Badoo review: chat before matching, Premium and photo verification

What Badoo is

Badoo is a swipe-and-chat dating app, sold on the App Store by Badoo Software Ltd. The listing says "Bumble Inc. is the parent company of Badoo, along with Bumble and Fruitz." The consumer health data policy names the Bumble Group as Bumble Holding Limited, Badoo Trading Limited and Bumble Trading LLC. That puts Badoo in the same group as Bumble.

The App Store description opens with its pitch: "Looking to meet somebody special? Whether you want to date, make new friends or just casually chat". The homepage line is "Here's to dating with confidence," and Google Play calls the app "the dating app built with safety top of mind." Audience figures are loose. Google Play says "Join millions of monthly active users," the homepage footer shows "100M+ Downloads," and the App Store shows about 150K ratings. A download count measures installs, not active accounts, and none of the three is dated. No gender ratio or age split is published.

Who Badoo is for

The pages describe a general-audience app. The App Store lists "dates, a long-term relationship, new friends, or chats," and Google Play says "hoping to find a partner, date around for a while, or just have good conversations." A long-term relationship is one aim among several, and nothing positions Badoo as relationship-first.

Google Play also says "Badoo is a safe space for all sexual orientations (lesbian, queer, gay, and beyond)." The wording is inclusive, but the product is not LGBTQ-specific; the LGBTQ hookup and dating app list sorts apps built for that audience. A wider first pass is on the best dating apps page.

Dating or hookup

The word hookup does not appear in the store listings or on the homepage. Casual dating is there: Google Play says "date around for a while," and the homepage says "Just want to chat? That's OK. Ready to settle down? Love that." Sex-positive positioning is not described anywhere, and the help centre's Community Guidelines summary disallows nudity and sexually explicit content.

For a search on hookup apps or one night stand apps, that makes Badoo a mainstream dating app with casual options. The best hookup apps page and the casual dating apps hub collect apps by that intent, and how hookup apps work explains the category.

Matching and messaging

Encounters shows one profile at a time: heart to like, cross to pass, and a match opens chat. Discover is the browsing side, with nearby profiles and a For You list. Google Play puts the split this way: "The Discover Tab introduces you to people nearby, Encounters lets you swipe through profiles and match in a tap." Shared Intentions ("show where you both stand," in Google Play's words), filters and interests narrow the field, and age range, distance and gender filters can be changed at any time.

The homepage says "There's no need to wait for a match," and Google Play lists "Chat before you match to test the waters, play in-chat games to break the ice, and video chat." Chat sits in the base feature list. Premium adds one thing on the messaging side, priority: "Your sent messages get priority," which puts them at the top of the recipient's inbox. Limits on free messaging are not stated.

Both store listings confirm video chat. The App Store wording is "Connect with your matches through face to face video calling," and whether free accounts get it is not said. The Rude Message Detector is a listed chat tool, and the Safety Centre describes a Screenshot Block feature for messages. Voice messages, group chat and disappearing messages are not mentioned in the pages checked.

Search and filters

The App Store lists "Advanced Filters: Finesse your search." Premium adds the unlimited version, which the help centre words as "Get unlimited filters." The free limit is not published. Dating apps that offer filters are compared under advanced filters.

Location

"People Nearby: Meet daters around you" is the App Store's wording, and the help centre says Discover shows who is nearby. Location comes from GPS. The help article on updating your location is blunt: with location services on, it is detected by GPS "and cannot be changed manually," and it can be edited only with location services off. No travel mode is described, and exact distance display is not either. Other apps are compared under location-based matching and travel mode.

Privacy and incognito

The App Store calls it Invisible Mode ("Control who sees your profile"). The help centre article on paid features lists the pieces under Badoo Premium: browse profiles privately, which means viewing them without notifying the owner; snooze your profile; and hide your profile from everyone except matches. Free accounts do not get these. Private photos are not mentioned. Private Detector is a separate feature that blurs explicit images other people send.

The one privacy document that could be read is the Washington Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy, last updated March 28, 2024. It says Badoo collects biometric data for photo verification and health-related details that members choose to share, and that consumer health data may be shared across the Bumble Group and with service providers. A deleted profile is hidden for 28 days and can be restored in that window, and data access requests can take up to 30 days. The main privacy policy and the terms are JavaScript pages that could not be read, so other retention and sharing rules are unconfirmed. Google Play's data safety section says the app may share location and personal info with third parties.

