Grindr Adds Safety Features for LGBTQ+ Winter Olymptics Athletes

Grindr has announced a set of temporary, location-specific safety and privacy enhancements tailored for LGBTQ+ athletes, officials, and attendees at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics (February 6–22, 2026). The changes address heightened risks for users who may not be out or who come from countries where same-sex relationships are criminalized or stigmatized.

Within the boundaries of the Olympic Villages, Grindr has disabled its Explore and Roam features, preventing anyone outside the designated areas from viewing profiles or sending messages to users inside. The app has also turned off approximate distance displays – normally showing exact proximity down to feet – though users can manually re-enable this setting if desired. These restrictions aim to limit unwanted external contact and reduce the risk of surveillance or harassment.

Additional protections include:

• Unlimited disappearing messages and unsend capabilities extended to both free and premium users in the Village.
• Removal of all third-party advertisements, replaced exclusively with Grindr for Equality messaging focused on safety and community support.
• Weekly in-app notifications throughout the Games, delivering risk-specific reminders, multilingual safety guides, and links to International Olympic Committee (IOC) in-person and digital resources.

Grindr emphasized that these measures are temporary and geographically limited to the Olympic environment. “To the trailblazing athletes heading to Italy: we’re proud to support you and we can’t wait to see you shine,” the company stated in its release. The Olympic Village has infamously been a prime spot for hookups betwene athletes – former swimmer Ryan Lochte once estimated 70–75% of athletes engage sexually during the Games, while British footballer Micah Richards recalled a “massive room full of condoms” at London 2012.

The app has previously implemented similar protections during major global events and in regions with restrictive laws, including previous safety boosts for past Olympics. The location-specific protections Grindr adds are specifically tailored to the athletes, making it a lot harder for non-athletes