Coffee Meets Bagel's algorithm sometimes reintroduces Bagels you passed on when it sees a high chance of a connection. When few new Bagels fit your criteria, those repeats can make up most of what you see, or you may get fewer Bagels overall. Coffee Meets Bagel's suggested fix is to widen your preferences, starting with distance and age, or to go looking yourself with Discover search.

Why passed Bagels come back

A repeat is not a glitch. Coffee Meets Bagel's algorithm will sometimes show you someone you already passed on, when it judges there is a high chance the two of you would connect.

That can feel odd, since you already said no. But a pass is often made in a second, on a tired evening, on the strength of one photo. The app is offering you a second look at someone it thinks you misjudged.

When the pool runs thin

The other cause is simple arithmetic. If only a small number of new Bagels fit your settings, the app has few fresh people to send you. Repeats then make up most of what arrives, or you simply get fewer Bagels.

It happens most easily to men in smaller towns, men with a narrow age range, and men with a tight distance setting. Each of those shrinks the pool the app can draw from.

Widen distance first

Coffee Meets Bagel suggests starting with distance, and it is usually the easiest change. A few more miles can bring a whole neighboring town into range.

Set it to the farthest you would genuinely travel for a first date on a weeknight. Going wider than that fills your screen with women you will never meet. Going narrower starves the app of people to show you.

Then look at your age range

Age is the second setting Coffee Meets Bagel points to. Men often set a range tighter than their real taste, then wonder where everyone went. Widen it by a couple of years at each end and see who appears.

Remember that her settings work on you too. a dating coach points out that a woman may cap her age range below your age, and then she never sees you at all, however well the two of you would get on in person. Widening your range cannot change her filter. It does bring in more of the women whose own settings include you.

Search for yourself in Discover

The other option Coffee Meets Bagel names is Discover, where you search on your own instead of waiting for Suggested to bring people to you. If Suggested keeps offering the same faces, Discover lets you go looking.

coach makes a related point about apps that let you search. Choosing who you contact, instead of waiting for an algorithm to choose for you, gives you back real control over your results.

Give a returning Bagel a real second look

Before you pass again, look properly. Go through every photo and read what she wrote. A dark first photo or an awkward angle can hide a woman you would enjoy taking out.

If the app brought her back because it sees a strong chance of a connection, a proper look costs you ten seconds. If she is still not for you, pass without guilt.

How your choices teach the dating apps

What you like and pass on is information the app uses. My warning is about liking too freely. An app that sees a man like almost everyone concludes he has no standards, and it responds by showing him women he is less excited about. Liking carelessly to escape the repeats can make the problem worse.

So be selective and honest. Like the women you would actually ask out. Widen your settings to give the app more people to choose from, not to lower your bar.

When a like turns into a connection, move quickly. Open with something specific to her, keep the early messages light, and suggest a plan once she is answering well. A full queue only helps if some of those matches become dates.