Is Grindr's Reign as the Gay No. 1 Hookup App Over?

Amid the seemingly never-ending complaints over the Grindr app's user experience and glitches, more gay-oriented apps are reportedly stepping up to take advantage and grow their audiences.

As reported by Mashable, user frustration is causing longtime app users to look elsewhere.

The app has been hit by a plague of issues in 2024, including problems with the "taps" feature, its "explore" feature, and limited usability outside of the app's paid tiers.

"Since a major investment in modernizing our chat platform earlier this year, we are aware that our users have experienced technical challenges on Grindr," said a spokesperson for the app. "We appreciate our users' loyalty and support as we invest in upgrading and improving the Grindr experience."

According to the Pew Research Center, queer-identifying Americans are more likely to use dating apps than straight ones. Grindr launched in 2009 and has grown to a reported 14 million active users. However, the latest kinks in the app seemed to be solely the fault of the accompany, according to gay dating apps.

"Since their creation, all apps focused on the algorithm of a man looking for a man have been competing with Grindr in one way or another and dreamed of winning the attention of at least part of their audience," said Taimi founder and CEO Alex Pasykov.

With glitches and the gatekeeping of different features frustrated users, other apps could end up knocking Grindr off its throne.

"Our company is privately held and is queer-owned and queer-led," said Eric Silverberg, founder of Perry Street Software, developer of SCRUFF and Jack'd. Silverberg stressed that being private has made a difference in its ability to control the user experience.

"The publicly-held competitors in the dating landscape are publicly-held stock companies. They have intense pressure to monetize," said Silverberg. "And eventually, this day would have come, sooner or later, if you have that kind of investor pressure, and this is the consequence you're seeing – a lot of pricing pressure across the board in the software industry broadly, and in [the] dating industry in particular."

Then there is newcomer Sniffies, which CMO and creative director Eli Martin says "is driven by a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by the LGBTQ community."

He added, "And we strive to create a platform that is not only functional but also empowering, risk-taking, and inclusive."

In the same way, Silverberg attributes Perry Street's success to understanding its community needs.

"We have worked over the years to build a very thoughtful, very intentional queer ad business," he said. "We only work with advertisers that want to be on our platform, they really want to reach our community, not working with shady games companies."

They have been reaping the benefits by converting users.