Tinder is one of the most popular dating apps. In 2022, Tinder had 71.1 million users looking for love on the app. 

But users may wonder about the safety concerns associated with the app, specifically the data that Tinder can access. So, does Tinder track your location? Here’s the truth.

About Tinder’s Location Feature

Tinder must know your location to show you single people in your area. Users can set the specific location where they’re willing to meet others, and the maximum distance can go up to over 100 miles.

Tinder will also show the proximity of your location to other users. When potential matches view your profile, they will see where you live and how far they are from you.

Even though you have flexibility over the location feature, you must share your location with Tinder. If you don’t let the app access your location, they can’t match you with nearby singles.

Tinder also has different paid plans that allow you to hide your location, hide the distance you are from matches, and you can even set a different location than the one you’re currently in. 

For example, if you have Tinder’s Premium service, you can use their Passport feature. You can drop a pin on a map or search by city to chat with those in your chosen destination. Remember that you can only change your location once at a time.

These features are beneficial if you want to use Tinder but don’t want people to know personal details about you before giving them your phone number.

Does Tinder Track Your Location?

If Tinder’s location features concern you, you may be wondering if Tinder tracks your location. First, no one knows every detail about how Tinder operates, what data they use, and how they use it. 

What we do know is Tinder is safe. Tinder has powerful data privacy standards, so users’ data is always secure. That said, users shouldn’t share sensitive information on their profile and with other singles, especially since there’s always the risk that you’ll meet a hacker instead of someone looking for love.

Users do have control on their end. You can restrict when Tinder tracks your location and what other data the app can access. You can also use different online safety tools, like Information, to look up a Tinder match’s phone number and find public records attached to them – like their criminal records, marriage records, sex offender status, and even their other dating profiles.

What If You’re Not Using the App?

When you restrict data tracking, one of the options you can give the app is to only track your location when using the app. You can make this request on both iOS and Android phones in the settings app. Remember that Tinder may still track your location in the background. 

Does Tinder Update Your Location?

There may be a time when you move and want to meet singles in your new location. Or you’re traveling and want to use Tinder in your new location briefly.

Will Tinder automatically update your location? Yes–as long as you allow the app to track your location, either all the time or while in use, it will always know where you are.

How to Turn on Your Location

If you’ve been using Tinder for a long time, you likely already turned on your location. When you first downloaded the app, a pop-up appeared requesting permission to use your location. If you clicked “Allow” on this pop-up, then Tinder has already been tracking your location.

Users have three options when allowing location tracking:

• Always tracking: Tinder will always know your location, whether or not you’re using the app.
• Allow only once: Tinder will only track your location once and will continue asking to track your location when you open the app.
• While using the app: Tinder will only track your location when the app is in use and will stop tracking your location when the app isn’t in use.

If you don’t allow Tinder to track your location, you can’t use the app. Tinder must know your location to match you with singles in your area.

Use Tinder Safely

Even though Tinder is a safe app, it collects and tracks some data that can concern some people.

But seriously, does Tinder track your location? It depends on your privacy standards. If you’re concerned about your privacy, either don’t use Tinder or request it only track your location while using the app.

There are other safety concerns when using Tinder. Only use the messaging feature on the app, and never give someone your phone number immediately. Most importantly, don’t give them your address–at least meet your date in person in public first.

When you follow these best practices, you can use Tinder safely.