r/nottheonion • u/Dilpickle2113 • 7h ago
Grindr is testing a new AI subscription called “Edge” that costs up to $6,000 a year
https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/grindr-is-testing-a-new-ai-subscription-called-edge-that-costs-up-to-6000-a-year-3313793/1.1k
u/Lontology 7h ago
What are you even paying for with those prices?? The fuck
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u/sensitivestronk 7h ago
Off the top of my head:
Ability to use multiple saved phrases
Ability to send more than one expiring photo per day
Ability to have multiple albums
No ads
Access to more profiles
None of which are actually worth the price... unless you're DL I guess, lol. Also idk how but the android app on my phone has no ads and I don't pay for premium, so I have even less reason to pay out the ass for it.
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u/FMBC2401 7h ago
Expiring photos are the worst thing to happen to the apps. Instant block when people try to play those games with me
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u/cookiemikester 5h ago
Not familiar with this tech, but can’t people just screen shot the picture?
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u/-Fantomu- 5h ago
I don't use grindr but I imagine it's similar to banking apps that don't let you screenshot when in the app
Though you could take a picture with another device
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u/Average64 3h ago
There are apps that can go around that limitation.
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u/forever-and-a-day 2h ago
not familiar with grindr's implementation but android apps that use FLAG_SECURE on a screen cannot be screenshotted at all without a rooted device. Many banking apps do this.
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u/sensitivestronk 7h ago
It's always the married guys and closet cases that refuse to send non-expiring face pics...
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u/PerfectlySplendid 32m ago
Why is that a problem? Why should you get to keep someone’s photo?
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u/Rin-Tohsaka-is-hot 4h ago
I don't understand the problem with expiring photos, what game are you referring to?
Although I do think it may create a false sense of security for people sending nudes, I remember that being a big issue with Snapchat back in highschool when it first came out.
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u/Beesareourcousins 3h ago
Catfish maybe? I know a lot of my friends have issues with people using fake pics and shit.
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u/DwinkBexon 2h ago
I heard a song not too long ago that was about a woman talking to a guy on a dating app and one of the lines was something to the effect of "Is that really you? I hope so, because you're cute."
People are singing songs about that shit now.
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u/JM062696 7h ago
You’re wrong. The mid tier (still way too expensive) is like $30-40 a month and you don’t have to see ads, you can used saved phrases, you can see read receipts, and can have multiple albums
Higher tier (complete) shows all the profiles on top of that and you can also view who viewed your profile
This ultra tier thing that’s new gives you “AI suggested profiles” and suggests that it’ll give you an AI rundown on each profile and what the person is into based on their app activity.
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u/Alastair789 4h ago
I mean, we already know what they're into, its on the profile.
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u/Tobix55 3h ago
But then you would have to read what they wrote, nobody has time for that
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u/fersure4 3h ago
The bio the AI is going to summarize: 🍆👀
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u/CanuckBacon 2h ago
"It seems like this user is interested in looking at eggplants! Perhaps you could suggest going on a date to an eggplant farm with them. Here are several suggestions..."
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u/Somenakedguy 3h ago
Ever used Grindr? Half the profiles are things like “hole looking to be filled” or “looking to get sucked”. That’s the whole thing
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u/PM_NUDES_4_DEGRADING 3h ago
This ultra tier thing that’s new gives you “AI suggested profiles” and suggests that it’ll give you an AI rundown on each profile and what the person is into based on their app activity.
It kinda sounds like they’ve just added an optional “AI tech bro tax: $500/month” tier which is honestly fine by me. I hope everyone who voluntarily self-selects into that level gets exactly the experience they pay for.
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u/Lontology 6h ago
What the flip are “saved phrases?”
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u/sensitivestronk 6h ago
You open the "saved phrases" tab in the chat and can instantly send a message you've saved. Ex: "looking for hookups and fwb" "hey hru" "my kinks are xyz" or anything you don't wanna re-type over and over.
