Gay location app
Since we began travelling in our more ahem! In this day and age, our iPhones have pretty much become our main go-to-item for almost everything, with apps to cover all the things above, and more. Whilst we appreciate this has made us lazier that conversion of Indian rupees to dollars, forget doing it in your head, just whip out the smartphone and voila! After many years of travelling all around the world, we've put together our top favourite gay travel apps we love using and have become so dependant on. A few points to bear in mind:.
Gay Dating Apps Promise Privacy, But Leak Your Exact Location
Since we began travelling in our more ahem! In this day and age, our iPhones have pretty much become our main go-to-item for almost everything, with apps to cover all the things above, and more. Whilst we appreciate this has made us lazier that conversion of Indian rupees to dollars, forget doing it in your head, just whip out the smartphone and voila!
After many years of travelling all around the world, we've put together our top favourite gay travel apps we love using and have become so dependant on. A few points to bear in mind:. It is one of our favourite gay travel apps for planning because unlike Airbnb, you know your host is gay or at least gay friendly. It's very easy to use and the website also offers useful destination gay guides. Once you've signed up, you can download the app, or use the mobile-friendly version of their website and choose a stay.
ManAboutWorld is one of our favourite online gay media. It aims to inspire gay travellers with detailed, informative and up-to-date articles written by gay men like yours truly! As well as fascinating content about so many different destinations, they also give excellent advice about LGBTQ safety in countries where being gay is illegal or a big taboo. ManAboutWorld is unique because it's the first gay travel magazine created specifically for iPads, iPhones and Android devices.
Whilst some of the content is free to view, the entire magazine is part of a paid subscription. Whether you're a solo traveller or a couple in an exclusive relationship, Grindr is a must, particularly when travelling to places where being gay is not accepted, or worse, illegal. For most of us living in western Europe and North America where there is a very developed LGBTQ scene, and being gay is legal and very much accepted by society, Grindr is mainly used as a dating app for sex.
We had never thought to do this beforehand. When it used to be illegal to be gay in India, we used Grindr to find out to discover the gay parties taking place in Delhi — without it, there was no other way for gay travellers to find out about them unless you already knew people locally. Some of the best friends we've made in each new place we've visited has been from Grindr, whether it was in Beijing, Buenos Airest or Bucharest.
We applaud it and love the fact that it makes meeting locals so easy. Also, note the many other gay dating apps, usually depending on where you are and of course, what you're into :. But ultimately, when it comes down to it, Grindr is the main one that almost every other gay man in the world is likely to have, which is why we headlined this section with it.
Whilst we're not here to discuss or pass judgment on anyone who is or who is not taking PrEP, one thing's for sure, it's massively altered the way we gay boys approach and prepare for safe sexual encounters.
As far as we're concerned, anything that promotes safe sex and helps to minimise the spread of HIV infections when taken with all the precautions and checks of course! So what has this got to do with travelling? Well, let's face it, when on holiday, chances are, we're all going to be more sexually active.
If you're taking PrEP daily or on-demand event-based dosing , it's easy to lose track of when to take your blue pill with all the change of timezones when travelling. However, information about local clinics is at the moment only limited to Poland and Thailand. Sadly, many countries in the world monitor Internet use in quite an invasive way.
China is the classic example, where almost anything Western is banned Twitter, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Dropbox etc…! Government monitoring of the Internet is also prevalent in most of the Islamic and Arabic countries, where gay apps like Grindr are banned.
Examples include Lebanon, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. For example, the VPNs we used when we were in Beijing China would connect to the nearest server they could find that is not subject to government Internet monitoring — usually in Hong Kong. A VPN is also very handy if you want to watch your favourite TV channels online which otherwise cannot be accessed outside of your country.
Another vital reason we strongly advise using a VPN no matter where you go is because using a VPN allows you to browse anonymously. Thankfully VPNs are cheap and easy to set up. It's the most user-friendly to install, with over server locations. They offer a 7-day full money-back guarantee trial , which is what got us. Google Maps has been one huge lifesaver for us during our travels in Asia, especially when travelling in India when tuk-tuk drivers frequently tried to take us to the wrong destination so they could get a commission.
