Former Grindr staff says app went downhill after one key change
Grindr on a phone. (Piotr Swat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A former Grindr employee has pinpointed the one key change he believes led to what some users have described as the app’s downfall.
Grindr is currently trialling a premium subscription plan that issues artificial intelligence and costs members $500 per month.
The plan, called EDGE, is being tested with a selection of users in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with prices ranging from $349.99 to $499.99. It will not replace the current Grindr Unlimited subscription service, but rather sit above it.
As per Vox, over the past few years, Grindr users have complained that the app has become more unusable and expensive.
A former marketing employee who left Grindr in 2023 and wished to be known as “Ryan” told Vox the downturn began in 2022, when the company had its initial public offering and went public.
“Ryan” said this shift led the app’s focus to move from its users to its investors.
George Arison was announced as the dating app’s newest CEO in September 2022. His appointment was met with concern after it emerged that he had expressed support for an anti-trans politician.
Ryan said of the app’s downfall: “Grindr really changed the game in a lot of ways; it was a different type of cruising.
“It was, at the time, so cool and inventive, but now, it’s taken on a Silicon Valley shape.”
AJ Balance, who is Grindr’s chief product officer, responded to criticism that the app was straying from its core mission of making hooking up easier and said: “Some of the principles we have in building our products is giving users choice… and control over what products they want to use.
“If users don’t want to engage [with these products], they don’t have to go there. They can also opt out of these features if they don’t want to participate at all.”
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