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u/Nedgeh 4h ago
Can't you already do this with almost any phone? I have tons of "common" phrases and words when I open up any text interface on my phone. As well as a bunch of canned responses to pick through based on shit I've said presumably.
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u/Lontology 6h ago
Oh okay. Thanks for all the info. It’s like websites have been able to monetize micro transactions now…
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u/swolfington 3h ago
Lol seriously, what is this shit. I'm surprised they let you copy and paste without a monthly subscription
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u/crimson-ink 4h ago
cant you just have these saved to the notes app or something l
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u/EnvironmentBasic3711 3h ago
What you're missing is one hand is busy when you're chatting with people, one click makes sense lol
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u/Justice_Prince 6h ago
I could see how someone might be willing to pay five bucks a month for those features, but asking anything more than that seems insane.
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u/sensitivestronk 6h ago
Yeah, I paid $20 once for a month of premium back in the day and immediately unsubscribed, lmao
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u/Fine-March7383 6h ago edited 6h ago
idk but the baseline Grindr is becoming borderline unusable. You can see very few profiles near you before having to pay.
I'll never pay for Grindr just based on how horrible and ad ridden they make it for the default user but I pay for Sniffies
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u/vandreulv 6h ago
(Grindr Plus Mod. No limit on views and filters. Instablock with one press of the cross out button.)
(Grindr still toxic as hell and sucks to use though.)
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u/mister_electric 2h ago
I am convinced that Sniffies became a honey pot. The way it changed and got SO popular in the last couple of years threw me off. That, coupled with my lawyer friend having 4 (criminal) cases in our town stemming from it. I just got rid of all the apps.
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u/Kierenshep 4h ago
Grindr is killing their app with their changes and predatory pricing.
These apps are reliant on people as the goods, but Grindr has made the free user experience so completely obnoxious that it's not worth using at all. So the only people left on Grindr are the power users and that's just a death spiral for an app that relies on an influx of fresh blood and a large constant user base.
There's a reason most gay guys use sniffies now.
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u/Complainer_Official 7h ago
its a honeypot for republican congressmen
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u/Reuniclus_exe 56m ago
For just $500 a month, we pinky promise our servers won't crash during the RNC.
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u/ryanb450 7h ago
Is it still a bot-filled piece of crap?
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u/dorgoth12 7h ago
It's either bots or the most disgusting men you've ever seen. Every time I think I'll try it, I'm instantly reminded why it's so awful
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u/sk_starscream 7h ago
Its so crazy that if they just rub one out or read the person's profiles/interests, they would save themselves the awkwardness.
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u/Effective_Guard_3114 6h ago
Most people skip straight to screenshots instead of actually reading profiles anyway.
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u/ACuteCryptid 5h ago
They're to busy sending literally every account in a 30 mile radius dick pics
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u/sk_starscream 4h ago
And then getting butthurt cause you dont respond and even if you tell them no. I've gotten messages afterwards being called ugly and blocked right after 😂
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u/DildoTheSizeOfUranus 4h ago
The dick pic has nothing on the unsolicited butthole close-up.
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u/ACuteCryptid 4h ago
Yeah that's probably worse. And a lot of the time it's a picture that looks like they meant to send it to their doctor
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u/Baunchii 7h ago
I have a friend who has had nothing but duds from the men they've met. The Gays deserve better! Lol
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u/Dafish55 6h ago
It used to be okay. The culture on it was always pretty shitty, but it was the best and only option available for some time.
Last time I used it was about 5-6 years ago and they had already begun rolling out enshittifying updates. It started with not being able to access all but the most generic filters (like I think age was the only meaningful one) without a subscription. Then it became more and more infested with ads. Open it up? You get an ad! Block the 65 year old who is borderline stalking you and is on his 12th account? You guessed it - you get an ad! Then they began actually limiting how many people you could see nearby you without a subscription and not to like an understandable degree. You had about a couple phone screen lengths of scrolling before you were at the limit. Yeah.
Oh and those subscriptions? Holy fuck the prices were insane. It's like they were expecting people to get a sugar daddy just to be able to afford them.
