Dating App to Help Gay Men Find Real Partners

A new gay dating app, Hanky, offers an invitation-only, tight-knit community to users in order to avoid catfishing (use of fake profiles), creeps, and time wasters.

Hanky has been developed in response to growing concerns about the trolling of ordinary users of dating apps. Legitimate users of traditional apps are being subjected to internet ridicule by trolls (often using fake identities), who send abusive messages or who post screenshots of private conversations on Twitter, says the company.

Hanky wants to eliminate the trolls: in order to join Hanky you need an invite code from a friend and validate your phone number, or sign up with your Facebook account. If you do not have an invite code at least three current members will have to vote you in.

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“For a long time we’ve been fed up with the vibe of the other gay apps. Increasingly the experience is ruined by trolling. We wanted to duplicate the nice vibe we experience when being introduced to friends of our best friends. There’s always a dash of trust and an expectation that we’re somehow on the same page,” says Jonas Cronfeld, co-founder of Hanky.

Hanky is currently available for iPhone. Android version will come later in 2016.