We’re excited to announce the launch of Play Safe, a new video series educating users and the broader public about Grindr’s safety policies and practices.

Grindr has a world-class moderation and customer experience team that has made significant investments in user safety on the platform over the past few years. Play Safe is designed to raise awareness of Grindr’s many safety features, and to introduce the Customer Experience team to our users and with people around the world.

The campaign is comprised of quick, fun videos featuring real life members of Grindr’s Customer Experience team alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race icon Kandy Muse, who plays a new hire at Grindr helping to debunk Customer Experience misconceptions, spotlight the work of the Customer Experience team, and make safety issues more approachable and engaging for users.  

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The following safety features are included in the first installment of Play Safe:

• The ability to mute, block, and report bad actors on the app in order to have a safer, better experience. Reports are reviewed 24/7 by a team of human moderators who have been trained on LGBTQ-specific cultural sensitivities and gender-inclusive content moderation.
• Features that allow users to verify each other before meeting up to avoid catfishing, such as audio chatting and video chatting.
• Grindr’s moderation team, which operates with more than 99% accuracy and conducts frequent internal audits to ensure that moderation decisions are as fair and accurate as possible.

Grindr works day-in and day-out to make our app a place where the LGBTQ community can feel safe and supported, because we know that’s not always true of the world at large. Play Safe is the first in a series of videos spotlighting Grindr’s work around user safety and privacy—stay tuned for future episodes.

Ten months ago, we published a blog post outlining our expansion of image rules to include underwear. It was a critical step towards our mission of allowing the Grindr community to express themselves more freely. Today, we are announcing another exciting update to our rules, which includes more butts!

Let’s start with Grindr’s philosophy on image policies. We believe:

• All of our members deserve fair and equal treatment, regardless of gender, body type, or other physical attributes. Anything other than this is discrimination.
• Moderation policies should be clear, easy to understand, and easy to enforce, without much room for interpretation or bias.
• There are many contexts where showing skin is not considered pornographic by the app store policies we’re bound to, even in the context of a dating app.

When creating our rules and guidelines, we concentrated first on ways to remove bias and discrimination from the moderation process as much as possible. We recognize that assessments of how sexual a photo is can be influenced by common gender biases: how much skin someone shows, how much body hair they are expected to have, how the fat on their body is distributed, etc.

In addition to general moderation training, our moderators regularly receive specific training on bias, gender, microaggressions, and discrimination, to help them make as fair and equitable decisions as possible. We also do not take body hair or body type (or, body hair type) into consideration when reviewing photos.

Here are our new guidelines for public profile images

The following is Not Allowed:

• Pornographic images & depictions of sex acts
• Full frontal or graphic nudity

The following is Allowed:

• People of all bodies (all ethnicities, all sizes, all genders, and all identities) expressing their sexuality joyfully
• Underwear photos
• Non-pornographic sexual poses
• Some images of buttocks if they are non-graphic and without an overly sexual context

While we are committed to sex-positivity, and hope that most of our users enjoy the new guidelines, we also know that not everyone is comfortable seeing that extra bit of skin. For those people, we recommend filtering your grid to only show people who have a face photo as their primary image. We hope to have more ways to customize and personalize your experience in the future.

We’ve come a long way with image policies in the last year, and are proud to say that our policies are now more intuitive, inclusive, and less prone to bias. We hope that the vast majority of our users will feel confident in understanding our rules and uploading their photos without fear of the images being rejected. In general, our guidelines are very similar to Instagram and YouTube in terms of what we do and don’t allow.

That said, there will always be images that push the limits of what is clearly allowed, and we do have to draw the line to prohibit what the app stores consider pornography. It’s extremely difficult to accurately define what is and isn’t pornographic. As United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said, “…I know it when I see it.”

We, however, have to define it in a way that is less vague, and so we have set criteria to help our moderators make informed decisions:

• Pose - Is the pose sexually suggestive?
• Context - Is the image in a private, intimate, or sexual setting? Is there more than one person in the image, or props that need to be considered?
• Nudity - Is there a focus on genitals, even if clothed? (Keep in mind that any explicit nudity must be rejected regardless.)

If the image includes sexual content in only one out of the three categories, it is more likely to be acceptable. If it has sexual content in all three, then it should be rejected. If a photo has sexual content in two out of the three categories, it’s an edge case and needs to be evaluated individually, keeping all aspects of the image in mind.

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When determining edge cases or boundary-pushing images, we’ll consider the apparent intent of the image. Of course it’s hard to know exactly what someone hopes to convey when they upload an image to Grindr, but we draw the line between these two scenarios:

• Allowed: Hey, look at me, don’t I look attractive and like you might want to have sex with me some time?
• Not allowed: Hey, I bet this image makes you imagine yourself in this exact scenario with me having sex just like this…

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A note on gender and nudity:

We are working towards gender-inclusive photo rules for our community instead of holding men, women, and nonbinary people to different standards. Unfortunately due to the current app store policies, we must include women’s nipples as a prohibited nudity category in our photo policies. Men and nonbinary people are allowed to show their nipples.

Given the millions of users who use the app every day, we moderate a lot of profile images.  In addition to our (amazing) human moderation team, we do also auto-approve some images that our artificial intelligence system classifies as “definitely not pornography.” This helps our team to focus on those difficult edge cases, and to ensure that any rejected image is done so after careful consideration. That said, both AI and humans can sometimes get things wrong, so you may see images on Grindr that don’t perfectly fit within the rules we’ve outlined above. If that’s the case, we would love for you to let us know by flagging and reporting the profile so our team can take another look.

We hope that explaining the thought process behind our image moderation practices helps you understand what is and isn’t allowed, and why. Our moderation team works hard to help Grindr feel like an inclusive, sex-positive, and fun place to be.

In 2016, after consulting with countless LGBTQ activists, public health officials, and Grindr users, we added the optional HIV status field to give users more choice in the sexual health information they share, as well as more visibility around sexual health information in general. We followed the same process when we added the “vaccinated” tag upon launch of our My Tags feature so that users had more ways to exchange information about how they were managing the COVID-19 epidemic. Today, we are taking the next step in that process, once again following consultation with our public health partners and our own users, many of whom have been choosing to highlight their vaccination status, for multiple vaccines, in the “About Me” section of their profiles.

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That’s why we’re rolling out a vaccination status field which allows users to share whether they’ve accessed shots for COVID-19, monkeypox, and meningitis. COVID-19 has obviously impacted the entire world, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity; monkeypox has had a disproportionate and particular presence in our global queer community; and meningitis has hit our community particularly hard this calendar year, specifically in the US state of Florida.

