Dating apps are not going anywhere. Every year, more and more gay apps are being created to help gay men connect with each other. Whether you’re looking for sex, dates, or a long term relationship, we’ve got the perfect app for you. Discover 11 of the best gay dating apps to use in 2020!
Best Gay Apps for Hookups
Grindr – The largest number of users
If you’re in the gay dating scene, you’ve probably either used Grindr or have considered using it. It’s mostly used as a hookup app. When you log in, your grid will show you pictures of people nearby, in order of distance. You can scroll through the grid and look for men who catch your eye, or if you know exactly who your type is, you can filter by tribe e.g. bear, twink, jock.
Since its creation over a decade ago, time has also gone into improving the app for users to make it safer, and more secure. In 2020 several new features were added including the ability to “unsend” text and photographs, expiring photos, and screenshot blocking for chats. For gay men, who haven’t come out yet, there’s now a discreet app icon that can be used to replace the Grindr app icon for another symbol.
Grindr is free to use which makes it ideal for hookups. Paid subscriptions are also available. Grindr XTRA costs between $3.99 and $24.99 per month depending on the period plan. Whilst, the next level – Grindr Unlimited, costs $24.99 per month for 12 months, or $49.99 per month for 6 months.
Scruff – Best for cubs, bears and otters
Scruff is marketed as a Grindr substitute for scruff men. By scruffy, we mean people with beards, who are more rugged, older, or distinguished. As a result, it tends to attract cubs, bears, and otters primarily.
Users can directly message other users or they can use the app’s “Woof” feature, which allows users to express interest in another user’s profile. Scruff also allows for private picture albums, so that you can see the goods before committing to meeting in person.
Although Scruff is great for hookups, as with all gay dating apps, there are features that make it suitable for datings, and finding love. Scruff uses machine learning to help gay men find other gay men that they are most likely to match with. The more you swipe through potential hookups the better the machine learning algorithm is able to understand your preferences. This means that in theory, your potential matches will get every day.
Scruff is free to use. For advanced features, Scruff Pro is available for purchase for $19.99 per month or less, depending on the region and period plan selected.
Yumi – Best for anonymous meets
Yumi is one of the newest hookup apps on the market. One of the best things about Yumi is that it is completely anonymous. What does this mean? Well, on Yumi gay men are never required to provide any personal information. You don’t even need a name or a profile picture.
Yumi can match you with other men in your local area based on what you say you’re looking for. For each possible match, you’re presented with four “cards”, each representing a different user. You click one of these cards to flip it over. For each round, you have a 50/50 chance of finding a local match. If you strike out, you can try again with another four cards, and repeat. Every 24 hours the cards are entirely reshuffled. This means that if you’re looking for one-off threesomes to spice up a relationship, Yumi will be perfect!
Once Yumi has found you a match, you will have just 24 hours to speak to them, before the match expires. Threesomes? You got it. One night stands with gay couples? No problem! Because the app is so private, and anonymous, it’s a great app for men to be able to open up and say what they really want.
Yumi is free to use. However, there is a paid version called Yumi Plus which has multiple options starting from $19.99 per month.
Hornet – A good alternative to Grindr
Hornet was founded in 2011, and has taken the best bits from apps like Grindr, Facebook, and Twitter to create an LGBT-social-network-gay-dating hybrid app. Users can create news feeds, join discussions on relevant LGBT topics, and actually connect with other gay men on a more personal level. Community is at the heart of this app.
The grid-like format is almost identical to the grid-like format of Grindr which means it will immediately feel intuitive to use.
Hornet is free to use, although the VIP service — which removes the ubiquitous ads and lets you see who has checked out your profile — will set you back anything from $4.67 to $10 per month, depending on the length of your subscription.
Best Gay Apps for Dates
Tinder – Easy to use and highly addictive
Whereas Tinder was once thought of as Grindr for straight people, the ability to set your preferences to find individuals of the same sex has made Tinder an increasingly popular amongst young gay men. It’s also possible to use Tinder’s website service called Tinder Online, rather than the app.
On Tinder, men can anonymously swipe either left or right on someone based on their picture, a small bio, and common interests. A swipe left is an immediate rejection of the profile. A swipe right means that you like what you see. If two people swipe right for each other, then there’s a ‘match’ and the opportunity to speak to one another becomes available.
Although Tinder is free for everyone, it is possible to upgrade with two paid options called Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold. When you upgrade to Tinder Plus, the main benefits are that you get unlimited likes, and you get to enjoy the app without any adverts. The monthly cost is £4.99 per month. The most premium option is Tinder Gold, which is £7.49 per month. One of the biggest USPs of Tinder Gold is that you can see who ‘likes’ you before you like them. Signing up to a month-to-month subscription means you’ll be charged once a month. If you subscribe to either the six or 12-month subscription, you’ll immediately be charged in one go for the entire subscription package.
Taimi – Best for creatives
Taimi was launched in 2017. It was the world’s first LGBTQI+ app. The app has more than 2,000,000 real users, and to date there have been over 140,000 matches.
Each user can share stories and posts, create groups, follow LGBTQIA+ community influencers and opinion leaders absolutely for free! At the same time, you can swipe, match, chat, and meet the partner of your dreams! You can enrich your network with like-minded queer people and meet someone special. As Taimi is a dating app, as well as an LGBTQIA+ social network, using Taimi will not feel much different to using Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
If you’re concerned about security, you need not worry. The platform has built-in two-factor authentication, AI-powered account verification and anti-fraud technology, this means that you can find Mr Right without worrying about whether he actually exists.
Although the app is free, there is a premium subscription available called Taimi XL. With the Premium Subscription, daters receive a range of additional benefits such as unlimited messages, ‘boosting’ to increase profile views, and incognito mode. The cost of the optional premium subscription for Taimi XL is £11.50 for 7 days, £31.79 USD for 1 month, £40.79 for 3 months, £52.19 GBP for 1 year.
