What is Tinder Shadowban & How to Fix It in 6 Steps

You’re using the most popular dating app… Tinder, obviously!

Everything’s going great, until… it isn’t.

You’re getting a few matches, your matches don’t reply to your messages, etc.

Well, you’re absolutely not alone, because a lot of people have been complaining about the exact same things, and had no idea what signs could they be.

Are you shadowbanned? If yes, what is even a shadowban?

Let’s find out, shall we?

You’ll read about:

• WHAT EXACTLY IS A SHADOWBAN?
• HOW CAN YOU TELL YOU’RE SHADOWBANNED BY TINDER & HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?
• WHY DOES TINDER SHADOWBAN ITS USERS?
• TINDER BAN VS SHADOWBAN
• HOW TO GET RID OF TINDER SHADOWBAN?
• HOW TO NOT GET SHADOWBANNED BY TINDER?

What is Tinder Shadowban?

A punishment… from Tinder, because you’ve done something wrong you naughty!

Tinder shadowban is Tinder penalizing you for doing something wrong (i.e breaking the Tinder community guidelines) without you knowing you’re being penalized. 

Your profile becomes almost invisible, and it’ll take you some time until you realize something’s actually wrong.

How to tell I’m shadowbanned?

The official Tinder doesn’t talk about it. However, we all know…

Here’s how you can tell whether you’re shadow banned or not:

1. If not zero, you get very few matches.
   
   You got a lot of matches before, and all of a sudden you’re not getting any.
   
   (Or the ones that you’re getting are the ‘low quality’ matches.)
   
   That’s because your profile, your majesty, isn’t being shown to people. You’re I-N-V-I-S-I-B-L-E.

2. You get no messages back
   
   Let’s say you’ve been having a few conversations going on with a few people, and you stopped getting their messages out of the blue.
   
   It could be that they’re not getting your texts either no matter how many times you tried to reach them.

3. Almost zero profiles are shown to you
   
   It is true there is a limit of people you can swipe per day. But this time it’s a different type of story, right?
   
   You’re swiping just as always, and recently you’re running out of ‘profiles’ to swipe, pretty damn quickly.
   
   That’s another sign, right there.

4. Oops! Something went wrong
   
   You see the “Oops! Something went wrong” pretty f*cking often that it is starting to get annoying.

Note: Do not confuse it with error codes such as error code 5000, or others. Pay attention to the text.

You see it while you’re swiping those few profiles or when there are no more profiles to be shown.

You see it a lot of times when using Tinder.

5. You [Tinder Gold subscribers] get zero (or few of the fewest) likes
   
   You went all happy when you first saw who likes you, but now the story got kind of sad eh?
   
   Because you’re not getting likes anymore. You’re sort of invisible now.

6. You got a warning from Tinder
   
   If you broke any of the Tinder community guidelines, or got reported by people, you’ll perhaps get a warning from Tinder.
   
   It usually looks like this:

Well, the reason why you’re shadowbanned is exactly one of those mentioned above (you broke the Tinder community guidelines, or people reported you) to begin with. 

Let’s say you didn’t improve much of your inappropriate behavior after the warning… if they didn’t ban you, then congrats on you shadowban.

Why am I shadow banned?

It’s not because “Oh I’m just unlucky, always been.”, trust me.

There is something you’ve done with or without knowing you’re doing something wrong.

Perhaps you didn’t hear of the Tinder Etiquette, which is exactly what you should know of before you get Tinder.

Here’s what it could be:

1. You broke the Tinder community guidelines
   
   You didn’t even read them, didn’t you?
   Taken from Tinder:
   
   
   Nudity/Sexual Content
   Harassment
   Violence and Physical Harm
   Hate Speech
   Private Information
   Spam
   Promotion or Solicitation
   Prostitution and Trafficking
   Scamming
   Impersonation
   Minors

Click here to read the rest, and read more about each of them in detail.

2. You swiped right uncontrollably
   
   It could be detected as a ‘robotic’ move, and then Tinder gets mad at you because you’ve got no standards, you know the drill.

3. You sent the same message to a lot of people
   
   Another ROBOOOTIC MOOOVE!
   
4. You ghosted people
   
   That’s another thing that’ll get some Tinder’s users mad, which then will get Tinder mad, which then will possibly lead to a shadowban.

5. You restarted your account too many times
   
   It’s spooky. Tinder will know you’re up to no good, you’re up to something naughty. And well, take action.

6. You’ve been reported (multiple times)
   
   Tinder will not keep someone who disturbs its users…
   
   Getting reported is an indicator that you’re disturbing people by showing inappropriate behavior through your actions on Tinder.
   
   You might get warned.
   
   You might just get banned.
   
   You might get shadow banned.
   
   Moral of the story, be nice.

How long does a Tinder shadow ban last?

I’ve seen people waiting for 3 months because of this:

“… we implement a safety retention window of three months following account deletion. During this period, account information will be retained although the account will of course not be visible on the services anymore.”
Taken from Tinder.

However, waiting for three months doesn’t work unless you open a completely new account with completely new details. 

In conclusion, a Tinder shadowban lasts until you completely delete your account.

Meaning you can’t get rid of it unless you open a brand new account(will talk about this in detail further in this article), or you can do ban appeal.

Meaning, it’ll last FOREVER

What’s the difference between the ban and the shadow ban on Tinder?

Meet ‘ban’. Visible, so much that even your eyes burn a little once you see ‘him’ .

You won’t be able to access your account again…matches, likes conversations, gone. Adios.

Now I want you to meet ‘shadowban’ :

They don’t let you know, so we haven’t met him yet. Also gets you mad.

You get to use the app(in a messed up way), it seems kind of normal, then you finally smell the fishiness. No matches, no likes, no messages, etc.

It’s like sitting alone in a dusty, quiet room.

Why not just ban me?

Well, you pay for the premium subscriptions and if you’d find out that Tinder banned you.

You’ll get furious and violently tap on your phone to unsubscribe to any of the premium subscriptions you were paying. 

Of course they won’t ban you!

If you’re not paying for one of the subscriptions, you see that you’re not getting any matches, you feel low, and think of getting, let’s say, Tinder Gold while being hopeful and thinking it’ll solve your ‘little issue’. 

Of course they won’t ban you!

How to remove Tinder shadowban?

Been there, done that. Follow me.

Waiting for three months thinking that Tinder will delete your data and won’t remember you isn’t going to work.

You need to open a completely new account.

Here, steps on how to do that correctly:

1. Delete your current account:
   
   Settings > App Settings > Delete Account
   
   P.S. A few people have been having trouble doing this [deleting their account]. If you’re one of them, here:
   
   “For all things technical and app-related.
   Contact Us or reach us by facsimile at 214-853-4309”
   Taken from Tinder.
   
   You can also check this one out Trouble with account deletion, it’s what Tinder suggests you to do if you’re having such trouble.

2. Uninstall Tinder.
   
3. Disconnect Tinder from facebook
   
   Facebook > Settings > Apps and websites > Tinder > Remove App

4. New phone number/facebook account/apple ID/IP address/bank info/Device
   
   Note: About the IP address, unplug your internet router, wait for one minute, plug it back in, and you’ve got yourself a brand new IP address.
   
   About the phone number: there are virtual phone numbers you can use to open a new Tinder account, which is easier than buying a new SIM card and guaranteed to remove the shadowban. Try to avoid public numbers as there’s a high chance to get shadowbanned again.
   
   We recommend buying a private one: Tinder SMS Phone Verification

5. Download Tinder with your new apple ID/google play account, IP address
   
   It is very important that there’s no trace that indicates an old shadowbanned user (you).
   
   You want to renew everything you used on your previous Tinder account.
   
6. Open your new Tinder account
   

Note: DO NOT use your old photos, old social media (that’s why you need to open a new facebook/instagram/spotify account), old bank info with which you paid anything on Tinder!

This time you want to read the Tinder guide, and avoid getting shadowbanned again.

If you feel like this is too much effort to put in it, then think of getting any other dating apps, because there’s no other way you’ll get back on Tinder.

In fact there is, sort of? Check out 8 Ways to Use Tinder Discreetly Without an Account, to know more about the details.

Extra: How to not get shadowbanned?

Ok, besides reading and following the Tinder community guidelines which you MUST, there are a few other things you can do:

1. Make a decent profile, with a decent non offending bio, photos, anthem.
   
2. Opening lines. Make them irresistible.
   
3. Be active.
   
4. Don’t ghost your matches!
   
5. What to say on Tinder? Keep the conversations going.
   
6. Be nice enough to not get reported.
   
7. Don’t swipe right every person nor be too picky.

Alrighty! If you didn’t get the lesson, remember this:

When you’re old you’ll look back and regret spending so much time opening new accounts and resetting your internet router, what a bummer! 

Keep it cool Carol.