2024 Bumble Review: Why It's Such a Popular Dating App

Like I said, this app makes it into my personal top three so it’s hardly shocking to see it score so well. Now that we have an overview of how the app stands up, let’s talk about why it scores so well. More importantly, why I think you should try it if you haven’t already.

A great twist on the Tinder experience

The app that started it all, Tinder needs no introduction and has seen a lot of imitators over the years. With a very similar layout and the same left and right swiping on profiles, there’s one major difference that sets it apart.

While it’s almost mandatory on Tinder that the guy starts the conversation, that’s impossible on Bumble. The reason I think this is such a fantastic twist is that it cuts down on women who are just there for attention.

They still exist on Bumble, don’t get me wrong, just in far smaller volumes. On Tinder, it’s perfectly normal to initiate a conversation with 10 women and get four or five responses. The other accounts might be inactive or owned by women who just want Instagram or Snapchat followers. In some cases, they just use their number of matches as a vanity metric to feel better. Yes, I personally know several women who do this. How sad.

Bumble fixes this problem by forcing the women to start the conversation. Until she does, there’s no way for the guy to say anything to her. This also seems to change the type of women, or at least the attitude of women, who use the app.

A quick look at how it works

In case you’ve never used any of these types of apps before, I wanted to give you a very quick overview.

Once your profile is all set up, you’re prompted to set the preferred gender(s) you’re interested in. You also choose an age range and distance from your current location. It picks up your location via GPS. So if you go on vacation, you’ll automatically see people in that new area.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll see a seemingly endless stack of profiles, one at a time. Initially, you’ll just see each person’s first profile photo, their name and some where they work/study.

If you want to see more about them, you can scroll up to see more photos, likes and dislikes, their bio, etc.

Once you’ve decided if you’re interested in them or not, you either swipe to the left (no, I’m not interested) or to the right (yes, I’m interested).

While your profile is active, you’ll be shown to others in the same way. If you swipe right on someone and they do the same on your profile, you’re a match! That person will now show up in your Messages tab at the bottom of the screen. After she initiates the conversation, you’re free to chat.

So simple and that’s exactly why it’s so effective.

An engaged user base helps your chances

This change in demographic and/or attitude means you’re far more likely to have a real, engaged conversation. Now sure, some women will still just open with “hi,” ruining the whole system. Personally, I choose to ignore these.

The vast majority of the time, you’ll get quality conversation that you actually want to be part of. This makes the app more fun and gives you conversations that escalate to dates much faster. After all, that’s what we’re all doing here, right?

In my experience, women on Bumble are way more likely to be there for actual dating rather than inflating their egos.

Bumble.com vs the Bumble app

If you like the sound of Bumble but prefer dating websites, Bumble gives you the option of both. Although it’s just a web based version of the app, it’s still a nice touch.

The features and limitations are identical to the app, everything is just larger and in one place. While the app puts your swiping and conversations in different tabs, the browser version puts them all on one screen.

I prefer the portability of the app so I can use it while I’m out and about. Still, if you want a larger screen and a keyboard, head over the Bumble.com and try it for yourself!

Just a word of warning, if you’re jumping between the browser and app versions, restart the app and refresh your Bumble browser tab before you start swiping. I noticed they don’t automatically refresh. That means if you’re swiping away on your computer then go back to your phone, you’ll see a lot of the same profiles all over again.

Works great as a free user

Bumble is great in that it lets you do almost everything as a free user. Sure, it limits the number of profiles you can “like” each day and doesn’t let you backtrack (if you accidentally say “no” to a profile you can go back to it and swipe right instead).

With such a large and active user base though, I’ve had no problem finding dates as a free user over the years. In fact, this review was the first time I’ve ever used a paid account on here!

So, is a premium account worth the money?

In this case, it really depends on how you treat online dating and what you’re looking for. It’s a bit on the expensive side so the answer here is subjective.

If you’re a casual dater like me and don’t “need” anything, a free account is perfectly fine. The limit on “likes” each day just keeps you from spending too long swiping, really.

On the other hand, if you’re really looking to put yourself out there and get aggressive with it, the premium boost is great. Not only do you get unlimited likes but you can also see who has liked you. 

As in, if Molly swiped right on your profile, you’ll immediately get a notification about it. No need to match to see that she’s into you.

If you really want to cut down on the amount of time you spend on dating apps, just check this list each day. Skim through the women that have swiped right on you and choose which ones you want to talk to.

An app that just works

In my 4 years of using Bumble now, I’ve never come across a single problem. No errors, nothing that made me question their safety or security, nothing. I could count on my fingers how many fake profiles I’ve come across too. Scammers are a part of life, but Bumble works hard to remove them quickly.

In terms of keeping your credit card safe, your payments go via Apple/Google anyway for an added layer of protection. No need to manually type in your credit card details.

Bumble or eHarmony?

Both work well, so why not try both? The great thing about online dating is that you’re not limited to using just one site or app. With Bumble, you get the whole swiping experience with a few extra perks. You can match with someone based on how they look and a few details about what they’re into. It’s all up to you and that’s the fun of it.

Just keep in mind that with Bumble, the target users are generally younger singles (below 35). They’re also usually the types who have more time to swipe through matches on a regular basis.

With eHarmony, however, the site does most of the work for you. You just answer their signup questions (they’re pretty thorough) and the site picks out women you’re compatible with. Instead of just photos and a few details, you get a glimpse into your potential matches’ personality, life goals, interests and more. This eliminates a lot of the guesswork that comes with apps like Tinder and Bumble.

So if you’re a busy guy who prefers to see a handful of curated matches each day, eHarmony might be a better choice for you.