We strive to provide the tools for Grindr users to have open conversations about their health and optimally communicate with each other about these crucial topics. We're also committed to maintaining our privacy and data security by only using this information to allow users to be transparent with people they meet, and never sharing it with advertising partners. This small addition will move us forward in that mission, while also creating additional pathways for users to learn about these health concerns.

Journalist Eric Marcus, founder and host of the Making Gay History podcast, has interviewed many queer pioneers in his day, but there’s something special about his interview with trans activist Marsha P. Johnson, a beloved figure in the LGBTQ civil rights movement, and Randy Wicker, one of the most visible gay rights activists of the 1960s.

As part of our Pride series on queer history, Eric has distilled an excerpt of their conversation that focuses on the night of the Stonewall Rebellion. Check out their convo below and listen to the full Making Gay History episode here.

Marsha:  

The way I winded up being at Stonewall that night, I was having a party uptown. And we were all out there and Miss Sylvia Rivera and them were over in the park having a cocktail.

I was uptown and I didn’t get downtown until about two o’clock, because when I got downtown the place was already on fire.  And it was a raid already. The riots had already started.  And they said the police went in there and set the place on fire.  They said the police set it on fire because they originally wanted the Stonewall to close, so they had several raids.  And there was this, uh, Tiffany and, oh, this other drag queen that used to work there in the coat check room and then they had all these bartenders.  And the night before the Stonewall riots started, before they closed the bar, we were all there and we all had to line up against the wall and they was all searching us.

Eric:  

The police were?

Marsha:

Yeah, they searched every single body that came there.  Because, uh, the place was supposed to be closed, and they opened anyway. ‘Cause every time the police came, what they would do, they would take the money from the coat check room and take the money from the bar.  So if they heard the police were coming, they would take all the money and hide it up under the bar in these boxes, out of the register.  And, you know, and sometimes they would hide like under the floor or something?  So when the police got in all they got was the bartender’s tips.

Eric:  

Who went to the Stonewall?

Marsha:  

Well, uh, at first it was just a gay men’s bar.  And they didn’t allow no, uh, women in.  And then they started allowing women in.  And then they let the drag queens in.  I was one of the first drag queens to go to that place.  ‘Cause when we first heard about this…and then they had these drag queens workin’ there.  They didn’t never arrested anybody at the Stonewall.  All they did was line us up and tell us to get out.

Randy:  

Were you one of those that got in the chorus lines and kicked their heels up at the police, like, like Ziegfeld Follies girls or Rockettes?

Marsha:  

Oh, no.  No, we were too busy throwing over cars and screaming in the middle of the street, ‘cause we were so upset ‘cause they closed that place.

Eric:

What were you screaming in the street?

Marsha:  

Huh?

Eric:  

What did you say to the police?

Marsha:  

We just were saying, no more police brutality and, oh, we had enough of police harassment in the Village and other places.  Oh, there was a lot of little chants we used to do in those days.

Eric:  

Now were there lots of people hurt at the Stonewall that night during the riots?

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Marsha:  

They weren’t hurt at the Stonewall.  They were hurt on the streets outside of the Stonewall ‘cause people were throwing bottles and the police were out there with those clubs and things and their helmets on, the riot helmets.

Eric:  

Were you afraid of being arrested?

Marsha:  

Oh, no, because I’d been going to jail for like ten years before the Stonewall I was going to jail ‘cause I was, I was originally up on 42nd Street.  And every time we’d go, you know, like going out to hustle all the time they would just get us and tell us we were under arrest. They’d say, “All yous drag queens under arrest, so we, you know, it was just for wearing a little bit of makeup down 42nd Street.

Eric:  

Who were the kinds of people you met up at 42nd Street when you were hustling up there.

Marsha:  

Oh, this was all these queens from Harlem, from the Bronx.  A lot of them are dead now. I mean, I hardly ever see anybody from those days. But these were like queens from the Bronx and Brooklyn, from New Jersey, where I’m from.  I’m from Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Eric:  

Now you mentioned an organization that…you were involved with.  What was the name?

Marsha:  

Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries with Miss Sylvia Rivera.

Randy:  

STAR.

Eric:  

What was that group about?  What was it for?

Marsha:  

Ah, it was a group for transvestites… men and women transvestites.

Randy:

It was a bunch of flakey, fucked up transvestites living in a hovel and a slum somewhere calling themselves revolutionaries.  That’s what it was in my opinion.  Now Marsha has a different idea.

Eric:  

What’s your opinion?

Marsha:  

Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries started out as a very good group.  It was after Stonewall, they started, they started at GAA.  Mama Jean DeVente, who used to be the marshal for all the parades.  She was the one that talked Sylvia Rivera into leaving GAA, ‘cause Sylvia Rivera who was the president of STAR was a member of GAA, and start a group of her own. And so she started Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.  And she asked me would I come be the vice president of that organization.  The building was owned by Michael Umbers, who was in jail.  And didn’t Michael Umbers, when he went to jail, the city took over the building and they had everybody thrown out. But originally the rent was paid to Michael Umbers who went to jail, and Bubbles Rose Lee, Bubbles Rose Lee, who was secretary to STAR, she had all kinds of things around the building and stuff, you know.  So the city just came and closed the building down.

Curious about Stonewall? Check out these episodes of Making Gay History to learn more.                        

There is no denying the progress being made toward HIV treatment and prevention. In 2019, the CDC published that an estimated 34,800 new HIV infections occurred in the United States, representing an eight percent decline in new infections from just four years prior.

This decrease was largely due to a significant decline among gay and bisexual men, where new infections dropped 33% in those aged 13 to 24. According to goals projected by the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE), these numbers will continue to drop, with hopes to reduce new HIV infections by at least 75 percent come 2025 and by 90 percent come 2030.

HIV educator, researcher, and advocate Kalob Gossett, believes much of this progress can be attributed to the sustained  increase in PrEP use. “According to the CDC, preliminary data shows that in 2020 about 25% of the 1.2 million people in the U.S. for whom PrEP is recommended were prescribed it, compared to only about three percent in 2015,” he tells Grindr.

PrEP and Antiretroviral Medications

In Gossett’s opinion, the biggest stride we’ve made in the prevention and treatment of  HIV is the confirmation that if a HIV-positive person is undetectable that they cannot transmit the virus to someone else. (Undetectable = Untransmittable.)

“This has allowed HIV-positive people to take back control of their lives and their sex, combats the stigma of having sex with someone who is positive, and gives them a bigger role in HIV prevention,” he says.

