What Is Sniffies?

Sniffies is a revolutionary map based male-only cruising platform that’s irreverential, extremely sex-positive, and completely uncensored. These are all the qualities that a sexy cruiser would want in an app. Where Grindr only shows the distance in a numerical value, Sniffies actually maps out the approximate locations of fellow cruisers as well as any popular cruising spots in your local area and abroad.

Our Sniffies review goes into exactly how the unique Sniffies map works, how you can stay just as anonymous as you need while finding a hookup, and what it all costs to use. Spoiler alert, you don’t need to spend any money, or even register on the website, if you don’t want to. So, let’s sniff out why this might become your next best hookup app.

Pros

• The location based platform shows the approximate locations of not only fellow cruisers but also local cruising spots on an easy to browse map

• The Sniffies site is free to use, with or without a registered account

• Great for introverts (just hookup without the need of long chats if you’ve set up your profile)

• Very easy to vet people (use the live video chat feature to see who you are talking to and block those you aren’t interested in)

Cons

• There is no dedicated Sniffies app download available (but the Sniffies.com website is designed to work responsively on any web browser and screen size)

• The high level of anonymity on Sniffies means you’ll have to take a bit more care to ensure you stay safe

• Some locations have very few or no active users at all (so Sniffies dating is not great for anyone outside of major cities)

• No anonymous billing options

Sniffies Login Process

The web app offers two Sniffies log in options. Either you can stay completely anonymous, or choose to register an account. To stay anonymous, simply click “Use Anonymously” from the Sniffies.com homepage to start browsing immediately. To register an account on Sniffies, you’ll need to follow the steps below:

• Click “Login” from the Sniffies.com homepage

• Click the “Create an account in seconds…” link (it really will only be a few seconds)

• Do an age check by providing your date of birth

• Enter your email address twice

• Create a password

• Enter a promo code if you have one

• Complete the best CAPTCHA we’ve ever seen (it includes butt plugs, jockstraps, etc.)

• Enter the activation code that will be emailed to you

• Allow your browser to share your location (this is a location based platform after all)

For those who chose to stay anonymous, your temporary profile and all its data will get deleted as soon as you log out. It is however possible to still create a Sniffies account from the app settings even if you initially chose to be anonymous.

Profile Completion

After you’ve finished the Sniffies.com login process you start with a completely blank profile. It’s entirely up to you to enter how much information you are willing to reveal about yourself. When you click on your profile bubble, the first thing you can do is upload a profile photo (adding explicit photos is not only allowed but encouraged) and select whether to show yourself as available for LivePlay. Then click ‘edit profile’ to complete the rest of the available profile sections.

Profile sections on Sniffies are specifically created with the needs of the cruising community in mind. Start by setting your home location and type a short headline for your profile. The following steps are to indicate your hosting status (whether and where you can host) followed by entering your information for the sections listed below:

Your Stats

• Age

• Height

• Weight

• Endowment (length and cut/uncut)

• Body type (from slim to large)

Identity

• Sexuality

• Position (Side, Dom top, Vers, etc.)

• Expression - choose up to 2 (Bear, Daddy, Twink, etc.)

Your Scene

• Hookup location (can host or can travel)

• Type of public location you prefer (Gym, Bar, Sauna, etc)

• Expressions you are looking for - choose up to 3

• Select up to 6 fetishes (the extensive list is broken up into body-, clothing-, and underwear-specific fetishes)

• Select up to 6 kinks (anything from general BDSM and furries, to your roleplay styles)

• Select up to 3 sexual interests (ball play, cuddling, rimming, etc.)

• Your preferred interactions - choose up to 3 (Blindfolded, Cum and Go, Watch only, etc)

Health Practices And Preferences

• Your preferred healthy sex practices (condom only, bareback if on prep, talk first, etc)

• HIV status

• Latest HIV test date

• Latest STI test date

• Safeguards (vaccinations, condoms, doxyPEP, etc)

Sniffies members can also choose to hide any of the above information at any time by simply toggling the ‘Show’ setting for that bit of information to OFF. The site is not for the vanilla types, so it’s actually good to be more open about your turn-ons and preferences.

User Account Quality

While viewing the map, you can only see other members' profile photos, stats, profile type (registered, verified, or anonymous), and hosting status. But you can view anyone’s full profile by clicking on their profile bubble. Most gay Sniffies profiles are filled out and have photos, but almost no one will show their face here. Anonymity is what it’s all about after all.

The Sniffies app doesn’t depend on any matchmaking algorithms to help connect users. Instead, members can see the profiles of those nearby based on the map locations, as well as use the provided filters to find compatible hookups. This is a very practical approach considering the aim of the platform.

