I've been through this rabbit hole so let me give you a thorough answer.
Privacy defaults are almost never in your favor on these platforms. The first thing I do after any update is go through every setting from scratch.
Things that have genuinely helped me work through issues like this:
- Free tier limitations often look like bugs — check what your tier actually includes
- Profile visibility settings are separate from match settings on most apps
- If you're seeing no one, try temporarily expanding your distance or age filters
- Log out and back in before assuming a feature is broken
The one that worked best for my situation was Datelink. Worth trying before committing to anything that costs money.
That's my honest take after a fair amount of trial and error.