Name: GROWLR: Gay Bears Near You
Rating: 4.33686 (46586 reviews)

User Reviews for GROWLR: Gay Bears Near You

4.34 out of 5

46.6K Ratings

5 years ago, susanbuttman

It’s a pretty good app for bigger guys

Aside from the formatting of some of the features it’s definitely a good alternative if you’re a bit on the heavier side. Or even if you’re just into bigger guys. Honestly the only things I would complain about are sort of nit picky. I don’t love the color scheme, and the way you get to some of the features. I think a darker theme could be cool, like a night mode or something. Or the option to customize the color scheme or something. Just something to set this app apart a bit more. Make the other devs jealous lol idk. Honestly my primary issue right now is one I’m not sure of the cause for, but it’s probably just me. When I’m using my Data I can get on just fine. But using my moms home Wifi it won’t get off of the load screen. And I don’t have this issue with any other apps. Though, Bumble can’t locate me, and I don’t have cell service at my moms place. So I can’t just use data. So, that kinda hinders my usage of the app for the moment. But oh well I guess. That’s probably just a me problem.

2 years ago, CaptainEO86

Good but needs a facelift…

This app is good for bigger guys and those that can appreciate them, lately though there’s been a little more of everything here so honestly, if you’re looking for an alternative give this app a shot. That said, the features are what you would expect for an app like this, a grid with people nearby, basic messaging, video calls, and now a great live platform. However, the messaging and photos sections of this app need A LOT of work… first thing I’d like to see is photo watermarking. If you’re going to have an explicit save function, even in private media or in messaging, a watermark is very necessary. If someone decides to run with these pics, yeah I know bad on me for putting them out in the first place, but I’d like to know if that person was at least snagging them from here, and not just a spiteful ex or something. Also multiple profile pictures would be GREAT… I’m tired of having to add more photos to my private album just for someone to ask me to unlock, thinking they’re going to get a sneaky peek and then be rude when it’s just face. The messaging is very basic, which is fine, but an aesthetic overhaul there and throughout the app would be appreciated. Especially a dark mode! I’m tired of going blind at night 😅 Aside from these complaints, this is probably one platform I actually feel accepted and comfortable on. People are generally respectful of boundaries, and it’s just a great place to chat and meet new people. 😁

11 months ago, Khazhadar

Predatory

So when Growlr launched, the user had access to a lot more features, such as several hundred profiles, etc. as time went on, the app developers retracted and limited most of a free users access to those features behind a premium access paywall. I’m of the opinion that if you give users something, you should not take away features but rather innovate new features and charge for those. So because of that, I give Growler devs fairly low marks for being shady. Fast forward to now, the chat feature is interesting because it’s clearly an odd combination of only fans, just for fans, and a chat feature without the sex…. On an app that’s ostensibly designed to get men together… for relationships and the idea of sex because well, we’re men. My objection to this feature is this, people pay money to collect coins to spend on tipping content creators who are being entertained via this app. The developers don’t want the app to become a den of sleaze and sex, which is understandable but the app is designed to get horny men together to have sex. Then you have the bans. When people pay real money and then you ban them and effectively take that money away, that’s underhanded. I don’t hear of people being compensated after they get banned so it’s developers just taking peoples money without remuneration. That’s predatory at best. Fraudulent under the guise of being a puritanical watchdog.

3 years ago, muse-ic

Too many scammers soliciting for business

Used to be good but is now getting ruined by daily scammers — I feel obliged to report them every time the apps directions and then I’m going to block them it’s very time-consuming and annoying and I paid full subscription price for the app — Why is it my job to scream scammers?? Growlr fix it or I’m outta here And also could use a redesign/significant update — It should be easier for us to get rid of select read messages — Currently u have to go through all your history and select which ones to delete or the app clogs up your phone’s memory — would be nice — there should also be a way to block msgs from faceless profiles (which should be banned in 2019 for Pete’s sake) — tired of having to block them — and how about the ability to add more photos than 5 a la Scruff or at least to select multiple photos at once — in the age of rapid change don’t make the mistake of resting on your laurels a la Bear 411 — we put the bread on your table — I suggest you listen or make it more intuitive should I be missing anything here... UPDATE Mar 12, 2021: It’s almost impossible to message with the new update there is no message box —The only thing I can do is add the default responses like OK or thanks. IPHONE USER

5 years ago, suballbottom

Suggestions

Honestly this is the best app for my taste. I’m a cub/bear and love big guys/bears. So this is a perfect site to find them. BUT I think you could improve it. Please try to do what Scruff does. For instance, when are checking on someone global, you could list the guys according to its distance. The ones closer to me should come first and so on... Another great feature at scruff is the way we send Picts. Picts remain there already. They are stored. You just need to check them and they (many at the same time) go altogether to the guy I’m chatting with. Here I have to send one by one. Too much work. In the end I use scruff all the time. Waaaaay more than Growlr. Because it’s just more practical to use it. I’m even a PRO member on scruff without paying a cent (probably bcs I use it a lot, they gave me that perk). Honestly I’d rather use Growlr much more. Because guys here are just my type. Much more than those muscle guys. So please I beg you to improve the way to use the features here... so you can have many more customers.

