There are a whole bunch of reasons you might want to stop certain people from seeing you on a dating app like Bumble. Some are silly – say, you don’t want the friends you play touch football with on a Tuesday evening to see how many pictures of you and your pet kitten are included in your profile.
Or that you’re ‘Just a big softy tbh, looking for a little spoon and a partner in crime’. Some are nefarious – like, you’re on dating apps and you don’t want your wife to know (I can’t make that one funny. Don’t do it).
And others are varying degrees of practical, whether you don’t want any interactions with an ex, have had a date or a pre-date chat go horribly wrong, and need to back out of all interactions ASAP or find someone genuinely creepy and troubling and don’t want to interact with them anymore.
If you’re asking “How do I stop being seen on Bumble?” this one’s for you. We’ll look at how you can stop being seen by someone on Bumble, with and without reporting them, as well as check out Bumble’s Incognito mode for the ultimate in privacy.
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Can You Stop Someone From Seeing You On Bumble?
You would expect controlling who sees your profile would be easy on Bumble, a dating site that claims to care deeply about user safety and online bullying and harassment issues.
So can you stop someone from seeing you on Bumble? Yes, if you see someone in the swipe deck scroll to the bottom of their profile and hit “Hide”. If they haven’t already seen you, this will hide your profile from them. Incognito Mode is another option – it stops anyone from seeing your profile until you swipe right on them.
And if there’s a reason other than privacy for stopping them from seeing you, consider hitting “Block and Report”.
Unfortunately, the mechanisms for stopping a user from seeing your profile are no more advanced on the Bumble app than on any other popular dating app. There’s no “block contacts” feature on Bumble, so you can’t stop someone specific from seeing your profile in advance.
To be fair, there is no real search option on most dating apps so to isolate a user and block only them from viewing your profile you usually have to engage in some interaction with them first.
It all seems very complicated and difficult to engineer, so no hard feelings to the app built by women and for everyone for not coming up with the perfect solution!
Can I Hide My Profile From Someone On Bumble?
Maybe you’ve got a nosy family member who will rip your “sense of adventure” to shreds. Or perhaps it’s THAT ex. Either way, you don’t always want to be seen on Bumble.
So if you’re asking, can I hide my profile from someone on Bumble, the answer is yes – sort of. Once you come across them on the app you can tap “Hide” to stop that person from seeing you. However, you can’t hide your profile from a specific user without seeing them in the swipe deck first.
And the “Hide” feature can’t guarantee your profile hasn’t been shown to that person already – so it’s not foolproof.
If you really want privacy on Bumble, then Incognito Mode is the best tool for you. It stops anyone from seeing your profile until you swipe right on them – so you have complete control over who sees you. But it’s only available for Premium members.
Can Someone Find You On Bumble With Your Phone Number?
Some people are so darn snoopy – and you might be worried about getting looked up on Bumble.
So can someone find you on Bumble with your phone number? No. There is no search function on Bumble so people can’t find you with your phone number or contact information. The only way someone can find you is if you come up in their swipe deck.
Of course, there are ways to check if someone is on a dating app, not least by narrowing your filters to apply to a specific person. Bumble also allows you to “recommend” a profile to a friend by sharing a dedicated link.
If you want more control over who sees you, choose Incognito Mode – but you’ll have to pay for Bumble Premium to do so, and it means you’ll never have anyone in your Beeline.
4 Ways To Stop Someone Seeing You On Bumble
On Bumble, you have a few options when it comes to stopping someone’s access to your profile. You can block a specific user to stop them from seeing you. If they were behaving inappropriately, you can also report them.
A third option is unmatching, which simply severs contact, though your profile may eventually pop up in their feed again and vice versa.
Recommended: Does Bumble Tell You When Someone Is Online? Or When They Last Viewed You?
Obviously, if you just don’t like someone’s chat or you went on a date and they turned out to drink only room temperature milk and talk only about astronomy (yeah, I mean astronomy, not astrology. I’m probably not referencing a real date I went on… in fact, for legal reasons, let’s say I am definitely not. This did not happen. I was never forced into a forty-minute conversation about the classification of Pluto on a first date) then don’t block and report!
Be a grownup and say ‘I don’t really think there’s a spark between us’, and just unmatch. And if you want more general advice on how to control who sees your profile on Bumble, I have an article on that here.
1. Hide Someone On Bumble
Hiding someone is a new feature and offers something of a “soft blocking” option. It’s effectively the same thing and prevents your profile from being seen by that user.
You can hide someone – and hide from someone – straight from the match deck. Here’s how to do it:
- Scroll to the bottom of their profile.
- Tap “Hide and Report”.
- Tap “Hide”.
- Confirm by tapping “Hide” again”.
2. Blocking On Bumble
To block without reporting on Bumble, a site that takes any red flags against a user pretty seriously, you still have to click on ‘Block and Report’ on that user’s profile.
You find this by tapping “Hide and Report” at the bottom of their profile.
You’ll be prompted to tell Bumble why you’re blocking and reporting, and asked for anonymous feedback because, you know, apps really care about you!
All of the options here but one will lead to what is essentially points on the Bumble license of the user you’re blocking. If you don’t want to report the person, you have to choose ‘I’m Just Not Interested’.
There used to be an ‘I don’t want them to see me’ option, but that has disappeared in recent months. That’s because you can “hide” the Bumble user if that’s your intention.
What Does The Other Person See When You Block Them On Bumble?
Blocking someone on Bumble might feel a bit serious, but if you’ve had a bad interaction I thoroughly encourage it. Don’t put up with any nonsense on dating apps.
But what does the other person see when you block them? Nothing. If you block from the swipe deck, then your profile will never appear from them. If you block them in Chat, then your profile will disappear from their messages. They won’t get a notification, or any indication that they have been blocked.
This is a great option if someone is just plain annoying but essentially harmless, or if you’ve had an awkward encounter and want to nope out of the situation without it being obvious that you’ve done so. It will just look to them as though you deleted your Bumble account.
3. Reporting On Bumble
On Bumble, selecting a reason in the Block and Report dialogue box will also report them, unless you choose ‘I’m Just Not Interested’.
That means that Bumble customer service will be notified of their behavior, and if the user is blocked multiple times/by multiple users for similar actions they will be investigated and could be kicked off the app or blocked by Bumble.
Once you select the reason for reporting, you’ll be asked for more information. Bumble may also contact you via your email address for further details – but the person reported will never receive your information.
So, I know it might be tempting to report the ex who cheated on you with a guy from work, but it’s probably not a good idea to abuse a system that’s in place to keep people safe. Also, there’s no option for, ‘her selfish lust for newness broke my heart’.
And they did it in the stationary closet – can you imagine a worse cliché?
4. Unmatching On Bumble
Finally, you can always unmatch a user on Bumble. This will remove their access to your profile, and delete your conversation with them from their inbox. You might eventually pop up in their feed again, but unless you also swipe right on them you obviously won’t match and therefore they won’t actually be able to make contact.
Final Thoughts
Given that it’s 2023 and online dating is firmly here to stay, there’s no reason to hide your Bumble profile from anyone and everyone. You can be a strong, independent man and an adoring dad to your kittens!
But if you want to stop someone from seeing you on Bumble, the options are there. Swoop on the Hide, Block, or Report features to stop a certain Bumble user from seeing your profile or try Incognito Mode for complete control of who sees you. If you want to take a break altogether, use Snooze mode.
Of course, Incognito Mode limits your options – only people you like will get a chance to swipe right on your profile. To maximize your matches you need the best possible Bumble profile so check out my 6-Step Tinder Tune-Up for an easy walkthrough of the ultimate profile upgrade.
