“Cruising has gotten a bad rap, especially through movies, through history, through depictions of the practice as dangerous,” says Eli Martin, chief marketing officer at Sniffies, an app designed primarily for men seeking out intimate encounters with other men.

“Cruising is still an important pastime,” he continues, “and is part of our culture. As men who are interested in relationships with men, we didn’t want to lose that. So we couldn’t be scared about calling Sniffies a ‘cruising app.'”

Martin says that one goal of Sniffies was to educate people that “cruising is more than this seedy underground practice where people are thinking they might be exposed to STDs or something bad. We said, ‘No, this is actually just about sex-positive people who probably have way more intention behind their sex and their sex lives.'”

Launched in 2018 by CEO Blake Gallagher — whom Martin met through a mutual friend when the two were living in Seattle — Sniffies is a real-time, web-based application with a map interface. The website allows users to connect with others looking to hook up, offering both an “anonymous” option where people can interact without creating an account or an option where users can create their own profiles and be more specific about what they’re seeking.

The web-based app grew in popularity, particularly among users who do not identify as “gay,” which is the typical target market for many of Sniffies’ competitors.

“Cruising, historically, has really been something that has been very attractive to [down-low] guys and also bi guys and questioning guys,” Martin says. “Only 33% of our cruisers on Sniffies identify as gay. The other 67% identify as bisexual, bi-curious, or even straight.”

The web-based platform could be easily accessed via mobile device and quickly closed, without any evidence of a downloaded app. This made Sniffies popular among its users, especially those who didn’t want to be labeled as “gay.”

“When you’re cruising, maybe you don’t want to download an app. There’s a lot of friction there. So for people wanting to try Sniffies, it was a huge benefit that someone could log on without downloading an app,” Martin says. “We also had a single button on the website for anonymous users that, after confirming your age, instantly put you on the map. And we are accessible from any device. That allows you to engage when you want, and you can step away just as easily.”

Earlier this month, the company launched its first mobile app, available from the Apple Store for iPhones and other Apple devices. The company has plans to enter the Android Play market in the near future.

While introducing the iOS app eliminates the “anonymous cruising” option available on the web version (all iOS applications are linked to specific accounts), Martin does not believe that having an app option will detract from Sniffies’ overall appeal. He notes that individuals can still access the web app and see how it functions without creating a specific account — a step they may want to take before downloading the app.

Martin, who calls himself an experienced cruiser, says he believes that Sniffies’ features set it apart from its competitors in a positive way. One of those attributes is the ease of connecting with others with similar sexual interests.

“I haven’t had a lot of success trying to date off apps, but I have had a ton of success cruising on apps, specifically Sniffies, and finding really fun experiences that maybe you wouldn’t find anywhere else,” says Martin. “I actually met my current boyfriend off Sniffies. It was meant to be a hookup, but it went further and turned into dates and a relationship.”

Martin credits Sniffies with providing information to users about safer sex measures, including medication like PrEP or DoxyPEP, which can prevent transmission of HIV and other STDS, respectively.

“We worked really closely with a lot of our ad partners and different advocates for safety like BHOC [Building Healthy Communities Online]. We have a huge partnership with Gilead,” he says, referring to the pharmaceutical giant. “After they ran their ads on our site for a year-and-a-half, we saw a huge spike in people using the app who said they are using PrEP or are talking about it on the app.”

Sniffies has various options for reporting profiles or blocking users who are threatening physical or sexual violence, including those with sinister intent, who may be posing as cruisers to lure potential victims into in-person meetings.

He also notes that Sniffies has safeguards to protect against minors using the site, with features designed to weed out suspicious profiles. If a user is flagged as being suspected of being underage, they will have to submit proof of identity through an ID verification process. If the ID check fails, the account is suspended. A similar identification process exists for adult users in states with laws requiring age verification in order to access sites or apps with adult content.

Martin also says that, unlike other apps, Sniffies doesn’t encourage the idea of users isolating themselves at home. He points to some of the app’s features, such as the ability to create groups, or to tag certain physical places as gathering spots for men seeking men, as successfully promoting face-to-face meetings.

