NEW YORK—Jack’d, a hookup app for gay urban millennials, has announced that in its fourth-generation update, the ability to take screenshots of anything on the app has been disabled.
This latest innovation—a step up in security from the Snapchat app that merely alerts members when a screenshot of their story has been taken—is the latest safety precaution Jack’d is taking in its ongoing efforts to increase user safety and privacy.
This change follows last month’s announcement of a new blurring feature that adds a rounding error to all member coordinates so instead of pinpointing a guy’s exact location, other users are only given a general idea of his whereabouts.
Jack’d 4.0 is live now on Android and iOS.
“Safety has become a huge priority at Jack’d,” explains Alon Rivel, the app’s director of global marketing. “Earlier this summer, we polled members on what they wanted most out of the next version and an increase in privacy was at the top of the list. The rise in bullying and hate crimes against the LGBTQ community since the U.S. presidential election has made security a real concern to members throughout the world.”
Jack’d members also asked for an overall better user experience. A large percentage of those polled reported frustration with slow functionality and crashes. Jack’d had planned to update the code in 4.0, but user concern over reliability made the team realize that more needed to be done, so the Jack’d tech team re-wrote the application from scratch. They also added new servers to accommodate the growing population of gay men on the app worldwide.
Registration is now faster, too. Where the old version required new members to enter all personal information before being able to log in, Jack’d 4.0 allows men to skip parts of the registration process. Or for even quicker access, they can now log in through a Facebook account.
The app has also been given a face lift with a new design and layout. The grid of nearby guys now loads 200 guys no matter how remote the area. It’s an important feature for men in rural areas where the closest guy may be up to 200 miles away. For members who go Pro with a paid subscription on Jack’d, 500 guys will load on the grid.
Other additions are the ability to send and receive GIFs on the app and a comical new fruit captcha that ensures users are not robots.
1.2 million guys and counting have signed up on Jack’d. According to the Jack’d team, the app consistently ranks among the top four gay social apps in both the App
Store and Google Play. In terms of demographics, 67 percent of Jack’d members in the United States are between 18 and 26 years old and nearly 60 percent are black and/or Latino.
More additions will be rolling out in the near future, including additional video functions and the introduction of exclusive Jack’d emojis.
“This is just the beginning of the new Jack’d,” Rivel said. “We’re listening to
members and working to give them more of the exciting features they are asking for.”
Visit JackdApp.com.
