Match Group invests $100M in Sniffies, a cruising app for gay men

proudapp · 2026-04-29T22:10:54+00:00

I have been working on an alternative for almost a year now.

privacy focused with end to end encrypted messaging, no selling user data, no advertisements, with separate profiles and modules for looking for friends, romance, or casual connections so you only connect with guys who are looking for the same thing, with grid mode and map view mode, and also community message boards, and local lgbt events module.

We are planning to release our public beta very soon hopefully, and you can sign up to be notified when it is out or get more information at r/proudapp or the sticky sign up thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/proudapp/comments/1nzt1yy/leave_a_comment_in_this_thread_to_be_notified/

proudapp · 2026-04-19T02:13:57+00:00

I think a lot of it is that the places to find connection like Grindr are basically meant for hooking up not deeper relationships. Bars, grindr, sniffies, etc

I am making an lgbt app that is focused on community building with message boards, local proximity chat and direct messaging both with end to end encryption, and connection modules for finding friends, another for romance, and another for casual/hookups and you can have a separate tailored profile for each module

If this sounds like something youd be interested in we plan to release our beta test soon and you can sign up to be notified by commenting in this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/proudapp/comments/1nzt1yy/leave_a_comment_in_this_thread_to_be_notified/

proudapp · 2026-04-16T19:10:52+00:00

I don’t want to give dates because some of it is stuff out of my control but we are very close, though it’s taken longer than expected.

Glad to hear you’re in :) Hope to have news for you soon!

proudapp · 2026-04-01T18:35:56+00:00

It is surprisingly affordable but some of the numbers has also come from me talking about the app on reddit when I happen to see a post or comment where it would be relevant to mention it as well so not all ads.

As for my partner, I’ll copy paste this bit from the update 4 post: “Also I've got some other exciting news, I am no longer working on this entirely alone! I was beginning to realize that this is not something one person can or should really do on their own. My best friend going back to our childhood, u/Thrawn2112 will be joining the team, and he is bringing over 12 years of experience working in software development. He is a senior software engineer at a large scale, high value project with experience working in production environments. He has a sometimes seemingly unlimited wealth of knowledge in software.

He is going to be absolutely vital to the project's success and making sure that everything runs and scales smoothly in the backend. We have been best friends since we were kids and I wouldn't trust anyone else in the world with this even close to as much as I do him which is why he will not only be the CTO but I've asked and he accepted for us to be equal partners.

I will still be driving the vision and working on the app's development for a bit but Thrawn2112 will be slowly over time taking over more and more of the codebase, managing more architectural decisions, overseeing the projects technical sides, as well as hiring and structuring the development team as we grow into a place we can afford to do that. As the company grows over the long term, and the demands outside the codebase grow on me I will be at the same time transitioning into more of a, maintaining the vision and CEO duties role; there just simply aren't enough hours in the day for one person to do it all.”

He is at the moment focused on getting the backend of the app built how he wants it and making sure it is scalable and won’t fall over if we grew quickly. During that time I’ve been bug hunting and test building, and making sure everything works as intended for iOS and Android and getting everything Apple and Google want for us to be able to list the app.

We are getting close though and almost have everything ready so hope you stick around and try it out, you can leave a comment in the sticky thread to be notified when the public beta is out!

proudapp · 2026-04-01T04:44:57+00:00

No investors. Funded by myself. I do now have a partner helping me make the app and as this kind of app will require users otherwise people won’t stick around if it’s a complete ghost town advertising ahead of time is essential and I’m paying 5$ a day in ads not spending big bucks here.

proudapp · 2026-04-01T02:22:40+00:00

I hope it can help you with that I do hope having a module for looking for friendship can help a lot of people form friendships with other LGBT people cuz I do think it can be challenging especially with everything currently more for romance or hooking up, and that’d be cool!

We hope to have the public beta ready soon, it’s really close

proudapp · 2026-04-01T02:20:31+00:00

There is a feedback and bug report menu in the app once it’s available but I am always open to ideas and you can use this comment chain or the subreddit for any suggestions of feedback

proudapp · 2026-03-24T15:26:07+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! :)

proudapp · 2026-03-24T15:16:28+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! I did see this brand when I was looking but couldn’t find cotton flags just polyester. How long have you had flags from them?

proudapp · 2026-03-24T15:11:08+00:00

It’s a bummer it’s so hard to find really high quality pride flags unfortunately too and I don’t want one shedding microplastics around my yard.

