Grindr, an essential tool for travelling?

Sept. 11 2013

by Marc Dedonder

With 4 million members, Grindr is today, by far, the most downloaded gay mobile application. After 3 years of existence, and thanks to its technology based on geolocation, it is present in 99% of the countries of the planet and welcomes on average at any given time more than 70,000 connected users. In total, 11 million messages and 2 million photos are exchanged every day.

We interviewed Grindr's founding boss, Joel Simkhai, to try to better understand the success of an application that has also changed the way we travel.

How did you get the idea for Grindr?
At the time, when I wanted to meet guys, I had to go to websites. But I was always missing some information: is he far or not? It was starting to work on me seriously. And then in 2009, the 2nd generation of the iPhone arrived and I immediately understood what I could do with this technology. I put together a small team and in March 2009, we started working on the project.

What was the basic idea?
Very simple: I want to meet guys who are close to me. That's basic! But obviously, we had no idea that our project would be so successful and take on an international scope.

How are your 4 million members distributed?
A large half of them are located in the United States. Then our main markets are the UK, France, Australia and Canada. And when we look at the cities, London is our first destination (350,000 users), then it's almost a tie between New York and Paris (200,000 members).

How do you explain this success in France?
I have no idea! Last year, we saw the number of members skyrocket but we don't know why. Sometimes, we know that such newspaper, such twitter, such radio spoke about us, but there, no clue. What's more, we never do any advertising or marketing campaigns. The only things we do are Grindr parties, like the one at Freedj last July.

According to your figures, a member connects on average 8 times a day and stays connected 1 hour and a half. It sounds huge, doesn't it?
In fact, our application has solved an equation that all gay people are trying to solve: who else is gay around me? Grindr helps people find each other, at the gym, in the office, on the street, in the supermarket... And the application itself is very easy to use.

Are there Grindr members all over the world?
We are present in 192 countries. We are missing 2 countries, Nauru and Tuvalu. We have a lot of members in South Korea for example, but I think they are more American soldiers than locals. But we have members in Zimbabwe, Iran, Cuba, countries that are not necessarily very gay-friendly.

Exactly how do you think Grindr helps gays in these countries where they have to remain discreet, sometimes for their survival?
I can't answer precisely because I've never been in these countries. But I know that there is nothing worse than believing that you are alone in the world. That's what we often feel, before coming out. And seeing that you're not the only gay person, that there are other gays around, it gives you a lot of strength. You feel much less isolated.

To your knowledge, does the application only serve as a dating application or have users developed other uses?
It's an application for meeting people, not just for one night stands. Gays like to meet each other, that's how it is, we are a bit like brothers, we try to live together, to go on vacations together, we constantly want to make new friends. So Grindr is also used for that, to meet new friends.

And it's also very useful when you travel, isn't it?
It's an essential tool for traveling! If I go on vacation in a place I don't know, who will I ask for advice on where to go out? The best way is to ask a local gay man. And where are the local gays? On Grindr! So that's what Grindr is all about, real time information on gay news, from the locals! When you travel, the best moments are the ones you spend far from the classic tourist paths. To get to know these places, you have to get in touch with the people on the spot and that's what Grindr allows.

A snapshot of the members connected to Grindr

Is that why you created the Grindr Travel Awards?
Yes, it was logical! We wanted to highlight the most gay-friendly cities, the ones that attract gays, that you dream about when you think about your next vacation: New York, Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney.... I'm also happy because Tel Aviv, my hometown, has been elected as the city where boys are the sexiest!

Is Tel Aviv a special destination for you?
In my opinion, it is the best gay beach in the world! 10 years ago there was not much to do there. But today it has changed so much! People there are so open, they love foreigners, tourists. We have almost 10,000 users in Tel Aviv.

How do you explain the fact that you are still number 1 on your market 3 years after your launch?
The size of the network is the key to success. If the promise is that you're going to find boys near you, you can't have the first boy 30 kilometers away. So you have to have a lot of members. That's our strength, we're the biggest network and the most international.

There is a play called "Confessions of an acrro on Grindr". Do you think you can be addicted to Grindr?
But I am! It has changed my life. I'm connected all the time. Whenever I go somewhere but also when I'm alone at home. I spend a lot of time on Grindr, and that's good, it allows me to socialize.

Some people criticize you for having created a tool that allows people to stop going to bars to pick up girls, and therefore to participate in the disappearance of gay establishments?
I don't agree with that at all. First of all, going to a gay bar may not be the best way to meet other gay people, but that's just my personal opinion. Most of all, I find this reproach unfair because by nature, Grindr forces you to be where there are other gays. Grindr is a mobile application! So get out, move, go where other gay people are, don't stay at home!

Screenshots of Grindr's new features © Grindr

When will a new version be released?
Very soon. We have redesigned everything technically, from A to Z, so the new Grindr will be much faster. We have added new features. For example, we have created groups (bears, young, muscular, etc.), which will allow me to search for boys close to my tastes and physically close. We also added new filters, such as ethnicity or morphology.

How many members do you expect to have by the end of the year?
We have 10,000 new members per day, 300,000 per month. We should reach 5 million by December.