Bumble’s longstanding key feature is that the woman must send the initial message of interest – although for “men seeking men” or “women seeking women” iterations, this gimmick is removed. If a woman feels she’s in a safe environment, she’ll likely be more relaxed, open and honest with you while you try to match – so long as you behave yourself.
What sets it apart? Bumble is renowned as the “women-first” app, putting online safety at the forefront of everything they do, which does, by the way, benefit men too.
I can confirm that because I was out and didn’t post nudes, everyone hated it. If you’re proudly out and your private album is not nudes people will be angry. The general expectation is that a private folder being shared can be one of two things: proof of identity from someone scared to be out or nudes. Am I speaking from personal experience? Absolutely. Scruff also allows for private picture albums, though videos are only allowed for premium customers and sometimes albums, for no good reason, will be locked in part to others even when the user grants permission to a prospective beau. It also has the “woof” feature, now taken by Grindr and its competition, which acts as a speedy way of saying, “Whether we talk or not, make no mistake: I wanna tap that.” It tends to attract older, scruffier men and, due to some of its design features and its cub/bear/otter demographic, has more of a reputation for eloquence. On the surface, Scruff is Grindr-for-people-with-beards. Nobody came into the digital world looking for the sexual prude police. That being said, you may find some people looking for conversation! That’s not impossible! But don’t judge people if that’s not why they’re here: Grindr has a very utilitarian role to play and it does it well. No shade, all T: Grindr is the most economical and ergonomic of dating platforms and if that’s not your scene – if you’re looking for the nebulous, wibbly-wobbly badinage of human interaction – that’s not what this menu was ever designed for. You can engage in all the usual conversational beats – “Hey, wuu2?”, “Got pix?”, “Top or btm?”, “Host or travel?”, “Into smells?” – or you can try to play it a bit different. There are also some interesting additions of recent, including the fact profiles now allow you to mention your preferences about being sent, or receiving, NSFW. Grindr has improved a lot over the years: you now have the ability to post multiple pictures, alert someone if you’re into them without having to say a word, and actually get bloody notifications without paying.
Here you will find the fetishists just trying to indulge their kink (totally fine!) the couples looking for a third (also fine!), the people trying to organise chemsex parties (slightly less fine!), the escorts trying to find clientele (should be more fine!), the straight boys without a pic on the hunt or dick (a very thorny thicket!) and maybe, just maybe, a G B or T person looking for a hook-up or a date. The most blessed and cursed thing about Grindr is – because it’s so ubiquitous – that it really is a broad church. Get used to seeing the same 30 faces and get used to running into them at Waitrose every Saturday, even after they turned you down. You can filter by various categories, but fundamentally, the nearer they are the more you will see them. Grindr, fundamentally, is based around location: men appear in order of descending proximity and everything else goes from there. Grindr sets up the basic template of how all gay dating is or isn’t: everything is reactive to Grindr whether it wants to be or not, so if you like or dislike this app is going to formulate where you go from here.