2 years ago, Ken Akerly

Customer Support lacking

When I log out of GROWLr, I can’t get back in. I am entering my correct user credentials and my password appear as black dots in the field. There is an error message that then says that the password field is required. The was word is there guys! I can’t get passed this. I contactede customer support a year ago and they had me delete the app and reload it. That didn’t work. Then they provided a password work around, that worked. Now about a year later it’s happened again. I contacted customer support three times today. They responded the first time, with the same first solution from last year and that didn’t work again. No response from the second two email messages. Really very disappointing that this problem is still here and their customer support is not clued in. Paid subscription is not worth it. Not a reliable app.

2 years ago, Jim Jordan

Disappointed

I downloaded the app, hoping to enjoy finding some guys in my local area. I used it for about four days and noticed some odd things. First of all my profile picture was knocked off three times. I followed the guidelines and posted a picture of myself in a tank top. This was removed for “terms of service” I have no idea why. There are plenty of other profiles where people are totally shirtless. I gave up trying to figure that out. Then I decided to purchase the “pro” features which would allow better communication. I clicked on the subscribe button, everything seemed fine. The subscription showed up in my Apple Pay. I logged back into the app. Everything seemed fine. In the middle of a chat, the app shut down. When I tried to log back in a screen flashed that said “ account suspended “ then the screen went completely yellow and locked up. I tried logging back in several times in the same thing happens every time. I have no idea why, no explanation, no email stating if I had done something wrong. Nothing. I removed the app for lack of communication on their part. Just disappointed.

5 years ago, LoveKota

Pop ups. Ads. Spam. Mass Messages. Horrible app.

All this app is anymore is constant pop ups every time you reopen the app. Usually up to 5 or 6 in a row that you have to close each to you open up the app. Then after you close all of them you have to sit through an add and close that. Then another issue is the constant spam account that send you links. I’m not even done there because then you have to deal with what they call SHOUTS which are these mass messages that people can send out to everyone in their area. All that you have to get through just so you can see a very VERY small amount of people in your area because they want you to pay for A FEW more. It’s such a shame because this used to be one of my favorite apps to use. I’ve met some great people from it. But it’s not even close to what it used to be. And empty shell of an app. Hopefully someday someone that works on the app will actually care about it enough to make it good again. Clearly no one cares about it who works on it now. I would never pay for anything about this app. It’s horrible. I’d give this app ZERO Stars if it would let me.

7 years ago, artistinmississippi

Promises, promises

I've contacted GROWLr several times I continue to get the same response which other clients who pay for the premium account are getting also. If you try to use your iPad to download your profile photo only the very bottom of your left ear lobe will appear. The scale is completely off and cannot be edited in the iPad. One must go use their iPhone in order to submit a photo that will show up in your profile. When I have contacted GROWLr support I receive the same boilerplate response: "when Apple upgrades their software hopefully this problem will go away." If you are using your iPad to access GROWLr, it can only be used in the upright position as this app will not rotate when the screen is used in a horizontal position. When I have contacted GROWLr support I receive the same boilerplate response: "when Apple upgrades their software hopefully this problem will go away." When using the iPad to access GROWLr the messages will not sync and update to include messages received on the iPhone. When I have contacted GROWLr support I receive the same boilerplate response: "when Apple upgrades their software hopefully this problem will go away." I cannot wait for a savvy entrepreneur to come along use The growler format as an example and tweak it before charging people for using it.

4 years ago, Chillmoom15

Like it

So far I really like GROWLr. I’ve finally found an a site where I feel comfortable. The only thing am having a hard time with is the updates some updates are better than other and as of recently the updates have gotten very buggy. Right now am having trouble with getting into the app I’m having to close it completely and open it back up a few times in order to get it to work. Now the reason I don’t give it a full 5 it’s because of the heavy ads I think knocking it down a few will make the experience so much better. I had to go pro because the ads are too much plus I enjoy the benefits. Now if you could add a setting for the shouts within the app that would be lovely. Being redirected to a website browser it’s too much I would preferred it to be just be a button within the profile settings. That way I can easy activate it or deactivate as I see fit.

3 years ago, CakeBakerII

Trouble...

The app has been shutting off by itself. Saying “No internet connection” when trying to view profiles. And some of the letters will disappear when typing a message, but shows back up when sent. I do like the feature of it not showing up, except as a yellow screen, when you are multitasking several apps at a time. When one gets banned from the live video part, it does say why....only to “Review the rules of conduct” it’d be nice to show the person what they said or did to get banned. I’ve seen several guys say, “I don’t know what I did....”

4 years ago, No_Neck

Latest version is just bad - really bad.

Ever since they sold this app it has gotten worse and worse. The latest version has so many connection problems. Things take way too long to load. Sometimes, messages don’t appear for hours or even days. Notifications on iPhone are incorrect - they are doubled - so if you receive a message it shows up in notifications as two messages...two messages show up as four messages, etc. They still insist on playing ads with audio at full blast - it’s a social app folks - people are often looking at it when they are at work or in a private or quiet place - not a great thing to have an ad blasting out of your phone. As I’m writing this review I received a message that my account has been suspended. I wasn’t even doing anything in the app. It was just open. Checked with a friend and his account also was suspended. Looks like someone doesn’t have a clue how to administrate this app at the home base. There are just too many social apps there for this to continue. Wake up folks - you’re ruining this app.

6 years ago, bcstxboi

Love it!

This app is the greatest I’ve ever used, and the primary reason is because most of the profiles are people just like me instead of just a handful, and it’s NOT dominated by twinks and people looking for a fit and trim body. I’m a large guy. And I’m finding that most of the guys messaging me are looking for just that. I was practically ignored on every other social app I tried bc I didn’t look like a ken doll, and that takes a toll on your self esteem after a while. With Growlr, I had several people messaging and chatting with me within just a few hours after making a profile. I can’t believe the response. If you’re a guy with a few extra pounds (or you like them that way), and you’re sick and tired of the attitudes from the people looking for the perfect athletic body, I highly suggest you try this app. I think you’ll be surprised.

5 years ago, HappyPhysicist

Mediocre, at Best

This app is clumsy, difficult and totally unintuitive to navigate. It feels like the person who wrote the app really didn’t know how to program on a mobile device. Summary: Not so bad I will delete it, but quite annoying to use. The profile displays an often long list of jumbled adjectives. You should be able to see top/bottom/vers and other stats without scanning through a list of a dozen or more other things. In general, the entire profile display/editor is a mess and needs to be totally redesigned. The app uses “shout-outs” as a method of blasting a message or hookup ad to a bunch of guys at once. Yes, you can turn them off entirely, but then your only other option is to block individuals. This is apparently a sad attempt to stand out from other apps/sites. You don’t need it and it’s a lame alternative to posting ads or flipping an on/off “looking now” switch. Biggest annoyance with the simplest fix: You can ONLY view it in iPad portrait mode, and ONLY in the default position (i.e., you can’t flip it upside down). I’m sure the developer will tsk tsk and ignore this criticism, but it’s a fundamentally EASY thing to fix!!! Also, a minor point: There is too much exposure of profiles to guys in distant locations. Until I specifically put that I wasn’t interested in the text of my profile, 80-90% of the messages I was getting were from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. This is rare on Scruff.

1 year ago, dblplus

Past it’s prime - full of bugs

UPDATE: Lowered my score to 2 stars. The developer thought a new logo was more important than fixing the same bug. Bade app icon persists despite having no messages. I’ve used Growlr (paid subscription) for many years. The content and concept of the social app is fine. The technical issues seem to be constant. I’ve emailed and filed tickets with their support a few times a year at least. The major issue is when either Apple updates the iOS or growlr updates their app, the badge app icon (the red number) to show how many notices you have persists long after opening notices and messages. You have to kill the all sometimes three or four times before the icon goes away. After writing to their support and receiving the same canned response “we’re working on it.” Maybe it’s time to stop giving them money for a subpar product. The competition “Scruff” seems to keep up with bugs more efficiently.

3 years ago, Ed in the BK

You never know who's actually online

I like and applaud Growlr for giving bears a dedicated online space to meet and flirt. Unfortunately, the app has significant flaws. The one that absolutely drives me nuts is its system for showing who's online and who's not. The green dot that is supposed to indicate that a person is online and actively using the app seemingly applies to anyone who's logged on in the last 24 hours or more. So unless you open up each profile and scroll down to find when they were last active, you wind up sending lots of messages to guys who aren't logged in or actively checking messages. Some dudes must think I'm a crazed stalker with the number of times I view their profile just to see if they're online! And the new design is a vast improvement over the previous, but it's still pretty cumbersome and primitive. Not my favorite app unfortunately.

5 years ago, NicK0ol

A buggy mess now

So GROWLr use to be a great app, and I was even a premium member a few points in time. However, GROWLr was sold to a bigger tech company in March 2019 for roughly 12 million. From then on, it went down hill from spam messages, constant ad pop ups that you can’t exit from because the X is placed off screen, or the ads don’t even load properly, either way you have to close the app, reopen it and cross your fingers that you don’t get a pop up ad. Now the app doesn’t even load properly, and take forever for it to open. What’s worse, is you’ll get a notification that someone sent you a message, you go to open the app, lets say it opened quickly... but the message isn’t there. You can close the app and reopen it but that message still isn’t there. Don’t worry though, in an hour or two it’ll show up. GROWLr should have never sold it, and the company that bought it should step up and fix it. This problem has been going on for God knows how long, and there hasn’t been an update.

4 months ago, GianiJ

They do nothing about stalkers

I have someone who is stalking me. I block one account and they open a new one. I block that one and they open a new one. They’ve done it over a dozen times. I have screen shots of all the accounts and they refuse to get involved. So they are allowing people to stalk you on their app. Avoid this app at all costs. Edit: so they claimed to take this seriously. Yet, when I sent them screenshots of all of the accounts this person created to keep getting around my blocking them, they offered zero advice expect to file a police report. Well the person lives in another country, I don’t know their name, I don’t know their address, I don’t even know what they look like. So what exactly am I reporting??? The only people with any information on this person is GROWLr, and they refused to do anything. The person is STILL stalking me, still creating brand new accounts daily to harass me from. I had no choice but to delete my account. Thanks for nothing GROWLr.

2 years ago, Xkot

Bots, scams, bugs, bad design

It’s 2022. Why can’t chats be saved in the cloud and sync across devices? If you want to use this on a tablet in addition to your phone, you’ll find each conversation is only saved on that device. I get 2-3 messages from bots every time I open the app. There are far fewer bots on other apps. Additionally, you will often have message notifications on the app icon but nothing in your inbox. Support tells me this means someone who messaged you was later removed for spamming, but they apparently can’t reset the notification flag. This is basic app coding. For a couple months the paid feature to browse anonymously would just turn itself off every time I opened the app. I reported the lack of paid functionality to Apple but they pointed me back to Growlr support who did nothing. It eventually started working again. The only upside to this app is it attracts more bears than competitors who aren’t as focused on that group.

5 years ago, Bear503

hmmm

i spend a lot of time on this app blocking people because of strange profiles “in my area” anyone can make an account and stalk you with a blank profile, you can block them, but eventually you get to a point where the app wants you to spend 9.99 a month to make sure that random creeps can be blocked because you’ve reached a blocked limit. super gross how people can stalk you with GPS, and know how far you are away. if your value your personal safety and privacy, then this is not the app, anyone can track you and figure out that your at a specific location shopping for groceries. this is a sick way for you to be stalked and harassed, but if you give them 9.99 a month, it will go away.. basically this is app allows the stalkers to find you, while it might be fun to connect with people at first, expect that you can be followed, stalked, and harassed at a while other level you wouldn’t expect. “growlr pro” is the only way to stop people from stalking you.

4 years ago, Thomasblue

Growlr Support

I have contacted the support team regarding multiple issues regarding my paid membership account for over two months. No response from the support team. I recently reached out to the founder of GROWLr and asked him if the support team could follow up with me. Neither sources seem to care. Been a paid member for almost 8 years I believe. Sent multiple shouts. Probably will save money the following years and work with other “gay owned apps” and hopefully get better customer service and support with them in case an issue may occur. I give the app 2 stars and would give it none, but I still use it on occasion to keep in contact with people along the way of my travels. I wished there was another Bear app that was world wide as popular as GROWLr. I keep using the app only because it markets to a certain “demographic gay male build” that I happen to admire - thanks for nothing GROWLr I think I could be done with your app.

5 years ago, Cru0

Failing to Meet Expectations

I’ve been using GROWLr for years now and I definitely noticed the app start to tailspin months ago. I almost exclusively used this app. I finally took the plunge and upgraded to Pro around Thanksgiving. I was charged, but didn’t receive any of the updates. No biggie - send a support request. It’s around a holiday, I don’t expect to hear back for a few days. Until a few days goes by and I send in another. And another a few days after. I finally have to research who the parent company is and messages them. Yup. No response. Two weeks after activating Pro (and not seeing any of the benefits), I get an email response - not from GROWLr Support, but from the parent company. I follow their instructions; no response back. My subscription is set to renew in days and I’ve literally heard NOTHING ELSE from support. Don’t waste your money.

2 years ago, Soul No. 3

Discriminating Trolls Running Wild

GROWLr is great for connecting and make friends during live streams. However, over the past few days, some troll has created an account using the N-word as their profile name. This account has harassed streamers with derogatory comments about race, sexuality, and physical appearance. This account has been reported and blocked numerous times by a large amount of others but this person is able to create a new account each time. This has been ongoing for days and users are getting the impression that GROWLr is promoting racism and discrimination by allowing the use of such a term openly across their platform. They have not stepped in to stop this troll from making more accounts used to harass us. Thanks GROWLr for ruining the community by allowing this to happen continuously. I have spent such money and will not spend another dime to support this platform. Such a shame but I doubt that they care.

