Review Insights · App Store
Recon - Gay Fetish App
T101 Limited · 355 ratings · ★ 2.5
2.5
★★★★★
355 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 81 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"people"
14 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stuck in the past. This app is old and kludgy. Is this only for boomers? Not many people are on Recon, and I’m saying that living in San Francisco. Uploading and managing photos is a pain. Recon is constantly calling G-rated and PG-rated photos as adult p…" - RU9913
2
"recon"
13 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stuck in the past. This app is old and kludgy. Is this only for boomers? Not many people are on Recon, and I’m saying that living in San Francisco. Uploading and managing photos is a pain. Recon is constantly calling G-rated and PG-rated photos as adult p…" - RU9913
3
"been"
13 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "The site always deletes my account. If you take a break from using it, without doing anything, not deleting not putting it in a certain mode, nothing. The site deletes you. This has happened countless times and it’s been so frustrating. Ugh!" - heals softens
4
"profiles"
12 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Searching Broken. Making searching profiles (except for searching usernames) a premium feature undermined the usefulness of an app like recon. Other apps do not charge for search" - Twiho
5
"profile"
11 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stuck in the past. This app is old and kludgy. Is this only for boomers? Not many people are on Recon, and I’m saying that living in San Francisco. Uploading and managing photos is a pain. Recon is constantly calling G-rated and PG-rated photos as adult p…" - RU9913
6
"support"
11 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This App Is Problematic. On my first day redownloading this app, I got called a N*gger, no introduction could’ve prepared me for that. And the support was nonexistent, no admin to see and feel the disgust and anger I felt when dealing with the filth the people on t…" - A Concerned.Consumer.
7
"doesn"
10 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stuck in the past. This app is old and kludgy. Is this only for boomers? Not many people are on Recon, and I’m saying that living in San Francisco. Uploading and managing photos is a pain. Recon is constantly calling G-rated and PG-rated photos as adult p…" - RU9913
8
"years"
10 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Gone downhill. Loved this site years ago. Now they took away the travel feature and no longer require you put in your city and the web search feature doesn’t work on the app." - jamesteroh
9
"waste"
9 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "It’s a waste. It’s a waste to download an app to look at a members profile and public gallery, only to get a message that says “that content is not allowed on our IPhone app”. Who decides what is appropriate or inappropriate on a kink/fetish site? Even …" - Pup_Timber
📋 All 81 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
The site always deletes my account
If you take a break from using it, without doing anything, not deleting not putting it in a certain mode, nothing. The site deletes you. This has happened countless times and it’s been so frustrating. Ugh!
Nope
Crashes every single time now. Seriously?
B
I HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”!!!!!!!!”!!!!!!!”!:’!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know there are gay men who are blind, who might like to use this app
I have enabled VoiceOver the screen reader on my iPhone, so I can use apps, even though I can’t see the screen when I touch places on the screen it speaks them, but in this app when I try and access the menu to navigate around the app, it won’t let me open the menu. It prevents me from using the app the only way to access the menu is to turn off the screen reader and have a friend tap the menu to open it. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know why Apple even allows apps to be submitted and approved when a basic function like the navigation menu is inaccessible to people who use the screen reader that’s part of the operating system. It’s not Apple‘s fault the way this app was coded outside their environment, but they could prevent it from being approved in the App Store until the developer makes it accessible.
Terrible app
I love Recon, I’ve been a premium member for several years, but the app is poorly designed and is lacking a lot of basic features that are available on the website. I haven’t seen any improvements in the past years - so, I won’t renew my premium subscription, unless something changes soon
Searching Broken
Making searching profiles (except for searching usernames) a premium feature undermined the usefulness of an app like recon. Other apps do not charge for search
Tbh name- B e n 3 0 6 0 6 9
is 🧊🧊
This App Is Problematic
On my first day redownloading this app, I got called a N*gger, no introduction could’ve prepared me for that. And the support was nonexistent, no admin to see and feel the disgust and anger I felt when dealing with the filth the people on this app get away with day after day.
Pointless without subscription
The apps ui isn’t the greatest, you can only view a certain number of profiles per day, you can’t view any photos unless you have a subscription. Kind of ridiculous actually.
Discriminates
This app is a joke. I reported someone for telling me to kill myself and they did nothing about it. Yet someone reported me because they want me to pay to talk to them and I said I’m not their personal atm and I get banned for it.
A hookup app that doesn’t allow photos
First of all, my photos kept getting declined for either nudity or depictions of sexual acts even though I was fully clothed. There isn’t any kind of user support. No real users. Lots of advertising. Big waste of time. Stick with Grindr.
Waste of time too few users
Of course these people have no real quantity of users you’re allowed to view so few profiles per day and then the photos mess is insane they block the most reasonable photo making you need to view it only in their website cause the app version must be overly censored which isn’t true they go way further than Apple requires. Then omg the price of subscription it’s insane for how few users there are or even features too when will you dating apps learn that a smaller fee will absolutely get a boatload of subscribers and you will still profit so end the greed and do the benefits for the people to actually meet not this keep everyone apart but paying for these apps. Greedy!
too censored
there’s a reason why no one uses this app. they are way too strict on the photos they deem too risqué. that and the app has looked the same for over a decade now and is not user friendly at all.
