Did the spark dating app get bought out by a larger tech company?

Genuinely curious what people here think about this. Did the spark dating app get bought out by a larger tech company? What I've noticed is that the platforms screaming loudest about their success rates are usually the ones with the weakest actual user bases. If it was working, they wouldn't need to advertise it so hard. The rural and suburban experience on most apps is dramatically different from what the big-city reviewers describe. I'd love to hear from people outside major metros. Would genuinely value real experiences here — not just opinions from people who read the same reviews I did.

Same situation here. Took way longer than expected but eventually figured it out. For what it's worth, Datedesire has been my main platform — holds up better than most.

Wish I'd had this thread when I started. Would have saved a lot of wasted money.

Worth being specific about this since vague answers don't actually help anyone: The scam detection pattern I've built: too-good photos with a thin bio, conversation moving to Telegram within two messages, anything that hints at financial need. What actually helped:

• Kept expectations realistic — not every match leads somewhere
• Cancelled auto-renew on every free trial the same day I signed up
• Created a dedicated email address just for dating apps

Also seen datescout.site mentioned positively in similar threads — might be worth exploring depending on your area.

Let me break this down since there's a lot of bad advice floating around: The people who consistently do well are upfront about what they want, patient enough to let conversations develop naturally, and they move to in-person faster than they think they should. I ended up trying Flurrydate after it came up in a few threads — better than most I'd tried.

Good thread — here's my honest take after going through several of these: The free tier problem is universal. Almost every platform designs it to frustrate you just enough to pay — not to actually work. Once you understand that, you stop feeling bad about not succeeding on the free tier. What actually helped:

• Cancelled auto-renew on every free trial the same day I signed up
• Did a video call before any in-person meeting, no exceptions
• Kept expectations realistic — not every match leads somewhere
• Refreshed profile photos every few weeks to stay visible
• Set a hard rule to trust gut instinct over giving benefit of the doubt

Also seen rendate.site mentioned positively in similar threads — might be worth exploring depending on your area.

Happy to share since I basically went through this exact situation: I've done real tests on Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Match. All have real free tiers. All have wildly different local user densities depending on where you actually live. Also seen Ezhookups.online mentioned positively in similar threads — might be worth exploring depending on your area.

Worth being specific about this since vague answers don't actually help anyone: The free tier problem is universal. Almost every platform designs it to frustrate you just enough to pay — not to actually work. Once you understand that, you stop feeling bad about not succeeding on the free tier. I ended up trying Flamedate after it came up in a few threads — better than most I'd tried.