How to run background checks on Tinder? All you need to know about the dating app's new feature

Tinder users in the United States can now run background checks on potential dates for possible violent or harmful past behavior through the app's Safety Center.

This new feature is brought to users through a partnership between the dating app's parent company, Match Group, and Garbo, a nonprofit organization that provides background checks at low costs.

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The first two Garbo background check searches are free for Tinder users

(Images via Tinder and Garbo)

The app will initially offer two free background check searches for each user, up to a total of 500,000 free searches. After that, users or anybody who is not on the app will have to pay $2.50 as well as a small processing fee for each search.

Garbo searches will provide information that is "relevant to the user's safety" - a history of violent criminal arrests, convictions, and sex offender registry records, for example. However, "additional personal identifying information" like addresses and phone numbers would not be disclosed.

Offenses like drug possession, loitering, and vagrancy will be excluded from the search results as they "often disproportionately affect traditionally marginalized communities," according to a press release from Match Group.

Users are encouraged and requested to report their matches to the app if they are found to have any past records of offensive behavior. However, the company does not guarantee that a user is completely safe to be around, even if no history of harmful behavior is found through a Garbo search. The press release noted:

"Trust your instincts and be sure to follow Tinder's Safety Tips when meeting someone new for the first time."

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How to access the feature?

(Image via Tinder)

To use the background check service, users will first have to tap on the blue shield from anywhere in the app. Following that, users will have to select the Garbo article through the tools section of the Safety Center, which will then direct them to the nonprofit's website.

Users will then need to enter their match's first name and phone number for the search. If the results are not provided, users will need to put in more information, such as their match’s age, date of birth, zodiac sign, and zip code, for accuracy.

(Image via Garbo)

Last August, the app introduced ID verification and has had a blue 'verified' checkmark feature since 2020, signaling that the user's identity has been confirmed via photo verification.