To ask if you've tried Bumble BFF?

[HaroldTheStallion]

I've signed up for Bumble BFF and have paid for a week of premium usage. This is an app that let's you connect with other women for friendship (Bumble is a dating app - Bumble BFF works the same way but for friendship).I do have some friends but would like to make more, especially as most of my friends don't live locally.

There seems to be only one other woman in my town who's using it but we met up for coffee and she's really nice. We're going for a dog walk together tomorrow to see if our dogs can make friends too 😊. So it's going well but I just wish there were more women using it. Have you tried it? If so how were your experiences? Do you think it's strange to use an app to make friends or a good idea/worth a try?

When I used it a couple of years ago for free, you just swiped through liking people. You couldn't see who had liked you. If they happened to like you too, then you had a match, and something like 48 hours for one of you to message the other. If 48 hours passed you lost the opportunity. I think premium lets you see who has liked you, gives you longer to contact etc.

I just read some of the other comments...I'm in London, so I guess yes, it does give a much bigger pool of people. As for telling people I'd used an app to find friends, I got a couple of raised eyebrows about it, but I brazened it out and eventually didn't give a toss about telling people.

I used Bumble dating (not friends) last spring. After a match has been made, I had 24 hours to message the man. Then he had 24 hours to message back. I think after those two messages there wasn’t a time limit.

There was something either of you could do to extend the time but I’m not sure what and whether you had to pay for it.

Stop being so patronising. I've used it and was neither vulnerable nor isolated, it was just an easy way to top up on friends as I'd lost a few as they had left London. And as far as I know, it's still usable as a free app.

Again, it isn't paid. And your previous post was deleted as a personal attack. I have reported the last post as well. Its getting tiresome now.

Thank you @Tribollite . I'm not isolated or vulnerable either - there are other reasons for wanting to make more friends!

Not in Harrogate are you by any chance?! I need some friends!

Is all advertising as crap as ‘I paid £17 and there was only one woman there’?

If so that’s great news because I really think I could do that.

How about ‘I bought cheap yogurt from Sainsbury’s and I didn’t vomit’? WHERE’S MY BLOODY FEE SAINSBURY’S?

So @HaroldTheStallion do you just put your hobbies on, or hobbies you’d like to do with someone, and a little write up about yourself? And then start swiping?

@ForestLilac haha yes I'm sure the highly paid gig offers are going to come flooding in to both of us as we're clearly so talented at "marketing".

Yes you just add a few photos, a description of why you're on the app and what you're looking for in the "about me" section, and select some hobbies. There are also optional questions you can answer on things like life-chamging experiences to what would be your go-to karaoke song. You also select an age range and a geographical area for your matches, then get swiping.

@SchoolTripDrama sorry not in Harrogate I'm afraid.

Hi all

Can we have a bit of peace and love now, please?

Not tried it but I love the idea of it and would totally use it if I were new to an area and looking to meet people! Friends are so important and it's not always easy to meet local ones!

Just made an account off the back of this thread and deleted it already 😅 I tried Peanut a few years ago and it felt the same, sort of forced-fun. Like centerparcs but for friend-finding.

Yes it's a bit forced, same as online dating. Depends how much you want to make new friends I guess.

I am not vulnerable or isolated either and I don't pay for Bumble bff. The free version is just fine

I've just signed up - thanks for telling us about it!

And in case anyone is worried, I'm not isolated or vulnerable, I haven't paid anything, but I do like meeting new people, it's hard to make friends when you're in your 50s, my existing friends don't always want to do things I want, so this is great!

I can definitely see that, @Paturday . I did have trouble thinking of what to say on my profile for this reason - I wanted it to be appealing but not fake. I'm an introvert and didn't want to come across as "fun, party, karaoke" etc when that's not me. I also felt a bit odd showing up for my first "friend date" although it didn't feel weird at all after the first few minutes of chatting.

@Isithotinhere oh that's great, I hope you like it, please update with how you get on?

I would sort of like to join, as most of my friends live a bit further away and I would like to make some friends who live closeby. But I think I would feel awkward and way too much like a date! Would feel like I was stepping out on my husband, even though it is obviously not the case and all in my head. I think I struggle with the similarity to online dating!

I did try Peanut but of the three women I met, two were nice but mothers to 'spirited' boys who behaved horribly towards my daughter... so kind of gave up on that as I joined as my daughter loves making friends.

I only felt awkward on my first "friend date" for about 5 minutes and then luckily the chat flowed. So from that perspective I wouldnt be worried @PlumbleCrumble but it does seem odd to be signed up to Bumble. I'm pretty sure a colleague noticed the app on my phone when I was trying to show him something else- and I did think I saw a raised eyebrow!

I’m also an introvert and would be turned off by ‘fun, party, karaoke’ so you just have to be honest about who you are and what you want to attract compatible people. Just like real dating!

So I have another question. If you are on bff bumble AND dating bumble do you have to use the same profile for both? Or are they two separate profiles?

Thanks @ForestLilac , being yourself is good advice. I don't know whether or not you can use the same profile for dating and BFF if you want to, but I do know you can use different profiles. My new friend showed me her Bumble dating profile and it was different to the one she had used on BFF where she met me (different photos and everything).

Now I've exchanged a few messages with someone and realised we're not compatible to be friends. I guess I have to ghost her because saying I don't want to be friends seems worse?! I hate this part.

But I have a 3rd "date" with my new friend tomorrow so that's going well at least!

That’s good news @HaroldTheStallion . What sort of things are you doing?

@HaroldTheStallion and the others who have experience with the app, I was thinking of using Bumble BFF and am a bit worried that if you don't click with someone and they seem to be keen to continue, how do you put them off? Did you have to ghost the lady in the end or did it peter out naturally?
At least with dating you can say there was no spark, or that you are talking to someone else seriously, but potential for awkwardness is higher when a friend-date didn't go well...

Though in my case living in a smallish town the problem is most likely to be not enough people on the app