Grindr - Gay Dating & Chat

What is Grindr - Gay Dating & Chat?

Grindr is a free social networking app for those within the gay, bi, trans, and queer community. Touted as a chat app, Grindr is commonly used as a “dating” app that features geo-targeting in presenting member profiles to users.

Grindr is for adults ages 18 years and older, is free to download and features in-app advertisements and purchases.  Grindr is available for both iOS and Android devices.

The most popular gay dating app on the market, Grindr features a no-frills interface that’s easy enough for non-tech-types to navigate.

Most reviews of the Grindr app make it pretty clear that it is much like Tinder, where gay singles can go to look for a hookup that more than likely won’t turn into anything of substance.

Grindr makes signing up easy, asking for just an email, username and birth date to “verify” users are of legal age. Users can give as much or as little information as they want.

After creating their account, users then specify what “tribe” of men they’re interested in, the desired age range of matches, and what sexual interests they’re looking for in a match.

Grindr “tribes” are self-designated categories members use to label themselves on the platform, which typically indicates their physical appearance. Grindr tribes are meant to help users navigate the platform more smoothly and narrow down their matches to those types to which they’re typically most attracted.

As the tribe categorization might suggest, Grindr is much like most other dating apps in that it is heavily based upon appearances. Because of the emphasis on looks and the ease with which users can sign into the platform, fake profiles and catfishing are rampant on the platform.

Many users report these scam profiles are created to elicit photos, typically nudes, from other users via private messaging. Grindr does, however, enable users to report other members if they are violating the terms of use and moderators are typically quick to respond.

Pop-up ads are featured throughout the Grindr platform and in-app purchases come in the way of subscriptions to Grindr XTRA, which range in price from $11.99 to $77.99.

Grindr XTRA accounts remove banner ads from the subscriber’s interface and provide a slew of additional filtering options to make navigating the app much more straightforward. XTRA subscriptions also allow users to block an unlimited number of profiles on the app and send multiple photos at the same time.