Badoo review 2026: is Badoo still worth using?

Badoo is one of the oldest major dating apps still operating today. Long before Tinder made swiping synonymous with online dating, Badoo was already connecting people based on location. Today it combines traditional dating-app matching with nearby discovery, messaging and features that make it feel somewhere between a dating app and a social network.

But does Badoo still make sense in 2026, when Tinder, Bumble and Hinge dominate so much of the dating-app conversation?

After examining current App Store and Google Play ratings, thousands of Trustpilot reviews, recent Reddit discussions, Badoo’s current feature set and its official support documentation, the answer is: Badoo is absolutely still worth trying in the right country or city — but we would use the free version before spending money on Premium or Credits.

The biggest question isn’t whether Badoo is legitimate. It is. The bigger question is whether enough of the right people use Badoo where you live.

Badoo reviews at a glance

Badoo’s ratings are surprisingly strong compared with some of its biggest competitors.

On Apple’s U.S. App Store, Badoo currently has approximately 4.6 out of 5 stars from 147,000 ratings. On Google Play, the app currently has around 4.0 out of 5 stars from 6.64 million reviews, with more than 100 million downloads.

Trustpilot paints a more critical — but not disastrous — picture. Badoo currently has approximately 2.9 out of 5 stars from almost 14,700 reviews. Around 47% are five-star reviews, while approximately 32% are one-star reviews.

That is particularly interesting when compared with other major dating apps. Bumble and Hinge currently have much lower Trustpilot ratings, around 1.3 and 1.2 respectively. So although Badoo receives plenty of criticism, its independent-review reputation is actually considerably healthier than several of its better-known competitors.

What is Badoo?

Badoo is best described as a hybrid between a dating app and a social discovery platform. You can use it for dating, chatting, friendships and meeting nearby people.

There are two primary ways of discovering users. The first is Encounters. This is the familiar dating-app format: Badoo shows you one profile at a time, and you tap the heart if you’re interested or the X if you’re not. If both people like each other, you match and can start chatting.

The second is Discover. Discover feels less restrictive. You can browse profiles that meet your preferences, see nearby people and open individual profiles to learn more about them. That distinction gives Badoo slightly more flexibility than apps built almost entirely around swiping.

What users like about Badoo

Badoo has an enormous user base

Badoo’s greatest advantage is scale. Google Play alone shows more than 100 million downloads and 6.64 million reviews.

That doesn’t mean all of those users are currently active. And it certainly doesn’t mean they are evenly distributed around the world. But Badoo is not some tiny dating service with a few thousand profiles. It is a globally established platform.

Recent Trustpilot reviews include users saying they have successfully met people through the service, while other users praise the app for being relatively easy to navigate and useful for chatting and meeting new people.

Badoo appears particularly strong in Europe and Latin America

This is important, because Badoo’s usefulness depends heavily on geography.

Recent community discussions describe Badoo as much more active in parts of Europe than in the United States. One European user reported getting several dates through Badoo and described it as cheaper than Tinder, Bumble and Hinge. By contrast, recent U.S. users have described some locations as comparatively quiet, with profiles available but relatively few active conversations.

That means comparing dating apps purely by features can be misleading. A mediocre dating app with thousands of suitable people within 20 kilometres may be more useful than the world’s best dating app with 30.

Badoo is therefore especially worth investigating if you live in Europe or Latin America. In some U.S. cities, Tinder, Bumble or Hinge may have a significantly stronger local dating pool.

You can actually use Badoo without paying

Badoo is a freemium app, but the free version isn’t merely a demonstration. You can create a profile, browse people, send Likes, make matches and chat with people after matching. That means it’s entirely possible to meet someone without purchasing a subscription.

There are limits. Badoo applies a daily voting limit in Encounters; once you reach it, you normally need to wait 24 hours or upgrade for unlimited voting. You also cannot see exactly who has already Liked you on the free plan — those profiles are blurred unless you upgrade to Premium.

Still, the basic matchmaking process works without paying. That’s enough to determine whether Badoo has a worthwhile user base in your area before spending money.

Badoo lets you message someone before matching

This is an unusual feature. Inside Discover, verified users can use Badoo Credits to unlock a conversation with someone before matching.