4 years ago, Shayne1994R

Trash

Seems constant ads, anytime you log in your asked to pay to upgrade, lags constantly, half of the accounts are bots or just blank profiles of people collecting pics. Then they ban you for anything and everything. Guy kept sending me pictures asking me to sleep with him. I kept saying no and pointed out how hes being a d bag, and how ignorant and messed up it is for him to not take no for an answer. And i got banned. Like wow no means no. But then again we all know those gays who cant take no for an answer. And obviously growlr would support the guy who didnt take no for an answer then the person. Thats scary. So if you meet up and tell someone no sex in account. And then they force u against ur will. All the person has to do is report you. You will have no way to access messages proving you said no. I wont stand by an app like that as a programmer. Thats some twisted sick crap.

5 years ago, 

App layout steps on the toes of iOS

I have an iPhone XR and that puts a lot of the navigational stuff in this app out of the reach of my thumb. iOS addresses that with reachability, but the designers of growlr put buttons in the space where you swipe to activate reachability, so when the screen slides down, the context changes (usually to the Pro Membership signup screen) and the Back button you were reaching for goes away. Also, there should be a more straightforward way to get to the unread messages screen from anywhere in the app—depending on where you are in the app, you might have to cycle through several screens to get to a message when it comes in—and that’s even more of a pain because of the violations of the reachability trigger space that I mentioned above. The content is pretty good but the UI needs to be reworked in pretty major ways for this to be a good app.

5 years ago, Bulldog227

Lots of Bots and Spam no Support

It’s the same people day in day out. It’s buggy; try doing a location search and typing the name wrong, and then try to fix it and type it again. You have to exit all the way out, change to global, change back again and then retype it. Then it’s a constant stream of messages from spam 4000 miles away. Why isn’t there a way to shut off and reject anything more than a certain distance? I don’t know what it would be like being a paid user, I certainly would never do it with the kind of experience I have had, but there’s just about no features in it that are usable. There is no way I can see to contact support- it’s just a loop of FAQs. I keep reporting the spam message but I keep getting more. I’m planning to drop it. It also doesn’t keep up with location changes. I can be 300 miles away it’s still showing meet people where I was four hours ago.

5 years ago, Krewger

Outrageous terms and conditions.

YOU CONSENT TO RECEIVE COMMERCIAL E-MAIL, TEXT, SMS AND/OR OTHER MESSAGES FROM US, AND AGREE THAT WE MAY USE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER AND OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF INITIATING COMMERCIAL MESSAGES. Receiving these communications, possibly via autodialer, is a condition of using GROWLr and you will not be able to opt out of receiving them. C. By posting Content on the GROWLr App or as part of the Service, you automatically grant to the Company, its affiliates, licensees and successors, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, worldwide right and license to (i) use, copy, store, perform, display, reproduce, record, play, adapt, modify and distribute the Content, (ii) prepare derivative works of the Content or incorporate the Content into other works, and (iii) grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing in any media now known or hereafter created. You represent and warrant that any posting and use of your Content by the Company will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party.

4 years ago, Freline

Terrible

I have been getting a lot of abusive behavior by old men who do not read my profile to see what it is that I am looking for and then get verbally abusive when I ask them politely to read it. I don’t owe them anything. On other occasions, they unlock their private pictures without even greeting me and without my solicitation, which I consider a form of harassment, as it violates my boundaries. I’ve been reporting them within the app, which doesn’t allow you to explain specifics, so I’ve been sending screenshots of the conversations to the administrators. Their solutions? Block them. That’s it. No, that is not it. What’s the point of even reporting these users if Growlr is not going to take them to task for abusing me? I’m sick and tired of these users disrespecting me like this. Maybe others are okay with it but I am not and I am tired of the administrators offering no help. So I do not recommend it for this reason.

4 years ago, Rootsdeepinthesky

Poor design and poor support

Unfortunately the app design is very poor. It isn’t intuitive or easy to use, but it is full of bugs. Expect crashes and freezes. Also, after the most recent crash, I found myself locked out of my account. The developer’s auto-recover system doesn’t work and no one has responded to my customer service request. The community is riddled with spammer bot accounts, and I suspect the developer sets up dummy accounts which will automatically unlock private photos in an effort to get you to subscribe so you can view them. This is definitely not worth paying the subscription fee for a premium account (I canceled mine after three days and requested a refund but don’t expect that to happen as no one responds to any customer service request). And, I actually think it isn’t worth downloading at all. It’s just far too frustrating to deal with.

4 years ago, NEPATenor313

Love the app until current update v11.7

I really do love this app...when I can get onto it. Ever since the new update 2 weeks ago v11.7, I have not been able to get into the app. I was pretty understanding for about a week, but now that it’s been 2 weeks, I’m not too happy about paying for the premium membership of an app that doesn’t work. For 2 weeks with v11.7 the app won’t even load, it just stays on the initial loading page forever. Really up their developers come up with a big fix soon, or I’m going to ask for this month’s subscription back and possibly cancel. Shame because the GROWLr users make this app much better than others.

