Popular dating app announces strategy to help LGBTQ+ athletes at 2026 Winter Olympics

Popular dating application, Grindr, has come up with new features aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ athletes who will be staying at the Olympic Village during the 2026 Winter Olympics.

During a press release on Monday, February 2, 2026, the dating app announced it's new game plan that will help queer athletes maintain privacy and meet new people, irrespective of whether they have come out or not.

Dating app Grindr has come up with "enhanced privacy" for queer athletes at the 2026 Winter Olympics

Grindr is a famous dating app, primarily for the queer community. Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, the dating app announced a series of new features and plans that will help queer athletes meet safely in the Olympic Village.

In a press release published on February 2, 2026, Grindr announced, "Someone outside the Village could browse profiles inside it. Distance data could be used to pinpoint someone’s exact location. And simply appearing on Grindr tells the world something about a person's identity that, in more than 60 countries, remains a criminal offense".

To ensure safety, the dating app said that it will turn off the explore and roam features so that users outside the Village do not come across profiles of Olympians or message them. For athletes living inside the Olympic Village, the 'Show Distance' will remain off by default.

This is not the first time that the app showed its commitment towards protection of privacy of queer athletes. They had introduced new features during the 2022 Beijing and 2024 Paris Olympics as well.

"Athletes can still connect. They just won't be broadcasting their location to do it", Grindr added. Additionally, the app will allow users to access privacy tools free of cost which usually need to be subscribed to. The private video feature will also be disabled for Olympians.

The press release further read, "For gay athletes, especially those who aren't out or who come from countries where being gay is dangerous or illegal, that visibility creates real safety risks...Grindr shows users who's nearby and how far away they are. In most contexts, that's useful. In the Olympic Village where thousands of athletes are packed into a small area, those same features may become a liability".

Grindr has extended its complete support to Olympic athletes, ensuring their safety throughout the event.

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.