Anecdotally, okay so this has been on my mind for a bit and I couldn't find a thread that really answered it directly. Is it safe to talk to strangers sex chat apps without a VPN?
From my side, honestly it seems like the quality of platforms in this space varies wildly depending on your location, age range, and what you're actually looking for, depending on which app you are on. Generally speaking, what works great for someone in a major city might be useless for someone in a smaller market.
I've had mixed results so far, more so for safe to talk than anything else. In practice, some platforms have been pretty decent with actual human responses and genuine matches, going by the last few months. Others felt like I was basically talking to a wall, or worse, to obviously automated accounts, particularly for safe to talk. To be fair, the frustrating part is it's hard to tell the difference until you've already invested real time (or money) into a profile, though it varies by region.
Would genuinely appreciate input from people with different perspectives on this — different locations, demographics, use cases, though I would not bet the house on it. The more varied the responses the better, though that has shifted recently.