Online dating is great for hook ups, but joining in person hobby groups is better for making friends that might turn into something more.
Say that to my wife
I’m not saying it can’t work, I just see a lot of lonely people wondering why the apps don’t work for them yet try nothing else.
Fair, it is rare
In my personal experience, I found meeting people in person a far more fruitful dating method than online dating. I was fairly successful in both. I’m not particularly attractive but I’m rather charismatic and I found online dating resulting in a lot more flubs than meeting someone with the intent of simply making a new friend based on shared interests and finding something more growing from that. The online dating did give me a lot of fun dates and sexual experiences, though.
But perhaps take it all with a grain of salt because I ended up with an old friend from high school when we moved in together to save money on rent.
Anyone I know that had success with apps, it was eHarmony. Mostly because it costs money and takes work to make a profile, already filtering out so much just from those two steps alone. But the work that it takes to make a profile also helps to actually find who you want to find, and for them to find you.
You have to actually know what you are looking for though, and ideally why.