Bumble is getting ID verification

Bumble is rolling out optional ID verification, adding badges to the profiles of users who’ve confirmed their identity using government-issued ID cards. It arrives as part of a series of safety updates that include a new Share Date feature intended to let you quickly share your date plans with friends and family.

ID verification is available now in 11 markets, including the US and UK, with plans to expand further. It requires uploading a copy of a government-issued ID such as a passport or driver’s licence and taking a selfie. There’s no requirement to go through this verification, but Bumble will add a badge to the profiles of users who have. It also lets users filter for verified profiles and ask matches to officially verify themselves.

Along with verification, Bumble is also adding a new feature called Share Date. This lets you send details of planned dates directly to trusted contacts, including the ability to update those details from within the Bumble app in case plans change. The company says that 67 percent of US dating app users it surveyed last month already share date details with friends, and this should streamline that process.

Finally, Bumble will now alert users who are about to send a chat message that it detects doesn’t meet the app’s community behavior guidelines, giving them the option to edit it. The app already issues those alerts for messages sent using the Compliments feature, but will now do so for regular chat messages too.

Both ID verification and date sharing match similar features already offered by Tinder. That app first launched ID verification in Japan in 2019, but didn’t fully roll it out elsewhere until last year.

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd returned to the company as CEO this week, after departing in January 2024, amid turmoil at Bumble’s executive level: its chief financial and marketing officers both departed the company this year, and its business and technology officers are both set to depart in the coming months.