From the makers of the popular gay hook-up app Grindr (2.6 million users worldwide and counting) comes Blendr, the vowels-be-dammed app that makes hooking up easy, allowing men and women to join in on the fun of making friends with nearby strangers.

“Blendr is a new geo social networking app that lets you check out users close by, browse their profiles and start chatting,” it states on the Blendr iTunes store page. “Whether it’s for a conversation over coffee, a restaurant recommendation, or to find someone brave enough to go skydiving with, Blendr empowers you to socialize with those around you. Use it to meet new people anywhere you go with your own mobile social network.”

Like it’s predecessor, Blendr allows users to log on and find people nearby with shared interests, like fishing, bowling, pottery, basket weaving…Heck, who are we kidding? Like Grindr, Blendr will most likely be used for scoping out potential mates for a rousing match of “bed hockey” (aka “sex” for the metaphorically slow individuals reading this).

“There’s no easier way to meet new people that share your interests than with Blendr,’ said Joel Simkhai, Founder and CEO of Blendr, whom still maintains that Blendr is about making friends, not making love. “Grindr is all about one interest, and that’s being gay. That’s just one specific interest. [For Blendr] we’ve brought in hundreds of interests…This is a friendship app, this is a meeting app. This is for that 60-year-old guy who wants to play poker and wants to find guys or girls of any age group who also want to play poker around him.”

Currently available for free on iTunes for iPhones and other Apple devices and via Facebook, Blendr finds locale hotspots trending in your area, can be used to start a private instant message conversation with someone nearby or check in with friends also using Blendr. But despite all it’s bells and whistles, Blendr seems to be a hit with 20-something-year-old men but has yet to catch on with 20-something-year-old women, which seems to be a glaring problem for a dating app unless you are Simkhai, of course.

“The big question that we’re trying to solve here,” Simkhai says, “is ‘I don’t know anyone, and I have nothing to do: What do I do, and who do I do it with?’ There is now no better way to make new friends and get yourself out of your house and go do something.”

Bookmark to: