Popular gay dating app Grindr now available in the Android Market

By Cory Streater  | Mar 07 2011 | 11:26 pm  | 34 Comments

Straight app said to be in the works, too

Good news for our Android-loving gay male readers. Grindr, a popular location-based social networking application designed specifically for gay men, is now available in the Android Market.

Grindr is a unique app that utilizes GPS information to enable guys to interact with and meet other guys in the area. Users can view profiles and photos, share stats, chat using Grindr's built-in instant messaging feature, and if all goes well -- meet in person. Privacy controls allow users to share as much or as little information as they're comfortable with.

Grindr introduced its application to iOS users in March 2009. The Los Angeles-based company now has an impressive 1.5 million members, spanning 180 countries worldwide. On a daily basis, 300,000 members login and spend an average of 1.3 hours using the app. Grindr has also said they're adding new members at a rate of 3,000 members each day. By adding support for both Android and Blackberry (beta) users, Grindr hopes to accelerate this growth even further.

Grindr is free for download in the market. There's also a premium version that removes ads, increases the number of favorites a user can have, displays message notifications when the app is running in the background, expands the number of guys users can see in the area, and enables a feature that allows users to swipe back and forth to browse through profiles. The premium version runs $4.97 a month after a free 7-day introductory trial. 

Grindr is also said to be developing a version for straight men and women also.

 

 

 

Check out all the details at Grindr's blog, and grab the download links after the break. [Grindr]

 

Cory Streater

Cory Streater Forums Administrator

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There are 34 comments

Starfleeter says:

Wow, I can't believe this news made Android Central considering what this app is usually used for >.>

kindaskimpy says:

LOL We're all grown up around here.

rockyjay says:

You would have to actually use the app to know what it's used for, and for everyone it's different. I think it's big news considering AppBrain has consistently shown a gay app in the top three of "Popular apps among men." Actually, right now out of the top 5, 3 are gay apps. There's obviously a big Android market for it.

kindaskimpy says:

Yeah I agree. It's gotten a bad rep for being a hook up app but neither I nor any of my friends use it that way

djdanska says:

Oh it's a LOT better than the app called "Party And Play" LOL. I don't know how they let that in the market if manhunt couldn't get its uncensored app to stay in the market.

I generally stay very far away from guys who "pnp". Tweaked out twinks anger me.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pnp

ioioi210 says:

One word...

FAB-U-LOUS

EDIT: I would like to add this is for purely comedic purposes.

kindaskimpy says:

Jokes aside, I'm happy to see another long time iOS staple make the jump to Android! It's been a long time coming and I know some people who hadn't jumped ship just because of this app lol Now they have no excuse!

gcims says:

Are the moderators and censors going to have to call in back up with this one?

Jjpp23 says:

Gay...

tim242 says:

It is a bit buggy, but glad it finally made it over here! Btw, it is a nice social networking app for us gays : )

BDHN1 says:

I agree! I usually feel like the lone homo when I post anything here, good to know there's company.

kindaskimpy says:

LOL Don't worry, you are not the only homo in the village. We're everywhere.

mgymnop says:

You are not alone;-)

gracefulminutes says:

Just like LFC, you never walk alone ;)
Buh-bye encountr!

dharris007 says:

So I've been waiting around for this app, and it's not even compatible with 2.3 ... wtf?

kindaskimpy says:

It's not compatible with 3.0 either. Runs fine on my EVO and my Epic but won't even think about starting up on my Xoom.

BDHN1 says:

What I don't get is that it CAN run on Gingerbread. Someone I know slipped me the .apk about a week ago and I've been using it the last week. They just didn't let it out into the market with everyone else. I hope it performs better than it has for me, the thing force closes like nothing I've ever used before.

ShaneOryan says:

my only problem with this app is the name... it makes bad pictures in my head

mgymnop says:

Finally:-) Bye Bye encountr.

booboolala2000 says:

Craigslist is already on here.

jademaster says:

The fact you posted this without bias just made me a registered/loyal Android Central fan!

BTW Love Lloyd. ^_^

NickF227 says:

(Most) gay men are nerds, at least in my experience. We like our techy crap.

Encountr sucked, so I'm glad this has finally came around.

vancouverp says:

Glad to see this app available for Android, now I just wish there was something similar for us lonely straight men.

kindaskimpy says:

The team behind Grindr has expressed their intention to create one for you, our straight brethren, but considering how long they took to get this one out on the market, I'd encourage you to take a seat and read a book or two. lol

Starfleeter says:

It's funny because I soon as they updated to Grindr 1.5 on iOS, I saw all the changes and immediately thought "Hmm, maybe this big update means an Android version that looks like this is coming out" and less than a week later, it did. Honestly though, it's really buggy and the picture upload is very low res and crops pictures too much. It already needs a major update.

rexdeaz says:

I'm actually glad you guys posted this. But it just so happens I recently moved to West Hollywood and have had my fill of gay guys for the month, so my initial reaction was not.......as nice as it could have been.

ranphi says:

Has anyone else noticed that this app perpetually turns on GPS for a second or two throughout the day, even if you have the app preference for "allow GPS updates in the background" turned off? I'd be using my phone and about every 10-15 minutes I'd see the GPS icon pop up in my notification bar and this all started after installing Grindr today.

And I could definitely tell the impact on my battery from this. I posted this as a comment for the app in the Market and then uninstalled it from my phone.

This same problem occurred in the last 2 betas of the Grindr app as well, so I would think they would have to be aware of this issue.

Sigh. :(

tim242 says:

I got to manage apps in settings and force close it, or just disable GPS via toggle.

focr6 says:

Yay!!! lol now im on gridr too! ha! prefer manhunt though... lol

hoosiercub says:

Doesn't work on Gingerbread though, nice to see it finally making it's way to Android, weird that it was on Blackberry before Android though.

Kage87Z says:

Sounds like a queer deal to me.

kinster02 says:

Its ok to be gay thats what they say. This app is better suited for the new little hp Queer.

djdanska says:

This app is horrible. Constant force closes, won't connect, freezes. I immediately went right back to grindRoid instead. It's that third party grindr app for android. They made them take it off the app market but I was lucky enough to get the apk of it on a google search. It runs flawlessly.