Bumble is a mobile app used for online dating and making new friends. It was created by Whitney Wolfe Herd and started in December 2014. Bumble is run by Bumble Inc., which also owns another app called Badoo.
The app has more than 2.8 million users who pay for it. It is one of the most widely used dating apps in the United States.
The app shows users pictures and information about people they might want to meet. Users can "swipe left" to say they are not interested or "swipe right" to show they like someone. If two users both swipe right on each other, they can begin talking.
History
The Bumble app was started by Whitney Wolfe Herd after she left Tinder and by Andrey Andreev, who founded Badoo. The app was launched in December 2014 and used systems from Badoo's London office.
In August 2015, Wolfe Herd reported that during the app's first eight months, it had 5 million unique conversations started.
By March 2017, Bumble had more than 800 million matches and 10 billion swipes each month. It was the second most popular Lifestyle app in the Apple App Store.
By July 2020, Bumble had been downloaded over 100 million times.
Bumble provides free courses through Bloom, an online service that supports people who have experienced sexual assault.
In January 2024, Herd announced she was leaving her position as Bumble's CEO. Lidiane Jones, the former CEO of Slack, took over as CEO. Herd remained with Bumble as executive chairperson until March 2025, when she returned to the CEO role.
On January 28, 2026, it was reported that Bumble experienced cyberattacks. However, the company stated that hackers did not access member databases, accounts, direct messages, or profiles.
In 2026, Bumble announced it was preparing to launch a signed version of the app. This version would improve the traditional swipe interface with a chapter-based design.
Operation
Users swipe right to "like" a potential match and left to reject them. In matches between a man and a woman, the woman must start the conversation or the match will disappear after 24 hours unless she sets an opening question for the man to answer. In same-sex matches, either person can start the conversation or set an opening question. In 2024, the system changed so women no longer need to make the first move during matches.
Users can sort conversations, make calls, and send photo messages.
Through BFF mode, added in March 2016, users can match with same-sex friends in the same way as matching for dates.
If a user does not respond to a message from a match within 24 hours, the match disappears. This rule was added in April 2016 to stop people from ignoring others. Before this update, men had unlimited time to reply to messages from women. An update also allowed same-sex matches to have either person start the conversation, with the other needing to respond within 24 hours.
Over time, the app added more options for users to choose their gender identity, such as genderqueer or transgender.
In August 2024, 61% of Bumble users were men, and 37% were women.
In August 2024, Bumble began developing a chatbot to help users with flirting.
Starting in October 2016, the app banned mirror selfies, blurred faces, and photos of users in underwear.
In August 2017, Bumble partnered with the Anti-Defamation League to remove users who used hate speech or symbols in their profiles.
In March 2018, Bumble banned photos of users holding guns after the Parkland high school shooting.
In 2023, a report found that many content moderators for Bumble experienced mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD, due to their work. Concerns included lack of mental health support, high productivity targets, and understaffing.
Fake profiles and photos using artificial intelligence are not allowed and can be reported. In April 2019, Bumble launched Private Detector, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect and blur nude images. Users can choose to view, block, or report the image. Bumble made the tool open source in October 2022. In February 2024, Bumble introduced Deception Detector, a machine learning model that identifies fake user profiles. Testing showed it could block up to 95% of spam or scam accounts automatically. That March, Bumble worked with Phaedra Parks, Parvati Shallow, and Peter Weber from the Peacock show The Traitors to launch the feature.
Originally, users had to sign up with Facebook. After the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Bumble added an option to sign up using only a phone number. For users who sign up with Facebook, information from their account is used to create a profile with photos, basic details, and information like college and job.
In September 2016, Bumble launched a photo verification tool to confirm users were the same people in their profile pictures. To be verified, users take a selfie doing a specific pose. A real person reviews the photo to confirm the user matches their profile pictures. Bumble was the first dating app in the U.S. to include photo verification. In 2025, the app added an option for users to become ID-verified.
