How to Avoid People You Know on Tinder
We’ve all been there before. You’re mindlessly swiping through Tinder when you suddenly see someone you know. It could be an ex, a friend of a friend, or even your boss! Talk about an awkward moment. Worse, if you can see them, they can probably see you too. So how do you avoid these people and keep your Tinder experience as drama-free as possible?
We will cover that in this article.
Old tricks don’t work
If you’re thinking about deleting the Tinder app and starting over with a new account, think again. Tinder is pretty good at detecting when someone has multiple accounts, and you could get banned if you try to play the system this way.
The same applies to the change of location. While this can help you avoid people in your immediate environment, it’s not a long-term solution and definitely not foolproof.
Other methods like choosing your photos carefully and using a fake name can help you stay under the radar for a while, but eventually someone will find out. People do background checks on Tinder games these days. So what can you do?
Meet Tinder’s Block feature
The best way to avoid someone on Tinder is to use the app’s built-in blocking feature. This will prevent that person from seeing your profile in their match feed. They won’t know you’ve blocked them, and you don’t have to worry about accidentally encountering them while swiping.
Tinder lets you block contacts from your phone’s address book. So if you have saved an ex’s number, you can block them right from the app. If you don’t have the person’s number saved on your phone, you can still block them with their email address.
Once you block someone, they can no longer see your profile or message you. If you change your mind, you can always unlock them later.
Do you have someone you’d rather not see (or don’t want to be seen by) on Tinder? That’s how it’s done:
- Open the Tinder app and tap the profile icon in the upper left corner.
- Tap the Settings gear icon.
- Scroll down and tap Blocked Contacts.
- Import your contacts from your phone by giving Tinder access to your contact list.
- Or add someone manually via their email address or phone number by tapping plus sign. You can add up to 5 email addresses or phone numbers.
- Beat block confirm.
Since this method is mainly aimed at blocking contacts, what else can you do to avoid familiar people on Tinder?
Enhance your Tinder privacy even further
Tinder’s blocking feature is a great way to avoid people you know, but it’s not perfect. There are always ways for someone to sidestep it if they are determined enough, or even accidentally.
For example, if you block someone’s phone number, that person can still create a new Tinder account with a different number or email address. The feature is much more effective if you could block every single one of their numbers and email addresses. But how likely is that?
While blocking people is a great way to avoid them on Tinder, it’s not foolproof. If you really, really want to avoid someone, it might be best to turn off the “Show me on Tinder” setting altogether. This will make your profile invisible to everyone except people you have already liked or matched with.
Of course, that means you can’t see other people’s profiles either, so it’s not exactly ideal. But if you’re in a situation where you need to be extra careful, it’s worth considering.
To turn off the Show on Tinder setting, just tap Show me on Tinder Toggle switch in your settings.
Tinder under the radar
No one likes meeting people they know on Tinder (or any other dating app). The good news is that there are ways to avoid this. Using Tinder’s Block feature is the best way, but you can also turn off the Show me on Tinder setting if you need to be extra careful.