If you’re a gay or a bi man, or if you’re a masc-identifying trans person you’re probably more than familiar with Grindr. For the uninitiated, Grindr is essentially the Gay Tinder… but with fewer niceties and more no strings attached (NSA) sex. While the site bills itself as a place for gay, bi, and trans people to meet, it’s mainly targeted toward gay and bi men as well as masculine identifying trans people.
So if you’re a gay lady (or a femme-identifying person), you’re probably going to be much better off on HER. Grindr – like Tinder – was a trailblazer in the casual dating space, especially when the app first hit app stores. While the app was at the height of the hype when it first came out, how doe Grindr stack up against competition now?
First Impressions
Grindr’s overall layout has definitely gotten better since the early days of the app. It’s the same general idea with the first page being a collage of the people near you. With the advent of a little space at the top for new arrivals to the app… because everyone wants to know who the fresh meat is of course.
The app allows you to filter your search to your own personal specifications. The far-right tab is where you’ll find messages to and from those you are interested in. You’re going to find a lot of headless torsos on this app… but that just comes with the territory when you’re dating in the gay scene. A lot of people are just looking to bang, and you’re not very likely to find the love of your life on Grindr.
Features:
I like Grindr’s layout more than a lot of swipey dating apps out there. I like that you can see the people that are near you as opposed to having to swipe through them only to never see the ones who didn’t match with you again. I like that you can get the lay of the land from one single page. I think that this is one of the ways Grindr kicks Tinder’s ass when it comes to layout.
I also think that the filter feature helps too. This allows you only to see the people that you might be remotely interested in. Unlike, apps like Bumble and Tinder you’re not going to be able to filter much except by age and gender. But even then there are a lot of other things that might be deal-breakers that aren’t encompassed by those two parameters.
You also can share photos!!!!! This is great, but this could totally be terrible if you’re bombarded with dick pics… it’s been known to happen.
Pricing and membership details
Grindr Xtra is what they’ve named their premium membership service. With the upgrade, you get access to an ad-less experience. You can see 6x the profiles (which comes to 600 at once). You can also make it so that you can only see people who are online now (which is helpful for getting laid in the immediate future). You can also avoid faceless profiles!
On top of that, you can block an unlimited amount of people (which strikes me as something that shouldn’t be paywalled), and you can favorite an unlimited amount of people. You can save phrases to make chatting easier and send multiple photos at once (plus you’ll have access to premium filters for those photos!). Like most sites, you can purchase one month at a time, or you can pay for 3, 6, or 12 months at a time for a discounted rate (but it’ll be more pricey out of pocket).
Pros
Huge user base: Unlike any niche sites, you’re going to find a huge amount of people on Grindr. Grindr is easily the gay version of Tinder – everyone has an account. I don’t care how much you detest the site or wish it was different, you probably have an account, and that’s just the truth. Grindr is paramount for that reason: it’s become a cultural expectation.
Plus, if you’re looking for something within the realm of NSA, casual sex, or fuck buddies… you’re going to want to download this app. Like Tinder, Grindr is more of a hookup app than it is a dating app. Its goal is to get people talking and connecting and hooking up as fast and efficiently as possible… so having a huge user base is paramount.
Connect with people all over: What I like about Grindr is that you don’t have to upgrade your service to be able to move around your location. You can connect with people from all over the world, not just the people in your city. This is great for pre-planning hookups for when you’re on vacation or if you’re looking for some NSA sexting. It’s easier to keep from getting attached if the person is across the country and not across the street.
Most dating or hook up services will paywall this sort of feature, so shout out to Grindr for giving an extremely useful and fun feature to the masses for free!
Cons
“Preferences”: Prejudice masquerading as preference has been a huge problem for Grindr over the years. A lot of people will unabashedly put the phrase “no fats, no femmes, no Asians” in their bio. When questioned about that, a lot of people use the defense that it’s just their preference it’s not prejudiced. But when it comes down to it, the gay community has a huge problem with body stuff and racism just like the straight community.
You can see a lot of drag queens pushing against this indecent norm. Take Kim Chi, for instance, she’s a fat femme Asian drag queen, and she’s put out merch that says “yes fats, yes femmes, and yes Asians”. She also is putting out a lot of merch that revolves around food, which helps with the body image problem within the gay community. That being said, you’ll find the worst in people on this dating app.
Forwardness…: If you’re a shy boy, it’s best that you go into Grindr fully knowing what you’re getting into. You’re going to be seeing a lot of faceless torsos, dick pics, and sexually explicit messages. With men, there are fewer boundaries put up and more boundaries crossed. So you might find yourself receiving some pretty salacious messages.
What I don’t like about this app is that you only have so many blocks. You can’t block everyone who’s going to harass you because they paywall that feature… in my opinion, it makes sense for them to paywall favoriting people but blocking people? I feel like that puts a lot of people’s mental and physical health in danger.
Conclusion
When it comes down to it, Grindr isn’t going anywhere. They’re still leading the charge on a lot of LGBTQ+ issues and have become a staple in the gay community… and you can’t just remove a staple. Grindr is definitely here to stay, hunty.
4.4/5 Stars