What Bindr actually does

Label-free profiles

Most dating apps open by asking what you are. You pick a box, and that box quietly decides what you are shown for the rest of your time on the app. Bindr works the other way round. Every orientation option is on by default, and you narrow it down to the people you actually want to see.

There is no compulsory orientation label on your profile. If a word fits you, use it. If none of them do, you can still finish your profile and start matching. Nothing about that choice is permanent, either. Change it whenever you want, without rebuilding your account.

• Every orientation option on by default. You choose who you see.
• No orientation label required on your profile.
• Describe your gender in your own words and set your pronouns.
• Change what you are looking for at any point.

Free to match, free to message

Matching is free. Once you have matched, messaging is free. That is the app, not a trial of it.

This is deliberate. On most dating apps the conversation is the thing behind the paywall, because the conversation is the part people will pay to reach. Charging two people who have already chosen each other for the privilege of saying hello is not a business we want to be in. You can join, match and talk without spending anything, on the web or in the app.

What a paid membership adds

Membership is optional and it buys extras rather than access. Messaging first is the clearest example: a paid member can send a message before a mutual match, where a free member waits for the match. It is a shortcut, not a gate.

Poly and couple friendly

Bindr supports ethically non-monogamous relationships as a product decision rather than as something quietly tolerated. You can link your account to a partner’s, so the two profiles read as connected.

The practical effect is that nobody finds out three messages in. A couple looking together reads as a couple from the start. Singles who are open to that can see it up front, and singles who are not can move on without an awkward conversation. Both outcomes are better than the alternative.

• Link your profile to your partner’s account.
• Your relationship structure is visible before the first message, not after it.
• Consent-first community guidelines that apply to couples and singles alike.

Verification and moderation

Photo verification

Verification confirms that the person in the photos is the person using the account. It is one of the few measures that genuinely reduces the amount of nonsense on a dating app, and it carries more weight here than on a mainstream one. When not everyone using an app is out, a fake profile costs more than a wasted evening.

Reports are read by people

Every report goes to a human moderator. Harassment, fetishising and chaser behaviour are violations we act on rather than categories we acknowledge. You can block anyone at any point, and you never have to explain why.

Nobody has solved moderation, on any platform, and we are not going to claim otherwise. What we can tell you is that a report here reaches a person who reads it, and that the guidelines they enforce were written for this community rather than inherited from a mainstream product and lightly edited.

One community, not one app per identity

Bindr is not a set of separate apps stitched together by label. Bisexual, lesbian, gay, trans, non-binary, pansexual, queer and questioning people are all in the same place, filtered by what each person has chosen to see rather than by what they had to declare.

That is the practical pay-off of the label-free design. The community stays one community, and you decide where you sit inside it. It also means the app does not quietly shrink your world the moment you tick a box.

Web, iOS and Android

Bindr is a full website and a pair of apps, and they share one account. Sign up on a laptop and carry on from your phone on the way to work. Nothing important is app-only, and nothing important is web-only, which matters if you would rather not have a dating app icon sitting on your home screen.

• One free account across web, iOS and Android.
• Match, message and manage your profile from anywhere.
• One profile and one set of matches, whichever you sign in on.

Getting started

You need an email address, a password and your date of birth. Bindr is strictly 18+. From there you set who you want to see, add your photos, verify them, and go. Signing up takes a minute and costs nothing.

If you are still weighing it up, the safety page covers verification, blocking, reporting and what to do if something goes wrong. It is the page worth reading before you enter a date of birth anywhere.