If it helps, a bad week is a bad week, not evidence about the platform — others here may have had a different experience. Are there any dating apps for free chat that don't require a credit card?
From my side, your phone number can wait until you have actually spoken — worth testing yourself rather than taking my word for it.
My take: taking a break when it starts to feel like admin is sensible — that is the bit I would tell anyone signing up today.
Honestly, patience is genuinely the differentiator, dull as that sounds — small thing, but it adds up.