A chat with creator of Chunkr, a grid & map based gay dating app for everyone!

21st May 2026 Bryce Quartz

Introducing Chunkr: a gay dating app with the classic grid we love and a map function we’ve evolved to cruise with!

Queer people have found ways to meet each other in so many different ways for several decades. Before the digital era, it was cruising spots, hanky codes, personal ads in zines and xxx magazines, gay clubs, and more. When the digital era came, it gave queer people more ways to connect and find each other, such as chat rooms and dedicated websites. When smart phones came along, those digital spaces were in our hands, and applications and social media became the new era.

This evolution of connecting with members of our own communities have been core pieces of the progress towards freedom of expression for LGBTQ+ people. In recent years, there have been apps on the market that take the history of cruising and meeting others and put that directly into our hands, but with that evolution comes the question of ownership, privacy, and monetization in the apps we use.

Chunkr takes all of that into consideration by prioritizing digital privacy and including all of the best features from the apps that have come before. It has the classic grid for meeting those around you and from around the world. It has profile customization that takes all of the best features from other apps and combines them into one.

Lastly, it has a superior map feature that’s become all the hype in the gay community on apps over the last several years for cruising and finding events. My favorite feature on the map section is that you can make an entirely separate profile just for it to further personal privacy, and it puts the power in our hands to control how long we are shown on the app.

The best part is? It’s free to use and created by and for gay people! Chunkr has more features too, so it’s best to download the app for yourself to try it out on your own. Right now it’s only on iOS for iPhone users with Android coming to the table soon, but before you leave here and go download it, check out the interview I did with the creator, Justin, below.

I had the honor and privilege of chatting with the creator of Chunkr about what inspired him, what makes it different than other apps on the market, and more!

Bryce Quartz: Hey there, Justin! Thanks for taking the time to speak with me. How have you been doing lately?

Justin: I’ve been doing really well, thank you. It has been a very exciting and surreal time. Chunkr is still early, but seeing people download it, use it, understand it, and get excited about it has been incredibly motivating.

When you build something for your own community, the feedback hits differently. It feels personal in the best way.

Bryce: Let’s jump right into the good stuff. You recently launched Chunkr, a gay dating app that serves as an alternative to some of the most popular apps on the market. What inspired you to create an alternative app to what’s already out there?

Justin: I created Chunkr because I felt like there was room for a dating app that felt more modern, more thoughtful, and more tuned into how gay men actually meet today.

Dating apps are not just apps for our community, they’ve become a core part of our social infrastructure. They shape how we flirt, meet, travel, hook up, make plans, and sometimes even find real community. I wanted Chunkr to feel useful, privacy-conscious, and fun without making people feel like they were being pushed through an algorithm or constantly upsold.

The goal was never to copy what already exists, it was to take the best parts of gay dating apps, such as nearby discovery, profiles, chat, maps, and real-world context to make the whole experience feel cleaner, friendlier, and more current.

Bryce: Once you decided to jump into creating Chunkr, what was the process like for mapping out how you would execute the plan?

Justin: I started by thinking about the core feeling I wanted the app to have. I wanted it to feel fast, clear, and alive. From there, I mapped the product around a few core ideas: nearby profiles, a strong map experience, privacy controls, better profile expression, and ways to connect the app back to real life.

The map was a big part of the plan from the beginning. I didn’t want Chunkr to just be another static grid where everyone is reduced to distance and a few photos. I wanted people to be able to understand what’s happening around them, like where people are, what areas are active, and how the city feels in the moment.

After that, it became a lot of iteration: designing screens, testing flows, cutting things that felt too complicated, and trying to keep the app simple enough that someone could download it and immediately understand it.

Bryce: Do you have a background in coding and app creation or is this your first experience in the field?

Justin: I’ve been a software engineer for over a decade, so I’ve spent a lot of time building products, thinking through user experience, and working on systems where trust really matters.

