Once upon a time, gay men had to rely first on bars and then on anonymous Internet chat rooms to find other men. These days, apps like Grindr, Adam4Adam and SCRUFF make it easy to pinpoint the exact location of that guy who will become the next notch in your bedpost.
Good riddance to the bad days scanning pictures via USB cords, dial-up Internet and desperate phone calls with jumbled directions to some random apartment 20 subway stops away. Even with the marvel of GPS, sometimes these mainstream apps are just not, well, specific enough.
In the same way cable has disrupted the business model of the major television networks by hitting key niches with great content, so too a new generation of app founders are attempting to both fill and create new needs, pun intended.
Check out these nine gay apps you may not have heard of that will change your life (or at least your Saturday night).
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Bros4Bros
This app appears geared towards twinks and their fans. Looking for a toned 20-something in your area? Download the app (it’s free!) and search the thousands and thousands of profiles. Your future long term relationship, and we do mean long term with these young dudes, may be just around the corner… or down the block.
GPScort
Feeling lonely on a Friday night? GPScort can help. This new app helps users locate escorts, rentboys and porn stars in their area. Or as the app’s motto puts it: “Like Grindr for escorts!”
RECON
Want to get tied up? Whipped? Peed on? RECON is the app for you. This is to go-to place for gay and bi men into leather, kink and fetishes. And with over 1.2 million users in over 230 countries, there’s literally someone for every scene.
ManPlay
ManPlay offers a 100 percent guarantee that you’ll find someone to hook up with. And if you don’t? Whatever. It’s free. Whether you’re looking to meet a guy or a group, ManPlay promises just that: Man play.
Bender
Bender is a new hook-up dating app for gay, bi, and bi-curious guys looking to meet one another. It’s the #1 gay dating app in Spain. It also has a lesbian version called Brenda.
Mister
Mister is an app run by daddyhunt.com that’s geared towards older gay men and their admirers. Whether you’re looking for a little hanky panky or something more serious, Mister offers a one-stop shop for silver foxes.
GROWLr
Find out where the bears are with GROWLr, an app designed exclusively for gay bears. With over two million users, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a bear in your neck of the woods. Grrrr.
U2Nite
This app calls itself “a place for gays to be gay.” It’s less of a hookup app and more for guys looking for relationships. Or at least that’s what it claims. The name implies otherwise.
VGL
This app claims to be the “gay social network with the hottest guys.” Although, truthfully, it pretty much features all the same dudes you see on Grindr. But the unapologetically arrogant name adds a fun factor.
And for an added bonus…
GayCities
GayCities isn’t a dating app, but we had to give a little shout out to our parent company. Find and rate nearby gay bars, restaurants, and shops, as well as events and parties happening in your area. It’s easy and it’s free, just like we like our men.
Billy Budd
WHich one is the best? I mean in terms of number of participants. The largest community.
Fang
Wow! I never heard of any of these apps! I’m a Jack’d fan myself.
Billy Budd
It is useless to list an infinity of applications without making any judgement about them. Where is the reviewer?
vive
You know what? Bars and clubs and coffee shops used to be easier and a much more efficient way of hooking up than the hours and hours of aimless chat with 20 different prospects these apps require, only to have to turn them down in person because they don’t look like their picture or their personality is a turnoff.
money718
Grindr and Jack’d are still the best.
Billy Budd
@money718: Thanks. Do you happen to know if there are Grindr users abroad, specially in Brazil?
MISTER app
@Billy Budd: MISTER is definitely the best. Not that I’m biased or anything. ;D
Seriously – most of these offer something for everyone. Check out the ones that sound most interesting based on the description.
Fang
@Billy Budd: Jack’d has a lot of users abroad, particularly Asia. Not sure about Brazil. It’s worth a try!
christopher_tracy
real cool app–awesome design and options, yay!
guys are much nicer and more ‘real’ and mature than any other app, and I’ve met a few sexy guys near me 🙂
BramBear
What’s the best app?
