Three people from our office have tested Bumble BFF for 90 days. Here are our findings! From the get-go, the first few weeks on this app were quite weird. Since we usually test dating sites only, we were not sure how to contact other people.
But after the initial period, we have figured out what to write, etc. And we were pleasantly surprised by how this works.
Are you sure that you are looking for friends? If not, you might be interested in our review of the Bumble app.
How it works
By the own words of Bumble, the BFF feature is described as a “simplified way to create meaningful friendships.”
A bit cheesy, but it works, so who cares, right?
We have already been working on our review of the Bumble app before we started this experiment. But most of the features are the same, and only the texting part is a lot different. As your regular Bumble account, you need to use up to 6 photos to complete your profile with bio, age, gender, and location settings as well. Once you are done with your profile, you are ready for a swiping party. Always swipe right if you are excited to meet that person, and in case you are not, swipe left. It can’t be any easier.
Profile creation
Have you ever written a bio on a dating app or site? Yes? And did you think that was hard? Try to write a bio for yourself on Bumble BFF. We would actually never think that writing something about yourself to get friends might be even scarier than finding someone to date…
We can’t stress this enough, you need to write a unique bio, which will help others to start conversations or continue in conversations or to get interested in you in the first place.
How to craft a perfect profile bio
This is a little cheat code, but set up a different location on your phone or when you travel, use bumble BFF and check what other people are writing about themselves. If you find a profile that is interesting for you, screenshot everything in there. Once you have 5-10 screenshots of profiles that are interesting to you, pick the best parts of these bios, apply them to yourself, and you are ready for swiping.
And why should you change the location?
If you don’t know how to do that, you can do this while you are traveling/commuting. And you want to do this because if you do this at your place or in your area, most people will swipe left on you since you have no bio. And it would be a shame to miss out on “BFF” just because of the missing bio. That is why you should do it in different locations, so you are matched with people in that area.
The swiping
After reviewing so many dating sites, swiping feels normal, but if you think about it for a minute, it affects us certainly in the wrong way. The good thing about Bumble’s algorithm, which is the same for dating as for the BFF. You can’t just swipe right. Well, you can, but your account will get shadowbanned, and you don’t want that if you’re going to meet friends via this app.
How not to get shadowbanned on BFF
Just make sure that every once in a while, you are swiping left. And if you live in a smaller city, you might want to actually read bios first before you swipe since there will be way fewer users than in big cities where there is almost an endless pool of potential friends that you can meet via Bumble.
The friend matches
It took us almost two weeks to figure out the perfect bio for everyone who was testing this app. The same went for the profile photos, and we were constantly changing them and testing what pictures perform better. Because no one from our office was receiving matches and we were swiping all day long.
But after we had figured out the perfect combo of bio and photos in our profiles, we were getting 10s of matches every day. But it took us a while to figure out the ideal scenario to meet these people in real life. Because what we have observed was that we were usually on a chat with someone for a few days, and then it fell off, and we never received another reply from them. And that was happening to all of us. It just takes a bit of practice, like everything else.
We almost stopped with the experiment after four weeks
Only one of us was having mediocre success on BFF Bumble. The rest of us testers, we had 0 real-life meetings, all of the chats have died within 5 to 7 days. And at that time, we have already rewritten the bio at least 15 times, the same went for photos, we were changing them several times a week to find out what works best. We actually got to a point where we were super insecure, that we are not creative enough, and no one wants to be our friend. It is ridiculous, but at the time we felt that way. Since we were having almost 0 success on this app.
Luckily we have found a hack
After almost quitting this experiment, we went back to the drawing board, and we tried to figure out what is wrong, why we were not getting any real-life meetings, and why are people ghosting us. And we have realized that the problem is with the app itself. It works for matching and meeting people online, but we were staying on the app for too long. That was the issue; from that point, we tried to persuade everyone after like 2-5 days of chatting on Bumble to switch to Instagram DMs, Facebook, or even WhatsApp we started getting in real-life meetings. But to be fair, the IG DMS had the most success. But in order for that to work, you should also edit your Instagram account.