“A lot of people used to say that apps like Grindr actually killed the gay bar scene,” he says. “I think that we’re doing the opposite. We’re getting people off their asses and out into the world to experience these places.”

As an example, Martin, a resident of Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill, shares a story about two local bars in his neighborhood where Sniffies users frequently gather. One of those establishments holds a regularly-occurring “DL night,” which Martin has attended. By utilizing the Sniffies app to plan where to venture out, Martin has been able to meet people whom he never would have met but for Sniffies, and to learn about an event that was occurring right under his nose.

“There’s just so much more opportunity on Sniffies, with the functionality, where you might be thinking, ‘I’m having trouble meeting one-on-one with someone right now, and I really want to get out and do something.’ And then you see there’s a bunch of people who have checked in at the bar around the corner, and you say, ‘I’m going to have a drink and hang out.’

“We want to create a space for people to actually meet in real life,” he adds. “So it’s bridging the gap between technology and real life in this fun, active way.”

METRO WEEKLY: Sniffies has been popular since the website first launched and has managed to get traffic without having an iOS app. Tell me about how that worked.

ELI MARTIN: When we launched Sniffies back in 2018, because of web technology advancements, we were able to make an app-like experience possible in a browser. It made the entry to market a lot easier, and it didn’t have to work against traditional iOS App Store constraints.

The biggest thing to understand is that Sniffies is a cruising app. Our goal is to allow cruisers to authentically connect and explore their kinks and fetishes without judgment or shame. We know from reports that in the case of other dating and hookup apps, people install them and then get freaked out and delete them — stuff like that. So why not make it easier, where a person just has to close a browser tab?

The web app technology made it easy to get it out fast. But outside of that, at Sniffies, we’ve created a space for self-expression and creating authentic connections. By operating outside App Store policies, we avoided censorship and allowed more explicit content upfront, which you can’t do in most apps. That let our cruisers show off in a more sex-positive, forward way, and made it easier to find their kinds and express their desires authentically.

Many other apps also have this intent mismatch problem, where you don’t know who on the app is looking for a casual encounter, or looking for dates, or maybe friends, or maybe even a roommate or something. But for us, because we have this clear intent laid out, with explicit imagery and the way the web app is designed, it’s very more sex-forward. And I think that has been what people really love about Sniffies, and that really only works in that way when we allow it to function like that.

MW: Why did you decide to create a mobile app?

MARTIN: So we originally didn’t want to be a native app. I think that we saw ourselves as unique in the marketplace and as serving a different purpose than other apps. And we knew that we’d have to somehow work around App Store policies to give cruisers our full intended experience. And that is a huge barrier. But many people wanted a native app — in fact, that was one of the top requests we’ve gotten over the last couple of years, especially as we’ve become more popular.

I think there’s a whole group of mainstream users that don’t take us as seriously without a native app, so they may have thought we potentially weren’t as good as other apps. So people would outright say, “Love Sniffies, but you don’t have an app. And so I can’t imagine using it full-time or whatever.” So this is a problem. As we get bigger, how are we going to make sure that we’re still hitting this market?

We’ve spent essentially the last year and a half figuring out how we could potentially get in the App Store, specifically targeting iOS first. And so we had to come up with a strategic approach that would comply basically to these “not safe for work” content policies that all the app stores have, but still try to keep this magic that we have on Sniffies, and that unique experience that we think is important as a core differentiator from other apps. It’s also what’s made us so popular, of course.

But there are apps out there that have done this and very big ones. The ones we looked at were Reddit and X, which both allow “not safe for work” content while staying within Apple’s guidelines. And so a big thing we have to look at is how we balance the sex positivity aspect of Sniffies and compliance with those guidelines. Basically, we wanted to make sure we could have this very seamless transition while keeping our core experience the same within iOS. That took us a long time to figure out. And all the little changes we’ve been making over the last couple of years and months have been leading up to this.

So a big thing you’ll notice now, when you first install the iOS app, is that it’s locked in this “vanilla mode” or safe-for-work mode. And what happens is you can use the app as a messaging app, but you can only see images behind the scenes, like when [you receive] a direct message, until you unlock a “not safe for work” mode. Anytime you click on a photo that’s blurred or content that’s blurred, it will direct you to a page that says, “Would you like to unlock not safe for work?” And then that brings you into our web app experience at www.sniffies.com and you simply toggle a switch that allows it.

