Back in March, a report that Grindr suffered from flaws that could expose its users' personal information. The company a statement in response that said its location tracking feature is more akin to a square on an atlas and can't pinpoint users' exact location. The free third party app is built on top of Grindr's private API, giving it access to the gay dating app's database. All someone has to do to find users nearby is to use Fuckr's filters, which can narrow people based on their ethnicity, relationships and other data. Yes, because the app can tap into Grindr's database, it can reveal not only users' locations, but also their photo, body type, ethnicity, HIV status, last HIV test and even their sexual position preference. Especially since Grindr still makes it possible to locate men in countries where LGBTQ+ people aren't accepted. While it's true that the company blocked location tracking in Russia, Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, it still allows tracking in countries like Algeria, Turkey, Belarus, Ethiopia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Azerbaijan, China, Malaysia and Indonesia. The company also didn't respond to the publication's request for a clarification on how Fuckr got access to its private API. As BuzzFeed points out, though, there are many things Grindr can do to prevent third parties from getting access to its database, such as implementing a more powerful way to obscure its precise location tracking feature. For now, users can switch off their phone's location services or just switch it off for Grindr, in particular to protect themselves.