This milestone has been made possible by the creation of antiretroviral medications, which became the new standard of HIV care in the mid ‘90s. There are now over 30 antiretroviral medications, which have been categorized into six classes. Each class attacks HIV in a different way with the same objective: to increase T-cells (CD4 cells) and reduce the amount of HIV to undetectable levels (below 200 copies/ml of blood measured).

“HIV is treated with two or three different medications, although those medications can now sometimes be combined into one pill,” Gossett says. “This is because attacking HIV from multiple directions reduces the viral load more quickly, which has been shown to control HIV the best.”

Another leap in HIV treatment came in 2010 when a study confirmed that taking a daily dose of antiretrovirals not only helped those who were HIV-positive, but also could protect people from becoming infected. In 2012, the FDA approved the drug Truvada once a day for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) which, when taken as directed, can lower your risk of contracting HIV to nearly zero.

Nine years later, the injectable drug Apretude (cabotegravir extended-release injectable suspension) was approved by the FDA. The medication is initially given as two injections administered one month apart, and every two months thereafter.

Gossett is hopeful that, in addition to daily pills and injections every two months, we may soon see additional preventative options like weekly pills, anal and vaginal rings, enemas, and more.

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HIV and Race

Despite incredible developments in HIV prevention and treatment, not everyone is equally benefitting from them. According to data published by the CDC in 2019, Black/African American people accounted for 42 percent of new HIV diagnoses and Hispanic Latino people accounted for 29%.

“The reality of a positive HIV test result is terrifying, especially to people of color,” Jacen Zhu, HIV-positive activist and adult actor, tells Grindr. “The stigma faced by Black Gay/Queer person within our community alone leads to lack of access to healthcare, disclosure-phobia and reactionary plans to combat the rising HIV transmissions within our community. It's rough, especially coming from a matriarchal family that suffers the ailments of poverty and being Black. ”

“Thus far, the data shows we are doing a decent job of ensuring white gay men get access to HIV services but clearly what we’re doing isn’t enough for communities of color,” Gossett confirms, adding that communities of color need to be at the forefront of conversations and decisions on new approaches.

For example, you may not know that Black women account for nearly 60% of new HIV infections in US women, yet cisgender women are continually left out of HIV conversations, research studies, marketing of services, and funding opportunities. This means Black women not only experience the barriers of the Black community, but of women as well. “While gay and bisexual men and transgender women need these services, we need to consider everyone in our strategies if we truly want to end the HIV epidemic,” Gossett says.

Despite institutional factors against him, Zhu began proactively attending support groups and welcomed supportive people in his life to empower him and be confident in his HIV status. A wise decision, given research published in 2015 found that support groups are one of many factors that enhance the confidence of people living with HIV. Others being: family support, improved understanding, financial independence, etc.

“When I was diagnosed with HIV things were different, but today, we have advancements in science that support the messaging of Undetectable equals Untransmittble, “ Zhu says. “Personally, I think that's a big win and change for my life and others living with HIV.”

HIV and Porn

In a sex-positive industry such as pornography, one might assume that there is ample support for those living with HIV. But unfortunately, when it comes to bigger studios, that’s not the case.

Understanding that studios will put certain rules and regulations on performers based on their status, award-winning adult actor Brock Banks thinks a lot of them are harsh and outdated, and believes the people fronting these studios could benefit from some education on HIV and prevention.

“Most studios will not pair an undetectable model with a model who is negative, even though undetectable means untransmittable,” he explains. “I will say that the majority of the studios that implement this sort of pairing are straight-owned studios and I think that’s a huge part of the issue.”

However, with the emergence of fan sites like OnlyFans and Just For Fans, it’s become far easier to find informed and enthusiastic performers to film with.

“I don’t have issues finding people who are willing to shoot with me regardless of my status, but I’ve been turned down by a few guys,” Banks says. “And although it’s not a good feeling, I know that it’s not my place to decide what someone else should be ok with when searching for a sexual partner.”

Despite the initial shame he experienced upon his diagnosis 10 years ago, which caused him to avoid sex entirely for over a year, Banks has accomplished things he never thought possible. He’s successful, he’s had incredible sexual experiences, he’s been in healthy and beautiful relationships, and he’s gleaned invaluable insights along the way.

“Being HIV positive changed me forever; it’s made me so strong and fearless and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he says. “No matter what your status is, what other people think about you is none of your business, so keep your head up and always take care of yourself first.”

Looking to the Future

There are constantly new studies occurring in the realm of HIV, including new medications to determine if they are effective in treating and/or preventing HIV as well as new ways of providing treatment or prevention. While he can’t be sure we’ll ever see a cure, Gossett is confident we will witness HIV evolve from an epidemic to an endemic in our lifetime.

We’ve made substantial progress. In August 2021, Moderna started human trials for a mRNA vaccine that will end in spring 2023. This marks the first HIV vaccine and trial of its kind since all that came before it used an inactivated form of HIV. “Researchers are cautiously optimistic about the outcome of this study, but only time (and data) will tell,” Gossett says.

In the meantime, the best thing we can do as a community is spread the word. “We can empower people to prevent and treat HIV properly by sharing the information needed to take care of themselves,” Gossett says. “Ideally, we could implement an adequate and inclusive sexual health curriculum into our schools, but we all know that is a long shot given the chokehold conservative values have on the United States.”

We should also make an effort to normalize talking about HIV to further destigmatize the subject. You can do this by discussing the last time you got tested, asking your friends if they know about PrEP, and inquiring about the status of sexual partners.

“These conversations can be awkward, but that’s why stigma continues to be so prevalent with HIV and STIs,” Gossett says. “The only way to make the topic less taboo is to have these conversations more often, providing more opportunities for others to learn.”

Hello! Today we are launching a new feature globally: Boost. Yes, you saw that right. Boost is now in beta. Not “Boots.” Although … boots!

Grindr Boost places you near the top of nearby users’ grids for up to an hour, allowing you to attract more attention from accounts that are still close by but maybe just out of the usual range. Boost also unlocks your “Viewed Me” list for 24 hours, so you can chat with anyone whose eye you caught.

At the end of the Boost, we'll send you a report with the number of taps, chats, and views you received—a Boost Report, if you will. And if you think you've hit the record for attention in your city, @ us on Twitter with a screenshot of your Boost Report so we can keep tabs on who is the Grindr Supreme.

Tips & Tricks                  

‍Be Photo

Boosters with a photo get far more attention than people who boost without. If you have a photo already, consider updating it before your next Boost session to catch someone's eye.

Be Ready

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While you can purchase a Boost at any time, be advised that it begins at the time of purchase so we recommend using it when you're ready and responsive. This way you'll be able to make the most of the attention. Speaking of attention, if you're looking to get the most taps, chats, and views then definitely boost during the evening or weekends.

