Can You Change Your Location on Happn?

Happn's help center lists no setting for choosing a different location. The app is built on where your phone actually goes, so the people you see come from the places you cross. What you can change is who you see, through your age range and gender, and with Premium through More criteria. You can also decide whether to share your location all the time.

Happn is a geolocation app. To find the people you have crossed paths with, location services have to be on in your phone settings. If they are off, you will not cross paths with anyone.

Happn creates a crossing when two users' locations fall within the same radius, and the places where you crossed show on the profile. The app does not need to be open to register encounters, as long as geolocation is on.

After the people you crossed paths with, happn gradually shows profiles around you within a radius of up to 120 km (75 miles). Crossings come first, and profiles that are further away appear after you interact with them.

So the further-away profiles are still tied to where you are. Nothing in the help center lets you pick a faraway city and browse it.

Your exact position is never revealed to other users. When you cross paths, your own approximate location is displayed in a radius defined by happn, not the other person's.

So moving around does not leave a trail for anyone to follow. It also means you cannot read much into a crossing: it says you were in the same area, not the same street.

The help center lists the preferences you can set for who you see as an age range, a gender and, with Premium, More criteria. It does not list a setting for choosing a different location.

Sharing location all the time is not mandatory, but happn says it is preferable if you want to see as many profiles as possible. A man who switches it off most of the day should expect fewer crossings.

The radius is not a setting either. The wide reach is happn's own, and the help center lists no way to dial it up for a man who wants a bigger pool.

An app that shows women from the places you go has a built-in advantage. Every match is someone who is near your usual routes, which makes a date easy to plan.

a dating coach's rule for online dates is to keep the venue near your own place. On happn, you start with a pool that already lives near you. A message that names a place you both know, such as a cafe on the route, gets a reply more easily than a generic opener.

Turn location on and leave it on. A man who keeps it off for privacy has chosen fewer crossings.

Go to different places in your area. A routine that takes you through the same two streets crosses you with the same people. Change the gym, the coffee spot or the walk home for a week and the crossings change with it.

Check your phone settings if crossings dry up, because the app needs location services to be on. If they are on and crossings are still thin, look at your routes: a day spent at home or in an empty office puts you past very few people.

Write a profile that reads well to someone who crossed you once. She may have seen you for a second and a half, so a clear first photo and one concrete line about what you do on a weekend carry the whole job.

Happn has no way to do it, so plan the trip first. Use happn when you are in the other city, and use the crossings while you are there. Tell a match you are in town for a few days when you write, so she can decide quickly.

Other dating apps have tools for searching another place on purpose, so a man who wants that should check what the app lists before paying for anything.

You cannot pick a location on happn, and you do not need to. Keep geolocation on, go where women go, and send a first message that names something you share.