Gaydar—the ability to gauge whether or not a guy is homosexual—can now be had by anyone.
Yes, until recently, wondering whether that hottie across the way likes boys or girls has been left to a gut feeling of, Is he or Isn’t he. Oh sure, there’s always asking him directly, but that’s so 2008. Thanks to technology, finding out if he’s a ‘mo or no is as simple as using a new application on your smartphone.
Grindr is a new gay/bi/curious social networking app available for the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch and select BlackBerry phones. The system uses the phone’s GPS to map out who else is using the service based on their proximity to the user. After just a few clicks, the phone’s screen is filled with photos, profiles and stats of other Grindr users with the closest users appearing first. More information on a chosen guy is available as are chat options, additional photos and his exact location. The basic service is free, though a $2.99-per-month premium ad-free subscription service is also available. The app’s creator, Joel Simkhai, calls Grindr the next evolution in viral social networking.
The idea for the app came from trying to figure out ways of meeting guys around him while Simkhai was living in New York City, and making that process—apparently arduous in the nation’s most populated city—easier.
“It happens to me almost every day,” says Simkhai, 33. “I go into a coffee shop, or the gym, or the supermarket and see someone I’m curious about, something about him catches my eye. If it’s a guy I’m attracted to I don’t know if he’s gay or not. Sometimes you know, but often you don’t.”
Because there’s usually a reason you can’t just approach a person to talk—the intended target may be out with a group of friends, he could be busy weighing produce, you may still be waiting to grow a pair—Simkhai found himself giving long thought to “how can we solve this issue?” He found his inspiration when the second generation of iPhones launched with an internal GPS and Apple CEO Steve Jobs invited average Joes and ‘Mos to create their own applications for the device.
Simkhai worked with a developer who originated the software, and a designer/marketer to originate the name, branding and logo for his new creation. The team launched Grindr in March 2009, and celebrated its one-year anniversary by making the app available to BlackBerry users.
In just a little over a year, the number of men who’ve become grounded in Grindr is staggering. As of May 2010, more than 700,000 men from 162 countries have signed on to the app, and of those, roughly half are from the United States. Most Grindrs are between the ages of 20 and 35.
“A third of our users are on at least once a day,” says Simkhai, “And we know that, on average, our users spend about an hour and a half a day on Grindr.”
You may think that’s a lot of Grindring, but the company’s press agent says the app helps users meet people around them and “mixes” people together into new relationships. In fact, the name “Grindr”—a combination of the words “guy” and “finder”—was chosen to create an image of “grinding” people together, much like a coffee grinder.
So are men—and it is only gay/bi/curious men we’re talking about here; the app is not yet available for women or straights—using Grindr to meet other men for coffee? Or are they there looking for cream…and other activities?
“We don’t know,” says Simkhai. “We don’t do any studies or surveys; we don’t look at the chats. We don’t have an insight into that. The reason we don’t is because it’s not a particularly interesting question to me. We’re providing the technology and the service. We don’t tell you how to use it, or how not to use it.”
It may not be a particularly interesting question to Simkhai and the 25 full-time baristas on the Grindr payroll, but it is to us. We talked to several Grindr users about how they use the app.
“There is nothing about the app that would lead me to believe that guys are on there looking for dates for coffee,” says Keith, 41, an easy-going guy looking for other masculine easy-going guys (no pic, no chat!). “I mean, ‘grind’ is in the name! Does that make you think coffee shop, or sex?”
We’re attempting to stay impartial, so we looked up “grind” on UrbanDictionary.com, a Web site for slang definitions. Indeed, nearly all of the suggested explanations of the word involve some type of friction, and none of them include beans.
“Well, hooking up is a kind of social networking,” says Tim, who is 6’ 1”, 210, 35, masculine, and seeks the same. And Phil, who asked to remain stat-less, puts it more succinctly.
“I don’t even drink coffee,” Phil says. “With Grindr you know exactly how far away someone is. There’s no sense in wasting your time talking to someone 100 miles away.”
All three Grindrs say they’re more inclined to lump the app in with hook-up sites such as Manhunt or Adam4Adam rather than general networking locales like MySpace or Facebook. In Tim’s circle there seems to be less of a stigma using Grindr over other men-for-men chats.
“I see my friends on Grindr, but I don’t see them on other sites,” Tim says. “It’s more socially acceptable to be on Grindr.”
So Grindr creator Simkhai is at least aware that some guys use the app strictly for hooking up, right?
“I would say that nothing in life is black or white,” Simkhai demurs. “For some people, I suppose that’s all it is. Even if you are meeting someone for one thing, quite often it turns into something else. Guys you date turn into friends, friends may become people you date. As long as people are engaging in activities that are legal and safe, I’m quite comfortable with that.”
When pressed on the matter, Keith and Tim admit that they’ve yet to “score” from using Grindr. (Phil, however, has.) Falling in line to Simkhai’s rainbow vision, Keith says his most positive experience with Grindr came during a trip to San Diego. While there Keith was able to chat and meet with a few guys who were able to help him acquiesce to the area more easily than had he not met anyone there at all.
“While I was there I didn’t feel as much of the ‘let’s hook up’ immediacy on Grindr than I have in Orlando, particularly over Gay Days,” Keith says. “Then it was more cut-to-the-chase and guys looking for sex. Maybe it’s a locale issue, but it was definitely a different energy.”
And though he hasn’t hit a sexual home run through Grindr, Keith is still keeping score on the new app.
“Making friends from using Grindr?” Keith surmises. “For me, that’s been good. But that doesn’t mean that that’s what my goal was using it.”
