The best LGBTQ+ dating apps will depend on what you’re looking for. If you’re a gay man that’s searching for serious relationships, then the best gay dating app for you will likely be different than if you just want a social app for casual dates.
Whether you’re looking for casual hookups or you want the real thing, here’s a few of the best dating apps for gay men.
Grindr
Although many thought that Grindr wouldn’t have an longevity, it’s still one of the largest gay dating apps worldwide. This is true in the UK too, where it’s extremely popular with users looking for gay friends to chat with.
The app has a lot of active users, and it’s a location based app, meaning it works well to find others within a close proximity of your area – other apps struggle with this, as it can be difficult to find genuine users in the same place as you.
That doesn’t mean that Grindr doesn’t have issues . You will come across some fake profiles on there, and there will also be some guys looking for a quick hookup – both paid and unpaid.
However, there are still a lot of genuine users on Grindr too. The free version of Grindr has almost all of the features that the Premium version does, so you can get a good idea of whether the app is right for you before paying out.
If you’re looking for a free app to download to start chatting to other guys quick, Grindr is a great app for this. Then, it’s up to you whether your relationship stays solely online or you want to make a meet in real life.
It has more features than most other apps, and it’s very gender identity friendly too. So, if you’re gender non conforming or otherwise, you may want to download Grindr immediately.
Scruff
Although Grindr is the most popular Scruff has been hot on its tail over the last few years. It has tens of millions of users on the platform, and it’s made specifically for gay, bi, trans and queer people.
The brand has become well known for being used for serious dating – it has various features added to the platform that make it a little different from other apps and gay dating sites.
The app includes a new “woof” feature, which allows users to communicate quickly and accurately but essentially showing interest in another user without messaging them – it’s a good way to let someone know you’re interested if you’re not good at conversation starters/
Scruff also allows the creation of private picture albums, which means that you can upload all of your photos to the app for others to scroll through.
This is one of the best gay and queer dating apps to download, whether you’re looking for hook ups or more.
Jack’d
If you’re based in the UK, Jack’d is also worth a download. Like the others mentioned, the target audience for Jack’d is gay, bi, trans and queer women.
The app has a zero tolerance stance towards hate speech, as they’re very focussed on community building and supporting gay people as well as other gender identity folx too.
Soon after signing up for an account, you’ll be able to browse through potential matches in your account – you may find a unique user base here, and not bump into the same people you just saw on another dating site.
There’s a free version of Jack’d that we’d recommend you download to test it out, but you can try the premium features for a pretty reasonable price too.
This includes the ability to find users that are in your location, as well as getting unlimited messaging capabilities and the ability to favourite an unlimited number of other users too.
Common Questions about Gay Dating Apps
What’s the best mainstream online dating app for the gay and trans community?
Many of the mainstream apps like Tinder have switched from focussing on straight people to also including filters for queer people too. If you want a mainstream dating app like this that’s also inclusive to the , then we recommend checking out Elite Singles. It’s a well known app that works extremely well when filtering out fake profiles, which means with the right filters you’ll be able to find others in your destination city.
What is the largest gay dating app?
Technically the largest gay dating app is Tinder, as it allows for filters to ensure that you only get matched with other gay men or lesbian women. However, if we’re talking about solely gay dating apps then Grindr currently has the largest user base of all.
Is there a Tinder for gays?
To be fair to Tinder, they added the sexual orientation feature to their app which makes it much better for the gay community and the overall dating world, as it assures you and your potential date are on the same wavelength to begin with. There is no strict “Tinder for gays”, though Grindr is commonly referred to as this, as it’s less focussed on serious relationships and more focussed on casual hookups.
Is Bumble a gay app?
Although typically considered a heterosexual app, Bumble can provide a successful dating experience for the queer community too. It is a mainstream dating app, which means that it caters to more than just gay men or queer women – the app is popular with straight people too. The LGBTQ community can still download apps like Bumble, but you won’t get a customised experience designed for gay singles.
Is Grindr better than tinder?
Both Grindr and Tindr are amongst the most downloading and mainstream dating apps in the UK, but they’re quite different to one another. Tinder is often used for hookups, but it actually allows for both straight and gay users on the platform. It has the largest user pool of any dating app, so it may be worth downloading too if you’re happy to go on a few dates before you find the right guy.
Conclusion
Whether you’re searching for love or just looking for a good time, there are various different gay apps out there for pretty much every requirement.
Some of them will be designed for those looking for a hookup app for one night, whilst other dating apps will have a greater emphasis on long term relationships and more than just casual encounters.
Despite what the stereotype may be (!), there are plenty of gay folks in the dating pool that are looking for a relationship.
So, if you’ve been having dating struggles, make sure to check the apps listed above to make some meaningful connections (and maybe some less meaningful ones too!).