Why Are Likes Blurred on Coffee Meets Bagel?

Because Likes You is a Premium feature. Free members see the people in it blurred and cannot like or pass on them from that screen. The one exception is anyone who sent you Flowers, who appears unblurred at the top. Coffee Meets Bagel also says those likes show up in your Suggested section over time, so you never have to pay to reach your best potential matches.

Likes You collects the people who have already liked you. On the free plan, the screen still lets you know they exist. Their faces and details are blurred, though, and you cannot act on anyone from there.

Premium removes the blur. You see everyone in Likes You and can like or pass on each person directly.

So the blur is not a glitch, and it says nothing bad about your account. It is simply the line between the free plan and the paid one, drawn at the most tempting spot in the app.

A woman who sends you Flowers skips the blur. Coffee Meets Bagel puts her unblurred at the top of Likes You, whether you pay or not.

Read that for what it is. She did more than send a plain like. She made an extra effort to be sure you noticed her, which is a small piece of investment on her side before you have written anything.

If she is your type, like her back and open with something light about her page. You do not need to match her effort with a long message. A short, easy opener lets her keep doing some of the work.

This is the part most men miss. The Likes You page says those likes show up in your Suggested section over time. The women behind the blur are not locked away for good.

They reach you gradually, mixed in with everyone else the app suggests. A free member still gets to see the people who liked him. He just sees them later, in whatever order the app decides.

That leaves a plain trade. Pay, and you see everyone who likes you today and choose among them. Stay free, and the app decides when each of them reaches you.

a dating coach's view is that the paid feature worth having on almost any app is the one that lets you pick, rather than waiting for the app to pick for you. If Likes You fills up steadily, Premium turns a slow trickle into a list you can work through in one sitting.

coach also warns that paid features multiply what you already have. If Likes You only ever shows one or two blurred faces a week, unblurring them is not worth much. Your time is better spent on your first photo and the words on your page. Those decide whether women like you in the first place.

The blurred screen itself helps you decide. You cannot see who is there, but you can see how many are waiting. Watch it for a couple of weeks on the free plan. A screen that keeps filling up is a good reason to try Premium for one billing period and count how many of those likes turn into dates. A screen that stays nearly empty is telling you to work on your page first.

If you have Premium and the likes are still blurred, the app has not caught up with your purchase. Coffee Meets Bagel's fix has two steps.

1. Close the app completely and open it again.
2. If the likes are still blurred, go to Settings and tap Restore purchases.

Most of the time the first step is enough. Restore purchases is there for the times it is not.

Once you can see who liked you, half the work is already done. She has said yes to your page. What she has not done yet is talk to you.

So make the first message easy to answer. Pick one specific thing from her page and make a light comment about it. My advice on early messages is to use a simple format you can send in under a minute. Early messages should not eat your evening. Save the real effort for later, when she is replying properly and it is time to suggest a plan.

When her replies come quickly and she asks you things back, name a specific place and a specific evening. A like is only worth what you do with it afterward.