Jack’d – Ideal for men of colour
Online dating app Jack’d, has been one of the most popular gay dating apps for several years. Since 2010, nearly 5 million men have joined Jack’d, and thousands of new members install the app each day. Like Grindr, and Tinder, Jack’d shows users around 300 eligible guys on an interface that is geolocated by those closest to where you are.
However, unlike Tinder and Grindr it’s tailored specifically for men of colour. This means that if you’ve experienced racism or fetishisation on other dating sites and apps, then it could be worth giving Jack’d a try.
One of the benefits of Jack’d is that it’s less anonymous than Grindr. Gay men tend to fill out their profiles and explain what they’re looking for. The photos tend to be more family-friendly, rather than X-rated. rather than posting graphic photos. But although Jack’d is more geared toward dating, whether you’re looking for casual sex, to make new friends, or find a long term partner make friends, or find love, you’ll find it on Jack’d.
Jack’d is free to use. Jack’d Pro is available for purchase at USD $9.99 per month (or less, depending on region and renewal frequency).
Bumble – For gay men looking for compatible dates
In 2020, Bumble joined forces with popular gay dating app Chappy. In Bumble same-sex matches, either person is encouraged to make the first move. According to one of the app’s founders, 60% of matches result in a conversation which means that gay men stand a good chance of bagging a date!
Bumble has similar functionality to Tinder. You can swipe right or left to indicate your interest level, or let someone know you’re really interested by using a SuperSwipe. When you both swipe right a “connection” is made. The other person has 24 hours to respond, or the connection expires. They can choose to message you directly, call you from within the app, or video call with you. The latter two options help create an additional layer of transparency and should help you verify that Mr Right is who he says he is.
Bumble is free to use. There are a few optional premium features to enhance your Bumble experience, such as Bumble Coins and Bumble Boost. Bumble Coins are essentially Bumble’s own currency. Each coin costs $0.99. Bumble Boost costs Weekly Subscription: $8.99 per week. Monthly Subscription: $24.99 per month. 3-Month Subscription: $49.99 every 3 months. Lifetime Subscription: $139.99 (one-time payment).
Best Gay Apps for Relationships
Hinge – Good for daters looking for something different
Hinge used to be known as that strange dating app that found you potential matches based on the friends of your Facebook connections. Thankfully, those days are over. Hinge has now become one of the most popular dating apps. There are a plethora of success stories. Did you know that Pete Buttigieg met his husband Chasten on Hinge?
After setting up your basic profile and photos, you are given a series of questions to review. Three can be answered and displayed publicly on your profile. Once this is done, you can choose filters to help the app identify the type of person that you are hoping to meet. For example, you can filter by race, age, and more. Then you can go to the “discover” tab to browse through profiles that match your criteria.
Whereas most sites use swiping, Hinge uses good old fashioned scrolling. You can scroll through potential partners to try and find someone special. Yes this can take longer, but in theory it should mean that anybody you contact is a better match for you. Once per day, the algorithm will also pick out your “Most Compatible” match, which should make things a bit easier for you too.
Something that sets Hinge apart is its care for the person behind the screen. Hinge recently introduced an anti-ghosting feature which reminds users to respond to messages. All users must upload 6 photos or videos to “like” other profiles to help reduce the risk of catfishing. After including a phone number in a message exchange, Hinge will ask you via a pop-up message a few days later whether or not you’ve met yet, and if you did, how you thought the quality of the match was. Your input on the match quality will help the algorithm select higher quality matches as it learns your preferences.
Hinge is free to use. Paid Hinge membership is offered for $9.99 per month, $19.99 for three months, or $29.99 for six months.
Match – Perfect for first-timers
Match has facilitated more first dates, relationships, and marriages than any other dating site or app. As it’s such a popular platform, there are thousands of gay men on Match who are looking for love. Sign up for free on the app, with your email address or via Facebook. Once you have registered, you will be required to take a questionnaire about you, the things that you are interested in (hobbies), and what you are looking for in a potential partner.
Match’s version of flirting is sending someone a “wink,” and you can search through the Match database to find “winkable” people. Members will also receive 7 daily matches to review every day. The matches are selected based on personal compatibility, that can either be ‘liked’ or skipped. For a more personal touch, dating coaches are also available to assist you in your journey to finding true love.
Despite Match being free to use, to make the most of the features, a subscription is highly recommended. Monthly prices at Match.com start from as little as $23.99 per month. However, there is a free trial available so that you can see if it’s for you before committing long term.
OkCupid – Liberal gay men looking for relationships
OkCupid is probably that app you heard about, but probably never thought that it would ever be for you. Well, that’s where you’re wrong! OkCupid is a friendly inclusive dating app and website that takes matchmaking seriously.
To register users must create a profile and complete an online quiz. The quiz is designed to cover a broad range of bases to allow the algorithm to have the best chance of finding your perfect man. It asks a variety of questions like, ‘Do you smoke?’ and ‘What are you looking for?’, as well as more complicated questions that are centred on religion, morality, and what you enjoy in the bedroom. The app says that the more questions you answer, the better your matches will be.
Instead of showing just a photo and a sentence, every user on OkCupid can write a few sentences about what they feel makes them unique in a few sentences. This snapshot should allow you to understand the essence of a potential match before deciding to message them. Like most other dating apps, OkCupid runs on a mutual-like system, meaning two gay singles have to like each other before they can talk.
OkCupid is free to use. However, OkCupid recently launched A-List, which is for members who purchase a subscription plan. The options are one month for $19.95, three months for $14.95 a month, and six months for $9.95 a month.
