Sniffies’ Users Worry About a ‘Straightification’ of the Gay Hookup App

Of all the gay hookup apps Brennan Zubrick uses, Sniffies, a cruising app for men interested in discreet sex-positive casual encounters with other men, is by far his favorite. Some of the most popular kinks among members on the platform include edging, cum play, and BDSM. “I overwhelmingly prefer the experience I get and the community I can access,” he tells WIRED. But Zubrick, who is 40 and based in Washington, DC, has a bad feeling that could soon change.

Tinder and Hinge parent company Match Group announced on Monday an investment of $100 million into Sniffies. The deal gives Match Group a large minority share and the choice to become the sole owner later on. The announcement has set off an intense firestorm of reactions from users who are second-guessing the direction of the company and the longterm sustainability of the app.

“Sniffies has long held its market position as the little guy, catering to a specific section of the gay community, and is somewhere people who might not be comfortable with Grindr—where no face-pic, no-chat culture runs rampant—go to connect with other like-minded people in a more direct and discreet way,” Zubrick tells WIRED.

“This partnership is about supporting that, not redefining it,” Sniffies founder and CEO Blake Gallagher said in a statement, noting that the investment will help the platform focus on three key areas users want: “stronger trust and safety, expansive network growth, and continued product improvements.” According to the agreement, Match Group will offer guidance on the right roles, procedures, and tech to help Sniffies build on its trust and safety efforts.

But users aren’t buying what Gallagher is selling. The Instagram post announcing the news was inundated with negative reactions, as users expressed worry over the strategic partnership. “Please don’t let this be the straightification of sniffies,” expressed one. “You sold out. Plain and simple. Where we moving to next boys?” added Marc Sundstrom, a user in Philadelphia. “Partnering with Match feels very gentrified and straight. Highly concerned about the app being allowed to be what it is in order to court investors,” wrote another. By Tuesday afternoon, comments on the post had been shut off.

Though it remains to be seen how Gallagher will position Sniffies in the months ahead, already users are saying this marks the beginning of the end for the app. “Straight people shouldn’t even know what Sniffies is for fuck sake,” one wrote in the r/askgaybros subreddit. And despite promises, some say a major corporation like Match is not ethically aligned with the indie spirit of Sniffies. On LinkedIn, the top comment under Gallagher’s post questioned the real intent behind Match Group’s investment. “Interested to see how ties to Palantir affect Sniffies’ growth. Hopefully this doesn’t become a surveillance application.”

Spencer Rascoff, who became CEO of Match Group in 2025, previously served on the board of Palantir, the defense tech and data mining company that has become a “technological backbone” of the Trump administration.

Sniffies maintains that it will continue to own and control how its user data is stored, handled, and protected. According to the company, there are no changes planned to its data practices as part of the investment.

But the outrage underscores the significance of platforms like Sniffies and what it would mean to a community of people who already feel like they have so few quality options for seeking desire online.

“It’s a mess and obviously to be expected. It’s definitely an indicator of its fast rise, so no shade, but we saw what happened with Grindr,” says Brad Allen, a 34-year-old event producer and the creator behind Club Quarantine, who joined Sniffies in 2023. “I really am pulling for them to somehow navigate this differently since it’s essential to the cruising community now. Hopefully the pop-up Candy Crush ads don’t light up too much in the bushes.”

As corporations seek to maximize profits, the customer experience almost always diminishes. In previous years, Grindr (“garbage”), Feeld (“normie hell”), and Tinder (“a humiliation ritual”) have all faced accusations of ad tech monetization, pay-gating, and generally diluting the original sentiment of their platforms by appealing to new demographics. “Its pricing is beyond cringe and borders into shameless capitalism territory. It’s unusable unless you’re a rich white gay, basically,” Allen says of Grindr.

Sniffies was meant to be different. What made the platform such a compelling value proposition when it launched in 2018 was its no-holds-barred approach to queer sexual liberation. You could simply open your web browser to get started—no profile, photos, or email address was required. As a map-based cruising platform—think Google Maps but with a bunch of dick pics and torso shots—it simplified when, where, and how fast men could discreetly hook up. (In 2025, NYPD officers used Sniffies to arrest dozens of people for alleged public lewdness at New York City’s Penn Station.)

Actor J. Kenneth Anthony considers himself an analog and digital cruiser and says the changes coming to the platform could spoil what makes Sniffies special. “This isn’t Tinder or any of those other apps that parade themselves as hubs for connection. This is a place where the slutty can hop on the app, not reveal themselves, and still make connections,” he says. “Now we have Match, who is going to have access to the way queer people have been moving for the last eight years. There’s demand for this new untapped audience. I just thought we as a community on Sniffies were more sacred than selling out to these people who never protect us. I really love this platform. I’m so heartbroken.”

Under Rascoff, Match has faced criticism for how its apps handle user data. Journalist Christophe Haubursin published an investigative report exposing Tinder’s faulty face-verification tech, which is now mandatory for anyone who wants to sign up. In March, OkCupid, which is also part of the Match portfolio, settled a lawsuit with the US Federal Trade Commission after it was accused of sharing the personal data of 3 million customers with a third party, despite privacy guarantees.

A cruiser in London named Dani, who has used Sniffies since 2021 and asked that we only use his first name over concerns his private activities would negatively impact his professional life, tells WIRED that he worries the new partnership will change how power is distributed within the queer community.

“These are very smart tools, because they rely on realities that are already present and capitalize off them—promiscuous hookup culture, cruising, sex parties,” Dani says. “We are engaging in these things for free while someone else is extracting profit from them. That might sound already problematic in itself, but at least we’re redistributing wealth within the queer community.”

When asked about the timeline to acquire Sniffies’ remaining equity, Match Group declined to disclose additional details on the terms of the deal.

Whatever happens next, Zubrick is still holding out hope. “I still see Sniffies as a company I’m willing to align myself with, and it’s still the first platform I’ll check,” he says. “But I’ve got my eyes open and am willing to change course if I don’t like how they proceed.”