That could be valuable if there’s one particular person you genuinely want to contact. Instead of hoping that person eventually sees your profile and Likes you back, you can initiate contact directly.

Unfortunately, it also illustrates one of Badoo’s biggest weaknesses. You need Credits. Which brings us to Badoo’s monetisation.

Badoo Premium explained

Badoo doesn’t have only one paid product. There are effectively three layers: Badoo Premium, Badoo Extra and Badoo Credits.

Premium provides the largest collection of benefits. Current Premium features include seeing who already Liked you, priority placement for sent messages, one Crush per day, removing advertisements, undoing accidental left swipes, unlimited filters, private profile browsing and additional privacy controls. Premium subscriptions are available for periods including seven days, 30 days, 90 days and 180 days, and Badoo also offers a Lifetime Premium option.

Badoo Extra is a smaller subscription. It includes features such as removing advertisements, undoing an accidental rejection and receiving one Crush per day, but it doesn’t provide everything included with Premium.

And then there are Credits.

Badoo Credits are where things get complicated

Credits are purchased separately from the subscription. They can be used to increase profile visibility, move your profile toward the top of Discover, increase exposure in Encounters, send Crushes, purchase read receipts and — importantly — unlock conversations with people you haven’t matched with.

This is probably our biggest criticism of Badoo’s business model. Someone can reasonably think: I bought Premium, so now I have Badoo Premium. But Premium does not mean every paid feature is included. You may still encounter features that require additional Credits.

Premium does not mean everything is premium. That is a strange sentence to have to write about a product called Premium.

That frustration appears repeatedly in reviews. Recent Trustpilot reviewers specifically complain about buying a subscription and then discovering that certain interactions require additional payment.

Technically, Badoo explains the distinction between subscriptions and Credits. But from the user’s perspective, the system can feel unnecessarily fragmented.

Is Badoo Premium worth it?

We wouldn’t buy Premium immediately. Start with the free version.

Your first question should be: are there actually people on Badoo nearby whom you want to meet? Your second should be: are you getting matches and conversations? Only then should you consider paying.

If you’re receiving numerous Likes but can’t see who sent them, Premium could save considerable time. Likewise, unlimited filters and unlimited Encounters voting may be useful for highly active users.

But if you’re receiving virtually no Likes or matches, Premium isn’t necessarily going to solve the problem. Better visibility can increase opportunities. It cannot create a strong dating pool where one doesn’t exist.

The biggest complaints about Badoo

Too many things cost extra

This is probably the most consistent product-related criticism. Badoo has a free tier. Then Extra. Then Premium. Then Credits. Then individual actions that can consume those Credits.

Several recent reviewers complain that the app repeatedly encourages additional spending even after they have already purchased a subscription.

That doesn’t make Badoo a scam — the paid features are documented. But it does make the monetisation more complicated than we would prefer. We’d much rather see a straightforward subscription where paying for the top tier unlocks virtually everything.

Fake profiles and scammers are a recurring complaint

Recent Trustpilot reviews include users reporting bots, suspicious profiles, old photographs and people attempting to move conversations onto external messaging platforms. Similar complaints appear in recent Reddit discussions.

However, we have to be careful here. User reports of fake profiles do not demonstrate what percentage of Badoo accounts are fake. And contradictory experiences are easy to find: some reviewers explicitly say they have met genuine people through the service, while others claim almost everyone they encounter looks suspicious.

The reasonable conclusion isn’t “Badoo is full of fake profiles.” It’s “fake and misleading profiles exist, so verification and normal dating-app caution are important.”

Badoo’s verification system

Badoo has invested considerably in verification. Photo Verification requires the user to take a live selfie following an instructed pose. Badoo says it then combines automated systems with human review to compare the selfie with the photographs on the profile. Successfully verified users receive a blue verification mark.

Badoo can also request identity and age verification using a government-issued identity document and live selfie.

Neither system guarantees that someone is trustworthy. A verified person can still lie about their relationship status, intentions, occupation or virtually anything else. But it does make basic catfishing significantly more difficult. If we were using Badoo, we would give preference to verified profiles.

