If you are reading this today, more than likely you are required to stay home.
You are home spending your time however you want, working out, working, playing video games, or whatever keeps your interest.
Just because you can’t go to the bar or nightclub.
It doesn’t mean you’re restricted in your ability to land a date.
Online dating has taken a strong foothold in the dating community, COVID-19 making apps like Bumble vital for dating in today’s tech-driven era.
If you are just getting your feet web for the first time with online dating particularly Bumble.
We give you the in’s and out’s basics when it comes to learning how to use Bumble.
Bumble Culture
If you are using Bumble for the first time here are some things you should know when before swiping your first swipe..
While other apps may have the approach of hooking up, Bumble is generally geared more towards relationships and less so on the hookups.
Bumble takes a different approach to online dating.
Rather than having the guy make the first move, Bumble requires that girls make the first move when matched with another user.
Giving women a sense of control over who they choose to message rather than a bombardment like in other apps.
While Bumble is focused on bringing a deeper relationship aspect to online dating, it doesn’t mean that the ability to hook up or have something more short term isn’t available.
Setting Up Your Profile
Setting up your profile is going to be the first thing you are prompted to do after signing up.
There are a few things to keep in mind when signing up.
Want to be fairly quick with setting up your account? All you need to do is sync your Facebook profile and it will set all your information for you.
Don’t worry even if some of the information isn’t correct, you will have the ability to edit this information after if you choose.
On the other hand…
If you don’t want to sync your Facebook account then setting up an account only requires you to use a phone number and will take an extra 10 minutes.
When setting up an account with your phone number you’ll need a few things to make this quick and painless.
These will be
6 Pictures of yourself
A Bio
Personal Info(height, race, career, etc)
Move Makers
Connecting your account to Spotify and Instagram
We have a guide talking about Tinder Profile Tips.
To get familiarized with what a dating makes a good
We can talk all day about how to best set up your profile to maximize your matches.
But this article is about how to use Bumble, not a guide on setting up your profile.
Verification
The verification process is fairly quick and painless.
Under your profile tab, you’ll have the option to Verify your Account which is outlined in blue.
The verification process simply requires you to take a selfie matching the pose that Bumble displays.
Once verified your profile will display a blue star, this star is going to be displayed on all profiles showing that the account is real and unlikely to be catfished.
Pictures
Your pictures are going to be one of the first things you are going to want to set up.
If they can’t see you, they won’t swipe on you.
Gather 6 of your best and most flattering pictures of yourself.
Under the account, tab uploads your pictures.
Here’s a tip your first picture should show your whole face, good lighting, and smiling for best results.
My Move Makers
One of the features that Bumble excels at over other dating profiles is in their Move makers.
If you are unsure of what a Move Maker is…
You have the option to select 3 of several options for writing prompts.
These writing prompts are going to be displayed on your profile in between your pictures.
A few examples of move makers you can select from.
My pet peeve, Nightclub or Netflix, After work you can find me…
These move makers give you the ability to convey a bit about yourself outside of your Bio.
While also giving each person something to bring up during the chat.
Use Move Makers to your advantage, these can be the tipping point for a girl to swipe Right or Left.
About Me
When it comes to setting up your About Me(Bio) section, Bumble is fairly straightforward.
If you’ve ever written up a bio on a dating site before then you are already familiarized.
Restricted to 300 characters, this is where you display a brief glimpse of your personality
Remember to use the About me section to your advantage, be creative.
Work & Education
Are you a doctor? Bartender? Developer? What about a student?
In the work and education section, you don’t have to divulge your job if you choose not to.
Same goes for Education, you can leave these both blank.
Or…
You can get imaginative with this section if you want.
We don’t recommend lying, but you can use this section to convey a bit of humor as well.
Basic Info
Keep in mind when filling out your Basic Info, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
If you don’t want to display your political or religious beliefs you are fine leaving this unanswered.
Although if you leave some blank you will not be able to set a filter to that category as well.
For example…
You leave Exercise Blank if you want to set a filter for the exercise type you want.
You will be unable to until you fill this out on your profile as well.
Instagram is a great way to display your lifestyle to whoever is seeing your profile.
If you portray yourself as some fit outdoorsy person on Bumble.
But every pic in your Instagram shows otherwise well…
Keep this in mind when crafting your profile,
Sync your Instagram account and let Bumble take care of it. The process should take less than 30 seconds
Spotify
Spotify is a great way for girls to see what other interests you might share with her.
For many people, music is a major part of their day.
Having someone who has similar music taste to them, can tell a lot of whether or not they are going to hit it off.