Google Maps just keeps getting better and better all the time, and as a result, we rely on it more and more. We love that you can pre-download the map of the area you're going to visit, allowing you to use your phone as a GPS during a road trip. You can easily find gay bars, gay clubs or gay hotels with the search function which comes very handy.
In addition, Google Maps gives you the best route to cycle, walk or take public transport to your destination, which makes it even more valuable. In most cases, we've found ourselves being savvier than locals when it comes to directions as a result of Google Maps. A credit card you can use anywhere in the world with no exchange fees to pay in other currencies! TransferWise is a way to set up borderless accounts to enable you to send and receive money in the US, UK, Europe, Australia, with more countries being added over time.
Unlike your local bank and Paypal, the fee is cheaper and the exchange rate muuuuch fairer on TransferWise. If like us you send and receive money a lot abroad, you'll no doubt have shared our frustration with Paypal's whopping fees and unfair exchange rates.
TransferWise instead offers the exchange rate on the day and charges a much lower fee. The app is also very easy to use. TransferWise also has a Mastercard credit card you can use anywhere in the world, using the real exchange rate. It's similar to Revolut — another travel gem we rave about, but we found TransferWise to be more global than Revolut and better for us. You can sign up and get your account set up here.
So, say you're in a Tbilisi supermarket shopping to get a decent Georgian wine a country that is so famous for its wine production, dating back 8, years! Vivino allows you to take scan the wine bottle label, which it will search up and give you the rating out of 5 based on other users' reviews , as well as a detailed description about the flavour and estimated retail price. Vivino is so handy because it helps us decide what each bottle is likely to taste like and whether it is good value for money.
The only downside is that it is completely dependent on you having Internet access and cannot be used offline. This is a crucial app every gay traveller needs, especially if like me you can't do simple currency conversions in your head…. The Netflix app has completely changed our lives when travelling, particularly when delayed on a long plane journey or when stuck in an endless immigration line. The app lets you pre-download your favourite series to watch offline.
Netflix works across all devices with one account. We particularly love the Netflix app because it allows us to watch shows relating to a destination we're about to visit on the plane en route. There's also a wide selection of gay series and movies which we love watching.
The ones we loved the most that also inspire travelling are:. If, like me, you love to have gay music playing from your phone when in the shower, or while cooking, then you'll love this app.
It includes the classics dating back to when the show started, to the present day pre-qualifying entries for the next contest. Obviously, if you're not keen on Eurovision, then just keep scrolling. Traditionally this involves finding a postcard, going to the post office during operation hours, queuing up to buy the stamps before posting it. Thereafter, you're relying on the postal service of that country for the successful delivery of your postcard. Sadly in most Latin American countries, a lot of our post was never delivered, which meant a lot of time and expense was completely wasted!
Over time, sending postcards online has become very popular because guarantees it will arrive and saves you a lot of time. It also lets you personalise the postcards so you can use one of your images instead of a generic one. You can read more about why we love sending postcards online.
You can download MyPostcard. We recommend you always take out travel insurance before your next vacation. What happens if you suffer from illness, injury, theft or a cancellation? With travel insurance, you can have peace of mind and not worry. We love World Nomads travel insurance and have been using it for years. Their comprehensive coverage is second to none and their online claims process is very user friendly.
There is never an extra cost to you for using these links and it helps us keep the site going. Stefan is the co-founder, editor and author the gay travel blog nomadicboys.
As a travel nerd, he has explored more than 80 countries across 5 continents. What he loves the most about travelling is discovering the local gay scene, making new friends and learning new cultures. Stefan is also a qualified lawyer, having practised as a commercial property litigator in London for over 10 years.
He left his lawyer days behind to work full time on Nomadic Boys with his husband Sebastien. Find out more about Nomadic Boys. Thanks Bernard. I use Maps. For us though we found G maps more user friendly especially since they allow you to pre download maps. I swear by many of these. All apps looks good but not sure if they have India specific information. Nevertheless, would try some. You guys seem like champions, you can feel your energy in your posts. Great list. Thanks for sharing.
