Are you not getting enough matches on Bumble? Have you uploaded new pictures, improved your bio, but still no new matches? You might have to learn more about the Bumble algorithm as the problem might be that your profile is not showing up for other Bumble users.
In this blog post, we will explain what the Bumble algorithm is, why it is important and how it works, and how should you use Bumble so that you are favored by the algorithm and get a ton of new matches.
What is the Bumble algorithm? Why is it important?
Bumble algorithm is a mathematical formula, a kind of matching system that decides which profiles show up for you to swipe and in which profiles’ swiping deck your Bumble profile shows up.
As you can imagine, it is very important to know how this Bumble matching algorithm works as if you know how you can influence it to your advantage, you will show up in a lot more profiles’ swiping deck.
Having a great Bumble profile is just one part of getting a ton of matches on Bumble, you also have to be favored by the Bumble algorithm so other people can swipe right your profile.
How does the Bumble Algorithm work?
Bumble has never shared publicly any official information on how the Bumble algorithm works. However, based on personal experience and in-depth research of other comprehensive articles about the Bumble algorithm, we have found that the following factors are likely to influence how Bumble matching system works:
- If someone swiped you right, she will appear sooner in your swiping deck
- If you have a popular profile in your neighborhood (you are swiped right in the majority of the cases), your profile will be shown in the top positions
- The recency of app usage is not a factor in the Bumble algorithm
- A “thin” profile (no bio information added, bad photos) has a negative effect on the number of profile impressions you get
- Being a new Bumble user helps you get more profile impressions but it is not as efficient as on Tinder
- If you swipe right too many times, the Bumble algorithm will penalize you and minimize your reach
In the next sections, we will go deeper, give additional context and tips regarding these speculated algorithm factors of Bumble.
1. Bumble algorithm factors – Swiping right gets you into a better place
Obviously, Bumble’s main goal is that you have a nice and satisfying experience on the app.
When you are getting new Bumble matches, this is what delivers you that nice experience as you can feel that people find you attractive which is a very satisfying feeling and a great ego boost.
When you get matches you can also start to have conversations with your matches. And when you spend more time on Bumble because it is very rewarding, there is a higher chance that you will subscribe to Bumble Boost or purchase some Bumble coins to get even more matches and that feel-good experience.
These are the reasons why it makes sense for Bumble to show you profiles in the first positions that have already liked you and also to show you in other profiles’ swiping deck who you swiped right. It will get you a lot of matches easily. (That is the reason by the way, why Bumble Beeline is not the most useful Boost feature, because you get these matches mostly for free anyway).
2. Bumble algorithm factor – Recency doesn’t matter
The recency of app usage doesn’t matter explicitly, so just because you are using Bumble at this moment, it won’t get you a better place for you in the swiping decks of the opposite sex.
However, there is an indirect effect from the factor we described above. When you are a lot of times active on Bumble, you will swipe right a plenty of profiles that you will help you get a better position in those profiles’ swiping decks.
3. Auto-liking profiles – Not preferred by the algorithm
Reading the first major factor (right swipes help you to have a better position in the swiping deck of the profile who swiped you right), you might think than you have to right swipe as many Bumble profiles as you are can.
Wouldn’t it be a great idea to use a third-party app that can auto swipe profiles for you on Bumble?
You might think that it is great time-saver but on the contrary, when you swipe right too many times it will eventually have a negative influence on your profile position in other people swiping decks and on what kind of profiles you will be shown to. (by the way, the 3rd part app can also get you account blocked on Bumble)
The reason for this, is when you swipe right everyone, Bumble algorithm will see that you are also okay with average or below average profile (as opposed to the average person who tends to be selective) so the algorithm will start to show you only these kinds of not so popular profiles.
4. Bumble thin profiles – negative factor in the Bumble algorithm
You ruin your position for matching with the most popular and attractive Bumble profiles when you have a thin Bumble profile. A thin Bumble profile is defined as a profile who shares the least possible information about himself and only has 1 profile picture.
This is a negative factor in the Bumble algorithm for two reasons.
