Have a question about Bump? Chances are the answer is located somewhere on this page. We have reorganized our FAQs so they are broken out by platform to help you find the right answer more quickly. If your question isn't feature specific, check out the General section.
As always, if you can't find what you're looking for here, you're welcome to email us at support@bu.mp
Yes, you need a solid connection to the internet so Bump will be able to communicate with our servers. If you have a clear network connection 3G/4G/Edge will work, otherwise you can connect to Wifi.
This probably means you are in an area with a weak or spotty connection to the Internet. Try turning on your WiFi (if you don't already have it on) or try relocating to an area with a stronger signal. If you are on your home WiFi there might be a firewall in place that is preventing Bump from reaching our servers. You should either disable the firewall setting, turning off your WiFi (so you're only on 3G/Edge) or try using Bump in another location.
When we built Bump, our number one priority was creating the best possible user experience we could. Security of your personal information is a huge part of that experience. With Bump *you* are in control of deciding with whom you share your information. You don't have to worry about anyone being able to get at your information unless you physically bump your phone with theirs. Finally, we will never share any of your personal information with any third parties. Please see our privacy policy for more details. Our new architecture deployed in Summer 2010 is 100% encrypted end-to-end and this is being used in the current iOS and Android apps. Older versions of the app use an https-based communication system which is being phased out, but which in practice is also very secure.
There are two parts to Bump: the app running on your device and a smart matching algorithm running on our servers in the cloud. The app on your phone uses the phone's sensors to literally "feel" the bump, and it sends that info up to the cloud. The matching algorithm listens to the bumps from phones around the world and pairs up phones that felt the same bump. Then we just route information between the two phones in each pair.
Way. We use various techniques to limit the pool of potential matches, including location information and characteristics of the bump event. If you are bumping in a particularly dense area (ex, at a conference), and we cannot resolve a unique match after a single bump, we'll just ask you to bump again.
Bump is most useful when everyone else has it. We want to get Bump on to as many phones as possible so that no one ever has to manually type in a phone number or email address again. To that end, we plan to offer the basic version of Bump free of charge for the entire foreseeable future.
No! Bump currently supports iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Android. We will certainly expand to other major phone platforms going forward.
You bet. Any two devices running Bump can bump each other.
We've got millions of users worldwide now. We use location information as one of the ways we limit the number of other phones we have to check to determine the correct match. Basically, if you are in Chicago, we use that info so we don't have to compare your bump with bumps coming in from Japan, Europe, New York, etc. For this reason, we require that location services be turned on and that users authorize the use of their location information. If you do not authorize use of location information, Bump won't work well, sorry.
Yes and no. If you update your contact information in Bump, we don't automatically send that along to everyone you've ever bumped. However, you can remotely send your new contact information to anyone you are connected with in Bump by sending them a new message with your new contact.
When you are ready to bump, make sure you are on a page that has the Bump hands indicating that the phone is ready to bump. If you aren't, simply close whichever page you are on and then you should be ready to go.
No way! Today with Bump you can share photos, music, apps, other people's contact information, compare calendars and send invites, even connect on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn right on the spot (depending on which version of the app you have)! Once you have bumped with someone, you can then send contacts, send photos and interact with social networks in our new chat feature without having to Bump again. We are always working to update Bump with cool new features, so if you have suggestions please don't hesitate to contact us! We love hearing from the users.
We're working as fast as we can to add features to the existing versions of Bump and expand to other platforms. We fully intend to move Bump to many of the other major phone platforms in the future.
Nope! Bump doesn't use Bluetooth to work at all; all you need is an Internet connection through wifi, 3G or Edge.
The "No Match" message simply means that our servers couldn't connect your two devices. In order for Bump to successfully identify your device and match it with the device you are trying to connect with, it needs 2 things up and running on your phone.
This probably means you are in an area with a weak or spotty connection to the Internet. Try turning on your WiFi (if you don't already have it on) or try relocating to an area with a stronger signal. If you are on your home WiFi there might be a firewall in place that is preventing Bump from reaching our servers. You should either disable the firewall setting, turning off your WiFi (so you're only on 3G/Edge) or try using Bump in another location.
Setting up your contact card is super easy. Open the app and hit the settings button (the gears in the upper right-hand corner). Then select the Edit button and select Create My Contact. From here you can select a photo and go through and fill out any of the information you wish! Don't forget to scroll down and check out the Add Field option, which lets you add more information such as your birthday or IM username to your card.
Yup, it's easy to do. Just open the Contact Cards app and un-check any of the fields you don't want to transfer, and bump away!
The great thing about Bump is you are able to create multiple profiles for any kind of social setting. Once you have established your contact card, you can edit and save different versions by opening the Contact Card app from the home screen. Your profile will show up, then scroll through and select or de-select any of the information you wish. When you are finished, you can click Save As, and then create any sort of title for this profile. You are able to create as many profiles as you want. Don't worry, this title will not get transferred when you bump with someone, it's for your eyes only!
The first initial bump is just the beginning! Now that you have made a connection with the other person you are able to share with them from anywhere, anytime by opening your Bump history and clicking the 'Share' button in the chat view (the triangle button on the right-hand side next to the Send button). You can send unlimited messages and photos, you can become connected and see if you have any common friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and send them other people's contact info.
