Scruff Gay Dating App Review

What you need to know

Is Scruff settling down? This notorious hookup app is now shifting so that it aims to help users to find lasting relationships gays.com style. Don’t worry, though: Scruff remains a great app to find hookups for a single night (or afternoon). Alongside the household name Grindr, Scruff is one of the two most famous and well-known apps on the gay dating scene. Scruff and Grindr have been head to head rivals for many years now, and so Scruff continues to develop its USP: a detailed search function that makes it easy to home in on just the right type of guy. This Scruff Gay Dating App Review aims to give a flavour of what using this app is like since its major 2015 update.

The stats

Scruff was launched back in 2010 by Johnny Skandros and Eric Silverberg. Stats from October 2016 suggest that it has now passed the 10 million user mark. The app is free to all, but those who wish to can also upgrade to a paid version with additional features. Traditionally, this app has been focused on hookups (and it was mainly directed at those in their 30s and 40s), but in 2015 the app was revamped to place more of a focus on finding guys to date in the longer term. Are the 20 somethings who started using Scruff in 2010 now reaching a time of life where they want to settle down? Who knows!

The fact remains that in 2017 Scruff is now an app that can be used to find both a random guy to sleep with and your next long term partner. This is a truly global app, having been translated into 14 languages (including Italian, Spanish, German and French). It is also available in no less than 180 countries worldwide and the past six months or so has started to take off in India (to a significant part, this is probably due to Scruff taking a visible part in several events in the country such as LGBT Flash Mobs in New Delhi). This international outlook is aided by the app’s travel features, one of which enables users to see the travel plans of other guys using the app so that they can arrange hookups abroad.

A further travel feature is devoted to suggesting good places to eat and drink in different cities around the world. This Scruff Gay Dating App Review should also mention the technical fact that this app is available for iOS, Android and Windows, so take your pick!

What it packs

I already described some of the travel focused features earlier in my Scruff Gay Dating App Review, but there are plenty more features to discover. No Scruff Gay Dating App Review would be complete without mentioning the app’s extensive and detailed search feature. If you are looking for a particular type of guy (e.g. twink/ bear/ no body hair/ interested in barebacking) you can find him with ease just by narrowing down your search. As of 2014, Scruff has been putting a concerted effort into informing users about each other’s practices regarding safer sex, and so on signing up to this app, you will be encouraged to give as much information as you are comfortable with.

As you might expect, though, when you first log on to Scruff you will find that it looks initially deceptively like its main rival, Grindr.

You are presented with a grid of guys’ photos (most of them, inevitably, are pics of faceless torsos), and guys who are closer to your current location will appear first on the screen. There is a Tinder-style photo swipe function on the app now, as well as photo sharing and instant messaging capabilities for you to get to know guys better.

Too shy to chat? Scruff also offers you the possibility to send a guy a ‘woof’ to show that you like him without entering into a lengthy discussion. It would be hard to capture all of the features of this app in a single Scruff Gay Dating App Review (as explained at the start of this Scruff Gay Dating App Review, one of the USPs of Scruff, as opposed to Grindr, is the level of detail that the developers have gone into), but hopefully this has given you a good overview of what it’s like.

The last word

If I had to sum up my Scruff Gay Dating App Review, I’d say that Scruff remains a great app. It’s always been an excellent option when you’re seeking a hookup, and the very specific search function means you can filter out all of the guys that you know you would never be compatible with. Don’t be put off by the slightly gauche word ‘community’ when you’re asked to choose which ‘community’ your ideal guy belongs to: ‘community’ just means which of the classic gay categories you’d put your man into (i.e. twink, bear and so on). I have both Scruff and Grindr on my phone and use both intermittently, and Scruff has always been a reliable way to find someone near me to hook up with as it’s so popular that there are always guys logged on and available.

Scruff Gay Dating App Review Rating

My Scruff Gay Dating App Review can be summed up in the following star rating: 5 stars.

This app has been around so long, and gained such popularity, quite simply because it does just what guys want. Whether you are just looking for a guy who is close to you for an easy hookup in a bar, or whether you have more specific requirements, you can always turn to Scruff. Would I also give Grindr 5 stars? Absolutely. These two apps are very much on a par with each other.The new travel-focused features make Scruff great to use abroad, too, and I would say it’s enhanced my holidays ever since I started using it.

Download from

App Store 4.5/5

Google Play 4.3/5

Windows Phone Store 3.5/5