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.
Category: Jack’d
Dating App Jack’d To Remain Free Contrary To Recent Reports
ABO
UT-ONLINE – Oct 27 – Contrary to a recent Bloomberg report that dating apps are switching over to pay models, Jack'd, a hook-up gay app, says it will remain free. "Our research continues to show that our targeted demographic does not pay for music, games, movies, or dating," stated Phil Henricks, VP of Strategy and Business Development at Online Buddies, the parent company of Jack'd. Jack'd's monetization is through selling ads to corporations. ~60% of Jack'd's revenue comes from Fortune 500 companies, clothing retailers, and the tourism industry, all of whom have run banners on the app in recent weeks.
Grindr Promises Privacy, But Still Leaks Users’ Exact Location
WIRED – May 20 – Computer researchers in Kyoto, Japan discovered a stalking method which is cheap, reliable, and works not only with Grindr but other gay dating apps like Hornet and Jack'd. It's known as trilateration. If Grindr or a similar app tells you how far away someone is—even if it doesn't tell you in which direction—you can determine their exact location by combining the distance measurement from three points surrounding them. In the US that's not a problem but in Islamic countries or in Russia, it can be very serious that their information is leaked like that.
In late 2014, Grindr responded to security researchers who pointed out that risk by offering an option to turn off the app's distance-measuring feature, and disabling it by default in countries known to have "a history of violence against the gay community". The lingering issue, however, remains: All three apps still show photos of nearby users in order of proximity.
Mobile Dating Apps Spur HIV Among Asia’s Teenagers
THE GUARDIAN – Nov 30 – United Nations research has found the growing use of mobile dating apps by young gay men is a major factor in a new HIV epidemic among teenagers in Asia. While global HIV infections are falling, the number of adolescents aged 10-19 officially living with HIV in Asia has grown to ~220K. Grindr runs in-app announcements encouraging testing at local clinics. Online Buddies, the parent company of the gay dating app Jack'd, set up a research institute focusing on gay sexual health.
by Oliver Holmes
See full article at The Guardian
Online Buddies Has A New CEO
OPW – Nov 23 – Online Buddies has appointed Hector Camacho as their new CEO. Hector worked with Online Buddies for 5 years as their Director of Advertising from 2007 thru 2012. Now he’s back as their CEO, after the CEO of 8 years Adam Segel left the company in April. Online Buddies runs Manhunt, and the gay dating apps Jack’d and Dandy.
Full Disclosure: Online Buddies is a prior client of Courtland Brooks.
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Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.
Samsung Ban Gay-dating Apps In South Korea Over ‘Moral’ Concerns
GAYSTARNEWS – July 11 – Samsung and Google Play have taken down gay networking apps including Jack'd in South Korea. Samsung refuses to list apps like Hornet, Grindr or Scruff in its country owing to 'local moral values.' Jack'd has ~500K users in South Korea.
New Apple Watch Dating Apps
MACWORLD – May 20 – Tinder, OkCupid and Match.com were quickly to introduce a Watch app, but a few other lesser-known dating sites introduced Apple watch apps this month. Clover cuts to the chase with its "on-demand" dating. With two taps, the Clover Watch app finds users a nearby date and suggests hotspots where the two can meet. WatchMe88 works like a radar that detects singles nearby. Apple Watch faces start to glow if two compatible users are close to each other. Another app in development is "Close Encounter". The app ditches the profile photos and focuses on personality. Users get notified whenever there's a match nearby. Jack'd claims to have created the first Apple Watch app for gay guys.
by Oscar Raymundo
See full article at Macworld
Jack’d – First Gay App On The Apple Watch
NEWNOWNEXT – Apr 23 – Online Buddies, Jack'd's parent company, has launched the Apple Watch app extension. The new Jack'd Apple Watch app features default responses and emojis for quick responses, bookmarked favorites, and full profile options with multiple public and private photos. Online Buddies also owns Manhunt, and a new dating app – Dandy.
by Dan Avery
See full article at NewNowNext
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This post also appears on Wearable.ai.
Jack’d CEO Adam Segel About Changing Times
NEXT MAGAZINE – Aug 29 – Jack’d has polled its 5M users recently. 80% of their users are ages 18 to 25. 40% of them are actively looking for long-term relationships, according to the poll. “What we found was surprising”, said Adam Segel, CEO of Jack’d. “I’m 42, and when I was growing up, you couldn’t think about getting married. We were meeting in bars where all the windows were blacked over.” He noted that people write a lot about themselves on Jack’d. They write about concerts, books they’ve read, musicians they’ve liked. It then leads to entirely different opening lines.
by Benjamin Lindsay
The full article was originally published at The Next Magazine, but is no longer available.
Younger UK Gay Men More Likely To Get Married Than Older Counterparts
PR NEWSWIRE – March 27 – With same sex marriage to be legalized on March 29th in England and Wales, Jack'd surveyed its members, 80% of which are 18-30 years old, on their impressions of marriage and love in modern times. 62% of gay men 18-25 stated they would be open to getting married to another man, whilst only 45% of 26+ saw marriage in their future.