Be Free

Staying online and responsive during your Boost will help you get far more attention than if you walk away from your phone. Oh, yeah, if you're an Unlimited subscriber be sure to turn off "incognito" before Boosting or you won't show up at all (don't worry, we'll remind you).

What's Next

We're still testing things out, so things may change—including how we promote your profile, pricing, and promotions for our subscribers. If you have any feedback, be sure to fill out the survey in the upper righthand corner of your Boost Report. Otherwise, check out our help pages for the latest on how Boost works.

Boost. Boots. Boost the house down!

Have fun!

Customer feedback is a vital part of our decision-making process here at Grindr. Our Voice of the Customer program is one way that we stay connected to our customers and their feedback. On a regular basis, we pull qualitative and quantitative data from customer emails, content moderation reports, UserVoice, app reviews, social media, and more.

Of course, our customers are also a key stakeholder, so we want to share with you what we are hearing (and doing to respond) as well.

Low Quality Ads

At the end of March, we saw an increase in the amount of feedback about ads on Grindr, particularly about ads coming to the product from third-party ad networks. The cause of the issue was the result of our migration to a new programmatic ad platform (the old one was sold and shut down). In the early days of the new platform, a number of issues arose, and ad quality was really bad. We have made good progress to address these initial issues, but continue to tune the system to improve ad quality and reduce issues. We have seen a big drop in complaints in the past couple of weeks. That said, we will often show lower quality ads than you may be used to seeing in other apps.

Why is that? First, we make the majority of our revenue from premium subscriptions. But for our free users, we still need to generate enough revenue to pay for the core service. High quality ads rely on “targeting” (ie, providing a lot of data about a user to an advertiser to help them select the best ads to show). But, for more than two years we have pursued the highest data privacy standards for our users. The result is that instead of highly targeted ads, we can only offer highly “untargeted” ads. Only a small number of companies (generally gaming apps) will even bid to show an ad to us given the absence of even industry-basics data from Grindr, such as age, gender, interest or location.

We know low quality ads are frustrating and ugly. They also don’t generate much revenue. We are working on new ways to improve the quality of our free experience, including the quality of ads. But we remain fully committed to maintaining or even increasing our industry-leading privacy practices. In the meantime, if you spot an ad that is particularly problematic or causing performance issues, please let our support team know so we can investigate.

Fewer Ads

In the last two years, one way we worked to reduce the impact of ads on the user experience was to dramatically reduce the number of ads we show. In the last two years, we have reduced the total ads shown to customers by over 50%. We have moved or removed ads that appeared at times that bothered you the most. Most recently, you may have noticed the elimination of the “banner ad” at the bottom of the app. That ad alone accounted for the majority of ads we showed customers, so pulling that ad was the most significant reduction in ads we have ever done. We also removed the full-screen ad that appeared at times after you blocked a profile.

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Bugs and Outages

We know these are a pain, and we’re always working to eliminate bugs and outages. Your bug reports are triaged by a dedicated support team and shared with our Engineers to help them reproduce the error and find solutions. The more information you provide (including screenshots and videos!) the better head start we have in getting things working for you again. One of the metrics we regularly review is a 7-day average of how many of you have had a crash free experience. As of the time of this post, 98% of iOS customers and 99% of Android customers have had a crash free experience this week. We want this number to be at 100%.

Discrimination and Racism

Not acceptable. We’ve heard a number of people in our community tell us about the casual and direct racism and discrimination they’ve experienced on Grindr. Your feedback is clear: you want us to do more to reduce harmful and hateful content. We’re down. We launched in-app warnings for some cases of bullying and harassment to discourage unacceptable behavior before the permanent step of banning. That said, we want to be clear that some cases are so severe and blatant we ban them immediately. We’ll be working on further versions of this warning system in Q2.

We’re also partnering with Spectrum Labs, and starting to use automated systems that identify and remove some content that violates our community guidelines even before it’s reported to us.

Finally, we’d like you to know that our content moderation team is specifically trained on bias, microaggressions, the LGBTQ+ community, and other dynamics that might be unique to our users. We have a newly created internal Escalations Team (that sits within our wider Trust and Safety department) to ensure we handle these situations with the nuance and care they deserve.

Spam and Scams

We hate them, too. We have a dedicated team of engineers, data scientists, and subject matter experts who specialize in fighting spam. In recent months, the team’s work has reduced spam to an all time low, but these efforts are not wars that can be “won.” Instead, it is an ongoing battle for Grindr (and all major internet services). We are increasing our investment here and hope to keep delivering improving results going forward. As we make changes and adjustments, so too do the scammers trying to get around our defenses by creating more elaborate scams.
Some new scams we’ve seen are crypto “investment” scams and blackmail scams to trick you into providing personal information. We have created a Scam Awareness guide so you can recognize red flags. It will take increasing diligence from our community to stay alert, and from the team at Grindr to come up with new ways to stop them before they get to you.

If you grab the bull by the horns, don’t be surprised when he bucks.

Love: Mercury may be in retrograde, but love can still be in the air. But be careful, bull. One rough buck can throw things off course. You don’t have to win every fight.

Lust: There’s no business like ho business! And you own 100% of that ass. Now go trade it publicly.

Friendship: You don't need to fly any jets to win over your friends. You can keep it simple, just "Hold [Their] Hand," Gaga.

Work: You’re busy this month and it’s about being a gay-on-the-go. Save time by wearing your jockstrap to work.

Love: No shade but, with the price of groceries right now, are you really in the position to be saying no to free dinners? Text him back!!!

Lust: Tops may come and go (literally, that’s what they do), but sex toys are forever-ish. Expand your pleasure chest and enjoy some self-love.

Friendships: You may be distancing yourself from a few toxic friendships, but at least your multiple personalities can keep you company!

Work: They may pay you to do one thing, but it’s also your job to keep up with “Drag Race” for Twitter. You HAVE to watch “All Stars 7” during that team meeting. You can’t let one job interfere with the other.

Love: Just because the Tony nominations dropped, doesn’t mean your love life needs to be in “A Strange Loop.” If he’s not changing now, he won’t ever. Be careful with the “Company” you keep.

Lust: Like they say, the better the weather, the hornier the crab. They say that right? If they don’t, they do now. Time to come out of your shell and on to his face.

Friendships: No one has sacrificed more than you for your friends and they should know it! Treat the next reunion like you’re “Real Housewives” and unload all your issues. Your birthday is coming up!

Work: If you’re gonna be coerced into capitalism, you at the very least must get paid your worth! Your P-Town house isn’t gonna pay for itself.

Love: Stop covering up your insecurities with displays of pride. Be vulnerable, lion, he might make your kitty purr.

