w/c 23rd February 2026
Sitter profiles now show the type of DBS certificate a sitter has (Basic, Standard, or Enhanced).
w/c 16th February 2026
Sharing a sitter profile now opens on our new website for a cleaner viewing experience.
w/c 9th February 2026
We’ve added a new “Pet sitter” list, showing approved pet carers in your area.
You can now access an Archive section in the Bookings tab to view bookings older than 6 months.
Fixed an issue where some users were sent back to the landing page after logging in.
w/c 12th January 2026 — Update to 4.2.2 (iOS) / 4.2.1 (Android)
Messaging now scrolls down automatically after you send a message.
w/c 17th November 2025
Fixed an issue where parents could receive repeated reminder SMS messages after posting Repeat bookings and shortlisting sitters.
w/c 10th November 2025
Fixed an issue where profile photos could fail to upload due to how images were being processed.
w/c 1st September 2025
We redesigned the homepage with a new card scroller containing shortcuts to useful features.
Parents can now refer sitters during their signup — and if you and your sitter are linked by referral, you’ll pay zero booking or service fees when booking them.
w/c 21st July 2025
The inbox now loads 20 conversations at a time (with “Load more”), and chats now load 50 messages at a time for better performance.
Fixed a softlock within the Safety Bubble.
Made stability improvements across the app.
w/c 14th July 2025
Reduced loading times on live requests and sitter profiles.
Fixed an issue around editing the end time of a booking on the payment page, when a booking finished early.
w/c 23rd June 2025 — Update to 4.1.13
Bubble+ has been redesigned with two plans: Premium and Flex.
Premium includes Repeat bookings, unlimited messaging, and a double referral bonus, as well as everything available in Flex, and more.
Flex includes zero booking fees, zero cancellation fees, and 50% off childcare service fees, among other features.
Parents booking from overseas now see timezone information when selecting booking times.
w/c 2nd June 2025
We’ve fixed an issue parents were facing when filling out the enquiry form for the nanny agency, where the app wouldn’t let them select a date of when they need someone from.
We’ve fixed an issue where editing a Specific Dates booking had some ugly clashing elements, making it impossible to add more dates.
w/c 12th May 2025 — Update to 4.1.7
We've rebuilt how our promo codes system works, to make it more powerful, more stable, and to give parents a whole new range of possible promotions. Keep a look out for offers in our emails!
w/c 28th Mar 2025
A sitter's profile will now show if they have completed our Bubble Academy courses.
w/c 17th Mar 2025 — Update to 4.1.6
Petcare's back! Walking, Sitting, Boarding and Drop-in requests are now available for parents again.
In the Petcare flow, we've improved how a parent selects dates for Holiday bookings, now having the ability to select one date OR two dates to select a range. Selecting a range turns the request into a Holiday booking! (n.b. Holidays are not able to be posted for Walking requests).
We've added a tab in the Inbox for Application notes, as we heard your feedback that it was getting quite noisy!
We've added profile videos back onto sitter profiles. If you see a Play button on a sitter's profile, tap it to see what they're like.
If you get a certain number of applicants, you can now sort by Distance, Price, Recency of their application and Rating %.
You can now edit the "What's needed?" section of a live request, allowing you to add any details you may have forgotten to add before.
We've added a sitter's Occupation to the info section of their profile.
w/c 3rd Mar 2025 — Update to 4.1.3
We've improved the UI for editing booking times on the awaiting payment page.
w/c 10th Feb 2025 — Update to 4.1.2
We’ve made it faster to send requests, with more fields optional and a single tap to fill out time and date.
Pre-requested sitters are unavailable when you’re about to send a direct request, we’ve disabled the ‘Send request’ button.
w/c 3rd Feb 2025
An explainer tip for counter-offers the first time parents receive one from a sitter
Allowing the parent to choose to call the sitter directly from confirmation page
Live chat icon on every request creation page
More occupations and skills featured at the top of sitter profiles
Updated the list of mutual friends on a sitter’s profile, meaning you can now open that parent’s friend profile and message them from there
Added a way on the sitter profile itself for parents to add that sitters to their request if they come from the main request form.
Various 🐛 fixes
Bubble 4.1.1
Release date: 27th Jan 2025
👋 Welcome to the new parent app! We've been busy over the last few months on a complete overhaul of the parent app. After hearing from hundreds of parents, our focus has been making finding childcare even more trusted, flexible and straightforward.
Read on about the features and improvements we're most excited about.
Discovering trusted sitters just got simpler
Sitter Lists
To help you find the right sitters more easily you will now see smart lists of sitters on the homepage depending on your area and what we think you will value. If you have favourites they will always appear in the first list, as well as any trusted by friends on Bubble then you may see lists of:
Local stars - highly experienced sitters within 3 miles of you
Key occupations like "Nursery workers" or "Professional nannies" or "Teachers"
New to Bubble - people who have been newly approved on Bubble in your area
Personality Traits like "Musical" or "Outdoorsy"
Specific relevant skillsets for your family like "Newborn experience" or "Has a car"
You are able to click through the sitter profiles from these lists, favourite them, or click on the ➕ to add them to a request.
Availability filters
Quickly check who is available for a specific date and time on your homepage lists and from your favourites. If you decide to add these filtered sitters to a request, it will input the time and date you filtered by.
We're looking forward to adding more filters here in the near future.
Friends & Connections
When we asked parents how they would usually find a babysitter, the #1 answer was ask my friends and family in my area if they know anyone.
