Dating-app location privacy: settings and limits

Hiding a distance number, hiding a profile and turning off phone location access change different things. Start with the information you want to limit, then check the controls on the app you actually use. A setting called Incognito does not have the same effect everywhere, and none of the controls below should be treated as an anonymity guarantee.

18+ only. This guide compares published settings for Grindr, SCRUFF, Feeld, Lex, Hinge and Pure, checked October 19, 2026. It covers what their own help and privacy pages say, rather than a test of how an individual account appears.

Choose what you want to hide

Keep three questions separate when reading the platform details:

• Display: can another member see a distance, city or neighborhood?
• Discovery: where can someone find your profile, and what changes after you contact them?
• Provider data: what location information can the company collect or retain, even when the profile display changes?

Use the linked instructions for the version you have. Before relying on a setting, check its exceptions, including existing matches and people you have already liked. Changing a profile’s discovery location is not proof that the provider has stopped collecting device location.

Grindr: hidden distance still has limits

Grindr’s privacy controls include Show Distance, which hides the distance shown in your profile and grid. Show Me in Explore Searches is a separate control: it lets you opt out of discovery through Explore searches by people outside your nearby area.

The privacy policy gives an important limit: hiding Distance Information does not stop Grindr sorting and displaying your profile by its relative distance from other users. A missing number therefore does not mean location has stopped affecting profile order.

Incognito is an Unlimited feature. Grindr says it hides your profile from the grid while you use the app, and that you appear offline to people you tap or message. Those are the documented effects; do not read the label as a promise that contacting someone leaves no information about you.

Provider collection is another question. Grindr’s policy says it may collect precise geolocation consistently with your permissions. Hiding the distance display is not the same instruction as withdrawing phone location permission.

SCRUFF: Stealth does not hide Nearby presence

To hide the distance displayed on your profile, SCRUFF’s instructions start with the Account icon, then Settings → Privacy Settings → Limit Details → Distance. That is the distance-display control.

Stealth mode is a separate SCRUFF Pro feature on Android and iOS. It can hide the track left when viewing a profile on someone’s Cruised screen and/or hide your profile from the Global section of Discover.

SCRUFF explicitly says Stealth does not stop your profile appearing on the Nearby grid or Search + Filters, or prevent you being available or online to message. It should not be treated as a general hide-profile switch. The distance help and Stealth help describe different controls; do not combine their effects into a broader promise.

Stealth also needs to be enabled when you view a profile. Its help says viewing without Stealth leaves you in the viewer screen even if you are offline. Offline status alone is not this privacy control.

The operator’s privacy policy says a last known geographic location can be stored to calculate distance from other users. It also directs users to device settings to change access to geographic location information. Removing a displayed distance does not establish that stored location data has been deleted.

Feeld: hiding, Incognito and Explore differ

Feeld Incognito is available to Majestic members. It keeps your profile out of other members’ Discover unless you like or Ping them first. Someone you like can see your profile in Discover; if they also have Majestic, it can appear in Who Likes You.

The same Incognito help page says removal from everyone’s Discover feed may take a short time after enabling it. If Majestic lapses or is canceled, Feeld says the profile becomes hidden, unless it has been deactivated. This is a change of visibility mode, not a promise that Incognito remains active without Majestic.

The separate Hide profile control still lets existing connections see your profile and continue chatting with you. While hidden, you also cannot see anyone in Discover. Choose between the documented controls according to the visibility you want to change; neither description says existing conversations become anonymous.

Explore is especially easy to misread as a distance-hiding feature. Feeld says ordinary discovery uses your current geolocation. When exploring a physical location, your profile identifies the place you are exploring and still shows how far away you actually are from the other person. In a virtual location, it shows the virtual location instead of physical distance.

Those display differences do not establish that Feeld stops collecting location. Its privacy policy separately describes collection of geolocation and device ID information.

Lex: check profile location and map preferences separately

Lex’s privacy policy says opting into location sharing allows collection of precise GPS location, while other users see an approximate area. It describes changeable location preferences and a choice about appearing on the map. When you appear there, your username, profile photo and approximate location may be visible.

There is a caveat in Lex’s older location-help page, dated September 19, 2022: it says that once you have opted to share location on your profile, you cannot undo it. That page also describes turning off iOS Precise Location for Lex.

The current policy’s map/settings language and the older profile-location warning do not give a clear basis for promising that one switch removes every form of location display. Check both the location already on your profile and the sharing preferences available in your app. If they do not match the instructions, ask Lex support before relying on them.

