Bindr: A Label-Free Dating App for Bisexual, Queer, and Curious Singles

The Short Version: Bindr is a queer dating app built on inclusion, offering LGBTQIA+ people a safe space, with bisexual people as its main focus. Thanks to its label-free take on online dating, Bindr has quickly grown into one of the fastest-rising queer platforms, celebrating diversity and counting more than 100,000 users across iOS and Android. Downloading it costs nothing, and it gives users a welcoming place to explore their sexuality. However people choose to identify, they're accepted.

Nearly everyone finds dating awkward, but LGBTQIA+ singles can find it even more overwhelming, particularly if they're new to dating. Plenty of bi singles have a hard time with online dating, even though their dating pool can look big because people assume they have more options. Finding a great match who's open to dating someone attracted to more than one gender identity can be tough.

Mary Richardson saw that the market was missing a bisexual dating app, one that would give singles a safe place to explore romance without being required to state their sexual orientation.

Tinder banned her again and again, which often happens to bisexual women on the app. After that, she sat down with Brandon Teller, her co-founder, and together they decided to move ahead with the bisexual dating app idea she'd had since 2018. In 2022, Bindr shook up online dating with a name that nods to a gender-affirming accessory, fitting for the audience the platform reaches.

Mary calls the inclusive queer dating app's focus “label-free dating.” The app was first built for bisexual and bi-curious people, but Mary said she and Brandon chose not to put orientations front and center at launch. “We didn’t have sexual orientations put on the app…we didn’t think it was the most important thing,” she said.

Growth was slow at first, and early on a flood of support emails arrived about bugs, but the community expanded organically through word of mouth and Pride events, and the app now earns plenty of glowing reviews. What users loved was that labels took a back seat and that they could be label-free, especially those new to online dating who were still working out their identity.

“I began using Bindr… and I found someone I bond with really quick,” another user said. “I had almost no troubles navigating the site. Great app!”

Many queer singles connect with the app, including pansexual, transgender, and non-binary people.

“People go back and forth on the difference between pansexual or bisexual, or they use bisexual as an umbrella term,” Mary explained. “Sexuality is OK to change, and people aren’t hyper-focused on it.” 

Limitless Love in a Judgment-Free Zone

Because Bindr plays down labels in queer online dating and lets people explore their sexuality without judgment, it makes an ideal safe space. For people new to the dating game, online dating can be very stressful. Bindr's users range widely in age, from college students to people in their 50s, making for a lively, inclusive community across age groups.

Mary, an admin who also uses the app avidly, was delighted by the emails she got from new users, and she told us about one that stood out. “It was a man saying, I’m a widowed man; I was married to a woman. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with men, and I love your platform so much because I don’t feel like I fall in any specific category…I just want to meet people that accept me,” Mary said.

Sadly, bisexual people are often fetishized. Bisexual women especially tend to be targeted by straight men, which can make dating pretty uncomfortable.

Mary has experienced this herself and said it's a problem many others in the community have faced, too.

Bindr was built as a safe online space for queer & bisexual daters.

“I’ve seen a lot of hate for bisexual women and a lot of fetishization,” she stated. “Straight men will fetishize bisexual women…lesbians will steer away and not want to date them… they look at bisexual women as not really gay, which is definitely not true.” 

Because Bindr has no label filters, users are protected from people with preconceived ideas about the bisexual community. Gender non-conforming users also get a safe place to chat with others and possibly meet them. Strict policies mean users can trust that content on the app is moderated and that scammers aren't exploiting them.

If you're more interested in making new friends, the app lets you connect without swiping for a match. Thanks to extra resources on the Bindr website, people in the same area have more chances to meet up in person as a community.

The site lists accepting churches and places that offer gender-affirming care. Users can also find various in-person meetups there that Bindr itself doesn't host.

Sexually Fluid Daters Find a Safe Haven, Near and Far

Couples in a relationship who want to travel and try new things as an ethically non-monogamous pair don't have to stick to meeting people in their own city or state. On Bindr, couples can rekindle the spark and share new experiences. Your next partner could be living down under or across the pond.

Bindr connects users by latitude and longitude, so love can cross state lines. Until a needed update last year, the app made users list the state where they lived.

Bindr puts privacy and safety first among its features.

“We use lat/long to connect users,” a Bindr representative wrote in reply to a Google Play user who hadn't heard about the app's improvements. “State is not specific or required to use the platform.”

This March, Bindr was accepted into Innovation Works’ AlphaLab 2024 accelerator program. The outside investment gives the start-up more room to grow and expand, including by hosting in-person meetups and other exclusive events.

Bindr plans to put the funding toward paid marketing, algorithm development, better security features, and a presence at Pride.

Heading to Pride this summer? Look for Bindr's tent in Miami, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Columbus, Chicago, and New York City.

Bindr Gives Queer Daters Community and Affordable Extras

Bindr welcomes everyone, whatever their sexual orientation, letting users experience queer dating freely in a safe, judgment-free space.

With no pressure to self-identify, users are free to be fearlessly themselves and explore their sexuality in their own way.

Whether they're from a big city, a small town, or abroad, they can meet people with similar interests.

Dating apps usually catch on in big cities first. Mary noticed, though, that Bindr's first users came from rural communities. The people drawn to it were those without an outlet, such as a local gay bar, for meeting others like them.

Bindr is helping queer singles build authentic connections.

They joined hoping to find community, feel supported, and build romantic and platonic relationships alike.

Offering chest binders is another project the co-founders have been working on, since many people at past Pride events assumed the company sold them because of its name. “I want to be able to provide people with either free or low-cost…affordable chest binders,” Mary said.

Dating can be a life-changing path of self-discovery, and Bindr gives users a deep sense of support and community as they connect with people of every age. Whether you're bi-curious, bisexual, gay, nonbinary, or simply open-minded about relationships, the app is a great free tool to have on your dating journey.

As Bindr keeps growing and evolving, its team stays dedicated to offering LGBTQIA+ daters a supportive platform where they can find genuine connections, plus a community that champions and celebrates love without labels.