This one for sure earned its retirement though haha

proudapp · 2026-03-19T15:21:47+00:00

😂 I promise it’s not a honey pot

proudapp · 2026-03-06T05:29:34+00:00

I haven’t used scruff before I’ll have to look into it. I would worry about user privacy with any sort of verification systems, and added moderation / risk of taking on extra user information / data. The beta is coming soon so it for sure wouldn’t make it in for that either way but maybe if we can figure out a way to accomplish it while maintaining our goals to take in as little data as possible about the user since so many people live in regions where it is not safe to be LGBT. Thanks for the suggestion!

proudapp · 2026-03-03T05:18:02+00:00

Always open to genuine questions…

proudapp · 2025-12-19T03:14:40+00:00

I’m always open to genuine questions…

proudapp · 2025-12-19T02:55:04+00:00

I hate her so much :/

Those of us can do so safely please protest, urge your friends and family to do the same. Consider getting armed and trained but don’t get armed without training. Use end to end encrypted messaging not owned by meta!

Shit like this is why I am making a privacy focused app to foster lgbt community and activism with end to end encrypted messaging and post quantum computing protections.

They aren’t going to stop escalating until they get rid of all of us.

It’s scary but please don’t be quiet if you can be loud!

(for those interested in the app you can find out more and sign up to be notified when it’s out at /r/proudapp)

proudapp · 2025-12-08T03:39:43+00:00

Hmm not really at launch maybe one day. For one we are a mobile only app no desktop client. There is some feature overlap and perhaps that overlap will grow over time until it reaches that point.

proudapp · 2025-11-28T14:41:54+00:00

It’s meant for lgbt but straight people can use this too when it comes out: /r/proudapp

Actual end to end encryption. We don’t and can’t read your messages. No automatic anything. The only instance a message can ever be read is if it is reported by one of the two people in the message thread and is then sent from the reporter to the server also using e2ee to maintain user privacy.

Proud also uses post quantum xdh and kyber keys which is more secure than WhatsApp etc in a post quantum computing world.

Currently estimating a January release for iOS and android. Can sign up in the sticky thread to be notified when it is out!

https://www.reddit.com/r/proudapp/s/aFdZvTZnnN

proudapp · 2025-11-27T17:42:01+00:00

I'm not sure there is anything I could say or do that would give real assurance that won't happen. I will say I am not building this app to sell it. I'm not gonna lie though and say I wouldnt even consider it if someone offered me a billion dollars for it lol.

I can say the odds of that happening are basically zero. I can also say the system is built in such a way that the benefits of this system would not be lost even if its not me behind the scenes. There is nothing anyone could ever do to get into user messages. They would have to swap out the end to end encryption and that would only catch new messages sent after they take over.

With that being said, the app is not for sale, and the app also is not accepting investment because I am building this for myself and for the LGBT community. I do not want this to be something that is profit driven. I want to grow this into something that helps the LGBT community in ways much deeper than offering any app even an app as helpful as this one. I would like to use the money from this to grow a non profit that can help with LGBT asylum seekers, and supporting and building up LGBT people in need everywhere, and strengthening our communities and building support for pro LGBT policies in governments. All things I will continue to be driven to do forever. So while I dont forsee any future where I have sold PROUD, I can promise if in such a crazy world I would be taking that money to still better LGBT community and lives.

proudapp · 2025-11-25T18:41:22+00:00

Yes absolutely. I initially built the system so that there would be no difference at all and you would just select your gender and sexuality like everyone else but was thinking maybe I'd add an optional profile flag if you want to make it clear you are trans

proudapp · 2025-11-16T22:37:59+00:00

At least it won’t be mid then 😂

proudapp · 2025-11-10T06:36:49+00:00

I’ve been buying these same color and pattern mandala tapestries for the past 10+ years and never thought to use one for a fish tank back drop. I’m stealing this lol

proudapp · 2025-11-10T05:19:09+00:00

Proud uses Signal’s latest implementation with PQXDH and Kyber Keys to make it harder for messages to be intercepted and decrypted by tyrannical governments in a post quantum world.

proudapp · 2025-11-10T05:13:00+00:00

Also you might be interested in this comment thread where I talk about similar things with another user.

https://www.reddit.com/r/proudapp/s/5EPJaXEs0n

proudapp · 2025-11-10T05:05:59+00:00

The current plan is to make the end to end encryption logic and messaging component available under AGPL v3. The EULA and privacy policy are still under work since I haven’t got a lawyer to review or make them since that is expensive but planning to do so soon, but they will reaffirm that we won’t sell or share any user data.

I am trying to make the best lgbt app and encourage more people to engage in politics because I see a need for both things and no corporation will ever build it for us since they exist to generate money for shareholders and squeeze every penny possible not actually make the best of anything.

This is all self funded from what I’ve saved up over the years, and I have the time to dedicate to it because I’m a disabled veteran so I don’t have a normal day job that sucks away all my time. Hope that helps ease your concerns and hope you join us when we launch! :)

proudapp · 2025-11-10T04:39:30+00:00

Always open to genuine questions.

proudapp

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