Bringing the Global Gayborhood to Your Pocket, Starting with Travel

When Grindr initially launched 15 years ago, it focused on enabling casual encounters. Over time, our community has identified new uses for the app, ranging from long-term relationships and networking to local discovery and travel advice. Today, the app is the connective tissue for the gay community all over the world, including in many countries where it is illegal to be gay. 

For decades, the global LGBTQ+ community has physically connected in cities around the world, creating hubs, or Gayborhoods, for local gay, bi, trans, and queer people to freely express themselves, enjoy a sense of safety and intimacy, and foster community through spaces created specifically for us. 

However, not all of us are able to access a physical Gayborhood. 

Today, we unveiled our vision to build the global Gayborhood into Grindr, empowering you and our millions of other users to digitally access resources and information for the global LGTBQ+ community, all in the app. By expanding Grindr to serve as the digital Gayborhood, we are bringing a crucial form of community, rich in information and connection, to you on your phone.

Bringing Our Global Users One Step Closer to Each Other With Roam^TM

We’ve learned that through our chat function, you have been using Grindr when you are in a new city or country to find gay-friendly places to eat, play, stay - and even events that are targeted toward the gay community. We also know that people want the ability to actually tell people they are going to be visiting a different location, so users can message and engage with them prior to their arrival, in addition to being able to find people in a different location using our popular Explore feature. Indeed, over the last few quarters, I’ve had many users reach out to me directly asking for this feature. 

To meet this need we’re announcing Roam, a new feature that allows you to temporarily place your profile in a new location ahead of a trip. Roam is the first of many future Gayborhood features we are launching, and it unlocks new travel functionality to bring you one step closer to other Grindr users around the globe. 

Roam allows you to ‘visit’ a new geography to explore other profiles, be seen by members of the local community, and chat with people in that location. Roam is currently in testing in several markets and will be launching broadly later this year.

Looking ahead, Grindr will continue building and rolling out new features to bring the Global Gayborhood to your pocket. Whether you are looking for casual interactions or seeking longer-term connections, the Gayborhood will have features for you to find what and who you are looking for, whether you’re at home or jet-setting. 

Through this work and Grindr’s overall success, I’m excited about the strides we’re making toward a world where the lives of our users are free, equal, and just.

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Earlier today, I discussed the vision for Grindr to become the global Gayborhood in conversation with Ryan Heath of Axios at Web Summit Rio, where I also demonstrated our new feature, Roam. Watch the replay here. 

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