Grindr is the daddy of today's dating apps – it wasn't just about simpler hookups Justin Myers

All beloved by the gay community way before they went mainstream. Similarly, no celebration of a decade of dating apps would be complete without acknowledging that the LGBTQ community ran to a different calendar there, too. The daddy of our contributions to now-ubiquitous swipe culture is the infamous Grindr, launched in 2009 and originally designed to coordinate hookups between likeminded gentlemen tired of chatting on glitchy websites or over discounted cocktails in samey bars. Grindr's runaway success wasn't just down to cutting out various dating-world middlemen, it also fulfilled a genuine need for the LGBTQ community. Marginalised people have always found sanctuary on the internet, scurrying to secluded corners to be better understood by those who shared their distinctive struggles, kinks or slightly nerdy hobbies; all things that might be mocked by the more conventionally attractive bantersauruses roaming our school corridors and haunting the chain pubs on our high streets.