Lust: Until these gas prices go down, you’re only hosting. Use this as an excuse to feed your need of being catered to constantly.

Friendships: Not to be cheesy, but stop giving people the corner slice of the lasagna that is your life when they’re only giving you the regular pieces of theirs!

Work: A rising tide raises all salaries, and it’s HIGH TIDE. Tsunami high. Tell your boss to get a lifeboat.

Love: Are you the “Wicked” movie? Then why are you senselessly dividing yourself into multiple parts for men that don’t even know one part of themselves. Stop “Defying Gravity” for men who have done “No Good Deed.”

Lust: The only thing that should be up your ass all the time is the string of your thong. Stop letting these shareholders act like sole proprietors.

Friendships: Our friendships with others teach us a lot of things, including how we don’t want to be. Let your messy friends be a warning and not a guide.

Work: Dare you to procrastinate just one time. Just to feel something. Unless that something is anxiety about how you’re procrastinating for the first time.

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Love: Stop talking to men who can’t communicate. If you have to text, email, DM AND send him a smoke signal to get anything in return, do literally ANYTHING else.

Lust: Spark chaos this month! Moan louder for the guy with the smaller dick at your next threesome. Humble these men while humoring yourself.

Friendship: You love being eco-friendly, but you can't keep recycling the same excuses for canceling on gay’s night. They all know you’re available!

Work: New challenge: next time you want to reply to a work email while you’re on a date, you have to cover the entire bill.

Love: If you think a relationship is all it’s gonna take to make you happy, remember that Taylor Swift released two of her saddest albums after being in a relationship for 5 years.

Lust: You gotta stop promising these men things you know damn well you’re not going to deliver. They’re gonna start calling your hole Elizabeth Holmes.

Friendships: Your reckless posts on main are bringing down the stock of the group as whole. If you’re needing validation, send your content to the group chat, not the grid.

Work: Imagine the ass you’d have if you spent all the time you overthink the smallest things at work by doing squats instead!

Love: Memorial Day is upon us. You can use it to honor and remember your deceased love life.

Lust: Time to be more annoying than you usually are. Sext with words you’d use to describe wine. Reply “wow, full bodied and well balanced” to his next dick pic. Then let him stomp your grapes.

Friendships: You can’t lie and say you’re ok, not ask for help and then be mad no one helped you, queen! You have the support system just ask for it!

Work: Next time someone tells you to turn on your camera for a Zoom meeting, tell them appearance fees need to be negotiated with your manager. Unless that person is, in fact, your manager.

Love: I know you’ve watched 17 minutes of “Heartstopper,” but please, whatever you do, DO NOT TEXT YOUR EX.

Lust: Stop traveling for men who can’t really accommodate you. Start demanding basic amenities. If he doesn’t have his own poppers and lube, is he really hosting? Or are you just coming over?

Friendships: The margaritas aren’t the only thing that should be spicy at happy hour. Drop some juicy goss that takes the margs from “on the rocks” to “in your face.”

Work: Dolly Parton is starring in a TikTok musical about Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza. You can make one excel spreadsheet.

Love: How come every kiss begins with K, but every top begins with “Sup? Looking?”

Lust: Topping at one sex party and then bottoming at another hours later. You are your own multiverse of madness.

Friendships: Don’t be jealous of the lives former friends are living on Instagram right now. Everyone just got their tax returns!

Work: Pride month is coming. Start compiling your list of minor work inconveniences that you’ll label homophobic in June now!

Love: There’s more LGBTQ representation in the Marvel Universe than there is in your bedroom as of late. Panicking about things you can’t control is not gonna eat your ass at night! Go on a date!

Lust: There are plenty of places for you to play a supporting role. The sex party is not one of them. If you’re gonna be part of the production, be the star, not an extra!

Friendships: Your normal social circles are getting a bit stale. Start a rumor about yourself.

Work: I hope you’re reading this horoscope on company time. If not, leave and come back when you’re on the clock.

Love: You come from a long line of powerful vers/bttms. Don’t put up with drama from a man who doesn’t value you. Your forebottoms didn’t make sacrifices so you could triple text with a man who hasn't read a book since high school.

Lust: Idle hands do the devil’s work, so be sure to keep them busy all month servicing others.

Friendships: Friendship with you is a privilege and people are treating it as their right! Let them know they’re wrong.

Work: That pain you feel is from carrying the whole team on your back. Take a rest this month, close the inbox and open up a bottle of wine. You deserve it.

^{Art by Jaime Hayde}

There have been many times in my life where I’ve considered myself a side. Not to be confused with side piece, or upgrading your fries to onion rings for an extra 99 cents. A side, in the sexual sense, is an individual who doesn’t enjoy giving or receiving anal penetration. Instead, sides prefer less invasive sexual acts: frottage (dry humping), making out, oral sex, intimate touch and massage, mutual masturbation, and other things of that nature.

There was a time not too long ago that I went nearly an entire year without penetration due to a painful surgery I required after a particularly rough sexual experience of mine involving a Prince Albert and an anal fissure (you can imagine the rest).

Understandably, it took several months to even consider bottoming again. But I’m human, after all, and had my horny moments, so I quickly developed an affection for non-penetrative sex. Sloppy makeouts, mutual masturbation, oral sex and some other kinky activities were all I was featuring at the re-launch of my newly refurbished hole and, truth be told, these were some of the best sexual experiences of my life.

Though I’ve since returned to penetrative sex, for some folks, penetration is never comfortable as either top or bottom, and it’s far more common than you might think. In 2011, researchers surveyed 25,000 gay and bisexual men and found that only 35 percent had participated in penetrative sex during their most recent hookup, whereas three-quarters had given or received oral sex. What’s more, three in four men surveyed said they preferred kissing, oral sex, handjobs and mutual masturbation.

Since penetration is often regarded as the holy grail of sex acts, I’d argue there are more sides out there than are willing to admit. In part, because we only recently started acknowledging their existence. So let’s talk about that.

On the side

The idea that someone may not enjoy anal intercourse doesn’t seem particularly difficult to understand, yet sides were only first acknowledged in April 2013, in an article titled “Guys on the ‘Side’: Looking Beyond Gay Tops and Bottoms” in the Huffington Post. The author, sex and relationship therapist, Dr. Joe Kort, wrote the article after seeking a term to describe his own sexual proclivities.

“I felt very alone when I dated in my twenties,” Dr. Kort tells Grindr. “A lot of good guys passed on me because I didn't want to fuck. And since I didn’t have a word for it at the time, I’d just tell them I didn’t have anal sex. When they’d tell me that it was a dealbreaker, I’d say it was a dealbreaker if we had to do it.”