Once that’s toggled, you can then, within the iOS app, turn “vanilla mode” on and off and see all the content. The reason we created that feature is to meet cruisers where they’re at. So, say, you’re in a public location or whatever, like on the subway, where someone’s looking over your shoulder, you might want to switch it on so you don’t have a bunch of dicks and butts on your screen.

There’s also plenty of functionality within the app, just to make your avatar anonymous or to make your location anonymous, to go in invisible mode, all these different ways that you can be discreet. Any of those modes are available within the app. If you want to add multiple pictures to your profile, or you want to chat with certain people, or not allow anonymous people to reach out to you, and features like that, you can adjust those settings.

MW: Why do you think Sniffies is so popular?

MARTIN: I think we offer something different. I feel like many other apps that have this mismatch of intent, where you’re on the app with people who might want different things. And, really, ours is pretty straightforward, for people wanting some kind of potential sexual experience, whatever that might be. I think that helps people get more out of our app.

I think also allowing people to have explicit content upfront — and be more upfront about themselves and what they’re seeking — is helpful as well. It’s less of this game of cat-and-mouse, of trying to get to see photos of someone and then deciding it’s not what you want or whatever. We have a clear intent, and people love that.

It’s also a really interesting way of connecting with people, seeing a live map of both users and places where people hang out. Say, you’re in a new city, you can see where a gayborhood is because you’re like, “Oh, this looks really densely populated with Sniffies cruisers. I’m guessing that’s where things are at.” When you open up this dynamic map, you really understand your surroundings more. It’s just more interesting to me. Every time I open up another app these days and just look at a grid or a swipe interface, I immediately feel so locked in. I’m just like, “Oh, but where’s the map interface?” You want to see where everyone’s at.

Lastly, I think we’re popular because of the culture we’ve created. With Sniffies being more sex-positive, being more straightforward, people are just more accepting in that way. I think that people, when they know what each other wants, there’s less hurt feelings. People can just be themselves. I’ve talked to plenty of people who use multiple apps and have heard about where they saw someone who they later recognized from another app, but didn’t actually hook up with them until they were on Sniffies. They just got a better read on the person or felt more like what that person wanted at that moment.

MW: What else sets Sniffies apart from other apps?

MARTIN: The experience, I think. Once you’re inside Sniffies, it’s more dynamic. You’re looking at a map of a city or a place, and I think especially when you’re somewhere new, seeing where people are [physically] is much more intriguing than seeing that they’re 1,000 or 2,000 feet away or something. You can actually visualize the distance. And that’s helpful when you’re thinking about a quick hookup. New York’s a prime example: you can look and see, “Oh, they’re in Manhattan, or Brooklyn, and I’m in the other borough, so I’m not traveling that far.”

Additionally, if you’re not just looking for one-on-one encounters and maybe you want to go out, you can use our “places” function, where we show different places on the map. They could be bars, they could be restaurants, they could be parks, or they could be bathhouses –- wherever gays might be gathering or hanging out. I believe you need to be upgraded to create places, but someone can add places that show where people have checked in, and where you can interact with them in person.

We also have this cruising update feed, which is fun. It’s just this dynamic feed within the app where it shows both automated updates. So if someone just changes their cruising update — say that they’re hosting somewhere or going somewhere — it would automatically show up there. Or people can write inside the cruising update feed something that they’re looking for, almost like a personal ad. So with all these different features, it’s kind of a “pick your own adventure” experience. I think that is way more fun.

The thing about Sniffies is it’s kind of like this equalizer where you’re just kind of showing off your assets or what you’re into. It’s less about putting on this fake persona, or maybe you just want to be your slutty self for a night, but that doesn’t need to be part of your everyday life and how people view you.

Sniffies is currently available as a dedicated web-based platform or on the App Store for iOS devices in the United States and Canada. For more information, or to cruise anonymously, visit www.sniffies.com.