Bumble renamed them. Compliments are called Notes, and Bumble's help pages state that Notes were previously called Compliments. A Note is a short message you send someone before the two of you match.

Same feature, different name

If you remember sending a Compliment to a woman on Bumble, a Note is that feature under a different label. You write a short message about something that caught your attention, and she sees it when your page comes up for her.

Bumble's help page lists what a Note can be about: one of her pictures, one of her prompt answers, a shared interest, or something you admire about her. Notes are included with a Premium+ subscription, and you can buy them separately if you do not have Premium+.

A Note still does not start a chat. You need a match before either of you can send messages. If you do match, the Note counts as your opening message.

Conversations start differently too

If it has been a while since you used Bumble, the name is not the only thing that works differently. Bumble's help page on how conversations start says Opening Moves are no longer part of the app. Instead, each of you gets one opening message before the chat fully opens, and once the other person replies, you can talk as normal.

That matters for men who remember Bumble as the app where only the woman could write first. Under this system you have an opening message of your own. If you sent her a Note, that Note has already used it.

There is a clock on it as well. If neither of you sends an opening message within the time Bumble allows after matching, the match expires.

What the rename did not change

The label changed. What makes a compliment work did not, and most men never learned it under the old name either.

A compliment shows interest. It does not create attraction on its own. That difference matters, because men tend to lead with praise and hope it does the heavy lifting. Too much praise too early reads as needy, as though you want something from her before you know her.

Compliments work best in three situations:

  • When it is about something she chose. Her answer to a question, her taste, what she is doing in a picture. Praise for her looks is something she hears constantly, and it comes across as superficial.
  • When it feels earned. A compliment on something specific shows you paid attention. A generic one shows you did not.
  • When it comes with something else. A compliment with a small tease attached is far more interesting than praise alone. "Great taste in books, questionable taste in football teams" gives her something to push back on.

Save the bigger compliments for later

There is a right time for a sincere, straightforward compliment, and it is usually not the first message.

Early on, before she knows anything about you, heavy praise has nothing to stand on. It sounds like you decided you liked her from one look, which is exactly what happened. A light, specific remark in a Note is enough at that stage.

Later is different. Once she has been talking to you for a while, laughing at your jokes and telling you things about her life, a genuine compliment lands with real weight. The same goes for the date itself. By then she is already interested, and hearing that you like something about her builds closeness instead of making you look eager.

So think of compliments as something that grows with the connection. Small and specific at the start, warmer and more direct as she invests more. Men who get that order backwards pour out praise to a stranger and go quiet once there is someone real in front of them.

How to write a good Note

Keep it to a sentence or two. Bumble advises exactly that, and it sets a hard character limit anyway.

Pick one thing. Say something about it that shows you looked. End with something she can answer, even if the question is only implied. Then send it and stop thinking about it.

Here is the difference in practice:

  • Weak: "You have a beautiful smile."
  • Stronger: "Anyone who ranks breakfast tacos above all other food has my attention. Where is the best one?"

The first could go to any woman on the app. The second could only go to her, and it hands her an easy reply.

Should you send them at all?

Notes are worth using, just not on everyone. Save them for the women you genuinely stop scrolling for, the ones you would kick yourself for missing. For those women, a specific, playful Note gives you a reason to be noticed that a plain like does not.

Everywhere else, put the effort into your page and into your first messages after you match. A Note gets you seen. The conversation after the match is what gets you a date.