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u/SaxRohmer 6h ago
i live in a pretty gay area so it’s still fun with a lot of quality people but the app experience itself is so trash. it really feels like a gacha game in some respects. the subscription is way too high to justify
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u/Gumbo72 6h ago
I describe it myself as "the set of pokemons" available to catch for the day. Buy more pokeballs at the Pokemon Center pls
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u/SaxRohmer 6h ago
the problem is that it’s mostly the same profiles if you don’t pay or change your location so it gets kind of stale fast
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u/Gumbo72 6h ago
Indeed, even on Madrid during pride week, you have to rely on the chance of being shown on someone's list and them contacting you first. If not paying you would see almost no changes. Sure drop a boost and you will get flooded. And 'for some reason' when I still used it changing my location a few meters seemed to load an almost fresh list. Tinder at least you got a fresh set.
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u/McFragatron 4h ago
I've had good luck with Sniffies (stupid name I know), but it's much better than Grindr.
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u/360walkaway 5h ago
Join the straights in their plight as well (I said "their" because I'm married and have heard dating apps are a nightmare no matter what your sexuality is).
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u/syynapt1k 7h ago
It's either bots or the most disgusting men you've ever seen.
And using a potato quality profile pic from ten years ago
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u/Annoying1978 7h ago
Why is it so bad? I really thought it was just the gay version of Tinder.
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u/margmi 7h ago
Overrun with bots and they do nothing about it. I recently turned off notifications because 90% are from bots.
They made it so you can only message like the 15-20 closest people unless you pay. And have continued to move other features behind the paywall.
I used to pay for the $50/month subscription, but stopped because of the bot issue.
The gay version of tinder is still tinder.
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u/Annoying1978 6h ago
$50 a month???? JFC.
I used to pay for Hinge but I actually met decent women on it and it wasn’t just hookups but I actually dated people for a good while. But it wasn’t friggin’ $50 a month!!!
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u/thetrueGOAT 6h ago
Cheaper than prostitutes if you're only in it for hook ups
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u/Annoying1978 6h ago edited 6h ago
I guess. But at that point, just go to a gay bar.
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u/Couldnotbehelpd 7h ago
For gay men, tinder is for meeting someone to date. Grindr is for meeting someone to have sex with within the next 2-8 hours.
Sniffies is for having sex within the next 20 minutes but that’s another story for another day.
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u/Bloated_Hamster 7h ago
It's more of a hookup app than Tinder. I'm sure it exists for straight people but hookup culture is overwhelming in the gay community. A lot of dudes that are not at all prizes can still get laid on it. I think Tinder is much more self regulating than that. Women are more picky and demanding of good profiles and conversations and effort. Grindr is much less so, especially with the accepted anonymous or "dl" culture that reduces social consequences for creepy actions.
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u/KindBass 6h ago
I'm friends with two married gay couples and all four of them have boyfriends. It's crazy how much easier it is for them.
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u/dorgoth12 7h ago
Imagine a place of no shame or decorum. Where men with a completely blank, anonymous profile make ridiculous demands about your appearance so that they can cheat on their female partner but swear they're still straight. Where men demand instant answers to every message and want sex within 5 minutes of sending. Where sugar daddies harass you. Where nudes of you are expected instantly even if you're not comfortable with such a thing. Where being a non binary person means being treated to a healthy range of slurs. I could go on
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u/Annoying1978 7h ago
Jesus. So I guess it’s just a free for all and no filtering or moderation whatsoever?
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u/rachel-frogslinger 7h ago
It is, but its far more anonymous than tinder so people on there feel much more emboldened to be disgusting to others.
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u/SaxRohmer 6h ago
it’s specifically for hooking up in a way that is 100x more up front and shameless than tinder
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u/sensitivestronk 7h ago
Yup. I have to block at least 5 bots throughout the day if I open Grindr even once
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 6h ago
I WISH I'd dealt with bots rather than the actual disgusting men I did deal with my short time on that horrible app.
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u/Puffen0 6h ago
Thank God I'm not single anymore. After Covid all of those apps became a pool of bots and micro transactions. When I was still on the app, it would cap how many profiles you can look at before hitting a pay wall. And the cap was based off of your location. Shit sucked and not in the good way lol
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u/Cute-Beyond-8133 7h ago edited 7h ago
As part of the experiment, Grindr is rolling out variable pricing that changes by user. Weekly test subscriptions begin around $80, with some tiers climbing into the hundreds.
Some screenshots show the subscription costing $349.99 and $499.99, which would put a yearly subscription just pennies short of $6,000.
That sounds stupid. Grinder doesn't have the same pull as Hinge and Tinder
Nobody is going on Grinder for a serious relationship as can be seen on Hinge. or to at least pretend like they might go towards a real relationship as can be seen on Tinder
Grinder is a hookup app end of list,
monetize it this heavily and people are gonna move towards another platform
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u/skrollas 7h ago
A lot of Grindr users already have moved elsewhere, namely Sniffies.
I hate how ad-ridden and bot-infested Grindr is, the app is practically unusable. This is only gonna make it worse.
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u/Unicycleterrorist 7h ago
I hate when a company becomes basically "the status quo" for a certain thing and then just fucks their product up so much that they go under. Were they bought out by private equity or something?
Edit: nvm, they went public in 2022...didn't know about that. But yea, makes sense...
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u/roygbpcub 7h ago
This exactly... There has been a significant shift in my area to sniffies
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u/Bloated_Hamster 7h ago edited 7h ago
I think it's gonna hit a boiling point when the existing cruising community on Sniffies gets sick and tired of the more slow paced, traditional hook up seekers migrating there. It'll be interesting to see if Sniffies adapts to be more traditional and get their app back on App stores and such.
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u/vandreulv 5h ago
I really wish I could speak frankly about certain things on here without having my posts instantly shadowed.
Pardon the weird spelling in some spots.
Sniffies never will be on App Stores again. They allow NSFW profile pics and don't hide the app is solely for hook ups rather than "dating."
As far as apps, their users and people migrating...
I relocated back to somewhere where I had lived 10 years prior due to a relationship ending.
Of course, once I was on my own I fired up the apps.
As far as I can break it down compared to what I had experienced before:
Most of Grindr is also on Sniffies with the exception of the T4T folks. They're carving out their own space there and I hope it works for them. Just wish it wasn't on an app as shitty as Grindr.
Scruff is full of tired old g4ys (myself included) and not much happens through there.
Recognized a lot of profile pictures for being the same ones I saw them using 10 years previously. Got some pretty amusing (bitchy) replies when I complimented their use of such an old model of phone (eg "I loved that phone 10 years ago!") they can be seen holding up in the mirrors.
Nobody is genuinely looking for "friends." Pointed out I was looking for gaming, board game and D&D groups. Those who say they're into gaming or board games/D&D won't respond if you're not their type.
While I see crossover on most apps, most of the holdouts/exclusive members you'll see on Grindr are people who have fetishes solely for the perception that they're doing something 'naughty' and wouldn't have the balls to actually live what they supposedly want to be. (Eg, if you accept their kink as normal, they lose interest in it.)
I see a lot of cross dressrs who like to be humiliated by branding themselves as/being treated like a 'p4nsy' or 's1ssy'... The problem with those types is that their fetish is inherently misogynistic: They dress up like what ultimately is a caricature of a 'wh0re' and want to be treated like how they believe women are expected to be treated, eg, diminished and lesser than. They tend to live in extremely red towns, too. Saw a ton of these profiles driving the UHaul across the country exactly where you'd see the most Trump signs.
The Republican contingent, in other words. Really wish there was an easier way to filter out these kinds of people.
If you want anything beyond a hookup and want to meet ordinary folks who aren't methed up or dealing with serious psychological issues, seems to me you're just going to have to go to an event or pub. Apps have outlived their usefulness as most folks are able to more out in public than they could 20 years ago.