To help others with this preference, Kort sought to create an easily identifiable term to help establish community and a sense of belonging among like-minded folks who felt rejected among the gays.

“I was sitting around with friends, trying to admit to them what I was—but I didn’t have the word for it,” he remembers. “But I was tired of shaming myself over not having intercourse, and my friends were like, OK, well, what do you call it? So I thought out loud and said I'm not a top and I'm not a bottom, and then I just thought about a box and blurted: maybe I'm a side.”

The term stuck. After ruminating on it some more, Kort felt comfortable expressing this part of himself to others outside his circle. “I remember admitting it for the first time at a sex therapy workshop for gay men,” he remembers. “It was so freeing. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”

Not long after, Kort published the aforementioned article, daring gay men to ask themselves: “What if a guy isn't a top, a bottom or even versatile? What about gay men who have never engaged in anal sex and never will, ever?”

Since then, the term has been picked up and published everywhere from Pink News to GQ. TikTok and Reddit have also become particularly influential mediums for spreading the word.

Taking his advocacy further, Kort created a closed Facebook group called Side Guys where like minded folks can introduce themselves, share experiences, advice, and establish a sense of understanding and community. Conversations within the group span from spicing up alternatives to anal penetration to how to best express you’re a side on apps like Grindr (who recently added side as a position). As a member myself, I can verify that it is a positive and uplifting space that almost feels like a support group.

“People in my group feel liberated,” Kort shares. “I don’t have many side clients because the group is their therapy. Among their peers, they don't feel shame or the need to unpack the reasons why they don’t enjoy penetration. They feel relieved almost immediately.”

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Side stories

Since my own experiences will not speak to everyone, I had conversations with a number of sides (some of whom asked to remain anonymous) to get their perspective.

Nate

Before identifying as a side, Nate, 32, was a fairly versatile lover, but never found topping and bottoming as satisfying as he assumed others did. “I have a high pain tolerance, but bottoming was always uncomfortable for me,” he begins. “Whether the tops were either too big, too forceful, or too eager, there have only been one or two times when bottoming has felt good––and trust me when I say I’ve tried a lot.”

When topping, Nate felt that handjobs and blowjobs were more satisfying “I don't really feel anything when topping, and the times that I've ejaculated as a top were purely thanks to my imagination,” he says.

Nate shares that he and his partner of five years have only had anal penetration six or seven times. As their relationship developed, they were relieved to discover that neither were all that fond of anal penetration, preferring instead to eat each other’s asses, suck each other’s cocks and masturbate to porn together.

Prior to his partner, Nate confesses he would either ghost sexual partners before penetration was on the table or would feign a stomach issue. He, like many sides I spoke to, often feel pressure to have anal sex as if it’s some kind of expectation, even after expressing they don’t want to.

Kerem

“I feel the need to be assertive in my refusal to participate in penetrative sex, even though I struggle with confrontation,” Kerem, 24, shares. “There have been many times my partners have interpreted me not wanting to have penetrative sex as being a prude or ‘playing hard to get’ which has led to some very disturbing and non-consensual experiences.”

This is particularly important to Kerem because he has been sexually assaulted in the past, something he believes contributes to his identity as a side as he has since found bottoming difficult and painful.

“My own experience aside, the idea that penetration is the only validating factor during sex is pretty wrong to me,” he says. “I will always prefer oral and a long foreplay over anal anytime, so it is infuriating that sex is reduced to a short penetrative activity where it can be a longer period full of intimacy and exploration.”

Simon

Simon, 30, says gay men will treat him one of two ways: like a prude or an alien. “They just can't imagine sex outside of penetration,” he explains. “When I do find someone else who prefers oral, or identifies as a side, it's like that scene in the Parent Trap when the twin Lindsay Lohans remove their fencing masks and immediately connect.”

Simon, like many sides, is more versatile in his preference. He will have penetrative sex on occasion, but only with somebody he trusts and is comfortable with. Sides, like most sexual preferences, exist on a spectrum. Some are willing to have (and will enjoy) penetrative sex occasionally, whereas others will not engage in penetration at all.

Atlas

For Atlas, 18, being a side compliments his identity as someone who is gender non-conforming. “I go by he/him pronouns, but I can fit into nonbinary or gender non-conforming because I relate to both identities,” he explains. “Being a side compliments my identity because it’s comfortable and doesn’t feel out of place whether I’m eating ass, pussy, receiving head, or sucking dick. There isn’t a clear dominant and submissive person, at least in my preferred experiences. You can be whatever you want to be.”

Subverting expectations

Apart from what’s been expressed above, there are many other factors one may identify as a side, from erectile difficulties, body image issues, performance anxiety, medications, the chore of preparing (for bottoms), health issues, chronic pain, a well-endowed partner, fear of STIs and HIV, past traumatic experiences, the list goes on.

These are all perfectly understandable reasons to validate their preference, yet they still feel the need to because sides feel othered. The bottom line being that everyone should have the autonomy to experience pleasure however they choose.

“We need to remember that things like foreplay and masturbation are still sex,” Dr. Kort says. “I’ve heard many queer and straight men say they aren’t having sex if penetration isn’t involved, and that’s incorrect.”

It’s for this reason that many sides speak around their preference instead of addressing them outright. “I just tell a prospective partner that I'm not looking to fuck,” Simon says. “But it still feels like an alienating conversation and one that often feels moot to have if we end up not clicking.”

A commonality among the sides in my conversations was the sense of shame associated with their preference. Because they represent a minority in an already marginalized community, sides can experience extreme loneliness, and fear that they will only further isolate themselves by expressing their disinterest in penetration. Kort goes as far as to say that coming out erotically as a side is like coming out a second time.

Shame is not something we’re born with, of course, it’s learned. We’ve long been fed the narrative that penetration is the ultimate sexual act. This is an outdated script that stems from cisgender, heterosexual (and homophobic) intercourse that prioritizes procreation. It’s the same reason we’ve become so goal-oriented regarding sex, meaning a sexual experience is not enjoyable or successful unless one or both partners climax.

By simply existing and staying visible, sides question why we place these expectations on ourselves. Who are these almighty rule-makers dictating what sex should be or look like. Better yet, why are we listening?

Anal sex (or “sodomy” as it was written by law and inextricably used to incriminate gay people) didn’t even become completely legal in the US until 2003. And today, only 18 states in America require HIV education to be medically accurate. That’s insane! Clearly, whatever parameters our society is placing around sex is not only purposelessly limiting, but painfully out of date.

Sides challenge what we’ve long considered the norm, creating a larger sexual space to play in. One with fewer boundaries and expectations where we can experience pleasure without pressure.