Great list of apps! Ooo the Icoon app looks handy, though it would take away from the fun game of charades I always like to play when trying to communicate in another language!
Thanks for the great tips! I really should get around to using Skyscanner more often. Interesting to know about Vespa and misterbnb.
Some of the most popular gay apps, including Grindr and Recon, expose their users' locations. Grindr is the world's #1 FREE mobile social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people to connect. Chat and meet up with interesting people for free.
Most dating apps share your location, but only to let other users know how far away you are, meaning your location info is still relatively secure. These apps typically show how far away a user is from other matches, often down to small, walkable distances like feet or meters. Using trilateration, a user who knows a match is meters away could draw a meter radius around themselves on a map and know their target was somewhere at the end of that circle. Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter. Read the full story at BBC.
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The best gay travel apps out there!
If you're gay, single and ready to mingle then there's never been a better time to go on the hunt. Well, better and We take you through every app for every need. So your gay ass is looking for love. Or sex.
The best apps for gay dating, gay sex and gay romance
A few days ago, I warned my wife that the experiment I was about to engage in was entirely non-sexual, lest she glance over my shoulder at my iPhone. Then I installed the gay hookup app Grindr. I set my profile photo as a cat, and carefully turned off the "show distance" feature in the app's privacy settings, an option meant to hide my location. A minute later I called Nguyen Phong Hoang, a computer security researcher in Kyoto, Japan, and told him the general neighborhood where I live in Brooklyn. For anyone in that neighborhood, my cat photo would appear on their Grindr screen as one among hundreds of avatars for men in my area seeking a date or a casual encounter. Within fifteen minutes, Hoang had identified the intersection where I live. Ten minutes after that, he sent me a screenshot from Google Maps, showing a thin arc shape on top of my building, just a couple of yards wide. In fact, the outline fell directly on the part of my apartment where I sat on the couch talking to him.
Researchers in the UK have demonstrated that Grindr, the most popular dating app for gay men, continues to reveal its users' location data, putting them at risk from stalking, robbery and gay-bashing. Cyber-security firm Pen Test Partners was able to precisely locate users of four popular dating apps—Grindr, Romeo, Recon and the polyamorous site 3fun—and says a potential 10 million users are at risk of exposure.
Chat and meet up with interesting people for free, or upgrade to Grindr XTRA or Grindr Unlimited for more features, more fun, and more chances to connect. Looking for even more? Want the ultimate Grindr experience?
Grindr and other gay dating apps are exposing users’ exact location
To give you the best possible experience, this site uses cookies. If you continue browsing. You can review our privacy policy to find out more about the cookies we use. It wasn't easy. But who's in control? A few years ago, a particular type of email began showing up in the inbox of Eric Silverberg, whose gay dating app, Scruff, allows members to search for potential matches who are nearby. They were pitches from location-data brokers, telling the CEO he was sitting on a lucrative trove of user information. Get what matters in tech, in your inbox every morning. Sign up for Source Code. X-Mode sent five more pitch emails in the five months that followed.
Gay Dating App Grindr Still Leaking Users' Location Data, Report Indicates
By Rhuaridh Marr on August 9, rhuaridh. The researchers have apparently shared their findings with Grindr, Recon and Romeo, but said only Recon has made the necessary changes to fix the issue. Using this method — known as trilateration — Pen Test Partners researchers created an automatic tool that could fake its own location, generating the distance info and drawing digital rings around the users it encountered. They also exploited application programming interfaces APIs — a core component of software development — used by Grindr, Recon, and Romeo which were not fully secured, enabling them to generate maps containing thousands of users at a time. Anti-gay Tennessee Republican resigns amid Grindr sex allegations. Detroit man accused of using Grindr to find and shoot gay men. Doctors call for ban on conversion therapy, citing harmful mental health effects. Slain sibling of Dayton shooter was a transgender man, friends say. As a free LGBTQ publication, Metro Weekly relies on advertising in order to bring you unique, high quality journalism, both online and in our weekly edition. We appreciate anything you can do, and please keep reading us on the website and our new Digital Edition, released every Thursday and available for online reading or download.
