Is Grindr free?

Grindr is free to use but it does have premium paid-for extras.

Grindr XTRA shows you up to 600 profiles in the grid and lets you chat with users globally with Explore.

You can store phrases in the chat to save time.

And there’s useful read receipts too, so you can tell if someone is ignoring you.

It also allows you to send five expiring photos per day.

Grindr XTRA costs between £4 and £5 per month.

There’s also Grindr Unlimited.

This offers even more, like the ability to see who has looked at your profile and unsend messages or photos.

Grindr Unlimited will cost you £31.99 a month.

How do dating apps work?

The apps are like speed dating and a lonely hearts ad combined.

By being on there, you’re advertising that you’re looking for fun, love or a relationship, while being able to swipe through so many potentials brings in the speed dating element, trying to meet as many people at once.

Most are free but have a premium version where users can pay extra for some benefits.

After matching on the apps, conversation usually follows, but this is not always the case.

But if a chat goes well, this usually leads to a face-to-face meet-up, and potentially more dates.

In many cases love blossoms, and these apps now credit themselves with being behind weddings and children.

If you're meeting up with someone for the first time make sure you stay safe as it still is a blind date.

Tell people where you are going and try to meet in a public place.

What is Grindr?

Grindr is a gay dating app which first burst onto the scene in 2008.

It’s location-based, so will show you other people close by.

The app has gained a reputation as more of a hook-up app, though its credited with creating lasting romances too.

Grindr is made up of a grid of profiles, which show you images as well as the person’s description.

You can also list sexual preferences.

Grindr 'working again' as users regain access to app

Grindr users have taken to social media to express their joy at Grindr resolving its outage.

One person wrote: "It's back up!"

While another said: "Works again!"

However, services have not resumed for everyone, as one user said: "Not for me, trying to login with my Google account and keeps saying "something went wrong, please try again" :("

Complaints begin to fall

User complaints have begun to fall as users regain access to Grindr.

However, reports are still over 800, as per DownDetector, so hundreds remain without access to the dating and hook-up app.

More about Grindr

Grindr advertises itself as the "world’s largest social networking app for gay, bi trans and queer people".

Pre-dating Tinder, Grindr launched back in 2009 and has a location feature allowing people to see who’s online and nearby, and also connect with people anywhere in the world.

People can customise what type of person they’re looking for, and like Bumble and Tinder they have a swipe feature.

You can chat and share photos for free, but if you want more you can upgrade to XTRA to six times as many profiles ad-free.