How to show someplace else in a dating app

We have been covering the dating app Bumble a lot recently and at least one reader noticed that. They wrote in with a question and as always we are happy to try to answer. The question was ‘How can I change my location in Bumble?

Even though I have used Bumble, I had no idea so I had to go exploring. All in the name of science you understand!

Bumble has two ways of finding out where you are. It uses your phone’s GPS data to automatically update the app or you can (sort of) set location manually. This is typical of most smartphone apps and nothing to worry about. You can control either or both of these options if you like.

BUMBLE GEOLOCATION

Like many smartphone apps, Bumble can tap your phone’s GPS location data to offer matches in your current location. This works both for you and against you. While testing Bumble, I had to travel between cities for something unrelated. I used it as an experiment to see how Bumble reacted.

I enabled geolocation in Bumble and used it in my home city for a while. All matches appeared within the distance limit of 25 miles that I had set. I then traveled to another cities over 300 miles away. After restarting Bumble, it picked up my new location and began showing me matches within 25 miles of my current location.

All well and good you might say. Not so much. Once I got back home I restarted Bumble so it would pick up the fact that I was in a different place. It did change location but for a couple of days later, it still showed matches from the other city as well as my home town. After a couple of days, all profiles I got to see where from home but it took a while to wear off.

CHANGE LOCATION IN BUMBLE

Unfortunately, Bumble does not allow you to configure a location through settings or your profile. Instead, you have to game the system a bit.

The easiest way to change your location in Bumble is to leave geolocation enabled, travel to where you want to appear and turn off geolocation. This will keep your current location as the selection criteria until you switch off your phone or turn off the Bumble app. For a while, Bumble will keep your last known position as the location. When you reset your phone or the app Bumble will try to find out where you are. If GPS is turned off, it may use your IP address to try to figure out where you are.

Bumble’s privacy rules say:

‘You can control your location information settings in your Account settings and switch them off if you really want to! Even if you have disabled location services, we may still determine your city, state, and country location based on your IP address (but not your exact location).’

So turning off geolocation isn’t an exact science. There are other ways to change location in Bumble. You could use a VPN or a fake GPS app.

USING VPN TO CHANGE LOCATION IN BUMBLE

There are lots of VPN services out there that work on a smartphone. Using one with a specific exit city is a good way to fake your location. Choose a VPN that has an exit node in the city you want to appear in, install it onto your phone, connect to it and then start Bumble. Turn off geolocation within the app and let it figure out where you are from the IP address.

This isn’t bulletproof either but works for more than just faking a location. It also keeps your traffic secure and enhances privacy too.

USE A LOCATION FAKING APP TO CHANGE LOCATION IN BUMBLE

There are specialist apps for both Android and iOS that can fake your location quite convincingly. Some apps work better than others and none of them seem universal in their application. Some apps work fine on WhatsApp but not on Facebook or Instagram. Others work fine on Bumble but not on Tinder or other apps.

It will be a matter of trial and error to find out what app works for you. A couple to try include Fake GPS location and Fake GPS for Android and Fake gps for iOS. Each works reasonably well and can fool some apps into thinking you are somewhere else completely.

Location-based services can work for you and against you. Bumble’s location service seems competent and accurate but for those circumstances where you want to see matches from elsewhere, you need a little ingenuity. I hope these tricks above help.