You’ve made the call. Bumble is your dating app of choice. You are very confident in how Bumble works, but something keeps confusing you. It seems like despite you swiping left on a bunch of people, you keep seeing them.
What’s going on here? Does Bumble show you the same people twice? More than twice? Does swiping left even mean anything anymore? Is up actually down? Are cats actually dogs?
You have questions. We have answers. Let’s open up the hood and get into how the Bumble app works. Does the app built by women, for everyone show you the same people twice?
Short answer: yes. Slightly longer answer, it depends on a few things.
Longest answer: it depends on a few things and here they are…
Like all dating apps, the Bumble app is driven by an algorithm that determines who it shows you in the card stack. The algorithm serves up potential matches and you swipe your little heart out.
The more swipes you make the more the algorithm works out what you like and, because it wants you to stay on the app and make positive connections, it does what it can to please you.
Imagine the algorithm is an adorable dog that loves you more than anything. All it wants to do is bring you sticks. Sometimes you won’t like the sticks it brings, so you’ll throw them left. Other times you’ll like the stick and you’ll throw it right.
The algorithm will keep trying to bring you new sticks to throw until it can’t find any new ones. At which time it’ll start looking around for old sticks that you might want to reconsider.
The ones that you threw right are still in the air, spinning through space, waiting to see if the user on the other end catches it.
But the ones you swiped left on are now on the ground. So, the algorithm will sniff around those and see if there’s any that you might like to try again.
This is a bit of a torturous analogy but, hopefully, it makes sense because I’m running with it. The algorithm wants to keep delivering you potential matches. So, if it runs out, it might just do a quick check to see if your standards have changed.
“Sure, you didn’t like them a month ago… but, what about now? Hmm? What about… now?”
So yeah, Bumble sometimes shows you the same users twice. Reasons someone might show up twice (or more) on Bumble, include:
- You have run out of potential matches in your area. To fix this, you could widen your search area… or up and move to the big city.
- They like you. The algorithm wants matches, so if someone liked you then they may well show up again, giving you another chance to meld souls. If there is one right swipe between two people, the right-swiping user will be shuffled forward in the left-swiper’s feed.
- They deleted their account and made a new one. If you’re pretty sure you already matched with someone ages ago, chatted for a bit and it fizzled out or, worse, that you blocked a user and yet somehow they are back, then it is most likely that the user deleted their profile and account, later making a new one with the same pics and info.
If you aren’t getting enough matches to make any informed decisions, maybe it’s because, on Bumble, size does count. The size of your profile pictures that is. Make sure you’ve optimized your profile pictures on Bumble with this handy guide.
On top of that, you want a full profile with no red flags. What does this mean? On the most basic level, you should have the following:
- Clear pictures of you being you. That means not just selfies or a weird photo shoot. And no ‘I caught a fish’ pictures.
- A bio that tells potential matches something about you. It doesn’t have to be dead serious, and it shouldn’t be a whole personal essay, but a bio should show you have some personality. A few emojis won’t cut it.
- No weird requirements or demands. I know, it should be obvious but, apparently, it isn’t for everyone! Don’t list a minimum height, a maximum weight, or weird deal-breakers like ‘I can’t stand vegetarians’ on your profile. Talk to matches a little to work out whether or not you click!
If I Dislike Someone On Bumble Will I See Them Again?
There is a chance you will see users on Bumble you’ve previously swiped left.
As mentioned, the dating algorithm just wants to feed you possibilities. So, if you’re in an area with a low population base and the distance you’re allowing matches to be discovered from is quite small, then the pool of possibilities will be quite small.
So, your eager little algorithm buddy, in an attempt to not disappoint you, will eventually start cycling through some possibilities that it thinks maybe you might’ve missed the first time through.
This can lead to you getting worried that there are actually only ten people on Bumble. Are people still using Bumble in 2022? Find out here.
This snuffly stick retrieval service (aka, the algorithm. We are still talking about the algorithm) can actually be a positive if you ever fall into the habit of non-stop swiping off the first image and accidentally bin a few people you realized – too late! – you might be interested in. There is always the chance you’ll get shown them again.
Of course, the flip side of this is it can be pretty unpleasant to constantly come across your ex, or the person you met up with once or, worst of all, a member of your family being waaaay too thirsty in the bio.
Despite your panicked aggressive left-swiping every time they turn up it doesn’t seem to be too long before they float back into your stack. In these situations, you’re best to actually block their profile.
Blocking is the only guaranteed way to never have a profile pop-up again.
If I Swipe Left On Bumble Will They See Me?
Yes. Your profile stays in every potential match’s feed (somewhere in the stack, though probably quite low) no matter how picky you are or how many people you swipe left on.
By signing up you become a contestant in the giant dating app swipeathon, and part of the cost of getting to do swiping is that swiping will be done unto you. If you’re interested in how to curate and hack how you appear in the Bumble card stack make sure to check out this article.
While the idea of having your profile examined by someone you have thoroughly dismissed might make you feel weird, there still is a useful logic behind it.
Remember our algorithm buddy from earlier? The logic that drives this isn’t just whatever the programmer thought would be a cute idea after an all-nighter. It’s driven by user data and the user data is pretty clear – people regularly change their minds, even about things you’d think we were pretty fixed on.
The core piece of info here is that, yes, you will sometimes be shown the same people more than once. While there are sometimes other driving factors behind this, the main one is that the algorithm knows what people are like.
People are fickle. They change their minds, they accidentally swipe left, they like a user’s new haircut way more than their old one, etc.
Speaking of being fickle… Is Bumble the right dating app for you? Does it meet the needs of what you are using dating apps for?
If you’re thinking of swiping left on Bumble and looking at another app possibility you owe it to yourself to take our dating app quiz and work out which dating app is best for you.
