Tinder lets subscribers change location with Passport Mode. Bumble has Travel Mode on Premium and Premium+. OkCupid lets you edit the location on your page for free. Hinge has no travel mode in its help pages: you set your own location pin and change it yourself when you move.
The four apps side by side
| Tinder | Bumble | Hinge | OkCupid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can you pick another place? | Yes, with Passport Mode | Yes, with Travel Mode | You set your own pin by hand | You can edit your listed location |
| Does it need a paid tier? | For subscribers | Premium or Premium+ | No | No |
| How many places at once | One city at a time | One place for a set period | One pin | One listed location |
| What it does to your real location | Moves where you appear | Shows you profiles from the place you pick, and does not change your GPS | Nothing automatic, so you update it yourself | Discover still follows your phone |
Tinder: Passport Mode
On Tinder you search for a city or drop a pin, and you appear in that place instead of your own. You can only be in one city at a time.
Two details are worth knowing before you spend a trip's worth of hope on it. People you liked while you were using Passport may see your profile for up to a day after you switch back. And in some places Tinder requires Face Check before you can use Passport at all.
Bumble: Travel Mode
Bumble sets your location from your phone's GPS and says your general location cannot be customized. Travel Mode, which comes with Premium and Premium+, is the exception for a planned trip.
It shows you profiles from the place you pick for a set period. Bumble is explicit that it does not change your actual GPS. So it adjusts who you see, not where the phone thinks you are.
Hinge: you move your own pin
Hinge's location page describes only one thing: setting your own location. You place the pin manually or from your device, and Hinge does not update it for you as you move around.
That makes Hinge the easiest to get wrong by neglect. If you move cities or spend a stretch somewhere else and never touch the pin, the app keeps showing you where you used to be. Update it yourself on the day you arrive.
OkCupid: edit the page, Discover follows the phone
OkCupid lets you change the location on your profile for free. There is one catch. Discover uses your phone's current location to show you people near you at that moment. Editing the page does not move you to a faraway city's Discover.
Why men change location at all
There are two honest reasons, and both are about being somewhere you will physically be.
The first is a trip. You land in a city with a few evenings and no one to meet. a dating coach's habit when he travels or moves is to start on the apps before he gets there. He arrives with conversations going and an evening already planned, instead of a week of swiping from scratch.
The second is a move. If you are changing cities, update the app on the day you arrive, or earlier if the app lets you. Then the women who see you are women you can actually have a drink with.
What not to do with a location setting
The point of changing location is to meet people in a place you are really going to be. It is not a way to look more interesting.
Do not set a city you have no plans to visit. The woman who matches with you will ask when you are free, and you will have nothing to say except that you are somewhere else. That is a bad first exchange, and it is a lie by implication.
Stay within what each app allows. If an app does not offer a travel mode, the answer is to set your real location, not to look for a trick around the rules.
Using a changed location well
Set it before you travel, not after. A Passport or Travel Mode setting is worth most when you have a few days of lead time, because a conversation that starts on Monday can turn into a drink on Friday.
Then treat each match like a plan, not a collection. Tell her early that you are in town for a stretch and suggest a specific evening. A woman who knows you are around until Saturday understands that the window is real, and she can say yes or no without wondering.
Finally, switch back when you get home. A forgotten Passport setting leaves you showing up in a city you left, and matches who live there cannot meet you.
Written by Matthew Stevens, Co-Founder & Head Coach. More than half a decade coaching men across the US and worldwide.
Everything here comes out of real coaching work: the approaches, dates, texts and profiles we go through with the men we coach.