Appy Trails

iPhone or Droid? Daddy or twink? Top or bottom? The world of dating apps has expanded options for users, while reducing the possibility of actually meeting to the swipe of a thumb. Welcome to wooing by WiFi, with a few updates. One of the leading dating and sex hook-up websites has acquired a more friendship-oriented app to cater to a different kind of gay guy.

"We find right now that guys are getting a bit fatigued by it all," said Adam Segel, CEO of Online Buddies, the owners of the hook-up website ManHunt.net and the app Jack'd. In an interview at the Bay Area Reporter offices, Segel typified Dandy as similar to the straight dating app Tinder. Segel's company recently acquired the U.K. app Dandy. "There are so many apps, but we want to accommodate changing tastes," he said.

Like Tinder, users of Dandy swipe left or right (Yes or No) in a sort of obsessive-compulsive game of instant decisions. Dandy users can choose to connect to the users' Facebook profile photos, but it doesn't provide a direct connection to Facebook. The chat feature is also independent.

"A lot of people are interested in apps that prove people are real," said Segel. "They're tired of fake profiles. Dandy shows if you have friends in common; usually you can show a few photos. If you say yes, and he says yes, it's a match and you can decide to meet or talk."

The app hides whether the other users have chosen you or not, so, as Segel said, "It takes away the fear and trepidation some people have about putting themselves out there."

Dandy is location-based and currently only available for iPhone users, but Segel said Android versions should be available soon. The current version also has a feature that Tindr doesn't have.

In addition to the user field is a category called "Popular Guys" which shows men who are getting more Yes clicks than others. For a $1 'photo boost,' a Dandy app user can request to have himself put in the chosen "popular" guy's queue, and hopefully be noticed.

The differences between Dandy and Online Buddies' multi-million member site and app Manhunt are clear, Segel said. Manhunt is mostly sexual in nature, and their other app Jack'd finds a more diverse clientele in age and race.

"Dandy is more a social app, a little bit more about friendship," said Segel. "It's less hook-up-oriented and more dating or anything-oriented. It's also popular with younger guys."

Segel said the advantages of acquiring Dandy reflect the varying values of younger gay men. "They're not prudes by any sense," said Segel. "But they just don't like it to be put out there, as on ManHunt," where frontal nude photos are often the main profile photo of users. "They're more interested in what you look like with your clothes on first, and what you're interested in. The younger guys are approaching dating differently. Users want to connect with more about you. I think the culture has changed."

And the apps have changed, too. With Grindr, Skruff, BigMuscle and other apps and websites, gay men have found shortcuts to their own subcultures and preferred body types. Segel noted how younger men, even when they're out of the closet, are not aware of the more subversive ways gay men used to cruise, some of which, despite threats of oppression and antigay violence, were sometimes fun.

"Gay guys today go out with all their gay or straight friends and it's amazing, but it's very different. In some ways, this is what we've been fighting for, but sometimes, once you get it, it's not what you expect."

The many civil rights that we've gained have come with a change in the way we meet.

"What some people find offputting is the loss of the whole underground subculture," said Segel. "Others prefer this separation of social life and cruising on their phone. I would say that they do both."

With apps like Jack'd and Manhunt, "You're still looking for a guy," said Segel. "In Asia, they are all on the apps," said Segel. "We could be three feet away from each other in a Tokyo bar and still messaging by phone!"

Call Me, Maybe

But this phone preliminary is becoming a norm in gay bars as well.

"There are still guys that go to bars, of course, but it seems more social, and they're still pairing up, and some are on their phone," said Segel. "Perhaps ten or twenty years ago, we were perhaps limited to just hooking up. But now, a lot of the younger generation has white picket fences in their minds. They are looking for a husband. In one of our surveys, a huge new proportion of users responded that they thought they might find a husband. That's one of the reasons we wanted to have Dandy and the other apps, to help gay guys to meet each other. Whether it be for tennis, for sex, or to get married, we have different products for anyone."

Online Buddies also works with different HIV prevention outreach organizations to send messages about men's sexual health.

"We have to have a multitude of approaches," said Segel. "You can't be preachy or they'll run away. We're able to offer them information about PrEP medications (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), condoms, and barebacking. We've also done a lot of surveys on Jack'd and Manhunt with different organizations and universities who want to find out about sexual statistics and behaviors."

