Bumble has made loads of changes through 2020 and 2023, from introducing video chat options and Night In trivia games (check out my review of Bumble Night In here).
Just when it seemed like the most empathetic mainstream app was about to be one-upped by Tinder bringing in their Safety Center, the app made by women for everyone has pulled it out the bag.
What on Earth am I talking about? Fair question! I’m referring to the brand-new Bumbles Safety Center.
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What Is Bumble Safety And Wellbeing Center
Okay, I see those raised eyebrows. Well, in my mind’s eye, anyway! But I get it. ‘What is Bumble’s new safety center?’ you’re wondering. You came to the right place, I’ve done my research!
Bumble’s Safety and Wellbeing Center is an ever-evolving, regularly updated, one-stop shop for users’ safety and wellbeing needs. In this case, that involves mental wellbeing as well as physical.
I mean, you would expect no less from a company that recently gave all employees a week off because they were burnt out, and regularly scores well for the way they deal with complaints, bullying, and trolling.
The Safety and Wellbeing Center originated with Bumble India, a country in which 83% of women report being harassed online. But it has been so successful it is now being rolled out worldwide, along with the app’s excellent Covid-19 protocols, including being able to indicate on your profile what you’re currently comfortable with.
Basically, Bumble is doing what Bumble does best. They may not be the only swiping app out there refocusing to look more seriously at user safety, but they are doing it in a way unique to their ever-present values.
Related: Is Bumble A Safe Dating App?
It’s all about holistic wellbeing rather than just ‘What’s okay on a date?’ and ‘What’s okay on a dating app?’. Before you ask though, no, I don’t mean crystals and reiki.
I just mean that mental wellbeing and personal feelings are given as much weight in Bumble’s new safety features as physical health and wellbeing. Which is no bad thing, right?
How To Use Bumble Safety And Wellbeing Center
So, how do you actually use the Bumble Safety and Wellbeing Center? It’s sort of complex to explain, but very easy to use. Actually, it’s rather intuitive.
You’ll find the Bumble Safety Center in your Profile tab on the app (hit the little person icon in the bottom left-hand corner).
It is third in the list of options under your picture and the option to edit or complete your profile labeled simply ‘Safety & Wellbeing’.
Below this, there are categories to choose from depending on what sort of advice you need. Under that, there’s a button to report other users and ‘Get help from Bumble’. Finally, there are links to resources of various kinds.
Yes, I know, pretty vague! I’ll go into more detail in the guide below.
Bumble Safety And Wellbeing Center: A Guide
So, how exactly do you use the Bumble Safety and Wellbeing Center? Look no further than this handy guide! As the center is ever-evolving, I will have to return to this guide and update it soon.
Additionally, the center is arranged pretty intuitively, meaning you kind of have to have a scroll around to get a feel for how it works.
That being said, I will use all my excellent writing skills to tell you how Bumble Safety and Wellbeing Center works.
Firstly, there are four categories of support available, each represented by a clickable tile that leads to another menu. They are:
Mental Exhaustion
Offering advice and resources for ‘Anxiety, uncertainty, and burnout’, the Mental Exhaustion section of the Safety and Wellbeing Center from Bumble includes articles as diverse as ‘I’m anxious about messaging first’ to ‘Mental wellbeing during covid’ and ‘Support after being fetishized as a transwoman’.
The Bumble guides section offers how-tos on the Question Game, BFF, and Bizz and Snooze Mode. Hopefully, this will be fleshed out in the future.
Finally, Helpful Resources are Samaritans and other crisis lines. These will vary by locality.
Feelings of Rejection
Here, the articles cover both being ghosted and when it is actually okay to ghost, as well as what to do if you aren’t getting messages or matches.
There is info on profile verification, prompts, and a how-to guide for reporting too. The resources section again focuses on mental wellbeing, similar to the Mental Exhaustion menu.
Harmful Behaviour
In Harmful Behavior, you will find articles that cover what to do if someone is being inappropriate.
This includes dealing with microaggressions and fetishization, dealing with catfishing and how to spot it, reporting abusive messages, and what happens when you do so.
The how-to guides are for blocking and reporting, unmatching, and dealing with unsolicited lewd photos or messages. Resources cover both mental and physical health.
Bumble IRL
As you would expect from this section, physical safety on dates is the number one focus. Navigating first dates is also covered, however, as is dating during covid.
There’s also a useful guide to Bumble video chat, which is of course the safest way to conduct a first date or even a pre-date check-in.
Final Thoughts On Bumble Safety And Wellbeing Center
With enticing, colorful graphics and its intersectional approach, Bumble is knocking it out of the park with its Safety and Wellbeing Center. But is it all bells and whistles?
No, not quite, there’s plenty of useful stuff here and it is easy to navigate and has a reporting/contact option that is lacking on some competitor apps.
That being said, Bumble could definitely flesh out its guides and articles and maybe include direct links to block and report from the center. Hopefully, all that will happen in time.
Bumble is generally excellent for customer support, after all. Not sold on Bumble? Take my quiz to see which dating app you should try instead.
