Let’s be honest, the old-school way of meeting people has gone out the window. Gone are the days when you could expect to roll up at a bar, chat with a couple of people, and have a decent chance of getting into a relationship. Well, it can still happen, it is just completely unexpected.
Nowadays, most dating is done online. If you want to find somebody to date, then you’re going to need to sign up to a myriad of dating apps and converse with people. You would think this would be easy, but nope. Dating online is exceedingly challenging. You’re competing with a lot of people, and it can be insanely tough to stand out. This is why it is ever so important that you get signed up for the right dating app. One where your talents can shine.
On this page, we’re going to share the absolute best gay dating apps for over 40s. Yes. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of gay dating apps out there. We’ve chosen to focus on just a few of them because most others are quite frankly terrible. We want to give you the biggest choice of potential gay suitors. Let’s dive in!
Gay friendly sites to find love when you are over 40
Grindr (Gay Men)
If you’re gay and have even so much as contemplated online dating, then you would have heard of Grindr. It is the biggest gay dating platform in the world. Apparently, it has almost 30 million users, which is a pretty big dating pool. No matter where you are in the world, chances are that you’ll find some people in the local area to head out on a date with.
Now, do bear in mind that Grindr was originally touted as an app for casual hookups, and it still is (most of the time), but a lot of people have managed to find some long-term relationships from Grindr. You just need to make it 100% clear what you are looking for through the app. So, let people know right from the get-go that you’re looking for romance.
Honestly, if you only sign up for one gay dating app on this page (we suggest that you sign up for as many of them as possible), we highly recommend Grindr. We don’t think there is a better app on the planet for helping gay men hook up with other gay men.
Tinder
Tinder is another app that many of you have likely heard of. In the past, Tinder had a reputation for being an app for heterosexual people. People figured that gay men had Grindr, and this app was for straight people instead. Although, this has changed, particularly in the larger towns and cities.
As you may well know, Tinder is a casual dating app. If you like somebody, you swipe right. If you don’t like them, you swipe left. It is all about ‘looks’ here. If somebody you like likes you back, then great. You’re a match! You can then chat to one another.
Once again, this is more of a casual dating app rather than ideal for somebody looking for some long-term romance. However, we have found that this does change a little bit for gay people in their 40s. A lot of the people in their 40s on Tinder seem to be more open to long-term relationships. But, once again, you have to make it abundantly clear that this is what you are after. There is no sense in wasting people’s time.
Badoo
If you’re looking for a more conventional dating app, then we recommend Badoo. It is a, mostly, free dating app (many dating apps are not free), where you can send messages, browse profiles, etc. without spending a single cent.
Badoo has a ton of gay people on the platform, we have checked a few different towns and cities on the app, and you’ll often find dozens of people to chat with. One of our favorite things about Badoo is that when it comes to gay singles on the app, you’ll find that the number of people available in the older age bracket tends to trend a little bit higher than some other dating apps. This makes it perfect for the over-40s.
This is a blend between a casual hookup app, and those looking for long-term love. However, in our experience, Badoo is very much focused on the longer-term love aspect of things. So, if that is what you are into, then make sure that you write it on your profile. People will read it.
As a note here – the people on Badoo absolutely love pictures (no, not the nudes). If you want to be successful on Badoo, then you’re going to need to upload a ton of pictures to your profile. People almost always browse through the available pictures before they decide who they want to have a bit of a chat with.
Her (Lesbian)
We know that many of the people that are reading this page are probably going to be gay men, but we do want to point out Her. This is an app designed specifically for lesbians. So, if may be worth checking out if you are a lesbian or bi.
At first glance, Her doesn’t necessarily come across as a gay dating app. It is more of a social media website (it looks very, very similar to Facebook) but, as you can imagine since the app is targeted at a very targeted sexual demographic, dating does happen on the website. You just need to be a bit more serious about who you approach on the platform. You can’t just message everybody in the hope of an amazing hookup. The app doesn’t work like that at all!
Even if you are not in the mood for dating on Her, we do suggest that you sign up. It is a social media platform where you can have a chat with other like-minded people, and it is a huge amount of fun because of that!