Dating Features

The Sniffies Map

The map based cruising platform shows where nearby cruisers, active groups, and popular meeting spots are in real time. But don’t worry, to protect your privacy your exact location is adjusted into a pseudo-location (which is what other cruisers will see). You can also manually increase the randomization of your location by using the provided location randomizer. Sniffies Plus members can even browse in discreet mode if they don’t want to be shown on the Sniffies map at all.

Besides showing fellow cruisers’ profiles, there are a few other Sniffies symbols that show up on the map too. An orange ring around a cruiser means they’re actively hosting. The type of icon in the small orange bubble shows their hosting location (hotel room, glory hole, their place, etc.). Grey bubbles indicate local cruising spots with an icon that shows the type of location (gym, bar, sauna, etc.). These will even light up when another cruiser is there or planning to visit.

Travel Mode

To see cruisers from outside of your immediate vicinity, Sniffies Plus members can activate travel mode to explore other cities. This is a great way to scout for cruising spots and to connect with possible cruising partners or groups before going on a trip. After all, who doesn’t want to turn their boring business trip into something far more exciting and pleasurable?

Travel mode can be used from the Sniffies map by clicking the plane icon on the bottom-right corner of the screen. Then either type the city name into the search bar or navigate on the map to anywhere in the world you’d like to visit and click ‘Travel here’. A copy of your profile will be pinned to your chosen area as if you were actually there and nearby cruisers will be able to get in touch with you.

Group Chats and Cruising Updates

Take your Sniffies cruise to the next level by creating group chats and sending cruising updates. Group chats allow you to chat with multiple users in a single chat room making it far easier to organize some group fun. Groups can be made private, but keeping it public will ensure that active groups pop up on the map for other Sniffies men to join in too.

Cruising updates, on the other hand, are broadcasted messages that anyone in your area can read. Almost like posting a status update. Are you hosting right now, or planning to visit somewhere later? Well, send a cruising update to let everyone know that you are keen for a good time. Both these features are only available to Sniffies Plus members.

Live Play

The newest feature on the Sniffies app is its LivePlay capabilities. LivePlay lets you video chat with other cruisers from the comfort of your home, or whatever kinky place you feel like video chatting from. You don’t need to meet in person to help each other get off with this feature. Not only that, but it’s also a great way to see if you are into each other before hooking up in person.

LivePlay is, however, not a free feature. Non-subscribed registered profiles will receive 60 free minutes to use in LivePlay. Sniffies subscriptions also come with 300 LivePlay minutes per month. But for anything more than that, cruisers are required to purchase additional LivePlay time as a separate purchase.

Advanced Filters

If you live in a very active city, your Sniffies map might be overflowing with profile bubbles and cruising spots making it a bit difficult to browse through. Setting filters will let you toggle whether to show only bubbles of cruisers, places, groups, or testing centers on your map so you only see what you are looking for.

Not only that, but using the available filter options you can pinpoint what kind of Sniffies hook up you’d like to find and see specific cruising places in your area. Filters can be edited based on the below criteria:

Cruisers

• Is cruising now

• Stats (Age / Position / Endowment / Body Type / Sexuality)

• Has photos

• Profile type (Verified / Registered / Anonymous)

• Hosting type (LivePlay / Car / Hotel / Gloryhole / My Place / Group)

• Have a Sniffies chat history together

Places

• Active now

• Is popular

• Has a gloryhole

• Place type

Prices & Costs

The Sniffies platform can be used completely free! So there’s no excuse to not get your Sniffies cruising fix. As a free member, you can create a profile, view all other profiles and cruising spots in your area, send messages, and use the LivePlay feature (if you have a positive balance of minutes).

There is, however, a Sniffies Plus membership offered for those who would like a more premium experience. Sniffies even has a referral program. You get a free week of Sniffies Plus when someone joins Sniffies via your personalized link and upgrades to Sniffies Plus themselves. When it comes to cruising the more the merrier after all, so why not share in the carnal delights?

Subscription Cost

*The trial membership is a one-time offer. This is a non-recurring purchase that will neither renew nor upgrade to a recurring membership once it expires. Any other subscription option will automatically renew upon expiration.

Subscription Perks

• Unblock individual users

• See who deleted a conversation

• Remove ads

• Filter unlimited cruiser profiles

• Post cruising updates

• Add multiple profile photos

• Pin chats so they don’t expire

• Pin members to view them even when offline

• Read receipts

• Host groups

• Hide chat photos

• Use travel mode

• Use discreet mode

• Add cruising places to the Sniffies map

• Anonymous check-ins

• 300 LivePlay minutes per month

• See campus meetup spots

To enjoy the LivePlay feature (either as a free member or when your monthly minutes have run out), you will need to replenish your available LivePlay time by purchasing additional minutes. There are 19 available minute packages that range from 60 to 600 minutes, with packages increasing in 30-minute increments. LivePlay minutes cost €0.50 per 30 minutes no matter how large the chosen package. Eg. 90 minutes will cost €1.50 and 600 minutes will cost €10.00. LivePlay time can be purchased from the account settings on your Sniffies profile. 

