In a Nutshell
pros
- Women make the first move
- Find romantic relationships or friends using the BFF feature
cons
- Search criteria is limited to age and location
- The woman has 24 hours to initiate contact or the match is lost
Signup Process
Much like Tinder, Bumble has a super easy signup process. You’ll just need a Facebook account and then you can download the app. Bumble will pull your basic information from your Facebook account—first name, occupation, and age—and nothing will ever be published on your Facebook profile or feed. The app will automatically use your Facebook profile picture as your main photo. You can then add up to 6 photos to impress your potential match. The next section in the signup stage is the ‘About me’ section.
You’ll get the option to write an extremely brief bio (up to 300 characters)—so make sure it’s unique. Last thing to do before you start swiping is to choose your search parameters. Select an age range, location and the gender you’re searching for, and you’re all set.
You can also make additional edits, including setting your profile to public or private. Once you’re signed in, Bumble won’t make you sign in and out each time you want to use the app. If you decide to log out of the app, simply log out of your account from the account settings screen.
Matchmaking & Search Functions
Bumble is the female-focused version of Tinder. It works in almost the same way, where users are offered a database full of profiles based on their search criteria. If you like what you see, swipe right and if not, swipe left to pass. If you get carried away and accidentally swipe left when you mean to swipe right, you can shake your phone to undo. User profiles are mostly visual-based and consist of a main profile photo and age. If someone looks interesting, tap on the photo and you’ll see additional photos and some basic info like occupation, college, etc.
If both users swipe right you’ll get a match—but that’s where the similarity to Tinder ends. Bumble puts the woman in the driver’s seat and gives her the power to make the first move. She’ll get a 24-hour window to begin communicating with her match before it expires. The male counterpart will get the same 24-hour period to respond.
For gay men and lesbians using Bumble, the woman-must-reach-out-first rule simply doesn’t apply. In that way, Bumble functions very similarly to Tinder.
Once members make contact and begin chatting, all the conversations will appear together with a list of all your matches. The app has an attractive interface where you can sort conversations to show which are unread, recent, members nearby or favorites.
Bumble Alternatives
Bumble has plenty of unique features, but there are also other top dating apps around that give Bumble a good fight. Here are some of our top picks of apps that are just as good as Bumble, if not better:
Features & Communication Tools
Like most free dating apps, Bumble has a bunch of paid features to help raise your chances of finding ‘the one’. The Bumble Boost is a premium feature which offers users 3 additional perks.
- The Beeline shows you users who have already liked you so you don’t have to swipe and waste time waiting for matches.
- The Rematch feature allows you to rematch with expired connections.
- Busy Bee lets you extend the 24-hour window so that you have another day to potentially match with someone.
You can also purchase Bumble Coins, Bumble’s own currency system, to buy SuperSwipes. Similar to Tinder’s SuperLikes, using a SuperSwipe lets your crush know you’re serious about wanting to make a connection.
If you’re not on the market for a mate and just want to make new friends, Bumble has a BFF feature. Switch your settings to BFF mode and you’ll see potential matches replaced by people Bumble thinks you’ll want to be friends with. Just swipe through and the same Bumble 24-hour rule applies. You won’t get confused between love interests and BFF’s because it’s all cleverly color coded.
Bumble also offers BumbleVid, a brand new feature where users can create a story with unlimited 10-second videos, which each delete after 24 hours. A great feature if you enjoy the limelight!
Safety & Security
Because women are the only ones to send initial messages, Bumble gets an additional level of safety as it filters through all those creepy chat-up lines men sometimes like to message women. This means Bumble has a super low abuse report rate of 0.008%.
The company also says it uses ‘Reasonable security measures to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information such as secured servers using firewalls.’ Similar to all dating apps, Bumble cautions against posting sensitive information about yourself on your profile and ensure no private information appears on your photos, like home address or phone number.
Pricing
Help & Support
Bumble has a standard help and support section. There’s a long list of FAQ’s that you can run through, although it has no sections for different types of questions. It does have a nice search bar that will take you to the relevant FAQ. Bumble encourages people to get in touch if they have any issues or just to make a suggestion.
Connect on Bumble
Bumble isn’t for everyone. If you’ve had enough of sleazy messages and want to try something different, Bumble will definitely give you a unique experience. Men might be attracted to this kind of set up as it cuts through the work for them, and reverses gender roles, but if you’re a woman who hates breaking the ice it might not work for you.