And while men in the U.S. may be more out, in some countries, the Dandy app, which has a G-rated appearance, is popular in countries like Korea, where Segel said many users are closeted and still live with their families. Some other users don't define themselves as gay, but have sex with men. Jack'd is in 16 languages and picks up from the user's setting. Manhunt has eleven language options.

"There is discrimination, from families, from employers," said Segel of his company's international users. "If they're outed, they may not get promoted, or they can get fired. So an app like Dandy is a safer option."

Safer as well in content, since Apple was a bit prudish about profile photos with the app version of ManHunt.

"Prudish is a polite term," said Segel. "Google is, too; no adult content, and they're only allowing a certain amount of semi-nudity on profiles for phone apps." Android is also censorious. "We're proud to have been thrown off of both platforms," Segel said with a laugh.

"Apple and Google own these particular playgrounds, and they have instituted rules that they feel make it fair," said Segel. "I think their rules are subjective and not representative of what people want. I should be able to make these decisions. If I had a child, I would take precautions. But nowadays, it seems parents don't do the work, and they need Apple and the government to tell them what they can see. It's unfortunate."

Segel noted ways that his company has dodged such restrictions.

"For people who use Jack'd, they don't post nude pictures, but they can trade them. With ManHunt, everybody was used to doing that first. We found Manhunt users would openly share nude photos, but share face pictures privately. So, to change that behavior to fit into the Apple paradigm? It didn't work. They don't want to do it." So, instead, users can go to a web version of ManHunt that functions as a phone app.

Here in the Bay Area, the tech community is being blamed for the abrupt cultural changes. Gay bars are closing, only to be replaced by techie-hipster-filled patrons and fans of artisinal cocktails and reclaimed wood.

Even online, while an antigay attitude may not be prevalent, a gay-dismissive or sex-absent tone seems to pervade the perspective of the new Silicon Valley.

"I happen to think it goes up to the higher levels of corporate culture," said Segel, citing Facebook's restrictive image and content policies.

Aspects of the closet versus living openly also find a vector in dating and hookup applications. Another company's app, Grindr, has been in the news headlines for stories about a U.K. man who lured closeted gay men to his home, only to blackmail them for money.

In Egypt, police have been using the hook-up app to entrap gay men and arrest them. And in Pakistan, a man who killed three men he contacted via the U.K.-based ManJam was said in an Associated Press article as having violently antigay beliefs.

Apps can be blamed for such targeted actions, but such violence and oppression has been going on for decades offline as well.

Segel said he hopes users are sensible and careful, and also know the risks of negotiating with complete strangers. Thus, the appeal of Dandy provides a real profile of a hopefully nice person.

As for sex and STD risks, Segel was asked about the elective designation in profiles about HIV status.

"That's a criticism about what we've had on Manhunt for a while," said Segel. "Sometime people think you shouldn't be asking that, or you should demand that. We don't have that on Jack'd, but I notice users are adding that. What I'm noticing now is that more men are adding profile information about taking PrEP. I'm all for sharing information, in advance, so you know for yourself what you're getting into," said Segel. "Many people seem not ashamed to do that anymore."

And what of the future of cruising? Asked about the evolutionary arc of apps and cruising, Segel referenced the olden days of phone sex and travel guides with noted cruise areas. In many ways, cruising is still about real space. Segel found in member surveys that many men settle for a guy they're less attracted to if he's at a closer location.

"If things develop, who knows? It might be Google Glass, a watch, even a chip in your head," he chuckled. "It would be fun and interesting, but it still won't guarantee a connection."

Find more info on Dandy at: www.online-buddies.com/products/dandy/

The World at Your Fingertips

For travelers, the classic worldwide travel Spartacus Guide has an app that's downloadable. Dirk Baumgartl, Editor in Chief of Spartacus Traveler, recently shared updates on the global travel guide's increased features.

Available on both iPhone and Android platforms, the app has more than 160 countries with 15,000 updated venue listings.

"You can use it offline," said Baumgartl of the 'native app,' which is helpful for travelers who may not be able to easily get a signal when traveling, "if they don't want to pay a lot from their data plan," said Baumgartl.

Simply download a region to your phone from the Spartacus website, and you can find locations wherever you're traveling.

The $7 annual subscription includes global listings, user reviews, editorial reviews of major venues, with photos, and up to date hotel information. Available in five languages (English, French, Italian, Spanish and German), the app, like the expansive guidebook, provide current information on bars, restaurants, hotels, bookstores and bath houses worldwide.

Download the app on itunes.apple.com