How to Protect Your Privacy on Dating Apps

Dating apps ask you to share something personal with strangers. That's the point — nobody falls for a blank profile. But there's a difference between showing people who you are and handing them a map to your house, your office and your bank balance. A few habits keep you open without making you exposed.

What to leave out of your profile

Your profile should tell people about your personality, not your logistics.

• Your full name. A first name is enough. Full names make it trivial to find your social media, workplace and family.
• Your exact address or estate. Your city or area is plenty for matching. "Lekki" is fine; "Chevron Drive, the blue gate opposite the church" is not.
• Your workplace by name. "I work in banking" tells people what they need to know. "Branch manager at the Allen Avenue branch of…" tells them where to find you every weekday.
• Photos that give away location. Check your pictures for house numbers, car plates, office ID cards, school uniforms or recognisable landmarks right outside your home.
• Your phone number, email or other handles in your bio. Keep first contact on the app, where reporting and blocking work.

What to hold back until you've met

Some things are fine to share eventually — just not in the first week.

• Your phone number. Chat on the app first. When you do share a number, some people prefer a second line for dating, at least at the start.
• Your social media. Your Instagram shows your friends, your family, where you spend weekends and often where you live. Wait until you've met and feel comfortable.
• Your daily routine. "I'm at the gym at 6am every day" is sweet conversation to a genuine match and useful information to someone who isn't.
• Family details. Names of children, where they go to school, your parents' home town and address can all wait.

Money and identity: never share

There are a few things you should never send to someone you've met online, no matter how the relationship feels:

• Your BVN, NIN or any ID number
• Bank login details, card numbers, PINs or OTP codes
• Photos of your ID card, passport or driver's licence
• Money, airtime, data or gift cards "just until tomorrow"

Anyone asking for these is either careless or running a scam, and the second is far more common. Our guide on how to avoid dating scams in Nigeria explains the usual setups.

Small habits that make a big difference

• Turn off precise location sharing for apps that don't need it, and check photos for location data before sharing them on other platforms.
• Use a strong, unique password for your dating account, so a leak elsewhere doesn't hand over your chats.
• Log out on shared devices and lock your phone.
• Be careful with screenshots. Anything you send can be screenshotted and forwarded. Send things you'd be comfortable seeing again — and never send intimate images to someone you haven't met. Our guide to sextortion on dating apps explains why.
• Meet in public for the first few dates and arrange your own transport, so a match doesn't learn where you live before you're ready.

Privacy tools inside Baejá

We designed Baejá so members can share their personality without over-sharing their life.

• Voice first, photos second. On Baejá, profile photos appear blurred until someone listens to your voice note. People meet your voice and personality before your face.
• Your NIN stays private. When you verify for a Gold Seal, the check confirms you're real. We never store your raw NIN or show it to anyone.
• Hide your profile. Gold members can step out of Discover and Voices for a while — useful if you're taking a break, seeing where one match goes, or just want some quiet — while existing chats keep working.
• Report and block. If anyone makes you uncomfortable, block them and they disappear from your view, and you from theirs.

Privacy isn't being cold

Holding a few things back doesn't make you guarded or unfriendly. It gives trust time to build, which is how it works offline too. You wouldn't tell someone your address the first time you met them at a friend's party. The same instinct works online.

For more on staying safe from the first message to the first date, read our online dating safety tips and how to meet someone in person safely. When you're ready, create your Baejá profile and share as much — or as little — as you like.