All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
Knowing how to change your location on Facebook Dating comes in handy for several scenarios. Maybe you’ve recently moved, or perhaps you’re traveling for a while. Maybe you’d prefer to not reveal your true location to stay safe online or to protect your privacy. Or some users simply prefer to try to find potential matches in other locations to prevent people living nearby from seeing their profiles.
Whatever your reason, changing your location on the Facebook Dating app is easy — and it's important to know how to do it for accuracy and privacy. Your Facebook Dating experience depends on your enabled location.
Read on to get detailed instructions about how to change your location in Facebook Dating settings, learn how to use a virtual private network (VPN), and find out how your location affects your Facebook Dating experience.
In order for your true location to reflect accurately within Facebook Dating, you need to manually change the location on your app and/or devices. Other dating apps do this automatically if you have enabled Location Services, but Facebook’s app does not.
When you first sign up for Facebook Dating, you establish a primary dating location. This is the location that stays static unless you manually change it.
To manually change your location on Facebook Dating directly through the app’s settings, complete the following steps:
Facebook Dating suggests matches based on your distance preferences, so once you have changed your location, you can also select if you want to receive suggested matches up to 100 miles away.
There is an alternative way to change your location so Facebook Dating thinks you’re elsewhere and makes different match recommendations: Use a VPN.
Using a VPN can spoof your location by hiding your device’s true IP address and making it appear as though it’s the address of the VPN’s server. For example, if I am in Bakersfield, CA, but I use a VPN to route and encrypt my web traffic and IP address through Los Angeles, Facebook Dating will produce results for Los Angeles.
Many VPNs come at an affordable price point, or offer free plans with limited features. While all VPNs are different and will have different ways of accessing them, we recommend the following to get you started:
Using a VPN with Facebook Dating is simple. Once you download your VPN, you’ll just need to log in and select what server you want your location to connect to. Then, it’s simply a matter of turning on the VPN, and your web traffic and IP address will be encrypted and rerouted through that location. You’re then free to use Facebook Dating as you normally would.
When this happens, Facebook may prompt you to update your dating location. Until you ensure your primary and dating locations match, you won’t be able to make new matches. (You can, however, continue to message existing matches.)
Are you taking a break from Facebook Dating? Or perhaps you are just embarking on your matchmaking journey through the app. Either way, it’s important to know how to turn your location on and off.
Keep in mind that you need to turn off Location Services on your device itself — or make a choice about when to share your location with Facebook — through your device’s location settings. You can’t turn your location off and on through Facebook Dating.
Turn Location Services on or off on an Android device through the following steps:
Turn Location Services on or off on an iOS device using these steps:
Note that you can continue to use Facebook Dating even after you have turned off Location Services, if you choose. The app will show you matches based on your most recently confirmed location, and it will be visible on your Facebook Dating profile.
Facebook Dating is a social media application that helps users meet new people within a designated regional radius using users' GPS locations.
Unlike Tinder and Bumble, Facebook Dating does not automatically update your location when you change locales. You can use the app to send likes and messages to people you're interested in talking to or meeting, and once someone reciprocates a like, you'll match.
As a dating service, Facebook Dating requires users to follow terms and community standards. At the time of this writing, Facebook Dating has 30,000,000 members.
Yes, you need Location Services turned on and to share your current location with the app to operate Facebook Dating in the way it was designed to send you matches. When you turn off Location Services, you are no longer able to receive new match recommendations, although you can continue to message existing matches with whom you’ve established communication.
A location mismatch might occur if your primary location and your dating location don’t match. This can happen if you use a VPN to encrypt your web traffic and obscure your IP address. If you do get a message from Facebook saying you’re experiencing a location mismatch, follow the steps above to change your location and align both locations so you can continue to receive new match suggestions from Facebook Dating.
Since Facebook Dating does not automatically update your location based on your Location Services, you could experience a wrong location if you move or travel. You need to manually change your location to ensure it’s correct for Facebook Dating by following the above steps.
The easiest way to change your location in Facebook Dating is to do so directly through the app. Of course, if you are concerned about your privacy and sharing your location to Facebook, you can always turn off your Location Services or disable Facebook and Facebook Dating from accessing your location entirely.
Even if you choose to keep Location Services on and constantly keep Facebook Dating in the loop by updating your location, it’s smart to know how to turn off your Location Services in general so you can stay wary of which apps know where you are. It’s also wise to consider using a VPN for your iPhone or VPN for your Android to encrypt your web traffic and to ensure stronger internet privacy — just as long as you don’t mind a location mismatch message from Facebook every now and again.
High-quality VPN offering safety and speed
Loads of servers for multiple connection options
Works with popular streaming services, including Netflix
Too many confusing plans
