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In a reddit<\/span> AMA on Friday, in between jokes about gay bears and JD Vance\u2019s potential username being CushionCasanova, Grindr CEO George Arison answered a question about the economy. He didn\u2019t hold back.<\/p>\n \u201cInflation is terrible, and there\u2019s a massive affordability crisis in this country that our government has ignored since at least 2020,\u201d he wrote<\/a> in the r\/wallstreetbets subreddit, where, following the release of the company\u2019s quarterly earnings report<\/a>, he took questions from users.<\/p>\n It was a startling admission from the man whose company is about to release a subscription offering intended to price out most Grindr users. On November 17, Edge, a \u201cpremium tier\u201d with some AI-powered features costing $120 a month, will be available to members worldwide, according to the report. Early access opened today.<\/p>\n The document suggests that Edge will help users find connections \u201cwith less effort\u201d and will include a personalized recommendation feature, Insights, to \u201cunderstand compatibility and the likelihood of a reply,\u201d as well as Reconnect, which \u201cbrings past connections back into view.\u201d The app will have an entirely new design, interface, and icon intended to create a vastly different experience for users willing to foot the high price tag.<\/p>\n But even if you can afford it, you may not get in. As with Raya, an invite-only app where some people have been on the wait list for as long as seven years<\/a>, the company is planning to turn Edge into a digital gated community of sorts: Sign-ups will be limited to 1 percent of global monthly users.<\/p>\n The goal is to \u201cdeliberately [manage] the growth of the Edge community to preserve exclusivity\u201d for \u201ca select community\u201d who can pay \u201cmeaningfully more,\u201d the report noted. According to figures from the company, only 1.4 million of its current 16 million users pay to use Grindr.<\/p>\n Edge\u2019s official rollout comes following pilot programs<\/a> in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US, and a year\u2019s worth of speculation about how much it would cost and what exactly would separate it from other apps that provide comparable features at a lower price.<\/p>\n \u201cThese VIP tiers make me think of [it as a] digital version of expensive hustler bars,\u201d one user said on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cThe men who will pay hundreds for access are rarely the hot men you would log on for.\u201d<\/p>\n Grindr is the world\u2019s largest dating app for gay, bi, and trans people, but it has consistently struggled with user concerns of data privacy<\/a> and user safety. And as it unveils its latest upsell, many members say the app\u2019s fundamental infrastructure remains broken.<\/p>\n \u201cGrindr is a top-tier example of enshitification and predatory monetization,\u201d one person wrote in the reddit AMA<\/a> from last week. \u201cYou need to stop with the intrusive ads and start getting in touch with reality,\u201d posted another.<\/p>\n