First, having a thin profile can be red flag for Bumble that there might be not a real person behind the profile.
Secondly, there is a Bumble feature that relies on these profile prompts and other profile information. Bumble filters and advanced filters can be used only in a meaningful way when people add all these information so other people can filter their preferred profiles based on that.
5. Bumble Algorithm factor – Popularity or desirability of your profile
Just because you are using Bumble very actively, have a filled out profile, doesn’t mean that your profile will get a ton of impressions.
Bumble also considers the general attractiveness and popularity (defined by how many people swipe you right) as one of the main factors to define the order of profiles when you are swiping through the profile cards of your preferred gender.
It is quite logical why this is still one of the strongest factors in the Bumble matching system. If you open up the app, start swiping and you see the most attractive profiles first, you will have a nice experience even if you don’t get any matches.
Subconsciously you still think that you get the opportunity to do something with these very attractive profiles.
6. Bumble Algorithm factor – New profile effect
Although being a new profile is not the strongest factor in the Bumble algorithm, it is still a factor that influences the Bumble matching system and will improve your chance of getting a top position in other swiping decks.
If you are a new profile on Bumble (couple of days after you created your account), Bumble wants you to have a nice experience. Nice experience = getting matches with attractive profiles. If you have a nice experience in the first couple of days on Bumble, the chance of churning as a user is significantly lower.
And if you don’t churn in the first couple of days, it is more likely you get addicted to Bumble, and once you are addicted, it is more likely you will spend a significant amount of money on Bumble by buying Bumble Boost or Bumble coins.
This is is the reason why the Bumble algorithm will increase the number of profile impressions you get in the first couple of days as a new Bumble user.
Bumble Elo score
Elo Score is a ranking system developed by the Hungarian American physician and has been used on Tinder to measure what is the relative attractiveness of profile. It used to play a big role in the Tinder algorithm, but according to Tinder, they do not use it the exact Elo score anymore.
As far as we know, Bumble has never used the Elo score specifically to rate or rank profiles’ attractiveness. However, they must use some similar metric to gauge the relative attractiveness (or desirability/popularity) of Bumble profiles so it is good to know how the Elo score is calculated.
The basic idea behind the Elo score is that your score is not only influenced by whether you win or lose (in the case being swiped right or left), but also the relative strength (or attractiveness) of the other player (user) matters.
So you will get a better score if you are liked by very attractive profiles with high Elo scores than by profiles with below-average attractiveness.
If you are interested in more details you can check out the Wikipedia article that explains it pretty in-depth.
How to influence Bumble Algorithm – Top 3 ways
To sum up everything we have covered so far, we will give you the top 3 things you can do to improve your Bumble game and be favored by the Bumble matching system:
Improve your Bumble profile photos
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill (except maybe one, we will tell you about it at the end of this blog post) to get you way more matches on Bumble by manipulating the Bumble algorithm.
If you want to be favored by the algorithm you have to be a profile that is swiped right in most cases, because as we said the popularity of your profile is still one of the strongest algorithmic factors in Bumble.
The decision of swiping right or left is 90% influenced by the attractiveness of your profile pictures, so if you want to be favored by the Bumble algorithm you have to try to have better profile pictures.
There are hundreds of tricks out there how you can improve your photos so we won’t get into that now but you can google some ideas easily.
Be selective in your right swipes
One of the biggest mistakes you can make, is to swipe right every profile you see.
As we said, it can send a negative signal to the algorithm and your chance of showing up for the most attractive profiles will be smaller if you auto-like every Bumble profile you see.
A better swiping strategy is to be more selective and right swipe only those Bumble profiles who you not only find physically attractive but you would also be very excited to meet up with.
If you have swiped right in almost any cases so far, change your swiping strategy, be more selective and report back to us if you managed to get more matches on Bumble.
Pump up your bio with more photos and information
As we explained above, a thin profile is not liked very much by the Bumble algorithm for multiple reasons. The easiest thing to do to get a better treatment by the Bumble matching system is to pump up your profile by uploading more profile pictures and fill up your bio with information and with profile prompts.
