A Body-Positive Dating App Celebrating Curvy Singles

The Short Version: In a world fixated on thinness, having a different body type can feel lonely. That’s why Bustr, a dating and hookup app for BBW (Big Beautiful Women), came to be. Cecilia G., who represents the app, told us how Bustr serves curvy women and puts safety and body positivity first.

I’ll always remember what happened to a friend of mine when she first signed up for Tinder.

Three months after a rough breakup, my friend was ready to jump back into dating. Honestly, her profile photos were fantastic. They captured so many facets of her personality: one of her playing video games with bright-pink hair, another of her sipping wine demurely at a wedding.

The photo I loved most was of our whole friend group in caps and gowns after college graduation, doing a corny freeze-frame jump for joy. A bona fide gamer who’s genuinely funny and absolutely rocks a sundress. Who wouldn’t be dying to meet her?!

Bustr gives plus-size women a dating app that celebrates their beauty.

Sure enough, she got plenty of messages, but half contained insults, not pick-up lines. “No one wants to see you jumping up and down,” wrote one guy. When she showed me, I was stunned, but she just shrugged, her face saying, Happens all the time.

Why did people feel it was fine to send such awful messages, and why weren’t these dating apps more concerned with the treatment of a huge share of their user base?

According to Cecilia G., a representative for Bustr, a plus-size exclusive dating app, that urgent need for representation is what sparked the app’s creation. “I realized that traditional dating programs were not meeting the specific needs and desires of plus-size women,” she said.

Bustr sets out to tackle those needs and desires directly, so that women who are plus-size can feel every bit as loved and beautiful as they are.

Bustr Builds a Warm, Body-Positive Community

“When plus-size singles date, they often experience body-shaming,” Cecilia told us. “(Plus-size women) are often told their body type is not desirable, which can cause low self-esteem.” 

“Bustr provides a comfortable, safe, and inclusive dating environment for plus-size women and their suitors,” Cecilia said. Comfortable, safe, and included: Those are definitely not the words my friend would have used for how she felt reading those cruel messages. Luckily, they sum up Bustr’s overall vibe perfectly.

Bustr makes sure plus-size women feel safe, comfortable, and included.

Bustr puts the spotlight on women who’ve been sidelined for a long time. Bustr’s creators easily spotted a chance for inclusion, and market research backed up that curvy women deserved a good online dating experience.

“After gathering the opinions of large-sized users who had been discriminated against in mainstream dating apps, our team saw the need for a specialized platform to provide opportunities and support for large-sized people,” Cecilia said. 

Did you notice that Bustr offers plus-size women emotional support, not just dating opportunities? Odds are, many women who join Bustr have faced body-shaming or discrimination at some point. Useful resources and emotional support help make Bustr a safe, welcoming place.

It also helps that Bustr’s management team watches the user experience closely. “Bustr implements strict community guidelines and management practices,” Cecilia said. Put simply, Bustr is a respectful, positive space for plus-size daters.

Curvy women can easily shine in Bustr’s body-positive community.

Nobody should have to brace for insulting messages from narrow-minded people. If an inappropriate message does land in your inbox, Bustr wants you to report it. “A dedicated team is set up to review these reports and take appropriate action,” Cecilia told us. You can count on Bustr to respond quickly.

Educating yourself is the best way to get past bias, and Bustr’s educational resources help users do exactly that. Cecilia explained how. “Bustr provides educational content to increase awareness and understanding of diversity within the community,” she said.

Once you know about these biases, you can start working on how you respond to them. “Bustr explicitly tells users to respect its code of conduct, aiming to create an environment where all users feel comfortable and accepted.”

Staying Safe Online With Video Verification

Everyone faces rejection, especially when dating. Normally, the sting of rejection gets offset or outweighed by the joy of being accepted. But what if acceptance never comes, and for a reason you can’t even control?

Being excluded is a different kind of pain altogether, one only some of us know. Discomfort on a dating app is bad; feeling unsafe is even worse, yet that’s what countless plus-size women face.

Bustr makes safety a priority, which is why it built a video verification feature to fight catfish and societal bias.

A screen can only separate you and a potential date for so long, after all. Meeting in person is usually exciting and positive, but if your weight makes you a target of bias and discrimination, those dates can bring some anxiety. Could you have been catfished? Does the person you’re meeting mean well?

Cecilia says Bustr’s in-app features guard against these bad outcomes. “Bustr’s core values of inclusivity and safety are exemplified in many of the app’s designs and features,” she said. “For example, the newly launched video verification feature helps to verify identity as well as reduce the risk of catfishing.”

Bustr lets you see your date and chat with them while staying safely inside your comfort zone. Meeting up offline can happen when and if you feel ready.

Bustr’s AI shields users from spam and bots and filters out scammers.

Other dating apps cater to straight-sized women, whereas Bustr was created specifically with plus-size women’s safety and well-being in mind. “Bustr specializes in the BBW (Big Beautiful Women) community, so it can adapt its algorithms and matching process to better meet the needs of plus-size users,” Cecilia said.

“By using video authentication and strong data encryption, Bustr protects the user’s identity and personal information,” she added. 

Bustr’s app store listing says an AI system checks user profiles to keep spam, bots, and scammers out of the pool of genuine users. Think back to the Code of Conduct from earlier: Since it bans sexually explicit content, there’s no need to fear unwanted photos.

And again, you can flag anything inappropriate. “Users can flag any misbehaviors, and upon receiving the flag, the system passes it on to a professional team for prompt processing,” Cecilia said.

Bustr sets you up for success, and there’s no need to just take our word for it.

Bustr Offers Curvy Women Lots of Options

Cecilia was proud to share a few Bustr success stories. “One female user called Elswyatt wrote in to tell us how she was able to connect with someone who appreciated her authentic side through Bustr and ended up building a lasting relationship.”

“Another user thanked us for providing her with a warm, harmonious family, one in which she felt confident and secure at all times,” Cecilia said. Bustr is always working to help users feel confident and secure. “These stories lift us up and make us even more motivated to do better,” she added.

Every Bustr match you make comes courtesy of an enhanced algorithm.

Bustr takes pride in innovating for plus-size daters. Its app store listing promises advanced search options and “female-friendly chat features” at no cost, so users get a broad range of matches to pick from and an even broader range of ways to communicate.

Cecilia says Bustr’s work isn’t finished yet. “We’re working on enhancing our matching algorithm to provide even more personalized and accurate connections,” she said. A more personalized algorithm means more options for users. And any plus-size person who’s ever used a traditional dating app can tell you that “options” are often hard to come by.

Bustr lets you join plus-size community forums and events.

That’s why Bustr also plans to grow its social side. If you want to date somewhere body-positive, wouldn’t you want to make friends there, too? “We plan to introduce new social features, such as virtual events and community forums, where users can engage in group activities and discussions,” Cecilia said.

Bustr should become a “vibrant community for BBWs and their admirers,” according to Cecilia. Picture a world where people of every shape and size can connect romantically while feeling confident and empowered. As Cecilia tells it, Bustr is making good progress toward building that world. “In this culture, we celebrate diversity and treat our users with dignity.”