Now that there is finally a term for it, the challenge now is to normalize it, and Kort suggests we start with the apps, where most sexual communication takes place. “I think all these apps should include side as an option,” he says. “To really help people understand that not being a top and not being a bottom doesn't mean there's something wrong with you, and to help sides find each other.”

To normalize further, sides need to be visible and vocal. Representation matters; something our community understands all too well. So while side recognition may still be in its infancy, nobody knows how to advocate and uplift better than the LGBTQ+ community, where nobody should feel othered for their identities and what they like (and don’t like) doing sexually.

The Wall Street Journal has run a sensationalized story about the historical vulnerabilities in the adtech ecosystem that were improperly exploited to allegedly obtain data from some of Grindr’s former ad partners. The issues with adtech are real, unfortunately the WSJ is using scare tactics in a ploy for clicks.

A few things we want to make abundantly clear:

• What the WSJ describes would not be possible with our privacy practices today, practices we proactively implemented two years ago
• Grindr takes the privacy of its users extremely seriously, and we have put privacy before profit:
• Since early 2020, Grindr has shared less information with ad partners than any of the big tech platforms and most of our competitors, restricting the information we share to IP address, advertising ID, and the basic information necessary to support ad delivery
• Grindr does not share users’ precise location, we do not share user profile information, and we do not share even industry standard data like age or gender
• Grindr gives all our users globally the choice to control whether they receive personalized advertising    
• Grindr works with a limited number of ad partners who we review semiannually against rigorous data privacy and best practice standards
• The tradeoff of reducing the data shared with ad partners to below even industry standard is the ad quality is lower for users and of course Grindr’s ad revenue is lower as well

Our users value privacy, and we continue to put our users’ needs first. The issues threatening the LGBTQ+ community are real – issues like homophobia, prejudice, and state sponsored surveillance and violence, among others. Protecting privacy and protecting the LGBTQ+ community is and must be an ongoing effort for all of us. Grindr literally puts its money where its mouth is on this issue, I wish the WSJ would do the same.

-Patrick Lenihan, VP of Communications | LinkedIn

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It’s Aries szn. The season of the ram needs a gentler touch.

Love: Dating is hard now. It’s not like “Bridgerton,” we don’t just marry someone hot after 4 conversations and a cursory glance at their bank statements. Don’t let the fact that you’re not in “The Gilded Age” turn you into The Jaded Bottom.

Lust: Easter is coming, a holiday that brings millions of people to their knees. You’ll be on yours too, but it won’t be to pray.

Friendships: What did we save the daylight and lose an hour of sleep for if not pitchers of margaritas on a patio! Grab your gays and get those rims salted.

Work: Summer is coming soon. Be gay. Do Crimes. Douche on company time. Coordinate your next vacation during a Zoom meeting. Insider trading. Who cares?

Love: There are nearly 4 billion men on this planet. Statistically, one of them has to want to text you back, right? RIGHT?!

Lust: You say violence is not the answer, but your kinky ass definitely wants to be slapped (and maybe choked a bit) while people watch in amazement. Consent is the key here.

Friendship: Group trips don’t always have to be out of town. Your local gay bar bathroom stall is right there. The best of tea is spilled in the powder room!

Work: Top that twink in human resources. Hole is a resource too, ya know!

Love: Next time a man wants to know what your love language is, tell him you’re multilingual. You’re fluent in receiving gifts, quality time, AND words of affirmation!

Lust: Deep inside all of us there are multiple dreams, wishes, and aspirations. Deep inside you,  there will be multiple members of the local Equinox.

Friendships: Listen up, Korra. You may be powerful, but you can’t bend your friends to your will forever. Start playing nice or you’ll be at an Avatar party of one.

Work: You’re feeling tempted to take on some new gigs and…you should. Your Ubers of shame aren’t gonna pay for themselves.

Love: If you make it to the end of this sentence without thinking about him, you win. But you didn’t, so better get as comfortable with taking L’s as you are with taking inches.

Lust: They say romance is dead, but it’s not! You just have to pay attention to the smaller, kinder gestures. Keep track of the ones who kiss your ass goodnight after they're done using it.

Friendships: Bottling is for tequila and lube, not for your emotions. Crying in private is not a permanent solution—tell them how they’re hurting you.

Work: Cause a little drama this month just to spice things up. CC your boss in an email about one of your coworkers getting married with the subject line: “UNIONIZING.”

Love: You’ve had more love interests at once than the entire cast of “Desperate Housewives.” Focus on one, Edie, lest the rest of the cast will have you killed off mid-season for stealing their men and making their lives so difficult.

Lust: It’s time to turn up the heat in the bedroom. Try some new things. Do something so hot and dirty, you wouldn’t even write about it in your diary.

Friendships: You love to be the ingenue of every situation, but keep being a diva and you’ll be the only one taking bows when the curtain closes. Sure, it’s fun being bent over, but certainly not alone!

Work: If the IRS tries to come for your money this year, tell them you’re not paying taxes because that’s *not* Met Gala Behavior.

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Love: You’re calling him “daddy” when he doesn’t even call you back.

Lust: The weather is nice and you should treat yourself to a nice cruise. No, I’m not talking Royal Caribbean—your local park will do. You won’t be out to sea, but you can still get wet!  

Friendships: You don’t listen to your girls complain about the same guys for hours not to be able to cash in some favors when you need them. That’s right, it’s someone else’s turn to host the pregame!

Work: No one likes completing a task quite like you, but it can’t be all work and no play. For every item you’re checking off your boss’s list, add a little something you wanna try for daddy.

Love: At this point you’d rather trade nudes with Ron Desantis than sit through another boring dinner date. I get it. Spice up your first date suggestions. Activities are fun. We mean bowling or laser tag, not bathhouses!

Lust: You’re branching out into topping this month. You can do it. Kiss your cock ring three times and say the magic words: There’s no place like hole.

Friendship: Your friends made you sit through a three-hour GRAMMYs for Lil Nas X to not even win a single award. You have sole aux cord in the Uber privileges for every weekend til Memorial Day. TAKE NO REQUESTS.

Work: Sure you can put quitting your job on your summer bucket list, but how will you pay for any of the other things on it, sweetie?

Love: You are responsible for your own salvation, babe. What makes you think this man will save you from a burning building when he won’t even save your number in his phone?

Lust: Your hole is like a garden, it needs lots of well-planted seeds to thrive. Luckily, this season you’re meeting a lot of men with green thumbs. Don’t be afraid of the finger too though!!

Friendships: You do not have to tell every acquaintance you see at the bar “let’s get coffee soon.” You don’t even like coffee and you *really* don’t like them. Why lie twice? God is counting!

