What Is Badoo and How Does It Work?

Badoo is a dating app that describes itself as a place for real, genuine connections, whether you want fun dates, something long-term, casual chats or friends. It is free to download and use, with optional paid subscriptions and paid features on top. You swipe in Encounters, browse in Discover, see who liked you in Likes, and chat once you match.

You can join in the app or on badoo.com. The app takes a phone number, an email address or a Google account to sign up, and it also accepts Facebook and, on iPhone, Apple ID.

Badoo has no separate password. It logs you in with a verification code or with an account you linked. So the thing to remember is which method you used the first time.

Encounters shows you one person at a time, with a photo, name, age and a few details. You tap the heart to like her or the cross to pass. If she likes you too, you have a match and can chat right away.

This is the part most men use most. The daily vote limit lives here, and Premium removes it.

The Discover tab lets you look through people who fit your preferences and see who is nearby. You can tap the heart to show interest.

Starting a chat from someone's page without a match is possible, but it needs Credits and a verified account. So Discover is the tab for browsing at your own pace, and a direct chat from it is an extra with a cost attached.

The Likes tab shows people who have liked you. With a Badoo Premium subscription you see everyone who liked you and their full pages. Without Premium those pages are blurred.

For a man this tab is a small shortcut. Each person there has already said yes, which means a match is one tap away if you like her back.

Premium is a subscription. It also includes a daily crush and priority for your sent messages. You get undo of an accidental no vote and unlimited filters. You can browse privately and hide your page from everyone except your matches.

Credits work differently. They are a top-up, not a subscription. You spend them on specific things. Those are moving to the top of Discover, Extra Shows in Encounters, opening chats without a match, sending a Crush, and buying read receipts.

Keep the two apart. Premium changes how the app behaves for you every day. Credits are for one-off pushes.

The app is the delivery system, and the work is yours. a dating coach treats online dating as a numbers game with a chain of ratios: matches, replies, numbers swapped, dates. Most men watch only the first link.

Start with photos, because they are what a woman sees first. My view is that if the first photo turns her off, she never reads the rest. Then write a first message that mentions something specific from her page, and aim to move to a plan while the chat is still fun.

Do not pay for anything until you have tested the free side. My advice on paying for dating apps is that refusing on principle is a hindrance, and that paying can be worth it, but only when you have tested what it does for your numbers.

Badoo says it is for fun dates, something long-term, casual chats or friends. That spread is worth knowing before you start. A woman on the app may want any of those, so say early what you are looking for and see how she answers.

Try it for two weeks. Count your matches, your replies and your plans. If the numbers are poor, the usual cause is your photos or your first message, and no app fixes that. If the numbers are good, you have found a place worth the time.