How to Backtrack on Bumble
Bumble is a popular dating application well-known for its female-friendly interface. Some people tend to go into a “swiping trance” when they’re on these apps, and that can lead to disaster when you suddenly realize that you just left-swiped on the future mother or father of your children.
Bumble places a lot of emphasis on genuine matches rather than just trying to connect with any user who’s willing to respond. For those who are new to this dating app it’s important to understand who likes you. Check out this article: How to Know When You Get a Match on Bumble.
Fortunately, Bumble provides a method for backtracking. If you’ve changed your mind, accidentally swiped left, or would like to reconsider a hasty swipe; Bumble does give you the option to backtrack your previous swipe. In this article, I will show you how to backtrack on Bumble, and how to get additional backtracks if you run out of your initial allotment.
Before we get into the details of how to backtrack, let’s go over the rules and procedures for swiping on Bumble.
Swipe Right
As with Tinder, swiping right on a Bumble profile means you like that person and want to start a conversation. If they in turn right-swipe on you, a match is generated and you can talk to one another.
If you’re a man looking for a woman on Bumble Date, you’ll have to wait for the woman to initiate the conversation – that’s the unique feature of Bumble. This dating application allows women to initiate every communication. If you are a man and you’ve swiped right on a female, you won’t be able to talk to her until she swipes right on you and sends you a message. Once the initial conversation has begun; both parties can communicate freely with each other.
For any other gender/orientation combination, or in the Bumble “friends” and “business” modes, either party can start the conversation.
After a match; a conversation has to start within 24 hours, otherwise, the match disappears. You can “extend” a match for another 24 hours with a paid upgrade to Bumble Boost.
Here’s a fun fact: you can’t backtrack on someone you’ve swiped right on. You can only backtrack to revisit a potential match you’ve accidentally swiped left on.
Accidentally Swiped Right on Bumble
As mentioned previously, there is no way to backtrack a right swipe (liked someone’s profile) on Bumble. If an error has occurred you do have a few things going for you.
The person who you’ve swiped on will also have to swipe back on you. If it’s an acquaintance you’d rather not date; they’re likely not swiping on you either.
A female recipient only has 24 hours to reply back to your interest. If the swipe is not recognized within this timeframe the recipient will not see it.
Assuming a match has been made you can always ‘unmatch’ the profile. Although the person you’d rather not interact with has been made aware of a connection at this point, you can stop any further communication with this function.
Swipe Left
Swiping left, of course, signals that you don’t want to match with the person. Once you’ve left-swiped on someone, they won’t appear in your stack again (and you won’t appear in theirs). Of course, accidents do happen.
Whether you have a slip of the finger, or just change your mind after a little more thought, you can backtrack on a left-swipe and get a second chance. This allows users to recover a profile if it was mistakenly removed.
By shaking your phone just after an incorrect left-swipe, you can undo the action.
Backtracking on Bumble
Unlike on Tinder, where the ability to get a redo is a premium feature that costs extra, on Bumble you can backtrack absolutely free. It’s also easy as pie. If you realize you shouldn’t have swiped left on someone, all you have to do is shake your phone.
If you are new to Bumble and swipe left by mistake, the natural thing you may try to do is swipe back to the profile. If you do that the above message will appear on the screen of your mobile device to notify you that you can just shuffle your phone to trigger a backtrack.
Once you shake your device to backtrack, a confirmation screen will pop up. If you’re sure, just drag the yellow circle to the right and poof, your potential match is back on the screen.
Supplies are Limited
Wait a minute – what’s that about three backtracks left? You mean there aren’t infinite backtracks? Sadly, no. You are allowed to have up to three backtracks stored up.
Although backtracks are free; the downside is that you only get three at a time. and the app keeps track of how many of them you used up. This information is prominently displayed in the Backtrack confirmation window.
Your backtracks regenerate every three hours, so you won’t be out of luck for long. You just have to wait.
I Hate Waiting!
If you can’t wait, then getting more backtracks is easy.
When you’re out of backtracks and can’t wait three hours, all you have to do is share your use of Bumble to your social media presence on sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
When you try to backtrack but are out of backtracks, the share window will pop up and let you put a message out there to your friends and followers. Just type the message that you wish to share and hit Post. Once you do that, your Backtracks will be replenished.
Why is Bumble BackTrack Not Working?
If you’re experiencing issues with backtracking there are a few things you can do to correct the problem. Aside from contacting Bumble Support, try these methods:
iPhone
For those using an Apple iPhone try these hacks to fix it:
- Open the Notes application on your iPhone
- Type a word into the blank document.
- Once this is done; try shaking your phone again. Assuming the Accelerometer in your device is working properly a prompt should appear asking if you’d like to “Undo” the swipe
If this does not work there may be an issue with your phone or in your phone’s settings.
Android
Android users may experience issues with backtracking. If this is happening to you follow these steps:
- Sign out of the application
- Make sure the app is updated by going to the Google Play Store and checking for any updates
- Delete Bumble and reinstall it
Performing these steps will not delete your profile or any account information as that is stored on Bumble’s servers and not your device.
Can’t Backtrack on Bumble Beeline
Bumble’s Beeline is a list of users who have already indicated an interest in your profile. These are the people who’ve already swiped right on you! If you accidentally swipe left on Beeline, there may be no going back.
Several users have reported that they’re unable to backtrack on Bumble’s Beeline. If you’ve accidentally refused a connection in the Beeline don’t get worrisome just yet. Many users will pop back up on the Bumble Beeline allowing you to interact with them later on.
For more information on Bumble Beeline check out this article.
The Final Swipe
Now you’re equipped to change your mind on Bumble so that careless fingers won’t cause you to miss out on the love of your life!
5 thoughts on “How to Backtrack on Bumble”
You also have my email address so really no excuses please.
Actually, Bumble made a recent change in your ability to undo when you’re in the Beeline. You cannot shake your phone and uno if you swipe left on someone in the Beeline who has already liked you. It doesn’t work there at all. I don’t quite understand why they would take that feature away there. I like to start in that section, to check out guys that have already liked you. Would love to know if they are going to change that.