INSTINCT MAGAZINE – Sep 6 – The series, titled What the Flip, is supposed to take a look at what the dating experience is like for different kinds of Grindr users. The first episode was already released last week and another one is coming out next week. The first episode shows a White man and an Asian man switching profiles and seeing how the other side lives.
Category: All Gay
New Gay Dating App DaddyBear Bans HIV-positive Men
PINKNEWS – Aug 26 – DaddyBear, a new dating app which aims to connect sugar daddies to younger guys bans people who are HIV-positive.
by Joseph Patrick McCormick
The full article was originally published at Pink News, but is no longer available.
82% Of Chappy’s Users Are Looking For Serious Relationship
STANDARD.CO.UK – Chappy was founded by Ollie Locke (of Made In Chelsea fame), Jack Rogers and Max Cheremkhin. The app is backed by Whitney Wolfe, co-founder of Tinder and now CEO of Bumble. Users can search for 'Mr. Right' or 'Mr. Right Now'. Each user is verified through Facebook and photos which do not feature the users face, will not make it through the apps strict vetting process. Since going live, Chappy has revealed that only 18% of the apps users currently facilitating the 'Mr. Right Now' setting, whilst 82% are looking for 'Mr Right'.
Grindr Is Trying To Become A Publisher To Attract Advertisers
DIGIDAY – Aug 16 – This week, gay hookup app Grindr launched a digital magazine called Into, which had been in pilot mode since March. Grindr hopes its new publishing arm can win over big brands that are otherwise pretty nervous about their ads appearing next to sexual content. Grindr hired seven full-time editorial people to create content for Into. Former Out magazine editor Zach Stafford is the new website's editor-in-chief. The content aims to attract millennials, the elusive demographic that advertisers are most thirsty to reach. Among Grindr's users in the U.S., 64% are under 34.
Match Group Launches Lesbian Dating App In Brazil
JORNAL DIA DIA – Aug 16 – Match Group LatAm is launching Femme, a dating app for gay women looking for a serious relationship. The app was created and developed in Brazil. The launch is part of Match Group LatAm's strategy of investing in niche relationship sites and apps.
by Ray Santos
The full article was originally published at Jornal Dia Dia, but is no longer available.
Valued At $7 Million, Gay.com Domain Donated To LA LGBT Center
NEWNOWNEXT – Aug 5 – Video chat company VS Media donated the domain name Gay.com to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The domain name was valued at $6.9M by its previous ownership. Founded in 1969, the LA LGBT Center is the city's premier LGBT advocacy organization. Gay.com is still in the process of transferring to its new ownership and still displays NSFW content. VS Media, which acquired the domain in 2016, was known for its cam site Flirt4Free. Previous owners include PlanetOut and Here Media.
Jack’d App Improves Location Security
ABOUT NEWS – Aug 1 – In response to rising LGBT hate crimes since the 2016 US Election (25% increase), the gay dating app Jack'd has heightened security with new features including one that blurs the GPS of its members. Before the launch of the blurring feature, Jack'd had disabled location sharing in countries where homosexuality was illegal. The blurring now allows these men to safely use GPS technology to find nearby men. It adds a rounding error to the member's coordinates so that other men are given a general idea of their whereabouts without pinpointing their exact location. Even Jack'd's servers do not know the exact location of members.
A Young Matchmaker Is Setting Up Arranged Marriages For Gay Couples In India
NEWNOWNEXT – Aug 2 – Urvi Shah, a young entrepreneur in India, is playing matchmaker, arranging marriages between gay singles in a country where homosexuality is still technically illegal. She launched the International Marriage Bureau for Gays and Lesbians (IAGM) in 2015. Since then, IAGM has helped 21 couples in India, and ~100 couples internationally, form long-term partnerships and marriages. Homosexuality was decriminalized in India in 2009 but, just four years later, the country's Supreme Court reinstated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, making same-sex relations illegal once more. Despite the fact that 95% of the population believes it the law should be repealed, marriage equality is still a distant dream for LGBT Indians. As a workaround, some of the couples who used Shah's service have gone abroad the knot. Others have had symbolic ceremonies, and some just remain personally committed to their relationships.
“Saw You At Stonewall” – New Jewish LGBTI Dating Site
GAYSTARNEWS – July 30 – Joanna Halpern is the Canadian lesbian Jew behind the new Jewish LGBTI dating site Saw You At Stonewall. She is saying that real people are behind the matchmaking, which makes each match more personalized and special. Halpern coded the website herself and is currently working with another woman on the algorithm for matchmaking. She hopes to offer two types of services – one that just uses the matching algorithm and the other that utilizes the volunteer matchmakers. Over 150 people signed up for Saw You At Stonewall's official launch. Though the trial was free, Halpern plans to charge a modest price for the site's launch. The service should go live within the next couple months.
Grindr Made A Big Change For UK users
PINK NEWS – July 15 – Previously, only premium users could receive push notifications when another user messaged them. Now all users in the UK will get push notifications automatically, rather than just paid-for Grindr accounts. Users in most of Europe and the US have already been able to access this function regardless of whether they pay for the service. Grindr has been running since 2009, with millions of using the app around the world. The app recorded ~10M downloads in 192 countries last year and 5M monthly active users.