Horrible people
Do not waste your time with this site. They should be reported for their actions. Suspending accounts for no reason, and not offering any reason for their actions. Always removed pictures I posted on my account. They want a PG rating for a fetish site.
Not safe.
You cannot block people on this app when you run out of profile views and thus if someone starts threatening your health welfare or safety you just have to sit there and listen to the threats. Absurd.
Disappointed but not surprised.
It seems that this app only works for European men. I constantly get messages and “cruises” from men in Berlin, London, Sweden and pretty much everywhere but on the continent that I live. I’ve made it clear in my profile what I’m looking for and the guys in this app do not care. I got scammed by these 2 dudes and it’s scary how bad at communicating grown men are. This is a BDSM app and if you cannot communicate then the potential of anything stops right there. Communication is essential in the world of BDSM because of safety issues. I messaged a guy I had been chatting with for awhile and told him that the communication between us was not good and that I felt like I was the one who was carrying the conversations. I was very nice (nicer than I should’ve been) when I told him I was no longer interested due to his inability to communicate, his response was, “ok bye”. I wish I hadn’t spent money on the membership for this app because I’ve had it since 2020 and I have not met a single person. No one is serious about making any kind of connections on this app.
Predatory & insulting
Refused to refund 30$ subscription after I was banned for a single rule violation due to misunderstanding. On top of that even if you buy the subscription you STILL GET ADS and I mean a ton of them. Shameful app don’t give them a dime use anything else let this naturally die which seems to be the current trajectory.
Poor app
Lots of bugs. Also, the app only lets you look at a few profiles at a time. The worst app of its kind.
Don’t look for customer support to help
Because … they don’t. Signing up for premium membership and then it doesn’t show up on the app and you ask support for help - and then nothing. No help. No fixing the problem. Total apathy. Horrible customer service.
Just decided not to work
Was using it this morning, updated my phone then suddenly the app doesn’t work anymore. Guess I’m stuck on the browser
Quality Lacking
Great to find a gay fetish app, but it's greatly lacking. None of the profiles can be verified so LOTS of fake profiles from thousands of miles away wanting to connect.
The thumbnails are tiny, despite having a big phone.
Tried to cancel app and Apple asked if I wanted to delete all data, but then did NOT ask if I wanted to cancel the subscription (like it normally does)--great way to keep billing people for an app they don't even have or use anymore.
The thumbnails are tiny, despite having a big phone.
Tried to cancel app and Apple asked if I wanted to delete all data, but then did NOT ask if I wanted to cancel the subscription (like it normally does)--great way to keep billing people for an app they don't even have or use anymore.
Need better search
You need to be able to search by zip code AND MAP PIN. The state lookup is also way too broad. Also the lists of guys takes way too long to peruse. Should be more like a Grindr grid.
LOVE the purpose of the app but the functionality is outdated.
THANKS.
LOVE the purpose of the app but the functionality is outdated.
THANKS.
Don’t bother
The worst app I have used by far. Not only is it massively updated, but their support team is overtly rude and don’t help when you need it. Just stick to the other apps
App desperately needs an over hall
The app is very dated and clunky. Feels like something from 15 years ago when apps first came out. How you add/remove and manage your photo albums is also pretty ridiculous. Also the limits for free users is pretty bad. I understand having some limits but you are basically forcing people to purchase a premium account to access most of the site.
App constantly crashes
Every Time I try to build a profile, the app crashes. You can’t do anything without a profile.
Censorship
Recon now scans TEXT BASED POSTS and removes them from private albums. If a term is used in every gay app except Recon, it's on Recon for creating an inferior experience. That's really their specialty. The legacy community of Recon is the only real value here. The app, albums, message system, profiles, and overall product are outdated and not part of the future of the kink community.
Needs an update!
My god, this app desperately needs an update. I can’t believe that I’m still paying for it. Honestly, I am likely not going to renew and go to one of the other kink-minded apps that are much better than recon.
App is unusable
I created an account and about a minute after verifying my email I was logged out and received a message saying I was suspended
Yikes
The notifications and menu options are so flawed. Normally i would be worried about the developer not being part of kink culture, but I am more worried they don’t even understand basic app development.
Profile Picture
Super hard to get them to approve any Profile picture, if ur shirtless they will flag it as adult content/sexually suggestive but only if ur not super muscular
Extremely old and outdated
By far the most outdated app i have on my phone. I’m not sure why… the recon team are very active in the community, it’s mind blowing that they haven’t invested in fixing all of the issues that people have complained about on here. Yes, i know the list is long but i’ve had this app for years and there hasn’t been ANY improvement on the issues with this app. It looks and feels like an app from 2012. And i’m a premium user!! Without a (costly) subscription this app is completely unusable.
