Coffee Meets Bagel is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The app accepts members of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and gender identities.
Once you download the app, you’ll be asked to create a profile. It can be done in less than 20 minutes, although you should have five to eight photos on hand for your profile. The app also asks for basic information, including gender, height, and job title.
You also have the option to fill out prompts about yourself. Examples of prompts include “What book should everyone read?” and “You know you’re on a great first date when…”
Once you’ve finished your profile, the app presents you with your first batch of matches. Women are given fewer matches than men, but they only get matches they’ve already liked, effectively making it “the woman’s choice” whether to match or not. This is said to be due to research by the app’s creators, which found that while men prefer to browse a wide range of profiles, women prefer a more curated batch.
Users can also browse the Discover feed and pay Beans, the platform’s in-app currency, to “like” additional matches. Coffee Meets Bagel refers to its users as Bagels, and when you “like a bagel,” it means you’re interested in another user.
If two users “like” each other by clicking the heart icon on their profile, it opens a conversation that expires after seven days, regardless of whether a date has already been set or not.
