Dating app for gay, bi, trans and queer people · www.grindr.com
Grindr is blocked mostly where governments treat LGBT+ content as immoral or illegal. Indonesia, Lebanon and Pakistan ordered blocks in 2016, 2019 and 2020, and China, Iran, Russia and Turkey block its website too.
By the vpnAlert team · Background checked on 10 Oct 2026 · Tested every day since 29 Sep 2026 ·
How we test · Report a wrong result
Every day we open Grindr from inside 24 countries, mostly over home broadband, and record
where it’s blocked, since when and how.
6 of 24tested countries with a confirmed block of Grindr
Grindr is blocked in China, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, the UAE and Russia. 24 of 24 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Blocked means the networks we test there failed to open www.grindr.com, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means Grindr itself refused visitors from that country.
“In our tests since” is when our own tests first showed the result, not when a ban began: where it reads “our first test”, the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Background
Where Grindr is restricted, and why
Several governments have blocked Grindr on moral grounds. Indonesia’s communications ministry told providers in September 2016 to block it, with the gay dating apps Blued and BoyAhoy, saying they carried “deviant” sexual content after police and the child protection commission linked such apps to child prostitution cases; it confirmed in November 2020 that Grindr was still blocked. Pakistan’s telecoms regulator blocked Grindr, Tinder and three other dating apps in September 2020 for “immoral content”.
In Lebanon, mobile networks blocked Grindr in January 2019 on the telecoms ministry’s orders, without the court approval Lebanese law requires, and Freedom House found it still inaccessible there in 2023. In the UAE, the operator du publishes blocking criteria that include dating networks and LGBT+ content. Russia’s Supreme Court declared the “international LGBT movement” extremist in November 2023, which Freedom House says has led to more blocks of LGBT+ websites.
China mixes both kinds of restriction. The Great Firewall has interfered with grindr.com since at least 2015, and in early 2022 Grindr removed its own app from Chinese app stores, citing China’s new privacy law: the company’s decision, not a government block. Grindr also warns users where it isn’t safe to be openly LGBT+: in March 2023 it alerted all its users in Egypt that police were arresting gay, bi and trans people through fake and seized accounts.
Independent tests in September and October 2026 also found grindr.com blocked on most networks in Russia, Iran and Turkey. Iran restricts websites about LGBT+ rights, and in Turkey, where a court-backed request had the rival app Hornet removed from Apple’s app store in 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled a 2020 ban on Hornet unconstitutional in February 2024.
Key dates
Grindr warns all its users in Egypt that police are arresting gay, bi and trans people through fake and seized accounts.
Grindr removes its app from Chinese app stores, citing China’s new privacy law.
Pakistan’s telecoms regulator blocks Grindr, Tinder and three other dating apps for “immoral content”.
Lebanon’s mobile networks block Grindr on the telecoms ministry’s orders, without a court order.
Indonesia orders internet providers to block Grindr, Blued and BoyAhoy, citing “deviant” sexual content.
Get past a block
Grindr blocked where you are?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a local block on Grindr no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
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History
Changes for Grindr
No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.
Method
How we test
Test machines on the two biggest home-internet providers in most countries open the homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Indonesia, Lebanon and Pakistan have ordered blocks, in 2016, 2019 and 2020. Independent tests in September and October 2026 also found grindr.com blocked in Russia, Iran and Turkey, and China’s Great Firewall has interfered with it since at least 2015. Grindr also pulled its own app from Chinese app stores in 2022.
Why Is Grindr Blocked in Indonesia?
Indonesia’s communications ministry ordered internet providers to block it in September 2016, along with Blued and BoyAhoy, citing “deviant” sexual content after police and the child protection commission raised child prostitution cases involving such apps. The ministry confirmed the block in November 2020, and Freedom House reported it still in place in 2024.
Is Grindr Available in China?
Not from Chinese app stores: Grindr removed its app from them in early 2022, citing China’s new privacy law, a decision the company took itself. Its website has faced interference from the Great Firewall since at least 2015, and independent tests still found it disrupted in October 2026.
Free to use
Cite these results
Quote or republish today’s results with a link to this page: the monitor’s data is under a Creative Commons
Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).
Sentence to quote
As of 13 Nov 2026, www.grindr.com is blocked in 6 of the 24 countries in the vpnAlert Censorship Monitor’s daily test: China, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, UAE and Russia.
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Source: vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, test of 13 Nov 2026, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/grindr/ (CC BY 4.0)
HTML link
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/grindr/">vpnAlert Censorship Monitor: Where is Grindr banned?</a> (test of 13 Nov 2026, CC BY 4.0)
APA
vpnAlert. (2026, November 13). Where is Grindr banned? vpnAlert Censorship Monitor. https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/grindr/
MLA
“Where is Grindr banned?” vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, vpnAlert, 13 Nov 2026, vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/grindr/.
Chicago
“Where is Grindr banned?” vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, test of November 13, 2026, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/grindr/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/grindr/ |title=Where is Grindr banned? |website=vpnAlert Censorship Monitor |publisher=vpnAlert |date=2026-11-13 |access-date=2026-11-13}}