Well it all depends on what you are looking for or what sub-community you identify as…
Grindr, VGL, Bendr and Bro4Bro are more for those into/identifying as twinks,Gym Bunnies, ‘Bros’ I find that the users on these apps (except VGL and Bro4Bro as I have not bothered to use them with the names of the apps I can tell I would not be welcome on them) are very much in to specific body types, those being Muscular smooth and skinny. I identify as a chubby bear and yes I am a chub. I was treated very poorly on Grindr and Bendr receiving several message that insulted my pictures regarding my body both as someone contacting me just to insult me (yes I reported them and blocked them) and in response to my messages I spend about 3 days of the 7 day trail (Grindr) using the app before I could not take any more hits to my self esteem and deleted both of them.
Recon: Is great for those who are (like the article says) into fetish/leather/BDSM (which I do) and only for those who are NOT looking for vanilla relationships. Recon is both great for hookups and those looking for ‘relationships’ however you wish to define that with in BDSM/Fet. Since Recon encompasses a very wide definition of BDSM be sure that you know what you are looking for, what your kinks/what you want to learn/explore are AND WHAT YOU NEGOTIABLE AND HARD LIMITS ARE!! If you are newer to BDSM I suggest you do some research about BDSM/Fet/Kink scenes/play/negotiation to be safe. Though most members of the BDSM community are awesome the nature of BDSM make it easy for some shady folks to take advantage of newbies (yes I have 1st hand knowledge of this…)
Though I would also recommend http://www.fetlife.com for those into kink/BDSM it’s a social networking site for Kinksters along the lines of Facebook. although it is open to a gender identities, sexualities and sexual identities.
The other App I have experience with is my favorite:
Growlr: For those who identify as Bears, Chubs and Chasers.
Since I identify as both Chub and Cub4Chub this app is for me! The user community on Growlr is very friendly and I find more willing to just say hi back when you message them or at a lease decline politely with at “thanks for the growl/message, I don’t think we have anything in common, but good luck out there!” style message over users on Grindr/Bendr where it was ‘Ewww, Gross’ or “Your FAT!” and other put downs.
(I know I am going to get those thinking that I am bitter, and perhaps I am)
The user base for growlr is huge and world wide!
there are great features such as:
-Blogging (used more as a picture share then for blogging thoughts) it enables users to follow and share more then the 3 pics that are accessible to all users (with ability to make the private to share with specific users) and the other 7 (I think I don’t have my phone in front of me) that can be both private and public but are only viewable by paid users
– Galleries: you can sort users depending on their profile preferences such as how they identify (Chub, Bear, Daddy Muscle Bear, Chaser, etc) their relationship status, what they are looking for (Bear, Chaser, Cub, Chub, No Stings, Sex, Chat, Relationship, etc) using galleries
-Location search: Using GPS to locate locals, browse other cities (that you may be traveling to), Global Search, Online users
– Events/Bars: users can submit local establishment listings such as bars and events free
– Checkin: checkin at local attractions and see if anyone else has done the same.
Send a Shout: for a few bucks you can send out shouts to all users in a given radius or globally (price depends on radius) to advertise events to promote your business or that you are looking for something/someone right away (most use it for events/business but some shout out if they are new or are traveling looking for a hook up or recommendations on local attractions)
Growlr is also free to use for life with restrictions: Searches are limited to 100 hits, Blogs are limited to 100 entries a week, you can only subscribe to 5 blogs, user cannot view all picture on a profile just 1st 3 (both public and unlocked private pics), See who visited your profile, unlimited messaging, Block nuisance users, Opt out of receiving shouts.
– Search for specific users via their email address or user name
– 100 favorites (or Friends) list to keep track of users who are friends or that you are interested in.
– Free users have unintrusive in app ads at bottom of app
Paid users (Premium Membership costs $4.08/month or $30.68/year) get 200 hits for searches, unlimited blog entries, 200 blog subscription, can view all user photos (private pics have to be unlocked by user still), Anonymous viewing (users cannot see if you visited their profile), ad free.
I have used Growlr as both a free and premium user: yes the premium is great to have with more users displayed etc, but you definitely don’t need to subscribe to get some use out of the app!!
Other Apps I would recommend for the Bear/Chub Community:
Scruff: more for muscle bears and those into fur but a friendly crowd! This app was featured heavily in the movie BearCity 2: The Proposal
Chasabl: Chasabl has both a Website at Chasabl.com and an app more social networking for Chubs/Chasers then hookup app. Is free but with restrictions one biggie being you can only view 25 full size photos a day (web not sure about app) right now membership is 4.00 a month 10.00 for 3 months or 30.00 a year.