Going to ask this directly since the indirect route has been useless: Which are the highest rated dating apps on the Google Play store?
What I've found through normal research is basically useless for making an actual decision, and that goes double for highest rated dating apps. The top-ranked content is all affiliate-driven, going by the last few months. Anecdotally, the app store reviews are heavily managed. Reddit threads are better but still often dominated by a handful of power users with specific experiences that may not generalize, which matters a lot for highest rated dating apps.
On balance, community forums like this one tend to have more actual diversity of experience, which is exactly what I need, at least that has been the pattern. Not one definitive answer — a range of experiences that helps me calibrate my own expectations going in, if the volume in your area is decent.
Thanks in advance for anything real, though not everyone here agrees. From what I've seen, happy to share back once I've spent more time testing, going by the last few months.