If you only had one picture, upload at least three in different environments and life situations (you will be swiped right way more time just because of this).
Profile Prompts are also great way to share information about yourself in your bio. You can read more about them here. Definitely add some to have a richer Bumble profile.
Bumble Algorithm Tips
Besides using Bumble in a way that is preferred by the Bumble algorithm and improving your profile, there are several tips and hacks that you can use to hack the Bumble algorithm for a short period of time and help you get more profile impressions that will result in getting more matches in Bumble.
Paid features to hack the Bumble matching system
We will present you three algorithm hacks that are paid features and one hack (the most effective) that is absolutely free.
Bumble Spotlight to get more profile impressions
Bumble Spotlight is the most straightforward and kind of easy way to manipulate the Bumble algorithm for 30 minutes. As when you activate a spotlight you can 10x the number of profile impressions you usually get.
In order to maximize your matches, you should activate Bumble Spotlight when most people are online in your neighborhood.
Bumble Spotlight is a paid feature that can be bought with 2 Bumble Coins. It is not included in the Bumble Boost features set, so you can only activate a Spotlight if you purchased the Bumble coins before.
Use Bumble Travel move to get a natural algorithm Boost
Bumble Travel mode is a brand-new feature on Bumble that lets you change your location for 7 day. It will cost you 5 Bumble coins to activate it and during the 7 day period, you can change your physical location to any location to as many times as you want.
One added benefit of this feature that it can give you a natural boost in profile impression in the city you changed your location to.
Use Bumble SuperSwipe to get a better position in the swiping decks
Bumble SuperSwipe is a premium feature on Bumble that allows you to let someone know that you like her before she would swipe you right. When you SuperSwipe someone you will get a premium position in the superswiped person’s swiping deck and she will also get a notification about the SuperSwipe.
Although it has a strong effect it only works for those profiles who you SuperSwiped. And as 1 SuperSwipe costs 1 Bumble coin you have to spend a ton of SuperSwipes to get better positions in a lot of profiles’ swiping deck.
For this reason, we wouldn’t really advise you to tap on the yellow heart to temporarily hack the Bumble algorithm.
Free hack for the Bumble algorithm
So as you can see, there are some paid features that can help you get a temporary boost in the Bumble profile decks, but they are not that effective if we also add that you have to purchase Bumble coins to be able to use them.
Fortunately, there is one free technique, we can call it the Bumble magic pill, that is absolutely free and will help you to hack the algorithm for a couple of days and get way more Bumble matches than usual.
Reset Bumble algorithm
Bumble reset is the process of deleting your existing Bumble account and starting a new one right after it.
As we mentioned one of the factors that help you get better positions in other Bumbles profiles’ swiping deck is if you have a new Bumble account.
It will definitely get you more matches in the first couple of days after you made Bumble reset.
Also, as a Bumble reset will also delete all your previous swipes and matches, and you will start with a blank profile so you have a chance to match with Bumble profiles who might have swiped you left your old Bumble account.
This is the reason it is recommended to take new profile photos and improve your profile generally to not only get the positive effects of the reset, but also get more matches in the long term.
We have a full article on how you should reset your Bumble account that will get you the desired Bumble algorithm boost.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most important factors that influence the Bumble algorithm?
To have a better chance to be favored by the algorithm here are the most important factors you need to keep in mind: actively swiping profiles but being selective with your right swipes at the same time, new user boost, popularity of your profile: (always improve your bio and your profile photos).
What is the best way to hack the Bumble algorithm?
The best way to hack the Bumble algorithm is to delete then reset your profile. This will give you a new user boost, your new account will be shown to way more profiles than in an average period. Keep in mind though that this effect is short term, the effects only last for a couple of days.
Does the Bumble algorithm use the Elo score to rank profile?
No, the Bumble algorithm doesn’t specifically use the Elo score to rank profiles. However, they must use a similar measurement to gauge the relative attractiveness of the profile as the Bumble algorithm still favors profiles in their matching system that are swiped right in the majority of the cases.
