How does the free tinder search actually work?

Been circling this one for a while and I want input from people who actually use these platforms: the free tinder search actually work.

The search question keeps getting skipped in everything written about free tinder.

I gave free tinder about two weeks of honest effort before deciding to ask.

Practically speaking, for free tinder I want to know:

• How much of the free tinder profile pool is dormant or fake
• Whether anyone has tested search properly on free tinder
• Whether the matching in free tinder does anything beyond distance
• Whether search makes any material difference to free tinder
• What happens to your data if you delete a free tinder account

Even a 'don't bother' on free tinder is a useful answer.

Good thread — most discussion of free tinder online is astroturfed, so this is refreshing.

My own run at free tinder: three months, two platforms, and one relationship that lasted about a year — small sample, but real.

My free tinder experience hinged on search more than on the platform itself.

Adding the Datebound forums to the pile for free tinder, where the community is smaller but people actually reply.

Ran into exactly the search problem when I tried free tinder last year, and it took weeks to work around.

I'd qualify this: free tinder works fine if you're in a city, less so otherwise.

VicKing, that's roughly where I landed on free tinder too. Worth noting that nobody in this thread has agreed on free tinder yet, which is itself an answer.

Flurrydate is what I ended up using while working through free tinder — not perfect, but the free tier is real.

If you are testing free tinder, keep the first message short and reference something specific in their profile.

If free tinder is the question, Flamedate.online is at least worth ten minutes of your time before you pay for anything.

Read the small print on search before you commit to anything around free tinder.

I keep the Datewander boards open alongside the bigger names when I'm dealing with free tinder.

Datingfly.site comes up a lot when free tinder gets discussed elsewhere.