Absolutely! When you open the Bump, go to the app settings (gears button in the upper right-hand corner) and in the middle of the page there are two line items for automatically save contacts/photos. You can slide these buttons to 'Off'. Now when you receive contacts/photos they will only be saved in the history section of the app, and you can manually decide to save them to your phone later on, if you'd like.
One way is asking politely and explaining your feelings. But if that doesn't work, there is an option at the top of the chat window (if you scroll all the way up) that lets you block them (they won't know you've blocked them).
Sure thing, Bump isn't only for exchanging information! You can only receive by bumping from the main screen in Bump (the one with the big hands at the top).
You didn't do anything wrong! That message simply means that our servers couldn't find the other phone you were trying to bump. Next time that happens, just make sure both phones are on a screen with a graphic of two hands bumping and bump again. You need to hold your phones and physically bump hands so the other phone registers a bump as well and our servers can find it.
The songs you receive in Bump will stay in your Bump app, but you don't get the full song file, you only get streaming versions of the song via Youtube. This is because apps can't access the song files themselves. You also will receive a link to iTunes where you can download the song directly. Unfortunately if you want to be able to play the songs in the iPod App, you'll need to buy them from iTunes, or get them some other way.
Well unfortunately, Bump for Android is a bit behind Bump for iPhone and doesn't have access to all the cool new features. But don't worry, our Android developers are working as fast as they can to catch up! We hope it won't be too long before a new Android version is available.
Sure! We've introduced a "Virtual Bump" feature in the iOS version of Bump. This allows you to connect with your friends in your address book that also have the Bump app even if you can't physically bump their device. Here's how you set it up:
Once this is done Bump will generate a list of people that you will be able to instantly connect with simply by clicking the green check mark next to their names, and voilà! You're connected and able to send all kinds of stuff back and forth for free. We'll be adding this to the Android app soon!
Unfortunately there isn't any way for you to delete old accounts you've created. For that reason we encourage everyone to download Bump only one time and sync from iTunes.
Unfortunately at this time Android doesn't include the Friend Finder feature. If you physically bump and Android phone you'll be able to chat and send photos etc from a distance, however you can't virtually bump them.
That error message is actually caused by the iPhone camera roll looking for location information attached to photos (which is just something that the iPhone does when you select a photo). If you have Location Services turned off, or if you denied Bump access to your location, you will get this error. Luckily, if you simply enable Location Services for Bump, it should go away. Bump needs to know your location in able to figure out which other device you bumped. The location helps our servers narrow down which phones you could have possibly bumped, so we don't have to check your bump against bumps happening, for example, halfway across the world.
To delete content, simply swipe your finger across the item you wish to get rid of. A red 'delete' button should pop up on the righthand side. The block feature is located at the top of the history channel. If you want to delete a Bump friend and not allow him to recontact you in the future, make sure you hit 'block' first and then 'delete'.
This probably means you are in an area with a weak or spotty connection to the Internet. Try turning on your WiFi (if you don't already have it on) or try relocating to an area with a stronger signal. If you are on your home WiFi there might be a firewall in place that is preventing Bump from reaching our servers. You should either disable the firewall setting, turning off your WiFi (so you're only on 3G/Edge) or try using Bump in another location.
Due to legal restrictions we aren't able to look into your devices to see which apps you actually own. We can just make educated and mostly accurate guesses, but sometimes we do overlook a few. Try opening up the apps you want to bump before you open the Bump app. That should help Bump be able to pick them up.
Nope! Bump doesn't use Bluetooth to work at all; all you need is an Internet connection through wifi, 3G or Edge.
The "No Match" message simply means that our servers couldn't connect your two devices. In order for Bump to successfully identify your device and match it with the device you are trying to connect with, it needs 2 things up and running on your phone.
This probably means you are in an area with a weak or slow connection to the Internet. Try turning on your WiFi if you don't already have it on, or try relocating to an area with a stronger signal. If you are on your home WiFi you might have a firewall in place that is preventing Bump from reaching our servers. You should either disable the firewall setting, turning off your WiFi (so you're only on 3G/Edge) or try using Bump in another location.
Yup! You can select which parts of your contact card send by clicking the 'My Info' button, which will bring you to a screen that has your contact information displayed in a box. You can move items around by clicking 'Edit' then tapping on the information you wish to move up or down. The parts of your contact card that are outside the box will not be transferred when you bump someone. When you are finished simply hit 'Done.'
You can do that easily as well by following the directions above, however after clicking the Edit button hit the 'change info' button which will let you delete or change any part of your contact card. You can also add a photo to your profile as well from this screen!
Even though our developers are hard at work, the Android version of Bump is a little bit behind the iPhone version. We hope to have both versions on the same page soon though! If you have specific questions about certain features you can shoot us an email at support@bu.mp.
To delete or block someone in Bump simply long press on the item you wish to get rid of. If you're trying to delete a Bump friend and not allow him to contact you in the future make sure you hit the 'block' button first before you delete.
Due to legal restrictions we aren't able to look into your devices to see which apps you actually own. We can just make educated and mostly accurate guesses, but sometimes we do overlook a few. Try opening up the apps you want to bump before you open the Bump app. That should help Bump be able to pick them up.
Virtually bumping someone should be super easy. Make sure these 3 things are set up correctly on your devices:
