Grindr Founder Launches ‘Motto’, A New Social Dating App For Queer People

Despite having created one of the world’s most popular gay dating applications, Joel Simkhai isn’t done just yet with the queer matchmaking space. 

As the founder of Grindr, Simkhai brought online dating to gay men with one of the first geosocial networks of its kind. At first, he saw the endeavor as a way to meet up with gay people within the Los Angeles region, not knowing that it would one day grow to have over 13 million monthly users. 

In 2018, the pioneer called quits on Grindr, selling it to a conglomerate for US$245 million, nine years after it started. Now, he’s back with Motto, a new sex-positive dating application for queer folks looking for casual meetings. 

According to TechTimes, rather than showing users who around them is available, the app will only display five to 10 profiles per day for them to be matched with.

Perhaps the smaller pool of suggestions could be due to the fact Simkhai wants to offer a more “high-quality” experience by verifying each user’s profile. 

In an interview with Gizmodo, the technology entrepreneur explained he wanted to build a more comfortable experience for queer individuals to put themselves out there, and represent themselves like a motto—hence the application’s name.

Interestingly, in what could be a jab at his former release, Simkhai wants Motto users to focus on viewing each other’s faces, with the application’s description stating “no headless torsos” are allowed. Each profile is required to have at least three face images.  

“Motto’s goal is to help you find someone you’re into without frustration, reduce the amount of time you spend on hookup apps to just a few minutes a day, and bring people together in the physical world,” he explained in a press release. 

Motto is currently live in New York City and Miami, and is free to download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

[via TechTimes and Motto / EIN Presswire, cover image via Motto]