3 years ago, Tech search

Lack of locations & messages, screen contrast

I’ve been using this app for a long time, it seems that the developers are not taking good care of their app, locations are still as bad as before, offline users for more than hour still appears on the screen while other who are online cannot be seen, opening private photos you can’t see more than first two photos until you upgrade your account to premium, I mean come on, you must give some access to normal accounts so they can communicate better on this app. Messages are so bad, you cannot know if you receive a message until you refresh the page, you can’t delete any thing you send by mistake or you want to delete because you don’t want to keep it in your messages, guys after all these years you should upgrade your app to be more useful. The most important issue is the screen colors, when you open the app the top of the mobile notes such as the signal, WiFi, clock & battery cannot be seen because of the app dark colors Please do some good improvements to your app otherwise it will be as bad as the others Hope we can see that soon Thanks for reading my comments

5 years ago, justbstx

You’re screwing up

Whatever y’all did recently to “upgrade” your site is a total fail. Oh yeah, you have a little “message” icon when you click on a message. Uh, that’s redundant. But what is worse is I receive a ping that I have a message and I click thru and the message does not show up. I just received 5 messages from “Michael” and I click on the message and I get a blank image, just the yellow color that is the main GROWLr brand color. And so then I have to turn my phone off and turn back on hoping the messages will be there. Well, sometimes they are and other times not. I’ll cancel my membership unless y’all correct the problems.

5 years ago, J Langham

Fix this app for iOS 13. You knew it was coming. No excuses

Very user friendly and have met some great guys through the app. Just a few items I'd love to see it into a future release and then it will get 5 stars: 1. Cross device synching. That also would mean having the ability to have the iPad and the iPhone apps share the same account. 2. Better "nearby" reporting upon refresh. If I change locations and then refresh, it should determine my new location. 3. The most aggravating thing about this app that makes me want to throw the phone against the wall is when the app fails to deliver a message, the message completely disappears. You should be able to resend a message that couldn't be delivered. Considering how unreliable the Growlr server is, this is a very sore point. Even Scruff gets this functionality right.

4 years ago, PupRon

UNFAIR

This app is totally unfair, people keep getting banned left and right,For example some people get banned for being shirtless while other people don’t during the live-streams, and I myself keep getting banned apparently for listening to country music and dance along with it, nothing of a seductive or sexual nature, or at least that’s what I’m guessing given how when people get banned they are not giving a reason on why so how do you know what you did and to avoid it, you only get a list of things that you have to go through to figure it out, but they never give you anything specific, their contact number is bogus it goes to some billing agency, when you email about a complaint they don’t get back to you till weeks later! save yourself the hassle and do not create a profile... ever since the new owners took over Growlr has become awful..

5 years ago, mikepheiffer

Last update broke it a tad

The app has been crashing while in the middle of typing. Returns to the home screen. Notifications don’t vibrate anymore when coming in; nor does the phone vibrate upon opening the app to read new messages. Sound doesn’t play when returning to app to read new messages. I have to force close the app several times in one setting to get it working g again. Let’s fix these issues please. As a longggg time user this is frustrating. On the bright side I do think the aesthetic changes and profile changes are positive.

3 years ago, Francomophone

Limited features not worth the constant hounding to open the app for no reason

Growlr is not as robust as other apps of this type, which I could generally excuse because of course not all apps are going to have the same features. However, if you don’t open Growlr on a daily basis it sends unsolicited push notifications urging you to open the app. If you turn off push notifications to avoid being pointless notifications on a daily basis, then you won’t get notifications regarding things you actually want to hear about like incoming messages and photos from other users. And then why even bother using the app at all. In short, this app pesters you constantly if you’re not using it every day, and there are better, more fully features apps out there that don’t.

4 years ago, waikelejake

Long overdue for a redesign

Over the years, I have really enjoyed using Growlr. I have even paid for the Pro version for the last 4 years. However, I believe the developers have neglected the app to keep it modern and up to date. For this, I had to cancel my subscription until I know my money is being used to make continuous and reliable updates. I would love to see a redesigned UI and maybe some new features such as the ability to swipe between profiles, backing up chat history, and sharing location just to name a few. Look at Scruff and try to be better! Beside a UI overhaul, please for the love of god, address the 5+ pop ups that display ON every launch. It seems to be the same repetitive messages. WE KNOW THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS WELL AS PRIVACY POLICY HAVE BEEN UPDATED. Thank you.

