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Fix your photos first, then your filters, then your bio - ranked by effect per hour spent, that is the order that moves the number. Most people spend their effort in exactly the reverse order, rewriting the bio for an evening while the lead photo that decides most swipes stays the same.
None of this requires you to look different. It requires you to show what you already look like clearly, to enough people, and then to stop changing several things at once so you can tell what worked.
Fixed the profile and still nothing? Sometimes it is the pool, not the photos - the same profile does different numbers on different apps. See which app suits you
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It is most of the decision. On most apps the first card a stranger sees is one photo and a name, so if that photo fails, nothing behind it gets read. One person, face large and visible, recent, decent light, taken from a normal distance.
The common mistakes are predictable: a group shot where nobody knows which one is you, sunglasses or a cap that hides your eyes, a mirror selfie, a car selfie, or a scenic shot where you are a small figure on a hill. Each one costs because it makes a stranger work to answer the only question they have at that moment, which is what you look like.
A good replacement is often a photo a friend takes in daylight - outside, a plain background, you looking at the camera or just off it, smiling the way you actually smile. If you change one thing, change this, and change only this so you can tell whether it worked.
Six versions of the same selfie is one photo repeated six times. Four to six photos that each do a different job work far better: a clear face shot, one full length, one of you doing something you actually do, and at most one social photo where you are still obviously the subject.
The activity photo matters more than people expect, because it gives someone something to say. You cooking, on a trail, at a pottery wheel, or holding a fish you are visibly proud of is an opener waiting to happen. A technically better headshot gives them nothing to ask about.
If two photos could be swapped without changing the impression, one of them is wasted space. Cut it rather than keep it as filler, since a weak photo drags down the strong ones around it.
This is the cheapest change on the list and the one people forget. Distance and age range compound with every other filter, so a narrow age band plus a short distance plus a height or religion preference can leave a surprisingly small pool. Widening distance by twenty miles frequently produces more effect in a day than a week of rewriting.
Go through each filter and ask whether it is a genuine dealbreaker or a preference. Keep the dealbreakers strict and loosen the preferences, because a preference can be judged from a profile while a filter hides people you never get the chance to judge.
The bio rarely wins a match on its own, but a bad one loses matches that the photos had already earned. Cut defensive lines like 'no drama' or 'swipe left if you...', cut the stat block of height, job and star sign, and replace categories with one or two specifics.
'I love travel and food' describes most people on the app. 'Currently trying to make decent ramen at home and failing in interesting ways' describes one person, and it hands a stranger an easy first message. Two or three lines like that are enough.
Some low numbers are not a profile problem. In a small town or a rural area the pool is simply small, and a newly widened filter may run out of fresh profiles within days. Being new to an app, or returning after a long gap, can also make early numbers swing in ways that say little about you.
Apps do not publish how they decide who sees whom, so be wary of anyone who claims to know the exact rules. What you can control is the profile and the filters, and those are worth getting right before blaming anything else.
A profile change usually takes a few days to show up in your numbers, and overlapping changes cannot be attributed. One change, four days, count the result. It is slower and it is the only way to learn anything.
Keep a simple note: the date, what you changed, and the matches over the following days. If the new lead photo beats the old one, keep it and move on to the set. If it does not, try a different photo before touching anything else, and give each version the same amount of time.