“Honestly So Sad”: Sniffies Disables Cruising Location Message Boards

Over the last few weeks, Sniffies users across the world have reported that public location comments and cruising spot message walls have been disabled. This comes just months after the browser app, a popular local hook-up tool among gay and bisexual men, entered a $100 million partnership with Match Group, the parent company to Tinder and Hinge.

Though no public announcement of the feature’s controversial removal appears to exist, users have taken to the aptly named “WTF happened to Sniffies” page, a thread belonging to the popular “r/askgaybros” Reddit forum, to corroborate the change and voice their frustrations.

“They turned the cruising places into an ai summary and removed the ability to write on the wall,” the thread’s original post reads. “No more alerts about police or activities at hot spots. Pictures are restricted now too.”

“I’m honestly so sad rn,” one user replied. “This reshapes the community aspect of the app in a big way.” Another suggested that “Match Group [had] sanitized the cruising right out of Sniffies”.

Was This Sniffies Or Match Group?

Currently, there is no evidence to suggest Match Group was responsible for the change. That said, the timing is curious, with many suspecting that the removal of location message boards is Match Group’s attempt to get Sniffies back on the App Store. Others simply think the feature will be reintroduced at a premium. 

Either way, the consensus seems to be that Match Group is to blame for Sniffies’ apparent downfall. When Sniffies first announced the app’s partnership with Match Group, CEO Blake Gallagher had assured users that the app would maintain the “foundational perspective and principles it was built on.”

“Sniffies works because it reflects how connection actually happens: on your own terms, in your own space,” Gallagher said. “That part of the Sniffies experience won’t change.”

However, how connection happens on Sniffies now has changed. While one user mourned no longer being able to eavesdrop on the unhinged comment section of his local bathhouse, others who once used Sniffies message boards to vet locations live before attending no longer feel safe cruising at all.

At the time of writing, location message boards are still functional via the Sniffies browser app in Australia, though this may change.