But they can also be a source of frustration, rejection and exclusion. Our study is the first to invite app users of diverse genders and sexualities to share their experiences of app use, safety and well-being. The project combined an online survey with interviews and creative workshops in urban and regional New South Wales with 18 to 35 year olds. We found that while app users recognised the risks of dating apps, they also had a range of strategies to help them feel safer and manage their well-being — including negotiating consent and safe sex.

The majority of survey participants frequently used condoms for safe sex. Just over one-third of gay, bisexual and queer men frequently used pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV transmission.

Dating app use differs between cultures, but nowhere is the difference I have close gay friends I met from Grindr. I feel it ruins some values.

Growing up, I always knew I was homosexual. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in India a little over a year ago, not by popular vote, but by a Supreme Court decision. It has been almost two years since I came out to almost all my family and friends, and the experience of doing so was extraordinarily liberating. Coming out was a difficult decision to make, but I am grateful every single day for now being able to live my life in the most authentic way ever.

Those of you who wish to read my coming out story can do so here. What I want to talk about in this essay though, are my dating experiences and the hurdles that many gay and bisexual men, such as myself, face doing so. Dating is laborious, especially on apps like Grindr. Although other apps like Facebook , Instagram , Tinder and Blued are also quite popular, none of them possess as many active users as Grindr.

It was in my early twenties that I discovered Grindr , and at that age, my joy knew no bounds. I was young, naive and eager to explore my sexual fantasies. But, as I hit my late twenties, something changed. I realized that although my body demanded sex, my soul desired compassion. My body demanded lust, but my heart yearned for love. I would often leave hotel rooms and apartment buildings feeling lonely, gloomy and miserable even after a night of good sex.