Account bans receive frequent complaints

Another significant category of complaints concerns moderation. Recent Trustpilot reviews contain multiple users claiming their accounts were suddenly restricted or banned after being reported. Some say they did not receive a satisfactory explanation or had difficulty challenging the decision.

We cannot determine whether individual bans were justified. A dating platform obviously cannot simply accept every user’s claim that they did nothing wrong. But the recurring complaints suggest Badoo could improve the transparency of its moderation and appeals process. This is similar to one of the biggest complaints surrounding Hinge.

Matches don’t necessarily become conversations

Badoo suffers from the same problem as virtually every dating app. A match is not a date. It isn’t even necessarily a conversation.

Recent users report matching with people who provide extremely short replies, never respond or disappear after a few messages. This isn’t really a Badoo software problem. It’s a dating-app problem. Someone might be using five apps. They might have dozens of matches. They might have changed their mind. They might already be talking seriously with somebody else. Or they simply might not be particularly interested.

Match count is the worst available measure of whether a dating app works. The number that matters is how many real conversations and dates come out of those matches.

Badoo’s quality depends enormously on location

This may be Badoo’s biggest weakness and greatest strength simultaneously. If you’re in a location where Badoo is popular, the enormous network can be valuable. If you’re somewhere where most singles use Tinder, Hinge or Bumble instead, Badoo can feel strangely empty despite its massive global user base.

A recent U.S. discussion specifically described Badoo as feeling inactive locally despite acknowledging that the app itself was legitimate. Other commenters pointed toward its stronger European presence.

That means nobody can realistically tell you whether Badoo is worth using without knowing where you live. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution: download it for free and look. You’ll know surprisingly quickly whether your local dating pool is worthwhile.

Badoo safety features

Safety is actually one of Badoo’s stronger areas. Besides Photo Verification and optional identity verification, Badoo currently provides in-app voice and video calls so you don’t need to reveal your phone number before meeting.

It also offers privacy controls over who can message you, blocking and reporting tools, and Private Detector, which automatically blurs potentially explicit images and lets the recipient decide whether to view them.

These features don’t make online dating risk-free. Nothing does. But they are useful safeguards, and video calling is particularly valuable: a short video call before a first date can confirm that the person broadly resembles their photographs while letting both sides establish whether there’s enough chemistry to justify meeting.

Who should use Badoo?

Badoo makes the most sense for someone who:

• Lives in an area where it has a substantial user base
• Wants a mixture of casual dating, relationships and social connections
• Appreciates nearby discovery rather than swiping alone
• Wants to test a dating service without immediately buying a subscription

It makes less sense for someone who:

• Primarily wants highly relationship-oriented profiles of the kind Hinge provides
• Lives in an area where Badoo has little activity
• Strongly dislikes layered subscriptions and microtransactions

Badoo vs Tinder

Badoo and Tinder have more in common than Badoo and Hinge. Both allow relatively quick decisions based heavily on photographs. Both have huge international audiences. And both can accommodate everything from casual conversation to long-term relationships.

Badoo’s Discover feature gives it somewhat more of a social-discovery feel. Tinder’s greatest advantage is brand recognition and, in many markets, sheer density of users.

If you’re in the United States, we would generally test Tinder first. In many parts of Europe and Latin America, we would absolutely test Badoo as well.

Badoo vs Bumble

This comparison is particularly interesting because Badoo is part of Bumble Inc. But the apps feel quite different.

Bumble traditionally positioned itself as a more structured dating environment and became famous for women initiating heterosexual conversations — a rule it dropped in August 2026. Badoo feels broader and more casual. It’s more comfortable being a place where people can date, chat or simply meet others nearby.

Bumble may have the more polished dating-focused identity. Badoo potentially offers the broader international audience. Which one wins mostly depends on your city.

Badoo vs Hinge

These apps are targeting rather different experiences. Hinge is the better choice if you’re specifically looking for a serious relationship and enjoy detailed profiles, prompts and conversation starters. Badoo provides substantially more of a traditional browse-and-match experience.

If we were specifically looking for a long-term relationship and both apps had equal user bases where we lived, we would choose Hinge. If we wanted a broader pool for chatting, casual dating, friendships and relationships, Badoo becomes much more competitive.

