Badoo in the test: These are our experiences with the partner exchange

BADOO

October 02, 2022 at 2:00 p.m

Badoo is a well-known alternative to Tinder and advertises easy dating without big games. What’s up with the promise? a test.

1. Registration and Setup

2. This is how getting to know each other works on Badoo

3. These paid features are available

   1. Points

   2. Badoo Premium and Premium Plus

4. Seriousness and fake profiles

5. Conclusion
   

Badoo is nowadays a real alternative to Tinder, especially thanks to the large number of users. Behind it is the company of the same name, which was founded by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev in 2006 and is based in London. In addition to a web version for desktop and Mac, there is the option of accessing the app via Android and iOS.

Registration and Setup

Registering with Badoo is easy, but you will be confronted with many questions. After entering the e-mail address, gender identity (Badoo offers over 20 different options here), the name and other trivial data, preferences and personal information are requested. Registration is also possible via Facebook.

This is how they ask what your goal is on Badoo: a date, a long-term relationship or just aimless chatting. Other questions revolve around topics such as language, religion, character, political direction. But there are also more direct questions – such as “What do you like most about yourself?” The advantage of Badoo is that profile pictures and profiles with a photo should be verified to protect against fake profiles.

This is how getting to know each other works on Badoo

Badoo also follows the general approach of Tinder and many other dating apps of getting to know people through swipes and likes. But here there is also the great option of selecting profiles from a list (“surroundings”) and sorting them by distance. Many other dating portals do not offer this.

The classic way, however, is to swipe in the “Spot hit” menu. Here, the suggested profiles are adapted to your own information in a broader sense. However, this is not as strict as is the case with OkCupid, for example. Experience has shown that the matching algorithm gives you more leeway in this case if some properties differ.

This means that the selection is wider here – but this has the disadvantage that profiles may be displayed that do not correspond 100 percent to the set expectations. Profiles that are not listed under Volltreffer can also be liked and written to. This means that you can write to and chat with people who appear in your suggestions without a match. However, there is a limit of 10 chats per day in the free version.

bull’s-eye game

The direct hits can also be chosen in a playful way at Badoo. In this way, the options “Yes”, “No” or “Maybe” can be selected within a very short time when a profile is displayed. If the opposite chooses the same option, a conversation can come about. In practice, this worked well for the most part, but sometimes inactive profiles were also displayed.

These paid features are available

Badoo is generally also free to use quite well. Of course, there are also premium features for customers willing to pay. Badoo has three systems on offer here.

Points

The Badoo points are a way to unlock certain profile features. To be seen more often in the area, for example, 50 points are necessary. 100 points are required for more direct hits, more profile visits and more messages. The score decreases with use and over time. 100 points cost between one and two dollars, depending on how many points are purchased at once.

Badoo Premium and Premium Plus

Badoo also offers classic premium subscriptions. There are two tiers: Premium and Premium Plus. The former costs between 8 and 13 dollars per month, and you can purchase a lifetime subscription for around 75 dollars. The Premium Plus subscription costs between 18 and 30 dollars per month. Badoo Premium offers you the following advantages:

• See who liked you
• Sent messages have priority
• Unlimited swiping
• Undo swipe left
• Unlimited filtering
• See below profiles
• No Ads

In addition to this, with Premium Plus you get the following:

• Two chats every week without hits
• An extra round of Bullseye Game every week
• Every day 1x rave (similar to Super Like)
• Read receipts for chats

Badoo Premium is noticeably cheaper compared to other dating portals, but offers similar advantages and additional functions.

Seriousness and fake profiles

But with Badoo, in addition to the simple app operation and the many options, there is a clear disadvantage: the seriousness of the users. When communicating with other users, you often notice that the conversations tend to be very one-sided and of low quality. In our opinion, this is the biggest trade-off at Badoo.

Because in the chat it quickly becomes apparent that only a few people are actually looking for a long-term or serious relationship, and that it is more the superficial that counts. One-page openers and short messages are the norm here; more in-depth discussions were the exception rather than the rule. Other partner exchanges do this much better.

In addition, Badoo has a big problem with fake profiles and romance scams, despite the high security precautions and verification requirements. You can clearly see that after just using the platform for a short time. Anyone who has no problem with it and can quickly unmask fakes will also have a good dating experience with Badoo.