Scruff (Gay Men)
Scruff is regarded as a slightly safer version of Grindr. It doesn’t have anywhere near the same number of users that Grindr has, but you’ll be pleased to know that if you are on Scruff, you are not going to be faced with an almost constant barrage of less-than-savory pictures. In recent years, Scruff has also managed to gain quite a few Grindr refugees, especially from the older demographic who are not massive fans of how young the Grindr user base has started to trend.
We absolutely love Scruff due to the sheer number of options that you have at your disposal when you are trying to track down people that you want to have a chat with. It makes it far, far simpler to find somebody that will really meet your needs as a person. Because, let’s be honest, most of us really do not want to be wasting time talking to people we have no connection with (a common problem with online dating), we just want to track down the best possible people to chat to and, you know, actually have a conversation with them.
We’ve seen plenty of relationships blossom due to Scruff.
Gay men over 40 finding love
eHarmony
eHarmony is one of our favorite gay dating apps for over 40s. This is because it is one of the few online platforms that doesn’t really promote casual hookups. It is all about finding the perfect match that you can end up with for the rest of your life. It probably helps that the vast majority of the features on eHarmony are locked behind a paywall. This helps to keep many of the casual daters away from the platform, but it also means that if you want to have success on eHarmony, you’re going to need to stump up some cash to play. However, the great thing is that eHarmony is absolutely laden with people over 40s, so you’ll have some fun.
As we said, eHarmony is all about creating those long-term relationships. So, you’re going to be actively encouraged to share as much information about yourself as possible. The more information you share, the more chance you have of finding somebody that is into you. In fact, in our experience, the profiles that are incomplete tend to get ignored by the bulk of the people on eHarmony.
So, yes. Being on eHarmony is going to take a whole lot of work on your part. However, we find that if you are willing to put in that work, you can probably end up with a far more fulfilling relationship than if you used any other major gay dating app out there.
Taimi (Gender Fluid and Transgender)
When Taimi first launched, it was an app designed for gay men. This means that the bulk of the population that you find kicking around on Taimi is going to be gay men still. However, in recent years, Taimi has changed a little bit. While gay men do still fill the bulk of the population on Taimi, the site is more of a complete LGBTQ+ site now, with a major focus on gender fluid and transgender people.
We think that this is more of a casual dating app, although some serious long-term relationships have been formed from Taimi, we suppose. One of the major advantages that Taimi has as a casual dating app over sites like Grindr and Tinder (also casual dating gay apps) is the fact that you can really drill down to certain locations around the world. So, if you plan on traveling in the near future, you can look for like-minded singles in those destinations before you even set foot there.
Hinge
Hinge is a dating app for everybody. Not just gay people, although they are the bulk of the users on Hinge.
When Hinge was first created, they had a single goal – to make a dating app where meaningful connections could be formed. The team behind Hinge noticed that there were far, far too many casual dating apps out there, so they wanted to do something a little bit different.
This means that when you do land on the Hinge platform, you’re going to be on a platform that places a major focus on getting to know the other people there. This means answering questions, filling out your profile, uploading a ton of pictures, etc.
One of the cool things about this app is that the only way you can communicate with others is by liking or commenting on their photos. It is this that opens up the connection between you and the other person for further discussion. You’ll have to think about what you like and comment on, though. You are limited in the amount that you can do every single day!
Silver Singles
Finally, we have Silver Singles. This is a dating app (not just for gay people) that has been explicitly designed for the older generation. This means that everybody that you find on Silver Singles is going to be over the age of 40, or wouldn’t mind being with somebody over the age of 40.
As you can probably imagine, this is not a casual dating app in the slightest. If you are on Silver Singles, then you’re going to be on it for the long term. You are going to be chatting to like-minded people who are looking to settle down in the near future.
You’re going to have to pay if you want to be a member of Silver Singles, but we find that the cost is more than worth it. After all, the cost weeds out the more casual daters.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, when it comes to the best gay dating apps for over 40s, you’re going to be spoiled for choice. There are a ton of options out there. You have casual dating apps, long-term dating apps, and social media apps just built for chatting to others. Check out a few of them. See which one fits your needs the best.
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