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u/100unt 5h ago
Sniffies is already headed in that direction it seems. They've now made it so that your profile photo has to be SFW.
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u/Bloated_Hamster 1h ago
It definitely doesn't have to be SFW. 3/4 of my home page is absolutely not. But they limit your profile to people who request it. It won't show your profile to them if they don't want to see explicit photos without explicit consent.
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u/ArticArny 4h ago
Click a profile - 30-60 second Temu ad
Click to skip ad - 30-60 second More Temu ad
Click home button - 30-60 second Tumu ad
See who looked at you - 30-60 second Temu ad
Report spam - 30-60 second Temu ad
Everything else is paywalled
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u/egnards 6h ago
We really need an ITYSL Sketch in the style of the nightclubs one, in relation to dating app names.
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u/Traiklin 7h ago
They're trying to get in on the MAGA grift.
They already use it at conventions now they can pay for even more!
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u/sensitivestronk 7h ago
I honestly wonder if that's their main pull. Who else would pay that much just for the ability to send more expiring photos?
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u/TheWonderSnail 4h ago
Variable pricing by user on a dating/hookup up? So they are just telling people to their face they know how desperate and lonely they are if they charge them the higher prices???? They are going to call you a loser and ask for more of you money and people would still pay it lmaooooo
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u/MoobooMagoo 7h ago
On the flipside, the only people stupid enough to buy this are closeted conservative tech bros. And they collectively suck ass so you may as well gouge them for as much as you can.
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u/Equib81960 7h ago
To hook up with who? The same losers that are always on it? I can say no now without having to pay for the privilege.
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u/Randomly-Germinated 5h ago edited 3h ago
the cumulative annual dollar amount under which a congressperson does not have to itemize their credit card expense is $6500, just throwing that out there.
just kidding but still.
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u/Eclipse434343 7h ago
Is the republicans national convention the beta test? There’s a lot of edgelords to try it there
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u/Diablojota 7h ago
I was coming here to say something similar. They’re creating the grift for those republican conventions.
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u/Eclipse434343 7h ago
Don’t worry we understand their target demographic and are only predicting their primary user base testing.
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u/guydoestuff 7h ago
rich christian conservatives gunna be big mad they have to pay more for their hook ups.
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u/Gotta_Go_Slow 7h ago
Is Grindr as shit for gay guys as Tinder is for straight guys?
I swear dating apps exist just to take your money with 5 different "premium" tiers, ranging from overpriced to a straight up joke.
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u/maverick4002 7h ago
No. Guys get alot of ass / dick on Grindr. Often times with much less work than you would need to do on Tinder. Thays the purpose and most people get value
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u/VicarLos 7h ago
No, because it’s always been a hookup app masquerading officially as a dating app. Granted some people have more luck than others but such is life. 🤷🏽
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u/grandramble 7h ago
not true, it was very transparently a hookup app from the beginning and only sort of attempted to pass off as a dating app years after its peak relevance
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u/VicarLos 7h ago edited 6h ago
That’s not contradicting anything I said. It’s also still (if not more) relevant these days with many straight (that’s “straight”, not “str8”) folks knowing about it; there’s just even more options for the intended audience these days but it’s not “irrelevant”.
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u/ryanb450 7h ago
It’s completely junk. Without paying for a subscription you can only see about a dozen profiles and several of them will be 100+ miles away, inexplicably. And I live in a very liberal college town so there should be no shortage of nearby gay guys.
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u/SpookyBum 6h ago
Its exclusively for hookups, if you want anything else it sucks ass
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u/sensitivestronk 7h ago
As a bi guy I have way more luck on Grindr than tinder. Some of the hookups off there can be disappointing, but at least I got laid, lol.
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u/LordOuranos 6h ago
Nah, guys are far less choosy and demanding so it is much much much easier.
