Bumble: Dating & Friends App – Guides the User to the Necessary Functionality Perfectly

In short

Bumble completes the user’s profile during onboarding and suggests a match immediately after it, explains why it needs a phone number or email and uses loss aversion before the search starts. Its weak spots are the goal question on the 20th screen, three permission requests in a row, mixed footers and lists, and a loader that looks frozen.

Leo · CEO, Segmently Smart Flow

Published · 2 min read

№ 7 in Lifestyle

👤1M, 💰21M

Bumble onboarding at a glance: numbered screens from phone number, location and notifications to photos, birthday, mode choice and “72 hours”

What you can learn

  • The profile is fully completed during onboarding → Immediately after onboarding, they suggest a match (value #F4)
Bumble phone number screen, then the profile setup screens, then a suggested match, Rose, 22, right after onboarding
  • They motivate users to leave their phone number or email by showing the benefits
Bumble phone and email questions, each with its reason: making sure everyone is real and recovering the account
  • They explain the benefits of granting permissions BUT... ❓ Three requests in a row – it's tiring, hard not to drop off
Three Bumble permission screens in a row: location services, notifications, then tracking to personalise the experience
  • They use the "loss aversion" effect before starting the search for friends or a partner – motivating immediate engagement (A-ha moment)
Bumble screen “72 hours to connect”: matches expire if first messages aren’t exchanged, a loss aversion nudge before the search

What Looks Ambiguous

  • They ask for the user's goal on the 20th screen → hinders warming up each segment separately, users can drop off without understanding why they entered data on 19 screens
  • Six types of footers and three types of multi-select lists → increase cognitive load and decrease motivation
Bumble birthday, gender, “Your life” and “Your interests” screens, each with a different footer and style of multi-select list
  • Loading indicator works incorrectly – it seems that the app has frozen
Bumble main screen with an empty card and only the logo animating, so the app looks frozen while it loads
  • How to fix: use a progress bar, during filling show the stages of pairing (Labor illusion effect)

Key takeaways

  • Bumble completes the profile during onboarding and suggests a match right after, taking the user straight to the functionality they came for.
  • Showing the benefit of sharing a phone number or email motivates users to leave it.
  • Explaining each permission helps, but three requests in a row are tiring and make drop-off likely.
  • Asking for the goal only on the 20th screen hinders warming up each segment separately, and users may leave without knowing why they entered their data.
  • A loader without progress looks frozen; a progress bar that shows the stages of matching would use the labor illusion effect instead.