Final verdict: is Badoo worth it in 2026?

Yes, with an important qualification: Badoo is worth trying. Paying for Badoo is a separate question.

The app has an enormous global presence, millions of reviews, solid verification technology, nearby discovery, free matching and free messaging between matches. It is clearly a legitimate dating platform, and it performs surprisingly well in aggregate reviews. A 4.6/5 U.S. App Store rating and 4.0/5 Google Play rating are strong numbers, and even Badoo’s 2.9 Trustpilot score is dramatically better than the ratings currently associated with several other major dating apps.

But there are genuine weaknesses. The Premium plus Extra plus Credits system is overly complicated. Fake and inactive profiles remain recurring user complaints. Some users report frustrating moderation experiences. And the quality of the dating pool appears especially dependent on geography.

For that reason, we wouldn’t purchase anything when first installing Badoo. Create a good profile. Verify it. Browse nearby people. Send some Likes. Have a few conversations. Then decide.

Bottom line

Badoo remains a relevant dating app in 2026, particularly in markets where it has a strong local community. Its biggest advantage isn’t some revolutionary matching algorithm. It’s access to a very large international network combined with a free version that actually allows you to match and communicate.

Its biggest disadvantage is monetisation. Premium doesn’t necessarily mean everything is premium.

If you’re curious about Badoo, download it. But don’t pay until you’ve established that Badoo actually has the people you’re looking for in your area.

Common questions

Is Badoo worth it in 2026?

Worth trying, yes — paying is a separate question. Badoo has a very large international network, genuine verification tools and a free tier that lets you match and message without a subscription. Whether it works for you depends far more on your city than on the app: it is consistently described as busier in Europe and Latin America than in much of the United States.

Is Badoo Premium worth paying for?

Not on day one. Use the free version first and see whether people you want to meet are actually nearby and replying. If you are getting plenty of Likes but cannot see who sent them, or you keep hitting the daily Encounters voting limit, Premium starts to earn its price. If you are getting almost nothing for free, Premium buys more visibility for a profile nobody is responding to.

What is the difference between Badoo Premium, Extra and Credits?

Premium is the full subscription: seeing who Liked you, unlimited filters and voting, priority messages, no ads, undo, private browsing and a daily Crush. Extra is a smaller subscription covering ads, undo and the daily Crush. Credits are a separate one-off currency, bought on top of either, used for visibility boosts, Crushes, read receipts and unlocking a conversation with someone before you match. Buying Premium does not mean every paid feature is included.

Can you message someone on Badoo before matching?

Yes. In Discover, verified users can spend Badoo Credits to unlock a conversation with someone they have not matched with. It is genuinely useful if there is one specific person you want to reach — and it is also the clearest example of why Badoo’s paid structure frustrates people, since it is not covered by a Premium subscription.

Why is Badoo’s Trustpilot score higher than Bumble’s or Hinge’s?

Badoo sits at roughly 2.9 out of 5 with about 47% five-star and 32% one-star reviews. Bumble and Hinge sit near 1.3 and 1.2, with 86% and 92% one-star reviews. Trustpilot attracts unhappy users everywhere, so 2.9 is not an endorsement — but the split does suggest Badoo generates a broader mix of experiences than the near-uniform complaint pattern its competitors attract.

Are there fake profiles on Badoo?

Some, as on every major platform. Reviewers report bots, recycled photographs and accounts pushing conversations onto external messaging apps — but those reports cannot tell you what share of accounts are fake, and plenty of other reviewers report meeting real people. Badoo runs Photo Verification, which matches a posed live selfie against profile photos, plus optional government-ID and age verification. Favour verified profiles.

What changed

1. 21 August 2026 First published. Ratings checked across the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot; covers the Premium, Extra and Credits split and the current verification tools.

We re-check pricing and features on a quarterly cycle, and sooner when an app changes something material. Every revision is logged here.

Sources

• Badoo on the App Store — ratings and description
• Badoo on Google Play — ratings, reviews and downloads
• Badoo on Trustpilot
• Badoo Help Centre — Premium, Credits, verification and safety

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