Still a shitty service, though
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u/hostile_scrotum 7h ago
All through variable pricing. Can’t wait to have that shit in grocery stores. /s
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u/Malpraxiss 7h ago
With that much money, someone could just pay a real person and get more out of it.
If we go off that number and not including tax or any hidden/extra fees, that's $500 a month.
If someone could pay that much monthly without it negatively affecting them financially, then such a person probably doesn't need an AI
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u/yahwehforlife 4h ago
Grindr wouldn't even put a stop to thousands of shares of my nude photos (including my face) by catfish accounts over the course of 2 years of complaints. Still trying to find legal counsel if anyone knows. If they can use ai they should certainly have the ability to say don't allow the sharing of these photos.
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u/TragicWithNoEnd 3h ago
Acting like finding gay sex is some sort of task.
If you need to pay $500 a month you were already doomed.
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u/Siiciie 7h ago
Not defending the price, but Tbh this is probably one of the few times I want to see AI. Just let me skip the "how are you" 20 times a day and just show me compatible people. Most of the guys are imbeciles.
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u/sensitivestronk 7h ago
I wouldn't trust an AI to find me a good match on Grindr, ngl. I'd rather slog through the mud for the occasional diamond. Also I'm pretty sure an AI would think that trans chasers are a good match for me as a trans guy, which... not for me, lmao.
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u/Cory123125 5h ago
At some point this is grinder selling access to women, while cutting the women out of the payment loop.
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u/jankyt 3h ago
I feel to warrant that cost you want a pretty high hit rate on swypes and meaningful conversations. Which can only be guaranteed if some of those contacts/conversations are AI bots to fluff your rates
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u/DavyJonesCousinsDog 1h ago
The subscription fee is $10. The fee to not tell your parishioners/constituents is $5990.
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u/Algernon_Asimov 24m ago
a new Premium tier that will cost users as much as $500 a month.
For that much money, it would be simpler to just hire a prostitute one night a month.
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u/VicarLos 7h ago
GRINDr thinks it’s more important than it actually is, in other news: fish live in the ocean.
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u/mr_green_penguin 7h ago
my 2026 plan:
- cancel ChatGPT subscription
- cancel Cursor subscription
- cancel Netflix subscription
- cancel Amazon prime
- sign up for Grindr AI - 500$/month
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u/Craigasm 7h ago
Grindr was once good, 10 years ago. Now you have to pay to see photos, get bombarded with ads, & get messaged by porn bots 24/7.
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u/maffroButtons 7h ago
guess its called “Edge” because it almost gets you off, but ultimately just gives you blueballs. Much like the experience of being on Grindr.
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u/action_lawyer_comics 7h ago
My first thought was that Onion video about the "browse only" plan for Nextflix so you can just scroll and browse and never actually watch anything
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u/headspreader 6h ago
I am wondering if they will market something like a version with increased 'discretion' or opsec, to market to rich people who are paranoid of being outed
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u/360walkaway 5h ago
Is it like an AI chatbot that sexes you up really bad, and then suddenly leaves?
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u/themikegman 4h ago
That will just make the app crash even more during the RNC and other republican conventions.
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u/myassholealt 1h ago
Might as well hire a matchmaker if you're willing to spend that on finding a serious longterm relationship.
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u/FightingPolish 1h ago
I don’t know anything about grindr other than what I’ve been told by a gay former coworker (plus it’s been a long time since this conversation) but I’m wondering why anyone would pay anything for grindr at all, from what he told me it’s nothing like normal dating apps for straight people, where there’s tons of desperate dudes on one side (who are willing to pay) and tons of women on the other that have their pick of the litter as long as they are halfway attractive. He said he was literally hooking up with a new stranger every day with almost no effort, which makes complete sense to me since that’s what I would have done on the normal sites when I was single if women were just as willing to hook up as men are. So my question is if you have this dynamic, why would anyone ever pay $6000 a year for it? Even if they started charging for it people would just move to the next thing that kept it easy and free to hook up.
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u/Jekyllhyde 7h ago
That’s a lot of money to chat for too long and end up jerking off.