What Is Bumble?
Bumble has a unique premise: on most online dating sites and apps, it's usually the man who sends the first message. But instead of leaving it up to either person to take that first step, here, women must send the first message. Bumble has also taken steps to expand from only serving those looking for romantic relationships and introduced features to cater to platonic and professional relationships, too. This was done with Bumble BFF and Bizz respectively.
This Bumble review is going to look at some of the best pros and cons of using the site, the quality of the other accounts on the site, and the best dating features. We'll also let you know what the process is to create an account and what you'll need to do to complete your profile. We'll tell you how much Bumble costs and let you know how safe it is. Finally, we'll give some closing thoughts and answer some frequently asked questions.
Pros
Bumble app is available for download.
Well-designed site/desktop app.
Lots of users.
Fun profile prompts.
In-app game to help you start the conversation.
Cons
If the person who must message first doesn't do so, you can miss the chance to connect.
Premium is pretty expensive compared to other dating apps.
The Bumble Speed Dating feature was recently removed.
Login Process
When joining Bumble, you've got three options:
Connecting your Apple account
Linking your Facebook account
Using your mobile number.
If you choose to link an account, you'll choose which account you want to use, enter your password, and continue the process. Alternatively, you'll enter your phone number and do a captcha to prove that you're human and enter the 6-digit code texted to you.
You'll then give your name and birth date, choose your gender (there are over 20 options), and add a photo. You can upload photos from your device or use images from your Facebook or Instagram accounts. Bumble asks for permission to access your location and then prompts you to agree to the guidelines and treat everyone with kindness and respect.
You can then choose which mode you'd like to start on, Date or BFF. Date Mode is obviously to find romantic connections, while BFF mode is for making new friends. On Date Mode, before you can start swiping, you're asked who you're interested in: men, women, or everyone. Once you've chosen your preferred gender, you can start browsing the site or app.
Since you don't use an email address or create a password, you may be wondering how you'll login at a later stage. If you exit the site and need to get back on, you'll find the Bumble login process involves either selecting your Facebook or Apple account that was used to register or entering an OTP that'll be texted to your mobile.
Profile Completion
To complete your profile, there are a few things you'll need to do. First, you're encouraged to add more photos. You can also add up to 3 profile prompts, which are fun questions you can answer to show your sense of humor and personality. These include prompts like "two truths and a lie..", "I'm a real nerd about…", and "The world would be a better place with more…".
There's also an "About Me" section, where you can write a little more about yourself. That's followed by the "Work" and "Education" sections, where you can input your job title and your university/college. That's followed by the "Basics". These include your height, smoking and drinking habits, your religious and political beliefs, and whether you want kids or not.
The "Basics" section also asks for your star sign and allows you to enter where you live and where you're from. You can change your gender here, too, but note that you can only change it twice. And to finish off your profile, you can connect your Instagram and Spotify accounts. Connecting your Instagram will show your last few Insta posts on your profile, and connecting your Spotify will display your top artists.
Using the Bumble app on mobile introduces a few extra profile features that aren't available on the desktop version. One of these is highlighting your favorite interests. There's a list to choose from, which has several categories, including sports, food and drink, music, pets, and self-care.
You can also add an opening question by choosing from some prewritten options or writing your own. People who see your profile can answer this question, and you can see their answers before swiping on them. And, on BFF Mode, you can pick from 3 life states (like traveling, just graduated, or planning a wedding) to help you find someone who shares those experiences.
User Account Quality
Bumble is a reasonably well-known and popular app, so there are many users all around the world. All profiles have at least one picture. Most have 2+ and have completed at least some of the fields, so their profiles are interesting and have some conversation starters. Bumble uses a dating algorithm to show you some 'Best Bees' daily, and it works very well.
This will vary depending on the people in your area, but our test profile encountered that at least 50% of other users were photo-verified. You can also connect your Instagram and Spotify accounts, which adds another layer of credibility. As with most dating sites, there are more users in more populated areas, so you may find fewer profiles in rural areas and many more options in cities.
Dating Features
Best Bees
Bumble Date Mode uses a dating algorithm that takes your preferences, location, and machine learning into account to see, while you're swiping through profiles, what sort of person you're into. Each day, the algorithm will give you 4 Best Bees, who are people that you should get along with. We've found that the Best Bees are usually pretty spot on, and it's worth taking a peek every day to see who's on offer.
