Grindr dating app adds iconic ‘now available’ notification

Grindr is adding tennis grunts to its dating game.

To celebrate the U.S. Open in New York, Grindr, the world’s largest gay dating app, has changed its notification sound – until the end of September, users would hear a grunt every time a potential suitor sent them a “tap” to show they were interested.

The campaign, called “Serving Grunt,” tells the app’s 14 million users that “open season is here and this year, we’re serving Grunts on (and off) the course.”

“As soon as we heard the term ‘serve and grunt,’ we were sold,” Tristan Pineiro, Grindr’s senior vice president of brand marketing and communications, told The Washington Post.

“Tennis is a pretty gay sport. There are white shorts, there are grunts, there are ball boys.”

When singles on Grindr find a match, they usually hear a “beep.”

Some app users were confused by the new voices.

“I put my phone down for a few minutes and I heard a man’s voice, almost like a groan or a grunt, and I immediately thought someone had broken into my apartment,” said Rehman Bhatti, 32, of Chicago.

“At first the grunting scared me because I wasn’t even sure if it was coming from my phone,” said Wyatt Stanley, a 21-year-old Grindr user from Michigan.

“I think it’s really funny and I’m sure it will bring the U.S. Open to the attention of a lot of confused Grindr users.”

The idea to mimic the tennis grunt came from a creative agency, and Pineiro said the grunt was “sexy and fun.” The change has nothing to do with the Flushing Meadows Queens Championships, the final Grand Slam of the tennis season, which ended on Sunday.

With this campaign, Grindr is trying to change the perception that sports are only for heterosexuals, as more than 100,000 users listed tennis as an interest in their profiles.

“There’s a sense of brotherhood in sports, and that’s what we want to express,” Pineiro said. “A lot of gay people are big fans of sports.”

At this year’s U.S. Open, the only gay player is a woman.

“Right now, there are no public male tennis players,” Pineiro said. “We just think it’s a little weird.”