China Has Apple Take Down Popular Gay Dating Apps

Wired reports:

Apple has removed two of the most popular gay dating apps in China from the App Store after receiving an order from China’s main internet regulator and censorship authority, WIRED has learned. The move comes as reports of Blued and Finka disappearing from the iOS App Store and several Android app stores circulated on Chinese social media over the weekend. The apps appear to still be functional for users in the country who already have them downloaded.

“We follow the laws in the countries where we operate. Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only,” an Apple spokesperson said in an email. Most international LGBTQ+ dating apps are already blocked in China. Grindr was removed from Apple’s Chinese App Store in 2022. In 2020, BlueCity, the parent company of Blued, went public. It announced that the app had over 49 million registered users.

Read the full article. The video below is from 2021.

The removal of Blued and Finka marks another setback for China’s marginalized LGBTQ+ community. https://t.co/j3UKFNpt7o

— WIRED (@WIRED) November 10, 2025

The post China Has Apple Take Down Popular Gay Dating Apps appeared first on Joe.My.God..