Crashing
Can we get a update? It’s been a year or more. I don’t get notifications, shows I have messages but go to see them and the app doesn’t show it. Plus the other bugs in the app. We need a update!
Privacy Violation
When you share your pics in chats with other users (direct messages), the app put them in the folder named “Hidden” but all users can actually see that folder content. One of them messaged me and send the screenshots. I messaged technical support but just got unprofessional replies from them about the folder “Private Gallery” and how it works. You can have Private Gallery only when you pay for the app. I even do not have private gallery folder there, just sent a couple pictures in direct. So, it looks like the support team actually does not know how their app works. The app violates users privacy.
Outdated and Worthless
Neither the app nor website have been substantially updated in years and there’s very little functional parity between the two. I used t have hope they’d invest in correcting its deficiencies, but it’s clear that will never happen.
Grindr is coming for you!
So now that Grindr has released their tag feature which includes LOTS of the fetishes this app was designed for, what will you be doing to actually keep your Recon community loyal? I hope its actually listening to your user base and not being greedy money chasers. I hate to say it but the Grindr tag feature almost outplays your app altogether. To be honest this app fell off… HARD. It’s clunky, has too many “features” hidden behind a pay wall, has features that no one uses, hardly any active users (because the app is terrible and hasn’t gotten a face lift or new feature in over 3 years), and can’t even accurately show you who is currently online. I want this app to succeed, I want my communities to be happy on this app, but it seems the dev’s are simply using this app to make passive income and nothing more.
Allows threats and harassment to happen
The site and app never responds or takes care of harassment situations. I’ve had people threatening to kill me and the site/app doesn’t block and take down their profiles at all
Home page about antifa
The home page of the app is talking about the intersection of fetish and antifa
WOULD NOT RECOMMEND
You are limited daily to view only some profiles before having to shell out cash. Horrible!
Toxic gatekeeping community.
Apps like this are the reason people get hurt and have a negative opinion of the bdsm community. The fetish elitism forces people that are interested in exploring into dangerous situations because you’re either no limits hardcore or you shouldn’t bother trying. The latest “opinion” piece illustrates that “are you a ‘REAL’ slave or ‘JUST’ a sub?” Unlike what this app would have people believe there is space for everyone in this community, from the the no limits human furniture to the fuzzy handcuffs enthusiast, the community needs to remember that.
App won’t let you finish even setting up
iOS: can’t complete password creation step on iPhone 13. Can’t even use the app.
Poorly designed app
This is one of the worst apps I’ve used. The interface is clunky and confusing to the point where it’s actively unusable. I’ve been using computers and tech all my life and have no problems figuring out how things work usually, but weeks later I still couldn’t use the app properly.
Locks/freezes
Every hour or so it freezes and i have to delete, the download the app all over again.
Terrible App
The GPS distance no longer works with this app. Recon can’t fix it. Profiles show up as 15 or 45 feet from me here in Texas. They are actually hundreds of miles away. Really bad!
Crashes every time
Since the last update on my iPhone. This app crashes every time I open it. I have even tried to reinstall. Hoping there’s a fix soon.
Technical Support for this piece of garbage is culmination of insanity
I downloaded the app this week - April 1 - and as I was setting up my profile, literally I put only a few pieces of personal info, the app for some reason out of a clear blue suspended my account. I contacted the technical support and they replied saying, “our system has flagged your profile as a spammer, therefore we have suspended your account.” This was the most ridiculous reasoning I ever heard. Instead of trying to solve the issue, that was clearly of a technical nature, they just reconfirmed the problem and suspension of the account. If I could, I’d give zero stars.
Underage alert
This is my 3rd time posting this review. There are MULTIPLE underage children on here. As well as adults activily seeking them out and glorifying it. This apps needs some SERIOUS modifications or removal ASAP
If using iPhone do not waste money on paid subscription
The iPhone app version blocks most of the photos you can only see with a paid subscription. If you download this app and are then considering buying a subscription to see all the photos, DONT DO IT.
Trash platform, trash support
This app is pure trash. They do nothing at all to update it. There are issues of their magazine on there from years ago that they promote that has not had an issue in years. They have tons of inactive profiles or profiles without photos. Their support team is the absolute worst, I’ve reported profiles from people who have harassed me because I was not into them at all and support does absolutely nothing about it. The app is full of these so called “cash masters” which apparently they don’t allow but their admin team does nothing about.
Stay away from this app, save the space on your phone and download literally anything else.
Stay away from this app, save the space on your phone and download literally anything else.
Ripped off
A link to the app store from the app charged me to renew my premium membership. My membership has not been updated and my credit card has been charged. Not cool.
Waste of time App
I found this app a complete waste of time. Totally limited In the actions you can take, and pretty narrow in the selectable categories.
+ 31 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
34%
Positive (4-5★)
8%
Neutral (3★)
58%
Negative (1-2★)