Work: Capitalism is a scam. Drink all the company La Croix you want. Hell, take some Cliff bars home for your friends and roommates!

Love: I know being single may be making you lonely but, no matter what, please remember: You is kind. You is smart. You is not lonely enough to be posting statuses on Facebook.

Lust: Stop lying in bed and telling men they own your hole. They may be shareholders, but you know damn well they are not sole proprietors!

Friendships: Mercury may not be in retrograde, but sometimes it feels like your mental health is. Don’t be afraid to ask your friends for help. You don’t listen to their lies for nothing.

Work: Your Pride travel calendar can’t give “Carmen Sandiego” when your bank account is overdrawn and underpaid. Ask for that raise now or the only Pride rainbows you’ll be seeing is on someone else’s IG story.

Love:  Ignorance is bliss and knowing things is the direct cause of unhappiness. For true peace, live your life with an empty head and open legs.

Lust: Just because you like rawhide doesn't mean your hole needs to look like leather. Give it a spa day. The return on investment will be well worth it!

Friendships: We get it…if friendships were grade school, you’d be valedictorian! But how about passing some of that knowledge along for once? Tutor others on how to be a better friend to you instead of letting them all flunk out! No one likes a mean nerd!

Work: Office morale is at an all time high. You know what that means? It’s time to start a vicious rumor!!!

Love: Your friends are settling down, but it’s time for you to settle some scores. Call up that ex who hurt you, text that man who ghosted you. Get closure or get even! The choice is yours.

Lust: They say you’re only as good as your last performance. If that’s the case, you’d win an Oscar for pretending he’s laying it down better than he actually is. Stop faking it! He’ll never get better if you reinforce poor performance!

Friendships: We’ve experienced a global pandemic, economic collapse, natural disasters, and…you want to stay in on a Friday night? When you might run into your crush? Listen to the group chat…GO. The world is burning!

Work: You are running things and thriving in all aspects of the workplace. It’s enough to make you wanna change your tax status to Head Of Household. Careful—with great power bottoms come great responsibilities…

Love: There’s a thin line between love and hate but a continent between you and all your Instagram crushes. Expiring photos can’t satisfy you forever. Start shopping local!

Lust: This month, your hole will be struck down by more middle-aged men than proposed legislation that helps the working class.

Friendships: There’s nothing that can't be solved over mani-pedis and a movie night with your girl. Don’t you think that one argument over Jorgeous’ elimination has gone a little too far?

Work: There’s a way out of any after-work social situation you don’t want to be in! Just get creative. Make up a dog you don’t own. Tell them your grandma has syphilis. The more unbelievable it is, the less likely they are to investigate.

Welcome to #WorkItWednesday, Grindr's feature on employees and programs at the heart of the work we do to connect the global queer community.

Meet Daniel Kim (he/him), Senior Android Engineer at Grindr!

Daniel Graduated from Cal State Long Beach where he studied Computer Science. Prior to Grindr, Daniel held several positions where he got to work on projects including anomaly detection for a satellite system and the development of an NLP (Natural Language Processing) system. After wrapping those up, Daniel found himself on Grindr’s Android team and hasn't looked back. He joined Grindr in May 2021 and has loved working with a team of innovative engineers on impactful projects.

Check out Daniel’s Grindr story below, and take a look at our careers page to learn more about our open job opportunities.

What drew you to Android engineering specifically?

Android engineering is very fast-paced. It can be daunting how fast things change in the industry. But the complexities of mobile devices, coupled with the pace of change is exactly the reason that I love it. It keeps me on my toes and is really exciting. With coding languages and industry standards changing, keeping up with the evolution of the field allows me to constantly learn. For instance, a lot of legacy Android code is in Java but Kotlin is a new and much more sophisticated coding language that helps to push out features faster and creates a more reliable app for the user. Having to switch gears and learn a new coding language here at Grindr has helped me become a better developer.

Have you always worked in the software industry?

I have worked in a broad set of industries prior to joining Grindr. I have been a part of academia, FinTech, and different start-ups. While I have always worked in coding, I have always been more drawn to the technical pieces of a role rather than the industry. Working for Grindr was exciting because I got to work on interesting tech projects such as the migration from MVC to MVVM + CLEAN to clean up the architecture of the app. This made it so that we could write better and more stable code.

Tell us why you joined Grindr. What do you love most about our mission and our culture?

I was looking for a company that gave me the opportunity and autonomy to work on technical projects that I was passionate about. A lot of companies are so “feature-focused” that they set their engineers to work on that and only that. Grindr has the perfect balance of working on rolling out features and exploring new ways to make the app better for users. The company really values the quality of the work over the speed.

I really feel valued working at Grindr. People care about you and you are more than just your job. It feels wonderful to work on a team of invested coworkers where we all believe in the mission of the company of supporting the LGBTQ+ community in connecting worldwide.

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What is the most interesting thing about working for Grindr?

I keep going back to having the space to work on the things that I want to work on. Autonomy is not only allowed, but encouraged. That creates a much different environment from my previous roles. It also makes me feel like the team is moving the app forward when we get the freedom to be creative. One interesting thing I have been working on is refactoring the code to ultimately allow us to focus more on our user base and launch new and exciting features faster!

How have you grown professionally while on our team?

I have such a great team and manager to lean on for support at Grindr. My manager has really gone above and beyond to help me develop not only my technical skills but also my interpersonal skills. I can tend to be a little more reserved, but he has created a space where the team feels comfortable speaking up and voicing their opinions. He also encourages me to go outside of my comfort zone to learn and grow. I have recently started sitting in on interviews for the team and it has been great to contribute to that work, too.

I have always been interested in learning more about mobile application security. Grindr actually has a security champions program that brings together people from different engineering functions of the company to address security on the app. I have been able to work on security projects which has not only helped me develop a broader understanding of mobile security but also dive into an area that I was really interested in.

What interesting problems is your Grindr team solving for and what are you looking forward to for the future?

Recently I have been partnering with the growth team on some new projects geared towards that. This is my first time working on growth-focused projects and it's really interesting to think through the ways that we engage users with the app and implement new offerings to deliver more value for them.

We’ve also been upgrading the testing pipeline by shifting our Bitrise workflows, emphasizing better instrumentation, and unit testing and moving our UI test to Firebase Test Labs. This allows us to build faster features and reduce bugs and crashes, all while providing a better and even more secure experience for our users.

And this is just the beginning – our roadmap for upcoming features and user experience is so exciting and I’m really happy to be part of it.

If you are interested in working with talented engineers like Daniel at a company where you can see immediate impact on not only the work, but for the LGBTQ+ community, you should apply today!