We've significantly improved the ways to find your local parent friends on Bubble, and then have made the sitters they trust, front and centre. You can add and manage your friends on Bubble via phone contacts, search, linking to schools and nursery from your Friends & Connections section under Account menu.
If you have friends with trusted sitters you will see:
A 'Friends' sitters' list on the homepage
Which sitters who apply to your requests have worked with your friends
The trusted sitters on each friend's limited profile
Friends already on Bubble can be added by giving access to your phone contacts, searching for them by name or via a Place of Interest you share, like School, Nursery or Work.
And you can always manage your privacy settings with other parents in your Settings.
Improved sitter profiles
We've overhauled sitter's profiles, making it easier for parents to see the key information about any given sitter and get a sense of who they are.
Key additions to this page are their Sitter Stats section, with a clearer 'Repeat Families' number so you can get a sense of how many families regularly rebook this particular sitter since this is a high indicator of trust and good performance.
We have also added a Featured Experience section immediately below the bio to summarise key skills or experiences that are likely important to you. For example, whether they're Open to Meeting, have Experience with Newborns or are
'Last active' status
You'll notice on sitter cards in lists you can now see when that sitter was last active on Bubble, from today to in the last week. This is helpful to know how quick they will likely be to respond.
This "Last active" status is also visible at the top of the new inbox messages with sitters. We don't show a status if they were last active over 7 days ago.
Search by name
You've always been able to search a particular sitter by name but we've improved the search to return the most relevant sitters for you first, and have made the search easy to start right from the homepage, in addition from within a request form. Perfect if you want to quickly find a sitter someone's been raving about!
More flexible request and care options
Streamlined request flows
We’ve got a much clearer Services menu which you reach from the main search bar and have simplified each Send request flow from each. Whether you have someone specific in mind or you’re just looking to see who’s free, our flexible but consistent new request forms removes the complexity of juggling childcare with your daily routine.
More comprehensive "What's needed" options
Request details are critical to attract the right sitters and ensure the right care for your family. We've added a more comprehensive list of items to the "What's Needed" list for every request type to make it very fast to fill out, have renamed "Sit notes" to "More instructions" and have given you a way to indicate "Adults will be at home" during the booking.
Request specific sitters + "Let others apply"
Parents told us that they wanted to be able to request specific sitters (maybe favourites, maybe others they like the profile of) but also allow others to apply to give them faster option.
So we've added a "Request specific sitters" field onto all request flows. Parents can click in here to add sitters they want to definitely see the request. If you are rebooking a sitter from a previous booking this will be pre-filled with that sitter's name.
Selected sitters will then be sent a specific notification to apply or confirm the request, and you'll see their responses at the top of the results page.
If you want to let other sitters on Bubble apply as well, just turn on the "Let other sitters apply" toggle below the field. You'll see which other sitters apply in the live request page once it is sent out.
More Repeat booking options
Regular help requests on a set schedule are very popular with parents, but we also know there are many times when you want the same person each time but it doesn't fit a regular schedule.
We've created a new "Selected dates" option within the Repeat tab for our Bubble Plus parents to send a single request for all their upcoming dates. You can choose a different time for each date you choose. Sitters will see all the dates you request in one booking and will let you know which ones they can't do when they apply.
More peace of mind before and during a booking
Unique child profiles
We’ve added depth to your Family profile. No two families are the same. Each child (and pet) now has their own profile page where you can add details like month of birth (critical for sitters to get up to date age), any Special Educational Needs or Disabilities and Allergies.
By default all children will be added onto your childcare requests but you can de-select them before you send if they won't be there.
Application notes in messages
Sitter applications notes will now appear in your inbox as new messages from the sitters, to make it easy to find them and see why they're keen to work with you.
They appear as distinct special messages and you can click on them to go to the relevant request.
We'll hide them after 7 days if you don't reply or confirm that sitter to spare your inbox.
Faster, more powerful messages
We have overhauled the system our messages are built on to make them lightning fast and reliable. You can see messages being sent, when they are read and can have confidence your sitters will be notified immediately.
We've also given messages a complete facelift so it feels more modern and useful when speaking to your sitters.
Call from messages
We have always allowed parents and sitters to call each other from Bubble once a booking is confirmed (we encourage speaking before the big day!) but it was a little hard to find where to do this.
Now you can start a call straight from the message with the sitter, using the phone icon at the top of the message.
Other improvements
Reviews vs feedback
Ratings are now separated from the written component of a review after a booking. It's now quicker than ever to leave a rating (the thumb up / down) and we wanted to be more clearer about what comments are published versus just visible to the Bubble team.
If you leave a positive rating you will be asked to leave a written review on the next page. It remains optional, you can always skip past it.
If you leave a negative rating for a sitter, your rating will be visible on that sitter's profile, and you will be asked to give private feedback visible only to the Bubble team in order to support you. Parents may message you about your negative rating but for the moment your written comment is only visible to Bubble.
Message action bars
In messages, underneath that sitter's name and photo there is a horizontal menu of handy actions that you can take quickly with that sitter. Send Request will create a new request with that sitter.
Promo codes on payment
When you pay for a booking you now have the opportunity to put in a promo code at the point of paying, as well as adding it to your wallet.
This option is at the bottom of the payment page and when a valid promo code is applied the savings are visible as a line item.
Enhanced privacy settings
We take user privacy very seriously. Parents have a new section on the menu called “Privacy” where they can find out what is visible to whom and manage their privacy settings.
Subscription management
Bubble Plus users are able to view and manage their subscriptions within the Account menu. You can change plan and payment method from your account settings.