With a free profile and with Boost, you can only like one Best Bee per week. With Premium, you have unlimited use of Best Bees, meaning you can like all 4 Best Bees you get daily if you want. With Premium, your Best Bees will also be highlighted in the queue as you're swiping through.
24 Hours to Respond
Once you've matched, the woman (or the nonbinary person) must send the first message within 24 hours of matching. In the case of 2 women or two nonbinary folks, either one can send the first message. The second person must respond within 24 hours as well, and if either person misses the 24-hour deadline, the match will expire, and you can no longer chat.
With a free profile, you get 1 free Extend per day, which you can use to extend the time limit by another 24 hours. Both Boost and Premium include unlimited daily Extends. You must use Extend before the match expires. You can also use Rematch to restart the timer if the match has expired. This is only available with either Boost or Premium. You cannot use Rematch with a free profile.
Bumble BFF
Bumble was one of the first bigger dating apps to expand further than just online dating and recognize how many people struggle to make friends. So, they introduced BFF Mode to help you find Bumble friends. It works the same as Date Mode, except you swipe left on people you don't want to be friends with and swipe right on people you think you'll click with.
This mode also includes different interests to allow you to share why you may need friends and help you connect with people who will understand your experiences. For example, you can indicate that you're:
Newly sober to find fellow sober friends
That you're transitioning
Pregnant
A mom to teenagers
Retired
In college
Or just moved to a new country
All these can help you find someone who knows what you're going through or has some tips to share.
Bumble Compliments
Normally, you can't communicate with other users unless you've both liked each other and matched. But the recently introduced feature called compliments now allows you to compliment or comment on some aspect of another person's profile, which will be visible to them before they swipe on you.
Using this, you can compliment someone's photo or their answer to one of the profile prompts, which may encourage them to swipe right on you. You could also use this opportunity to ask a question or make a playful jab, a great way to start a conversation.
Messaging Features
So, you're in the chat, one of you has said "hey", and now what? If you're struggling with coming up with the perfect message to start a conversation, you can choose to send a GIF to say hi. You can also play the Question Game. This will let you choose from some prewritten questions, or you can write your own. This gets sent to your match.
Once you've both answered, your answers will be revealed to each other. This is a fun way to start the conversation as an icebreaker and is more interesting than just sending "hey" back and forth. Some of the questions include things like "What would the title of your autobiography be?", "What's the funniest nickname someone has for you?", or "What is a genuine cause that's close to your heart?".
There are also multiple ways to send media in the chat, which is a great way to get better acquainted before meeting in person. You can obviously send pictures in chat, but you can also send voice notes, video notes, or have a video call. These are all excellent ways to verify that the person you're talking to is for real and not a catfish. You can also scope out their vibes before trusting them with your number or personal info.
Prices & Costs
Bumble earns money through subscriptions, Boosts, and Spotlights. Prices vary based on location, so you may see different prices on your app. Keep in mind that all purchases that are valid for a certain time will auto-renew at the end of the period. You can disable this in your settings.
Bumble Boost
Bumble Boost exists to help you while swiping through profiles. With Boost, you get unlimited daily swipes, and you can also use the Undo button, which will undo an accidental left swipe. This also allows you to Extend the timer if it is running down and your match hasn't messaged you yet. And finally, if a match has expired, you can use Rematch, which will restart the countdown. Boosts cost:
1 Week: $8.99
1 Month: $16.99
3 Months: $33.99
6 Months: $54.99
Bumble Premium
Bumble Premium comes with all the benefits of Boost, along with some extra perks! These perks are:
See your Beeline (who's been swiping right on you; see your Bumble likes list)
Access to advanced filters (these include only verified profiles, star signs, religion, etc.)
Incognito Mode (only show your profile to people you've swiped right on)
Travel Mode (change your location, swipe as if you're in a different city)
Unlimited Best Bee likes.
Bumble Premium is available for different periods, the price varying depending on how long you'd like to commit:
1 Week: $19.99
1 Month: $39.99
3 Months: $76.99
Lifetime Subscription: $229.99
Spotlights
As a way to get more attention on your profile, you can purchase Spotlights. Activating a Spotlight means your profile jumps to the front of the queue for 30 minutes, so more people in your area see you. Increased exposure increases your chance of getting matches! Spotlights cost:
1 Spotlight: $11.99
5 Spotlights: $5.00 each ($25)
15 Spotlights: $3.34 each ($50)
30 Spotlights: $2.50 each ($75)
Superswipes
Superswipes are the same as swiping right; it's an indication that you're interested in someone. But unlike normal likes, which are secret until the second person swipes and you match or don't match, the other person will get a notification that you've Superswiped them. This sends a strong message and can increase your chance of getting a match.
