pinknews
In June 2012, Grindr announced that it had officially hit 4 million users in 192 countries across the globe with 1.1 million users online on a daily basis.
The app now has five million active users a month – the biggest gay dating app outside of China.
London, its biggest city market, has some 700,000 users according to Grindr data.
Now company bosses have made a big change for users in the UK.
Previously, only premium users could receive push notifications when another user messaged them.
Now all users in the UK will get push notifications automatically, rather than just paid-for Grindr accounts.
Users in most of Europe and the US have already been able to access this function regardless of whether they pay for the service.
A Grindr spokesperson told PinkNews: “We can confirm push notifications have been made available to all users in the U.K.
“No other changes have been made at this time.”
The moves comes as the same-sex dating market continues to get more crowded.
Blued, the China based app, has grown its following into the millions in just a few years, while Hornet has also grown.
It originally bought 61.5% of the gay social-network for $93 million, and has now purchased the remaining 38.5% stake in Grindr LLC for $152 million.
Beijing Kunlun, by billionaire Zhou Yahui, is one of China’s largest game developers.
Purchasing the app will improve the company’s position in the market, with three million people using Grindr each day.
When the company made its initial acquisition, Grindr’s founder, Joel Simkhai, tried to reassure users by insisting the app would mostly be “business as usual.”