The wider picture is in the dating app privacy guide, and the discreet dating app picks rank apps on this need.

Verification and safety

Photo verification starts with a selfie that copies a gesture. Automation and human reviewers check it, and a blue checkmark follows. Phone verification and ID verification also exist; the ID Verification article could not be retrieved, so how it works is not described here. The App Store adds that a three-step verification process leaves you able to interact only with verified profiles, and does not say whether that applies to every account.

The other tools named in the store listings, help centre and Safety Centre: Deception Detector against fake, scam and spam accounts, Private Detector, Rude Message Detector, Screenshot Block for messages, block, report and unmatch, and a Safety Centre with guides and helplines. These are Badoo's descriptions of its own features. For the caution that applies with any stranger, see the safety guide and the page on dating app scams; profile verification lists other apps with the feature.

Free version

Badoo is free to download. Google Play says "Badoo is free, but these upgraded features give you even more flexibility." A free account can browse Discover and Encounters, match and chat. The help centre article on paid features (updated November 28, 2025) names three paid routes: Badoo Premium, Badoo Extra and one-off Credits for boosting visibility. The App Store in-app purchases add Super Powers and credit packs. The help centre lists these under Badoo Premium:

• private browsing, snooze and hide-from-everyone-but-matches
• who-likes-you
• unlimited filters
• priority for sent messages

The paid-feature listings also mention one crush per day, ad removal, undo for accidental left swipes and bonus credits on credit purchases, without saying which tier carries them. Daily like and swipe limits for free accounts are not published, and neither is the price split between Premium and Extra. Free apps for the same purpose are compared in free dating apps.

Pricing

Every price below comes from an iPhone App Store listing, checked on November 5, 2026. The US App Store lists Badoo Premium at USD 13.99 for 7 days, and at USD 5.99 and USD 6.99 with no period stated. The US App Store also lists a product called Premium at USD 8.99, and the pages checked do not say whether that is Badoo Premium or Badoo Extra. The lowest listed price on the US App Store is USD 5.99.

On the UK App Store, Badoo Premium is listed at GBP 9.99 for 7 days and at GBP 4.49 and GBP 6.99 without a period. The listings do not explain why one name carries several prices, so reading any of the lower figures as weekly or monthly would be a guess. Credit packs and Super Powers are sold separately. Google Play and web prices are not covered. The country-by-country breakdown is on the Badoo pricing page.

Cancelling and deleting

Cancel where you subscribed: in Apple Subscriptions, in Google Play Subscriptions, or, for card and PayPal payments, in the app under Plans or on the website under Settings, then Payment settings. Paid perks last until the end of the subscription period. Deleting the account does not cancel a subscription automatically. Our guide to cancelling a dating app subscription has the steps that apply to any app.

In the app, deleting runs through Profile, the Settings gear, Account, then Delete account. On the web it is Profile, Settings, Delete account. If the option is missing, confirm your email first, and cancel any subscription before you delete. You have 28 days to get the account back, and it is hidden from other users meanwhile. The same topic for other apps is in how to delete a dating app account.

Platforms and age

Badoo has an iPhone and iPad app (246.2 MB), an Android app (package com.badoo.mobile, 100M+ downloads on Google Play) and a web version: the help centre says to "open badoo.com and log in," and account deletion and subscription cancellation are available there. For other options without a download, see dating sites without an app. The app is listed in 45 of the 45 App Store storefronts checked. No official country list was found, and the help centre only says Badoo is not available in all countries. The support articles were read through archived copies dated January and August 2026, so details may have changed.

The App Store shows an age rating of 18+ and Google Play shows Mature 17+. The minimum age is 18, but the terms page could not be read. The figure rests on the help centre's Privacy and safety listing, which describes ID Verification as keeping Badoo "a safe space for everyone aged 18 an", a snippet that breaks off mid-word.

Pros and cons

Alternatives

A head-to-head with the best-known swipe app is in Tinder vs Badoo. Other apps for the same need are collected under Badoo alternatives, which is the place to start for anyone who wants clearer casual positioning.

Badoo review verdict