Of all of the homosexual hookup apps Brennan Zubrick makes use of, Sniffies, a cruising app for males considering discreet sex-positive informal encounters with different males, is by far his favourite. A number of the most popular kinks amongst members on the platform embrace edging, cum play, and BDSM. “I overwhelmingly choose the expertise I get and the neighborhood I can entry,” he tells WIRED. However Zubrick, who’s 40 and based mostly in Washington, DC, has a foul feeling that would quickly change.
Tinder and Hinge mother or father firm Match Group introduced on Monday an funding of $100 million into Sniffies. The deal provides Match Group a big minority share and the selection to change into the only real proprietor afterward. The announcement has set off an intense firestorm of reactions from customers who’re second-guessing the route of the corporate and the longterm sustainability of the app.
“Sniffies has lengthy held its market place because the little man, catering to a particular part of the homosexual neighborhood, and is someplace individuals who may not be comfy with Grindr—the place no face-pic, no-chat tradition runs rampant—go to attach with different like-minded folks in a extra direct and discreet approach,” Zubrick tells WIRED.
“This partnership is about supporting that, not redefining it,” Sniffies founder and CEO Blake Gallagher stated in a statement, noting that the funding will assist the platform deal with three key areas customers need: “stronger belief and security, expansive community development, and continued product enhancements.” In response to the settlement, Match Group will supply steerage on the correct roles, procedures, and tech to assist Sniffies construct on its belief and security efforts.
However customers aren’t shopping for what Gallagher is promoting. The Instagram post saying the information was inundated with damaging reactions, as customers expressed fear over the strategic partnership. “Please don’t let this be the straightification of sniffies,” expressed one. “You offered out. Plain and easy. The place we transferring to subsequent boys?” added Marc Sundstrom, a consumer in Philadelphia. “Partnering with Match feels very gentrified and straight. Extremely involved in regards to the app being allowed to be what it’s with a purpose to court docket traders,” wrote one other. By Tuesday afternoon, feedback on the publish had been shut off.
Although it stays to be seen how Gallagher will place Sniffies within the months forward, already customers are saying this marks the start of the end for the app. “Straight folks shouldn’t even know what Sniffies is for fuck sake,” one wrote within the r/askgaybros subreddit. And regardless of guarantees, some say a serious company like Match just isn’t ethically aligned with the indie spirit of Sniffies. On LinkedIn, the top comment underneath Gallagher’s publish questioned the actual intent behind Match Group’s funding. “ to see how ties to Palantir have an effect on Sniffies’ development. Hopefully this doesn’t change into a surveillance software.”
Spencer Rascoff, who grew to become CEO of Match Group in 2025, beforehand served on the board of Palantir, the protection tech and knowledge mining firm that has change into a “technological backbone” of the Trump administration.
Sniffies maintains that it’s going to proceed to personal and management how its consumer knowledge is saved, dealt with, and guarded. In response to the corporate, there aren’t any adjustments deliberate to its knowledge practices as a part of the funding.
However the outrage underscores the importance of platforms like Sniffies and what it will imply to a neighborhood of people that already really feel like they’ve so few high quality choices for searching for need on-line.
“It’s a multitude and clearly to be anticipated. It’s undoubtedly an indicator of its quick rise, so no shade, however we noticed what occurred with Grindr,” says Brad Allen, a 34-year-old occasion producer and the creator behind Club Quarantine, who joined Sniffies in 2023. “I actually am pulling for them to in some way navigate this in another way because it’s important to the cruising neighborhood now. Hopefully the pop-up Sweet Crush advertisements don’t gentle up an excessive amount of within the bushes.”
