What is Bumble Boost? How to use the dating app's paid features to get more matches

• Bumble Boost is a paid subscription offered by Bumble that gives unlimited swiping, swipe undos, and more.
• If you're willing to pay more, you can also get Bumble Premium, which gives even more features.
• Bumble Boost is only available to iOS users worldwide, and Android users in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

A lot has changed since the early days of dating apps. New apps and features have arrived, giving people more options to help find their best match.

One of these apps is Bumble, which has become known in many circles as more of a true dating app - Tinder is often more associated with hookups - in large part because there's a more even male-to-female ratio among its users, among dozens of other self-identifications.

In fact, Bumble has become so popular that it's testing out new premium services. Bumble Boost is getting revamped to include even more features, and they're also adding a higher tier, Bumble Premium.

Quick note: Bumble Boost and Premium aren't available to everyone. iPhone users can get Boost and Premium anywhere, but Android users will need to be in Australia, New Zealand, or the UK.

What to know about Bumble Boost

Bumble Boost is the less expensive of the two paid options - in other words, sort of like halfway between Bumble and Bumble Premium. You don't get some of the more exclusive features, but you get most of the important ones, and for a lot less.

Bumble Boost varies in cost, depending on how long you sign up for it. You can subscribe on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, in addition to three- and six-month subscriptions. Boost's cost may change as Bumble continues to test its paid features, but you're often getting a larger discount for longer subscriptions.

Advantages of Bumble Boost

Bumble Boost offers users a total of five features that regular users don't have.

• Backtracking: This feature allows users to undo an accidental left swipe, so they don't lose the chance to match with someone just because of a (literal) slip of the hand.
• Unlimited 24-hour match extensions: Bumble normally gives users 24 hours to send a message after a match is made before it disappears. This is great for encouraging users to stay active, but it can be a pain knowing you could miss matches if you don't have time to send messages every day.
  
  Bumble Boost, meanwhile, allows users to extend a match by 24 extra hours for each of their matches (free users are given one extension per day), giving them an extra day to respond if they just can't think of something to say.
• Unlimited swipes: People using Bumble for free are given a finite number of swipes per day. If they go through those, they have to wait until tomorrow to get another "stack" of profiles to look through. Bumble Boost members, however, never run out.

  Quick tip: Boost users don't have a limit to how many swipes they can use. They get the entire stack of profiles in their viewing area all at once.

• One Spotlight a week: Spotlight is a feature that, once activated, secretly sends your profile to the top of other users' stacks for 30 minutes. That means that anyone who opens the app sees you earlier. Free Bumble members have to pay for each Spotlight, but Boost members get one free Spotlight per week.
• Five SuperSwipes per week: SuperSwipes, similar to Tinder's Super Likes, are a way to let a user know that you're especially interested in them. When you activate a SuperSwipe by tapping the heart on someone's profile, they'll be notified that you did so and given the option to match right away.

What Bumble Premium has that Boost doesn't

Of course, being the more expensive subscription package, Bumble Premium has all of the same features listed above for Bumble Boost, plus five more.

• Access to your Beeline: This feature was originally part of the legacy Bumble Boost - it's the list of everyone who's swiped right on you that you haven't seen yet. With Bumble Premium, you can see and swipe through your Beeline at any time, so if you want the satisfaction of an instant match, you know where to look.
• Rematches with expired connections: As mentioned, Bumble matches expire if a message isn't sent in the first 24 hours. If you have Bumble Premium, however, you can rematch with these connections, so if you accidentally let a match expire, it's no sweat.
• Unlimited access to advanced filters: When you sign up for Bumble, you set three base filters: who you're interested in connecting with, how far away they can be, and what age range is acceptable. You are also allowed to set two advanced filters to further narrow your choices. When you subscribe to Bumble Premium, though, you're allowed to set as many filters as you want. If you have some deal-breakers, this feature can help you out.
• Travel Mode: This feature allows travelers - on a vacation or ahead of a move - to make connections in the place they're going before they get there. Once you activate Travel Mode, you can choose any location for your profile to appear in for seven days. Just choose the name of the city and your location will show in the center of that city, with an indicator that tells others that you're using the feature.
• Incognito Mode: This feature allows you to have more control over who can see your profile. When you activate Incognito Mode, your profile will only be visible to users you have swiped right on. This essentially gives you the ability, if you so choose, to always make the first move.

How to sign up for Bumble Boost

Signing up for Bumble Boost is easy and can be completed in about four steps.

1. Open the Bumble app and tap your profile tab in the bottom left corner.

2. Tap Boost under your profile picture.

3. Choose which subscription plan you want.
4. Select "Continue" and then pay for the extra features.