3 years ago, BruiserWolfSussex

It’s an amazing app, with issues

I have been using GROWLr ever since it came out. Out of all the apps, Scruff, Recon, Hornet and so many others, GROWLr is always the best one. I have met some of the most amazing guys on this app and have created life long friendships. However, the app is completely trash. It signs you out almost daily. Notifications pop up when they want to, not when you actually get a text. Sometimes it will say there is a new message but when you enter the app there isn’t one. Then once you close the app the alert is still there. The only way I have been able to get rid of it, is to go into the first convo you had, open it and close it. Sadly also when there is a new IOS update this app always seems to be one of the last ones to update. Then the update will fix one issue and create three more. Even with all its issues I will still continue to use GROWLr over any other app or site. The conversations are amazing, the people you meet are wonderful. It just seems the apps developers do not care when it comes to the functionality/stability of the app which is very upsetting. Still love this app though.

3 years ago, Wont Buy If I Cant Preview

Full of Frauds

Monitor the New Member section.... it’s roughly half frauds now. Random guys from New York with no info and no where near New York. There are 100’s of them daily, using the same pictures over & over. Sometimes there are 10 pictures of the same guy, with different names & different distances at the same time. Scammers! Search Ghana, Togo & Nigeria too. Everyone is White & American there. LOL Then there are the “Honest, Trustworthy” guys looking for “marriage” or a “serious relationship”. Again scammers, using the same pictures over and over, in different locations, different names. Often times they can’t even get their races, ages or weights remotely close to their stolen pictures they are using. Please report them, because Growlr can’t be bothered monitoring the scammers themselves... sad, but GROWLr doesn’t care about protecting their members from scammers.

9 months ago, Jeff_the_nerd23

Streaming has been very Beneficial!

Aside everyone competing for digital diamonds, I believe every dating app should allow streaming. This allows people to interact as human beings and see personalities rather than fall in love with pictures. Pictures give us a perception of someone but it doesn’t help us learn the person with messaging and casual encounters. We can finally build a foundation of relationships online including networking when it comes to career interests and gaining support in our dreams thanks to streaming. I wish Scruff and Jack’D had this feature as well.

10 months ago, WEMasters

Terrible Customer Service

Response to developer. No. Not going to contact customer service. 🤣🤣🤣 I already did and it's terrible. So I updated to iOS 17 yesterday and the app stopped working. I was trying to upload photos and... nothing. So I log out and log back in and I can't log in. Try a different email. Nothing. I write customer service and they aren't helpful at all. I explained that i paid for membership that same day and they wouldn't help me find the transaction ID to find the email associated with my account. That was yesterday. This morning I sent them the email invoice i got from apple and.... nothing. I know apple will give me a refund but I'm wondering if they log these low ratings as complaints? Cause something needs to be done about this app.

4 years ago, BBearCub

My thoughts of this app!

The app is good to use. Don’t not get me wrong and I’m not criticizing the application. The streaming needs to be more updated. It keeps malfunctioning but I know it’s in the beta format but it’s getting too stricted with the banning so have to change that. The location has to update because when I’m out of town and I go into a new town and the person I’ve talked to that I’m closer by it still says the same distance from where I was at home. But the app is good. I’ve met my partner on this app so I’m thankful for that. This app has good perks such as meeting new friends or play mates or lovers. A good way to communicate during the Covid-19 pandemic so the streams came in handy. I really enjoy this app overall.

5 months ago, Gp 80

Disappointed in growler support!

As a pro member, I am extremely disappointed in the growler support! I am visually impaired, and at least three times have reported an issue with the search feature under the more tab. When using this with voiceover, turned on. I am not able to access all the profiles that the search finds. This is not the case under the paid search. However, under the page search you are not able to search by profile name or name. My emails have completely been ignored every time I’ve submitted it. If this is not resolved soon, I will not rejoin when my subscription is up in March. Other than that, I love the app I have met many wonderful people on here!

5 years ago, littleMonkey1!

Goes black

This app has been going completely black on me, for weeks now. I’ve changed my password, and deleted twice. Support is no help. And from what I understand, it has pretty much gone down hill since they sold it. It goes completely black. My phone then lights up with my home screen. I have to open growlr, again. This sometimes happens while I’m chatting. So I have to go to my ‘read’ messages, and retype my last message. This is so low rent to me. None of my other apps this. Just growler. And once again, support is no help. Groundbreaking, right?

3 years ago, MZingerDC

So many scammers, paid version is a rip off.

Constantly hit up by bots or spam messages. Used to have a paid account for years, then after I complained about how bad the bots are they closed my account with no notice. When I emailed they said they decided to cancel my account and will not give me my money back. New free account works without paying, but still constantly messaged with bots and spam. This app used to be good, but they only want user's money. No real new features. No product support. No spam filtering. Etc. What are they doing with all that ad revenue and premium subscription payments? At least the other apps improve the interface, add new features etc. Not Growlr. Same old same old and no attempt to stop the rampant bots and spam.

