Location tracking is a concern for most people who use apps with this feature. From Snapchat to Facebook, from Bumble to Tinder, many apps base some of their features based on their location. Let’s discuss Bumble in more detail, especially what happens to your Bumble location if your phone is turned off.
Even a quick internet search reveals many questions about Bumble location tracking. Where, where and how location is tracked. How often it is updated, how to unfollow, etc. I’ve collected the most popular questions from these and collated them around Bumble and locations into one piece. All this so that you don’t have to search the internet for your answers.
Dating apps and location
Dating apps like Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, and others all require your location to show matches where you are currently. It only makes sense to show you potential dates that are truly accessible and an important aspect of these apps. After all, there’s no point in showing you a match if he’s going to take a transatlantic flight now to book a date, right?
So the location element makes sense, but it also makes sense to learn how it is used and how your location is defined and used.
Does Bumble track location if your phone is turned off?
If your phone is turned off, Bumble cannot track you. It uses GPS, cell tower data or WiFi data to find out where you are. The app doesn’t work when the phone is turned off. Your phone’s GPS won’t work when it’s turned off, and base station data isn’t available when a phone isn’t pinging base stations. So no, it’s not possible for Bumble or any dating app to track your location when you turn off your phone.
Apps with location features cannot track your location even when you close the app. If you want some privacy and don’t want Bumble to know where you are, simply close the app. This includes forcing shutdown on Android. That way, it can’t talk to your phone’s antenna or GPS chip to find you. Same for Snap Maps and non-dating apps. Close the app completely and it won’t track you.
When you restart the app, it can ping the Bumble server to update your current location. It will use GPS or cell positioning to detect as accurately as possible and report it. Again, this has the benefit of getting your local matches instead of spying on you.
Can you disable location tracking in Bumble?
Unfortunately, Bumble doesn’t have a Ghost mod version that Snap Maps has. Older versions of Bumble used to let you turn off location, but since a recent update there is no longer an option to do so.
Location is an integral part of how the app works and it needs to know where you are at any given time for the reasons described above. It doesn’t need to know exactly where you are, just what town, county or neighborhood you’re in so that it can show you the matches up close.
You cannot disable location tracking and use dating apps to their full potential, and the only way to not be tracked is to not use Bumble during this time. All dating apps will do exactly the same thing to some extent, so it’s not just Bumble.
You have some control over it, sort of. You can remove Bumble’s permission to access your phone location data. This is clumsy as you will have to grant and deny this access every time you use the app. On Android, select Settings, Apps and Bumble. Then select App Settings and Permissions. From there you can control access. I assume iOS will have something similar.
Can you fake your location on Bumble?
Maybe you can spoof your location on Bumble. Dating apps are smart about this, but using a VPN and connecting over Wifi with GPS turned off can set your location somewhere other than where you are. There are also GPS spoofing apps that can do the same thing.
A warning though, app developers know these tricks too, and they don’t all work. Since Bumble uses cell tower location in addition to GPS and WiFi, you may have to go completely off the network to trick it into thinking you’re somewhere else.
You might be skeptical of location tracking, but in this case it’s okay to let Bumble show you matches close to your location. As far as we know, there’s no ulterior motive for wanting to know where you are, and if you want to use dating apps you better get used to being watched this way!
Location tracking is a concern for most people who use apps with this feature. From Snapchat to Facebook, from Bumble to Tinder, many apps base some of their features based on their location. Let’s discuss Bumble in more detail, especially what happens to your Bumble location if your phone is turned off.
Even a quick internet search reveals many questions about Bumble location tracking. Where, where and how location is tracked. How often it is updated, how to unfollow, etc. I’ve collected the most popular questions from these and collated them around Bumble and locations into one piece. All this so that you don’t have to search the internet for your answers.
Dating apps and location
Dating apps like Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, and others all require your location to show matches where you are currently. It only makes sense to show you potential dates that are truly accessible and an important aspect of these apps. After all, there’s no point in showing you a match if he’s going to take a transatlantic flight now to book a date, right?
So the location element makes sense, but it also makes sense to learn how it is used and how your location is defined and used.
Does Bumble track location if your phone is turned off?
If your phone is turned off, Bumble cannot track you. It uses GPS, cell tower data or WiFi data to find out where you are. The app doesn’t work when the phone is turned off. Your phone’s GPS won’t work when it’s turned off, and base station data isn’t available when a phone isn’t pinging base stations. So no, it’s not possible for Bumble or any dating app to track your location when you turn off your phone.
Apps with location features cannot track your location even when you close the app. If you want some privacy and don’t want Bumble to know where you are, simply close the app. This includes forcing shutdown on Android. That way, it can’t talk to your phone’s antenna or GPS chip to find you. Same for Snap Maps and non-dating apps. Close the app completely and it won’t track you.
When you restart the app, it can ping the Bumble server to update your current location. It will use GPS or cell positioning to detect as accurately as possible and report it. Again, this has the benefit of getting your local matches instead of spying on you.
Can you disable location tracking in Bumble?
Unfortunately, Bumble doesn’t have a Ghost mod version that Snap Maps has. Older versions of Bumble used to let you turn off location, but since a recent update there is no longer an option to do so.
Location is an integral part of how the app works and it needs to know where you are at any given time for the reasons described above. It doesn’t need to know exactly where you are, just what town, county or neighborhood you’re in so that it can show you the matches up close.
You cannot disable location tracking and use dating apps to their full potential, and the only way to not be tracked is to not use Bumble during this time. All dating apps will do exactly the same thing to some extent, so it’s not just Bumble.
You have some control over it, sort of. You can remove Bumble’s permission to access your phone location data. This is clumsy as you will have to grant and deny this access every time you use the app. On Android, choose Settings, Apps and Bumble. Then select App Settings and Permissions. From there you can control access. I assume iOS will have something similar.
Can you fake your location on Bumble?
Maybe you can spoof your location on Bumble. Dating apps are smart about this, but using a VPN and connecting over Wifi with GPS turned off can set your location somewhere other than where you are. There are also GPS spoofing apps that can do the same thing.
A warning though, app developers know these tricks too, and they don’t all work. Since Bumble uses cell tower location in addition to GPS and WiFi, you may have to go completely off the network to trick it into thinking you’re somewhere else.
You might be skeptical of location tracking, but in this case it’s okay to let Bumble show you matches close to your location. As far as we know, there’s no ulterior motive for wanting to know where you are, and if you want to use dating apps you better get used to being watched this way!
