Who Is Grindr for These Days?

Where Does It Get This Label?

While online dating has been around longer than Google, it wasn’t until 2009 that the first smartphone dating app was launched—and that app was Grindr.

Like all of the most popular apps, in its 17 years of existence Grindr has been given a colloquial identifier. Tinder has become the “hookup app,” Hinge is the “relationship app,” (though recently, the two have seemed to switch places) and Grindr is known as the “gay dating app.”

And although it’s an app that keeps the entirety of the LGBTQIA+ community in mind, this label has persisted since its creation. In fact, today, the site refers to itself as the “global gayborhood in your pocket.”

“Grindr was built by and for gay men in 2009, and they remain the largest part of our community today, so it makes sense that people often think of us first as a gay app,” Tristan Pineiro, Chief Marketing Officer at Grindr tells Cosmopolitan. “It’s also why so much of our marketing speaks directly to gay men and gay culture.”

While there isn’t any available data of the the Grindr user’s sexualities, 90 percent identify as a man, cis man, or trans man. Ten percent identify as non-binary, trans woman, or other.

But Pineiro explains that the community is more expansive than any label—even one that’s persisted for this long.

Who Is on the App Today

“Today, Grindr is the largest social network for gay, bi, trans, and queer adults to connect with one another in whatever way feels right for them, whether that’s sex, dating, friendship, travel, or simply finding community,” he says. “What unites our users isn’t a single identity, but the desire for a space designed specifically around the ways queer people connect.”

He’s not wrong. There are countless Reddit threads online where people of all gender identities and sexual orientations describe their experiences on Grindr. One user who identifies as a trans man explained on Reddit: “Honestly you being trans doesn't really change the overall experience. You're gonna get good guys, weirdos, creeps, maybe even friends, just like any other dating app.”

And that doesn’t seem to change for bisexual men.

“It's for men who have sex with men, most people don't care about the label,” another Reddit user said of the app as a bisexual man.

Like any dating app, people struggle with finding connections, rather than worrying about what they have between their legs or what they look like. Some users have complained about Grindr’s growing reputation as more of a “hookup” app, or even a place where married men cheat on their spouses. Anyone who’s ever been on a predominantly heterosexual dating app knows that this isn’t shocking or even uncommon.

But regardless of a few bad actors, Grindr itself seems steadfast in trying to be a safe space for LGBTQIA+ users to find connections—whatever that looks like for them. And that means investing in their safety, health, and personhood, too.

“While the Grindr community and the audiences we serve through the app are distinct, our responsibility to the broader LGBTQIA+ community doesn’t stop at the edge of the grid,” Pineiro says.

Over the years, Grindr has engaged in LGBTQIA+ health, human rights, and political lobbying. This includes HIV testing initiatives, marriage equality campaigns, and more.

“Through our advocacy, partnerships, and community work, we want to help make the world safer and more equitable for LGBTQIA+ people everywhere,” Pineiro says.

So if you’re looking to find a place to explore queer connections—even if you’re not a gay man—you won’t be alone on Grindr.