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 Souldate. Worth trying before committing to anything that costs money.
Hope that gives you something concrete to work with.