Cross-posted from “Banned Gay Dating Apps Blued and Finka Remove LGBT Features to Comply With Regulations” by @[email protected] in [email protected]

Blued and Finka, two Chinese gay dating apps that were removed from major app stores several months ago, have both recently pushed updates that hide users’ sexual role labels (1/0/0.5/side) and profile signatures.

On Blued, users must now navigate to a private chat to view another user’s role and signature; filtering by role on the main page is no longer available. The app’s official notice describes the change as being “in compliance with regulatory requirements, to better protect the privacy of your social interactions.”

Finka has gone further, disabling the role-setting feature entirely. Its update notice states the changes were made “to ensure a better experience for all users and to keep the platform running stably for the long term.”

Both apps’ main versions remain unavailable on app stores. However, Blued’s lite client, “Blued极速版” (Blued Lite), can still be downloaded across major app stores — though the recent changes have triggered a flood of one-star reviews, pushing its rating on the Chinese Apple App Store down to 1.9 at the time of writing.

Users have also reported that profile pictures containing rainbow elements are now flagged as violations on Blued.

According to unverified reports circulating online, China’s latest regulatory requirements are pressuring same-sex social apps to “de-label” themselves and rebrand as “ordinary social/dating apps.”