4 years ago, #magicalaf

Oldie but not so goodie

GROWLr used to be the place and the space for good time on and off the app. After so many changes with ownership and management it is like a replica of plenty of fish, which is very queer friendly and open itself. Hardly anything works how it’s supposed to. You get logged out randomly and lose all message history and have to log back in. You can’t update your profile or change pictures or add things without fighting for an hour to make changes save and stick how you want them. Lots of people must be complaining because the support time has been removed and now you have to dig to find a contact is that takes 24 hours to receive a reply to something you didn’t ask or don’t need. I’d go some where else. I used to love this app and now it’s a sad joke.

5 years ago, whackapole

Over it

Constantly having problems with deleting my profile photo. I try to follow their guidelines and have posted face and upper chest cropped, only to have it yanked. Posted a headshot... yanked posted a headless torso shot with a inch above pubic area, guess what? Yanked. Yet I see many other showing much more? Never had so many problems trying to get a photo posted. I guess I am supposed to not show any flesh below neck line? Or is it some mad jealous asshat reporting me to be a jerk? You know when you send announcement telling me my photo has been removed maybe you could explain why??? The guidelines make it sound like what I was posting was fine. For a gay sex hook site pretty lame. Anyways cancelled my pro account which is a waste of money and deleted my account. So don’t really care but it did aggravate me with the photo thing

2 years ago, Alex Boudreau

Decent app, but used to be better

When this app works, it’s decent with nice people to talk to. Over the past couple of years, it hasn’t been great. There are A LOT of spam/bot accounts. I’ve also been dealing with a lot of notification and badge number issues and force log outs. I’ll get a notification I have a message and when I go to the app it’s not there or it forces me to log back in which is really annoying. Please support Touch ID or Face ID to log back in to the app. Also, after I read a message often times the notification badge will still show I have an unread message which is really annoying. If the app developers could fix these issues, I’d rate the app higher.

3 years ago, Vee46!

Stop Banning People for no reason, without giving them a sufficient REASON!!!!

I am sick and tired of seeing Lonni💎 banned from Growlr for no good reason what so ever! What is wrong with this app anymore. Is someone unhappy he has a lot of people that enjoy talking with him. What is going on????? This seems very suspicious of someone that maybe does not like he has people that truly enjoy watching and talking with Lonni💎 everyday. I would love to know why something like this keeps happening to someone so kind and abides by all the rules for over a year. Please get this together or people will start to leave this platform if people can not be treated fairly & with equality. I think this maybe worth reporting to the news media. Maybe then we can get some answers from somebody!!!!!!!!

4 years ago, Erik D. Phillips

Events

Social media has erupted with a massive growl of anger following mass account suspensions on the popular dating app Growlr. Growlr, which caters to bearish men, launched in 2012 and claims to boast more than 2 million users. The mass suspensions appear to have begun February 17, and have caused a massive outcry on Facebook and Twitter. At the time of this writing, the company has yet to comment publicly on the reason for the suspensions, or the steps it is taking to resolve the issue. It also remains unclear just how many users were suspended. Media speculation has noted that the company–which sold to the straight-owned The Meet Group for more than $11 million last year–may have signaled its demise. At the time, CEO Geoff Cook said “We are thrilled to add Growlr to The Meet Group portfolio. Similar to what we have done with our other acquired properties, we plan to be aggressive in bringing our video model to Growlr. We expect to begin rolling out live video on Growlr in the fourth quarter of 2019. We also see opportunities to grow advertising revenue on the app, and we plan to further invest in user acquisition to expand brand awareness and reach.” Rumor is that it’s cowardly shutting down.

Description

The only app for Bears and Bear Chasers! More Bears in More Places...we are a global community with over 10,000,000 members worldwide. GROWLr allows you to meet other Bears from around the world or around the corner. GROWLr is free, fast, reliable and easy to use. A Bear is a gay man who belongs to a very inclusive part of the gay community. Some are hairy, some are muscular, and some are heavy-set and some are none of those things. Being a bear is about being yourself - we are all amazing no matter how we are labeled. Bear Chasers are the men who love Bears – and if you’re a Chaser you’ve come to the right place! More Bears in More Places. It’s the perfect way to meet guys and make friends whether you are sitting at home or traveling abroad. Send and receive private instant messages, live video calls, pictures and video. We also have an amazing Event section with complete and up-to-date Bear Run and Bear Bar listings. Tons of Galleries, Check-in features, Notes and More. GROWLr allows only males 18 years or older. Photos depicting nudity or sex acts are strictly prohibited. Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/growlrapp Or on the web: http://www.growlrapp.com GROWLr PRO Membership Subscriptions: GROWLr PRO - 1 month, $9.99 USD GROWLr PRO - 3 months, $23.99 USD GROWLr PRO - 6 months, $44.99 USD GROWLr PRO - 1 year, $71.99 USD - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, for the price listed above for your renewal term - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period Privacy Policy: http://www.growlrapp.com/privacy Terms of Service: http://www.growlrapp.com/tos