You get some Superswipes included in Premium or Boost, and you can purchase extra Superswipes separately. This costs:
2 Superswipes: $5 each ($10)
5 Superswipes: $4 each ($20)
15 Superswipes: $2.67 each ($40)
30 Superswipes: $2 each ($60)
How Safe Is Bumble?
Photo Verification
Photo verifications are always great because they help to confirm that a person is using their own photos and not the photos of a friend, model, or attractive minor celebrity. Bumble allows you to verify your photos from your profile page, and it involves taking a photo of yourself, copying a given pose, and submitting it.
The moderation team will compare this photo to your other photos, and if they're happy, you will get a Photo Verified tag on your profile. This shows potential matches that you're the real deal. You can request a match to photo verify themselves, but only if you've done the verification yourself. Many profiles on Bumble are verified, which bodes well and suggests most people are real.
Block and Report
If someone's giving you the heebie-jeebies, you can easily block and report them. If you want to do this, click on the 3 dots in the corner of the chat screen and select 'Block and Report'. You'll need to pick a reason from a list, which includes things like fake profiles, inappropriate content, scams, underage users, or identity-based hate.
You can even report someone for their behavior off the app, for example, if you met and had a bad date or they became physically violent. Bumble will investigate your report and, if necessary, remove the problematic content and suspend or terminate their account. Once you've blocked them, you'll automatically unmatch, and they won't be able to see or contact your profile anymore.
Safety & Wellbeing Tab
On the Bumble dating app, you'll see a tab called Safety & Wellbeing. This has some resources for if you're feeling run down or unsafe. These include some categories like "Mental exhaustion", "Feelings of rejection", and "Bumble to IRL". Under these headings, there are articles to help you cope with certain situations, tips on which settings or app features could affect those feelings, and links to organizations that may be able to help IRL.
There are also direct links to organizations that could help you with safety or your emotional well-being, as well as a "Get help from Bumble" button. This allows you to report a safety concern that you have, providing a field to type your message. You can also include screenshots, if you have them, for extra evidence. Making all these resources available in such a visible way seems to show that Bumble cares and wants to help keep it a safe space for all.
Final Thoughts
Bumble is a breath of fresh air that puts the power and responsibility of starting the conversation into women's hands. There are features in place to ease the responsibility, like the Question Game, to assist when you can't think of what to say. Safety is also a priority, with many features to make the app safer, like photo verification, blocking and reporting, and the safety tab.
Unlike many other dating apps, you can use the site, including swiping and messaging, for free. Bumble Premium is pricy but only exists to add to the experience, not to enable it. Profiles on the site are full of interesting prompts to help start the conversation, and most profiles have more than one picture. You'll get the best experience if you fully complete your profile and add all your favorite photos.
It's a popular app, too, so even if you're living rurally, it's worth a try. For all these reasons, we're giving Bumble 8/10. We'd highly recommend downloading the mobile app for the best experience, and since creating a profile and using the app is free, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
FAQ
How Does Bumble Work?
You'll be shown folks' profiles one by one, and you need to either swipe right if you like them or swipe left if you're not interested. If you've both liked each other, the woman needs to send the first message within 24 hours, or the match will expire. If two women like each other, either one can message first.
Is Bumble Free?
Bumble is totally free to join and use, from creating a profile to liking others and messaging them. There are some paid features available, but these only enhance your experience. They're not necessary to use the app/site.
How To Cancel Bumble Subscription?
You'll need to cancel your subscription via the app store, Google Play, or iTunes. You can't do it from within the app.
When Do Bumble Likes Reset?
You only get 30 likes per 24-hour period on Bumble, and once you've reached that limit, you'll have to wait. You'll get a notification that you've hit the end of the line, and from that moment, you'll need to wait 24 hours to swipe again.
How Much Is Bumble Premium?
It varies based on location, but it could cost you between $20 and $230, depending on how long you want the subscription for.
How Many Likes Do You Get On Bumble?
The number of likes you'll get depends on how much people are liking your profile. To maximize the number of likes you get, make sure you've completed as many profile prompts as you can and add your best photos.
