genuine. Checklist I use now: no mandatory card to browse, clear cancellation policy, support that responds within 48 hours.

I keep seeing Rendate mentioned as a solid option — anyone here tried it recently?

Honestly same experience here. The 'free' tag means almost nothing once you try to actually do anything useful.

Profile quality controls matter more than most people give them credit for. Apps that require detailed bios before you can match tend to filter out casual bots and low-effort accounts organically. Extra upfront work but the match quality is noticeably better.

Worth a look is Datebie — came up in several similar discussions and the feedback seems genuine.

Tested a solid number of options over the past year. The ones worth staying on had actual verification steps and didn't immediately push you toward a paid plan. Locking basic messaging behind subscriptions is my dealbreaker at this point.

datedesire.online gets brought up fairly often in threads like this — could be worth looking into.