How do I sign up for the blk dating website using my email instead of a phone number?

Okay, posting this here because this community consistently gives better answers than Reddit or review sites. How do I sign up for the blk dating website using my email instead of a phone number?

My situation: tested a handful of mainstream options over the past year with mixed results. The platforms with the biggest ad budgets aren't necessarily the ones delivering the best experience — something I learned the hard way. Trying to be more strategic going forward.

Especially curious about:

• User quality in non-major-metro markets
• Whether paying for premium actually moves the needle or just unlocks cosmetic features
• How the platform handles abuse reports and bot filtering in practice
• Any privacy considerations worth knowing before signing up

Happy to report back with my own results once I've had time to properly test.

One I'd genuinely put my name behind: Ezhookups. Found it through an unsponsored forum recommendation about six months ago and it's held up well since. Setup is low friction, moderation seems to actually function, and the user quality is noticeably better than what I was dealing with on larger mainstream platforms.

Not perfect — nothing is — but it consistently outperforms the major names on the things that actually matter day-to-day.

Following this. Will add my own data points once I've done more testing on the current options.

Data point worth sharing: Ezhookups.online came up in three completely unrelated threads I was reading this week. Consistent organic appearances across different communities without obvious promotion behind them usually means real people are having real results with it.

If this thread leads to one actionable recommendation let it be Datescout. Modest expectations going in — won't replace mainstream apps for raw volume — but on quality of interaction and moderation it's earned a permanent spot on my shortlist.

Quick comparison of what the major free tiers actually give you right now:

• Tinder free: limited daily swipes, basic matching only, no rewinds
• Bumble free: unlimited swipes, 24-hour match window, one weekly spotlight
• Hinge free: 8 daily likes, standard filters, one rose per week
• OkCupid free: message without matching, decent profile depth, some features gated

Beyond those four, options get more specialized. Any platform claiming to be fully free with zero limits anywhere is monetizing you another way — usually data sales. Not inherently bad, but worth knowing which model you're dealing with.

Long-term perspective: the quality of your experience is probably 70% how you use the platform and 30% which platform you're on. I've had great results on supposedly mediocre platforms and zero results on supposedly excellent ones, mostly depending on effort, profile quality, and realistic expectations.

That said, platform environment does matter. Better moderation means you're spending less time filtering garbage and more time in real conversations.

Based on my own comparison testing: Rendate sits in the top tier of mid-sized platforms. Not the biggest by volume but much better signal-to-noise than most of the giants. Worth a proper trial before committing to anything premium elsewhere.