The last words about Bumble BFF
The Bumble bff experiment was a lot harder than we thought. We had to put a lot of effort and a lot of testing to make this thing work. While this is still a great way to make new friends online, if you don’t want to put any work into this, it will hardly work. Maybe it will if you live in a smaller city, where there are not that many people there. But if you are living in a big city, you will stand no chance unless you craft a decent profile.
Also, please keep in mind that rejection is part of the process. Yes, it is not a fun and easy thing to deal with. You will get rejected over and over again, and you need to be prepared for that and don’t let other people online on some app decide your worth.
FAQ
Yes, it is also for guys, spokesman for Buble said that over 90 % of males that are on Bumble have also chosen the option of BFF feature. Unfortunately, they have not shared any more data with us, but while we were testing this app, we have met in real life a lot of guys, so it is undoubtedly also for them.
Bumble BFF app works just like the regular version of the Bumble app, and they share all of the functions. Swiping, chatting everything is the same. The only thing that is quite different in that the profile bios and profile photos matter a lot more. For some reason, it is harder to find friends on this app, rather than a date.
It depends on what you are looking for. But after spending on this app for more than 90 days, we have to say that it was worth it, and we met a lot of cool people only because of this fantastic app, and it did not cost us anything, only the time in which we have used the app.
Well, it depends. If you mean, if it is safe to install on your mobile phone, then, in that case, it is entirely secure since it is distributed only by official sources like android google play and Apple iTunes.
But if you are a woman and you are scared that some people from the Bumble BFF want more than to be your friends. Well, there is nothing you can do about it. In the 90 days, in which we were testing this application, we have not had this issue once. But that might have been just pure luck.
Well, it was weird in the beginning, since we did not have many ideas about how to start conversations on this app. And we were ghosted a lot, especially in the beginning, so yes, that was weird. But other than that it was a great experience, we have met so many cool people, and it was definitely worth it!
Yes, you can delete a Bumble date mode and stick around for a Bizz and also for BFF or one or the other, that is solely up to you. All of these can be set up in your profile either in your smartphone app or if you log in on a desktop in your browser at bumble.com.
Try to find the best six photos of you. Hopefully, you also have some excellent pictures with yourself and animals or your friends, and these pictures work wonders on Bumble. Also, you should spend at least 30 minutes writing up your bio. Be honest, share with other Bumble users the things you are in to, it is as simple as that.
Unfortunately, only users with first message privileges can message first on Bumble BFF, that is what is Bumble all about. At times it is definitely a shame that it works this way also for BFF, but we understand why they did this.
Well, some do, and some don’t. It is pretty much the same as online dating; only now you are online looking for friends. And we all know people that are highly successful on online dating sites and some that are not. And the same goes for Bumble BFF, the more time you spend on there chatting with people and also improving your profile, the better you will be at it. But without any effort, you won’t go far…
BFF on Bumble stands for Bumble For Freinds. And it works just like the regular bumble app, only now you are not swiping left and right to find a date, but a friend. To be honest with you, it is as frustrating at times as online dating. But if you keep chatting with people, you will actually meet some really cool people.
If you are using Bumble in BFF mode, you will see in your match pool only profiles of the same gender, as you have selected when signing up for a bumble app account. And there is nothing you can do about this.
If you want to stop using BFF, tap on the logo of Bumble at the top of our screen. You should now see an “x” on the top left corner of y our screen, and if you tap on that, you will go back to the dating mode, and with that, you will instantly quit the BFF mode of Bumble.
The best advice is to write up your hobbies, your favorite activities, and interests so you can start chatting with each other. Write as much info as you can in your profile, and it doesn!t have to be funny if it is, great! But again, it does not have to be. Just write as much about yourself and your interests in your profile, that the other person can carry a conversation with you. And you don’t have to write much, if you are lazy, list at least your favorite tv shows/books or movies… You get the point. Never leave your bio on bumble Bff empty!