The distinction matters: limiting phone location access, changing map visibility and removing an already shared profile location are different requests. Do not assume one completes the others.

Hinge: manual location is not a no-GPS promise

Hinge’s location settings allow manual entry of a city, neighborhood, address or ZIP code. For manually added locations, Hinge says it displays the selected neighborhood name rather than the exact address. Its Compass shortcut instead requests permission to use device-level location data.

Hinge says profile location does not automatically update when you log in or travel; you need to update it yourself. This makes manual location different from an automatically moving distance display. It does not establish that Hinge never receives device location: the privacy policy says it collects latitude and longitude with permission, and that declining permission makes precise-location-dependent features unavailable.

Pausing prevents discovery by new people while leaving chats with existing matches available. A Like sent before pausing can still reach its recipient and become a match. Pause therefore has a documented exception for earlier activity; it does not reverse every contact you initiated. The same help page says pausing your account does not pause your subscription; discovery visibility and subscription status are separate.

Pure: Incognito and hiding an ad are separate actions

Pure’s FAQ lists city among the fields displayed in a personal ad. It says Incognito hides your online presence and prevents chat partners knowing you have read their messages until you reply.

Incognito lasts 24 hours after activation, and switching Incognito off does not stop its countdown. Check the remaining time in app settings → Purchases. The FAQ also says the remaining time appears in the notification sent when you turn Incognito on or off. Check the timer before relying on the setting; switching it off does not save the remaining hours for later.

Access has its own conditions. The FAQ describes Pure Queen as a premium subscription for women that includes weekly Incognito hats. Unused weekly hats disappear within seven days; purchased hats stay on the balance until used. That unused-hat rule is separate from the 24-hour timer once a hat is activated.

Read the conditions beside that description. The FAQ says to hide your ad and enable Incognito for visibility limited to people you have liked. Do not shorten that combined instruction into a claim that Incognito alone hides the ad from everyone else.

There is also a read-status exception: after turning Incognito off, chat partners can know that you read their messages, even if you read them while Incognito was on. Do not rely on it to keep those reads permanently undisclosed.

The privacy policy says location permissions can be disabled through device or browser settings. It also warns that other users may use or disclose location information outside the company’s control. A city display or changed permission is not a guarantee about information someone already received.

Delete the account or request your data

Use the route for the specific platform. These instructions concern account or data requests; they are not a claim about cancelling paid subscriptions, nor a promise of immediate deletion of every retained record.

Platform	Account deletion route	Data or privacy-request route
Grindr	Follow its OS-specific deletion instructions and choose Delete Account. Removing the app does not delete the profile.	Settings → Security and Privacy → Download My Data. Grindr says the export arrives in two parts because data lives on both its servers and your device.
SCRUFF	Account → your profile name → Delete profile.	Use the support-request route in the privacy policy. Ask about the data or deletion request you need; do not assume the policy’s Europe-specific rights apply to an Ohio account.
Feeld	Settings → App Settings → Delete account. If you cannot access the account, its help directs you to Help Center chat.	Use the Contacting us section of the privacy policy for privacy requests. Its access/portability provisions have conditions; a hidden profile is not an account-deletion request.
Lex	The privacy policy says anyone, regardless of location, can request personal-data deletion by emailing [email protected].	That policy also directs changes unavailable through account settings to [email protected]. Describe the information or change you need rather than assuming the location switch erases it.
Hinge	In Account Settings, choose Delete Account. Uninstalling the app does not delete the account.	Use Download My Data while the account is open. Closed accounts cannot use that in-app feature; the help page directs privacy requests through the support bot’s Privacy Requests topic.
Pure	Settings → My Account/ID → Delete account. Hiding the ad is a different action.	Use the Contact section of the privacy policy for requests to exercise applicable data rights.

Check retention terms as well as the button label. Grindr describes different retention periods, including legal and security purposes. Hinge describes a safety retention window after account closure. A successful closure screen should not be interpreted as confirmation that every provider record was immediately erased.

Before you rely on a privacy setting

Our practical suggestion is to write down the specific change you want: no displayed distance, less discovery, no device location access, or an account/data request. Then follow that platform’s instructions and check the stated exceptions.

Review what remains on the profile, who can still see previous activity, and whether you need a separate support request. Keep the provider’s response if you make one. If an instruction is unclear or differs from your version, ask the platform rather than assuming a similarly named control works like another app’s.

Location settings are one part of planning contact. For the next step, our first app date guide covers public meetings, transport, trusted-person check-ins and official reporting routes without safety guarantees.