That background helped a lot with Chunkr because dating apps are not just technical products, they’re also personal. People are sharing photos, location context, conversations, identity, desire, and sometimes vulnerability. You have to take that seriously.

So yes, I came into this with a strong technical background, but Chunkr has still been one of the most personal products I’ve built. It has to work well, but it also has to feel safe, intuitive, and human.

Bryce: Chunkr’s branding is fantastic and matches the name really well. What was your thought process in coming up with the name and aesthetic?

Justin: Thank you so much! The branding was really important to me, and I have to give credit to my friend Mitch from Hotel Creative who helped bring the visual identity to life. He really understood that Chunkr needed to feel bold, playful, warm, and unmistakably queer without becoming generic dating-app branding.

The name Chunkr is playful, cheeky, and intentionally memorable. I wanted something that felt like it belonged in gay culture rather than something overly polished or corporate. It has personality built into it.

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I also knew the name and branding would probably resonate strongly with the bear community, and I love that. Gay men have so many subcultures, aesthetics, and identities, and I don’t think apps should pretend we’re all the same. Chunkr has this warm, bold, slightly mischievous energy that feels very natural for bears, cubs, chubs, admirers, and anyone who likes a less sterile dating-app vibe.

At the same time, the app is for gay men broadly. The branding is meant to feel welcoming, confident, and fun, like a gay app that actually has a point of view.

Bryce: I’ve downloaded the app, created a profile, and browsed the user interface. Everything feels so seamless, smooth, and easy to understand and use. What was the process like to develop the app into what it is today?

Justin: That makes me so happy to hear, because a lot of the work went into making the app feel simple.

The process was a lot of building, testing, breaking things, fixing them, and then simplifying again. Dating apps can get cluttered very quickly because there are so many possible features: profiles, photos, chat, discovery, maps, privacy, safety, reporting, onboarding, notifications, and more. The challenge was making all of that feel approachable.

I spent a lot of time asking “can someone understand this immediately?” If the answer was no, it usually needed to be simpler. Smoothness matters because people don’t want to fight with an interface when they’re trying to meet someone. The app should get out of the way.

Bryce: I also really love the map feature! It feels like a separate app within the main app, offering more privacy options and features than others on the market. Can you tell our readers a little bit about the map features that differentiate it from other apps on the market?

Justin: The map is one of my favorite parts of Chunkr.

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A lot of gay dating experiences are built around a grid, which is useful, but it doesn’t always give you real-world context. The map helps people understand what’s actually around them. You can explore nearby profiles, see active areas, and get a better sense of where things are happening.

Privacy was also important. I wanted people to be able to browse and explore with more control. Not everyone wants to be visible in the same way all the time, and people should feel comfortable looking around without feeling exposed.

To me, the map makes the app feel more alive. It connects dating back to place, like neighborhoods, venues, events, hotspots, and the actual movement of a city.

Bryce: Chunkr is on the iOS App Store and it’s coming soon for Android users, making it accessible to anyone with any type of smartphone! Do you plan to release a web version of the app for computer users?

Justin: Right now, the focus is iPhone first, with Android coming next. I want to make sure the mobile experience is strong because dating apps are so tied to where people are in the moment.

Android is definitely part of the plan, and I know there’s demand for it. I don’t want to give an exact date before it’s ready, but expanding beyond iPhone is a priority.

A web version is possible down the road, especially for browsing, profiles, or community features, but the near-term focus is making the mobile apps as good as they can be.

Bryce: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me, Justin! Is there anything you’d like to leave our readers with today?

Justin: Just that I’m really grateful.

Chunkr launched on iPhone in April 2026 and already has about 1,500 users. Seeing people respond to it has been amazing. I built it because I think queer people deserve independent and thoughtful products that are made with care. We deserve apps that understand us culturally, not just as a market.

If you’re curious, download it, try it, tell your friends, and send feedback. The app will keep getting better, and I want the community to help shape where it goes!