Like Instagram just select the option to Sync your Spotify account and let Bumble do the rest.
This process should take less than 30 seconds
Setting Filters
Want to filter a specific quality in a person that doesn’t mean your standard?
Setting your filters is going to be crucial to help weed out those who don’t align with you.
Free users get to set 2 filters while premium monthly members with Bumble Boost get unlimited filters.
Remember, in order to set a filter, you yourself must have filled out that desired filter in your basic info tab before it becomes available to filter.
Swiping
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past 5 years.
You have an idea of how swiping will work in order to match with other profiles.
In case you have… It’s going to be by Swiping…
right
When you come across a profile you are interested in, you are going to be swiping right on their profile.
Swiping right on their profile lets Bumble know that you like them.
After you swipe right.
Another profile will appear right after, giving you the same choice again left or right.
If the profile you swiped right on likes you back and chooses to swipe right on your profile then you both will be matched
left
If on the other hand, you come across a profile that you are not interested in, you will then swipe left on them.
Swiping left tells Bumble that you are not interested, to pass on them.
Bumble will filter out that profile, you won’t see them again unless they delete their profile and create a new one.
This is not common practice so don’t expect to see those you swiped no on
super swipe
Now let’s say come across a profile that has really captured your attention
This girl is one you would love to message and possibly take on a date.
Your best choice is to Super Swipe on her.
If you are interested in a more detailed break down of how exactly the super swipe feature works, check out our guide on Bumble Super Swipe
For this article though we will keep it short and sweet.
Super swipe is a paid feature when used it puts your profile in the front of the girl you’ve super swiped.
It will also notify her that you have used a Super Swipe.
It is a feature that you will have to pay to use via Bumble coins.
backtrack
If you’ve ever accidentally swiped left on a profile you didn’t mean to?
Bumble offers the ability to backtrack to the profile and undo that mistake.
Allowing you to go back and undo your mistake and swipe right on her.
You will always have access to three backtracks.
Keep in mind when you use a backtrack, you will have to wait 3 hours for Bumble to reload one backtrack.
Match Queue
If you’ve been swiping for some time now you will notice under your Match Queue Tab.
This tab allows you to see your match queue of girls who swiped right on you.
As well as conversations with matches.
So what now?
blocking & unmatching
When it comes to matching with someone you’ve decided against, whether that means getting to know them and it not working out or accidentally swiping like(right) on.
You are going to have two options to choose from, blocking and unmatching.
If you block someone,
After doing so though, you won’t have the chance to match with them in the future.
This is especially helpful when it comes to dealing with spammers, or scammers attempting to gain information on you.
Keep in mind, just because you’ve unmatched with someone doesn’t mean you won’t come across their profile again in the future.
Messaging
Messaging in Bumble is similar to other apps, where you can send each other emojis, gifs, and links to be sent as well.
The main feature that sets Bumble apart from others is that when you match with another account, you and your match have 24 hours to send out a message.
If no message is sent in this 24-hour window then the match will expire.
The thing is though, girls are forced to message men first in order for the match to not expire.
Girls Message First
Now the part where Bumble stands apart from other dating apps.
Most apps allow for both sides to message first, but not with Bumble.
Girls are required to message their match first in order to keep the conversation going.
If she doesn’t message in this time frame, you both are unmatched.
You do have the chance of matching with her again in the future.
Matches Expire
This is inevitable.
You match with a cute girl, and she never sends a response.
Maybe she forgot, maybe she didn’t even try.
What can you do?
Well, most girls want assurance when they match with someone.
This is where the daily extend comes handy. Tip
If you are a free user, you have the option to use a daily extension which gives the girl an added 24 hours to send a message.
responding to the opener
Once the girl has reached out you now have the ability to respond to her messages.
We advise you to treat this as though it was like other dating apps and be a bit creative with your response.
On average most women are typically going to send the…
Hi…
Hey…
Using your response as if it were the opener is best practise.
This is will depend on her opener.
how to message
When responding to her, we don’t want to just say send a message.
That is already pretty obvious.
When it comes to what to send though…
That’s a different story, so we’ll give you a quick tip on how to message.
Make sure before you even think of messaging you check out her profile.
A girl will tell you a significant amount about herself in her profile.
Use this information, take your time, convey some humor, and enjoy the process
Landing a date
The primary goal for Bumble is focused on this.
Getting the first date.
Landing the date, seeing if there’s chemistry.
Messaging can only go so far, the date is where you will learn the most about her.
Her personality, humor, aspirations.
Be aware of how she talks about her passions in life.
The date is where most progress will be made.
Paid Features
Bumble like other dating apps have several features that come at a premium.
Bumbles offer a monthly subscription with Bumble Boots that unlock features.
Features such as Beeline, Infinite Daily Extends, Unlimited Swipes, Rematch.
Certain premium features use Bumble’s own digital currency called Bumble coins.
In short, Coins are purchase with money and used to purchase premium features.
Premium features such as the Spotlight allow for your profile to stand out for a fixed duration, one time like with Super Swipe.
Super Swipe
With Super Swipe you are allowed to send the girl you want a Super Swipe notification.
You do this by selecting the heart icon on the user you want to Super Swipe.
You then are prompted to purchase a Bumble Coin or use an already existing Coin in your Bumble Wallet.
This will move your card up to the front of her Swipe list and let her know that you used a Super Swipe on her.
This feature is a great way to make sure your profile card is seen by your desired user.
Spotlight
If you are wanting to get your account noticed more this feature will come in handy.
For 30 minutes your profile is put at the front of the card swipe queue.
This allows for your profile to garner more swipes and views than you would normally get.
It’s recommended to use this feature on certain days such as Sunday or Monday evenings around 7 pm – 10 pm to get the best results out of this feature.
Boost
When looking for premium features such as unlimited swipes, visible beeline, and even rematching with expired matches.
Bumble offers Boost, a monthly subscription letting you gain access to all these features.
Boost is best utilized depending on your location, and usage of Bumble.
If you are in a very well-populated city or area, these features will pay dividend via more matches
Realities of online dating
With recent events such as COVID-19, online dating is becoming more and more popular.
Allowing you to experiment with what works in the safety of your own home.
The beauty of online dating is that there is very little pressure to respond right away.
Offering you the flexibility to craft a well thought out response.
General Tips
One of the mistakes I see new guys make when it comes to messaging, is they feel as though they need to respond right away.
Take your time, there is absolutely no rush.
Ask yourself when you are writing up your message… “What am I trying to convey by sending this message?”
Be authentic
Sure the whole idea of fake till you make it works for some and not so well for others.
We want you to attract through authenticity, being the best version of yourself.
No smoke and mirrors, no canned lines when she says XYZ.
She may not be able to recognize it right away via messaging, or even on the first couple dates.
Oftentimes the truth gets out one way or another.
Spend time on your profile
“O segredo é não correr atrás das borboletas… É cuidar do jardim para que elas venham até você.“(Don’t waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.) – Brazilian Poet Mario Quintana
Take various photos, experiment around, and see what gets you more matches.
swipe every day
Be consistent with this.
You won’t be getting matches if you aren’t putting yourself out there.
Experience is gained by doing.
Get more matches to receive more experience with messaging them
It’s even best to set aside a time during the day to dedicate to just swiping.
If you are the type who wants to still remain productive.
Setting time aside to swipe will help you stay in the eyes of potential matches while simultaneously getting things done.
learn to message
When it comes to messaging, this is where you are going to want to take the time to sharpen your skills
Messaging, much like anything else is a skill that can be improved upon.
Staying consistent, trying out various methods, and seeing what performs or bombs.
Women don’t want to see the old interview style of messaging.
They want to feel as though they are getting a pleasurable experience when messaging with you.
As though they are winning at something when meeting with you.
Continue to update your profile
Send photos to the community and receive feedback
Getting various eyes and comments on your Bio and photos will help improve your matches in the long run.
Communicate with other members, bounce ideas off one another, and see what works and what doesn’t.
Online dating a growing and changing world, what worked yesterday may not work today.
There are a ton of people out there who are learning Bumble as yourself.
Sign up to our Free Private Facebook, where members bounce ideas and critique others to help each other get more matches.
Bumbles other modes
While dating is Bumble’s main focus for a majority of users.
Bumble does offer 2 other modes as well, that revolve around networking and not dating.
Aside from Bumble Date, you have Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz
Bumble BFF focused more on making friends and networking.
Meet people who seem to share your interests, even chat with someone in a completely unrelated interest.
Bumble Bizz draws people who are interested in networking for business. Whether that be for new employment opportunities.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are new to the world of online dating or a seasoned pro.
Knowing how to effectively use Bumble will give you a leg up on the competition when first learning how to use Bumble.
Keep in mind this article is just an overview.
Many of the sections we’ve discussed we go in more in-depth with other articles.
Bumble is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the dating scene.
Using the knowledge you’ve discovered in this article will make your time on Bumble significantly easier.
