This new Grindr feature could persuade users to regularly get tested for HIV

Grindr, the most widely-used dating app for gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people at 3.6 million daily users, may have figured out a way to increase the number of millennials who are regularly tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. On Monday, the company announced a new feature on its app that reminds users of all ages to get tested every three or six months.

This new feature is especially important in light of recent findings that show HIV diagnoses in U.S. millennial populations aren't declining. Overall, HIV diagnoses have flattened out, which isn't necessarily bad news -- but, according to doctors, it's not good news either. Among young people in the U.S., there are still over 15,000 new reported cases each year.

The critical component for reducing new HIV cases is simple, but not so easily achieved: Persuading at-risk populations to get tested frequently, according to Craig Wilson, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in an interview last month.

While sexually active heterosexual men and women are not Grindr's target audience, they too should seek regular HIV testing.

There are already reminder apps available, said Jack Harrison-Quintana, the Director for Equality at Grindr, who oversees the company's health, safety, and human justice office, in an interview.

"But the problem is that people who are most likely to download those apps are already doing a great job of taking care of their health," said Harrison-Quintana. "We thought we might be missing the audience."

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So Grindr has added the reminder feature to their platform.

"We can connect to people that don’t have a good protocol in place to get tested," he said.

While public health programs have had success relating the need to get tested to some demographics, they've struggled with younger populations, often gay males, particularly in the South.

"We struggle to get the right messages to the people that need to hear them most," Melanie Thompson, chair of the HIV Medicine Association, said in an interview.

"It's clear that Grindr has a very loyal following of people the are sexually active and need these messages," Thompson said.

In Atlanta, where Thompson works, she sees sick patients coming into hospitals whose HIV has already advanced to AIDS, because they had no idea they carried the virus.

"That's a public health failure," Thompson said.

The new Grindr feature is paired with information about the next logical step after deciding to get tested: Finding a testing location. Grindr, a geolocation app, now provides free advertising to HIV testing sites. This advertising is facilitated by a partnership with the organization CenterLink, which is a community of around 200 LGBTQ community centers.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Testing, however, is not the only component that's important to limiting the spread of the HIV virus. Harrison-Quintana emphasized the PrEP program -- a daily pill that can prevent getting infected -- along with the destigmatization of HIV.

"In populations where there is stigma they are so scared of receiving a diagnosis that they just won’t test," said Harrison-Quintana.

The reminder feature isn't Grindr's first effort at getting users to be more responsible about their health. In 2016, Grindr allowed users to show others their specific type of HIV status and when they were last tested.

Harrison-Quintana said there's still more research to be done about how effective these previous efforts have been, but noted a "significant uptake in use" of the health features.