How Safe Is Sniffies.com?

Overall Safety and Discretion

Sniffies for the curious is an apt slogan for the site. But being curious doesn’t include exposing people online. And while your safety is mainly in your own hands, the Sniffies app does offer a few options to help any Sniffies gay stay out of harm's way. Firstly, there’s the vanilla mode that will hide any explicit material if you don’t want a screen full of cocks while out at dinner. Go to the app settings to toggle this on or off.

There’s also the discreet mode and location randomizer that can be used to either completely hide or alter your location on the map. As a premium member, you can also do anonymous check-ins to cruising spots if you need an extra level of discretion while out having fun. Lastly, there's the official Sniffies blog (sniffieshush.com) that helps to educate readers not only on safe online dating but also on all there is to know about the nuances of cruising.

Fake Profiles

No dating app is without its fair share of people trying to take advantage of others. It’s unfortunately part of the reality we face these days. And on a primarily anonymous dating platform like Sniffies, it’s even more imperative to keep an eye out for scammers and exploiters.

It’s, at least, good to know that, according to the site’s terms and conditions, no site-operated profiles are being created for any purpose at all. Everyone you see will be 100% real. But as far as their intentions go, we can’t make any promises. As a precaution, Sniffies users can block chats from anonymous profiles to ensure they only have contact with verified and registered members.

Final Thoughts

The best feature that Sniffies offers is by far their iconic cruising map that lets you see (almost) exactly where all the fun is happening around you in real-time. You’ll see who is actively cruising right now and which cruising spots have willing cruisers waiting for a hookup. If an anonymous casual hookup is your thing, you won’t even need to chat with someone to get lucky here. But please do always remember to put your own safety first.

The best way someone can use the Sniffies website is to not be shy and simply jump in and have fun. If confidence isn’t your most abundant quality then you can always indulge in some online fun via the LivePlay feature before deciding to meet someone in real life. It’s rather difficult to find faults in a site that caters so perfectly to its target demographic of gay, bisexual, or bicurious men who are into the cruising lifestyle.

In our opinion, if Sniffies had a mobile app available (and maybe did a bit more marketing) it could very easily give Grindr a run for its money. Simply by knowing someone’s cruising style and preferences and their approximate locations on the map before chatting puts Sniffies one step ahead. Now, why are you still reading this when you could be sniffing out your next cruising spot?

FAQ

What Is The Sniffies Website For?

Sniffies is a map-based web app for gay, bisexual, and bicurious men looking for casual encounters nearby. The platform’s easy-to-use modern design and available website features help to make cruising quick, easy, and exciting.

When Did Sniffies Come Out And Who Created Sniffies?

The Sniffies cruising website was created by Blake Gallagher who launched the web app in 2018. The name came from a previous website where people could trade underwear. But now Sniffies refers to “sniffing out what’s around”.

How To Unblock Sniffies Members?

• Click on the Menu icon in the top-right corner of the screen

• Select “Account Settings”

• Select “Unblock Profiles”

Note: Only Sniffies Plus members can unblock individual users. Non-members can only unblock all profiles at once.

What Is Sniffiies Live Play?

LivePlay is the newest feature on Sniffies that allows members to have a virtual Sniffies hookup via video chat. Either get each other off from wherever you are or simply chat to see if you vibe before meeting in person.

How Much Is Sniffies Going To Cost To Use?

The Sniffies app can be used completely free! You don’t even need to create an account and can still enjoy the website features that are most essential for hooking up. Monthly subscription prices start at €6.99 to enjoy the extra perks of a Sniffies Plus membership.

How To Get The Sniffies App Downloaded?

Since there is no Sniffies app available (you can thank the app store's strict opposition towards posting any explicit photos in public portions of an app for that), you will have to save a Sniffies.com shortcut to your home screen. Exactly how to add Sniffies to Home Screen depends on the device you are using.

How To Hide Location On Sniffies?

Your exact location will never be shown to others. Anyone can, however, increase their location randomization to be even more discreet and Sniffies Plus users can also activate discreet mode to remove their profile from the Sniffies map entirely.

Can You See Who Viewed You On Sniffies?

No. The only way to know when someone has viewed you is if they’ve decided to message you. Otherwise browsing profiles on Sniffies is completely anonymous.

How To Delete A Sniffies Account Permanently?

Follow these steps to delete your account. This is permanent and cannot be undone.

• Login to your Sniffies account

• Click on the Menu icon in the top-right corner of the screen

• Scroll down and select “Account Settings”

• Click “Delete Account” then click “Yes” to confirm