Is Badoo Premium Worth It?

Premium is worth it if likes already reach you on the free version most days and you want to pick among the women who sent them. It is not worth it if almost nobody likes you now. A paid feature multiplies what you already have, and zero times anything is zero. Buy the shortest plan, count four numbers, and keep it only if they move.

Our guide to what Premium includes lists every feature. For this decision only two matter.

The first is seeing who likes you. On the free version you see that likes arrived but the faces are blurred. Premium shows who they are, so you can look at women who have already said yes and decide on each one yourself.

The second is priority for the messages you send. Priority changes where your line stands in her inbox. It does nothing for what the line says.

The rest, a daily Crush, no ads, Undo, bonus credits, unlimited filters and the privacy options, make the app more pleasant or more private. They are fine reasons to keep a subscription you already have. They are weak reasons to start one.

Before you pay, open the Likes tab each morning for a week and write down the number, even with the faces blurred. It is the cheapest honest signal Badoo gives you.

If new likes show up most days, women are responding to your photos and Premium turns that count into a list you can use. If almost none arrive, you have learned something useful for nothing: your lead photo, your page or your pool needs work, and paying to see an empty list fixes none of them.

Premium tends to earn its cost for a man in this position.

• Likes arrive most days.
• Enough women near him are active that a list of likes is a real list.
• He answers the women he likes back the same day and suggests a plan.
• He has a job and a life, so choosing from women who already said yes saves him evenings.

a dating coach's reasoning on paid apps is that an app exists to keep members and make money, so it looks after the members who pay. He also points out that a small amount of money often buys back hours of work, which is a fair trade for a man who is busy. He is equally clear that men underspend on dating, so refusing to pay on principle is its own mistake.

Skip it for now if any of these is true.

• Few likes arrive and your lead photo is dark, old or crowded.
• Most women you see look abandoned, with old pictures and empty details, so your city is quiet.
• Your conversations die in two or three lines. Priority on a flat "hey" is still a flat "hey."
• You hope the subscription will make up for photos you know are weak.

In each case the fix is free. My rule is that a woman judges a man by his worst photo, so remove the weak ones first. A paid feature then has something good to multiply.

Men in forums split on this because they live in different cities and have different photos. A man in a busy city with a strong first photo says Premium paid for itself in a week. A man in a thin city with a weak one says it did nothing. Each one is telling the truth about his own city.

That is why nobody else's verdict helps you much, and why a small test of your own is better than a review. Badoo publishes no success rate for men, so be wary of anyone who quotes one.

Premium is sold in several plan lengths, with Lifetime available. The longer plans cost less per period, which makes them look like the smart buy. They only pay off if the product works for you, and you will not know that yet.

Start with the shortest plan you are comfortable with. Prices change and vary, so read the plan screen on the day you buy. Treat Lifetime as something you consider after Badoo has already worked for you in your own city. Also check whether the plan renews automatically, and put the end date in your calendar so a month you did not use does not become a second one.

During the short plan, write down four numbers each week.

1. Likes you could see and judged worth answering.
2. Matches you started a conversation with the same day.
3. Conversations that reached a number or a plan.
4. Dates that actually happened.

If the first number is healthy and the third is not, the problem is how you write and ask, not the plan. If all four rise compared with your free weeks, Premium is earning its cost, so renew it. If none moves, cancel at the end of the period and spend the money on better photos, which is the cheapest way to improve every other number.

Pay for Premium to choose among women who already like you, and not to find out whether any do. Let the free count tell you which of the two you are, and let your own four numbers decide whether to keep it.