In 2020, Bumble temporarily allowed users to expand their distance filters to match with anyone in the same country. Previously, matches were limited to a 100-mile (160 km) range. Users could also add a "virtual dating" badge to their profile to show they were open to video calls.
On January 15, 2021, Bumble temporarily removed the option to filter matches by political preference to "prevent misuse." This happened after some users allegedly shared information about people involved in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack with the FBI. Many users criticized Bumble for appearing to "protect terrorists" by removing the filter. Bumble later announced it would restore the political preference filter.
In August 2016, Bumble added paid features: Beeline (a list of users who liked the user), Rematch (a 24-hour extension for expired matches), and Extend (unlimited 24-hour extensions for matches).
In June 2016, the app let users connect their Spotify accounts to their profiles to show music interests.
In 2017, the company launched Bumble Bizz, a career networking app that also uses a woman-first interface.
In September 2018, a "snooze" feature was added to let users pause app activity for a time.
In June 2019, Bumble introduced in-app voice and video calls. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company reported an 84% increase in video calls between users.
A feature allows women to share details about their dates, including who they are meeting, the time and location, and a contact for safety.
In June 2021, a software engineer named Robert Heaton found a security flaw in Bumble that allowed attackers to track users' exact locations using a method called trilateration. Bumble fixed the issue three days later and paid Heaton $2,000 for reporting it.
In August 2024, researchers at KU Leuven in Belgium found that several dating apps, including Bumble, had vulnerabilities that could let attackers track users' locations using trilateration.
Advocacy
Bumble was the first dating app to specifically control the sending of unwanted nude pictures, called cyberflashing. In 2019, Bumble introduced a tool called Private Detector, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically find and blur nude images. In October 2022, Bumble made a version of the Private Detector model available for others to use freely.
In 2019, Bumble worked to get House Bill 2789 passed in Texas, a law that makes sending sexually explicit material through electronic devices an illegal act with penalties. This happened after Bumble users reported receiving unwanted nude images. Bumble also helped Virginia pass Senate Bill 493 in April 2022, which sets legal consequences for adults who intentionally send sexually explicit images to others without permission.
In 2023, Bumble started an ad campaign called #CyberFlashingIsFlashing in the UK to support the Online Safety Act 2023, which was passed in March 2022.
In 2024, Bumble supported the CONSENT Act, a federal law that "tries to protect people who receive sexually explicit images, including images changed by artificial intelligence or machine learning."
Bumble helped write an amicus brief for both Zurawski v. State of Texas (2023) and Moyle v. United States (2024), arguing in favor of reproductive rights.
Reception
Bumble is often called a "feminist Tinder." The app's founder has stated that Bumble is "100 percent feminist," though she has said the app is different from Tinder. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Wolfe Herd explained the app's purpose.
In June 2016, Bumble blocked a user for acting in a sexist way after he yelled at a female user who asked him about his job.
In August 2017, the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer told its readers to bother Bumble's staff to protest the company's support for women's empowerment.
In August 2018, Bumble created the Bumble Fund to help women-led startups. After Christine Blasey Ford testified against Brett Kavanaugh, Bumble ran the "Believe Women" ad campaign and donated to RAINN.
In 2020, Bumble began a three-year partnership with the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
In September 2021, Bumble set up a relief fund to help people affected by the Texas Heartbeat Act.
After the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which ended the Roe v. Wade ruling, Bumble donated to the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Planned Parenthood.
In February 2023, writer Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz wrote that Bumble's feminist image may be more of a marketing tool than real change in how the app affects relationships.
In a 2025 interview with The New York Times, Wolfe Herd said she sees Bumble as a "love company."
In March 2018, Match Group sued Bumble, claiming it violated patents and stole trade secrets from Tinder. In June 2020, Match Group and Bumble reached a secret agreement to end all legal disputes.
In 2020, Bumble agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle claims that its automatic renewal process unfairly charged customers without their permission.
In May 2024, Bumble faced criticism after launching a marketing campaign with billboards that included the message: "You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer." Many people said the campaign shamed women who were not sexually active. Bumble apologized, removed the ads, and donated to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.