The Scoop: There’s often nothing sexier than when someone is comfortable with themselves and asks for what they want with confidence. That premise is at the heart of Pure, a popular hookup app with more than half a million active users around the world. The app provides a platform for people to post ads that show their personalities, desires, and fantasies. Men, women, and nonbinary singles can connect without judgment, chat, share photos, and enjoy video chats to find safe and respectful hookups.

The concept of casual sex has been around for a long time, but those primarily physical encounters were often stigmatized. Over the years, attitudes have changed dramatically, and many people now accept the idea that two people can have consensual, intimate hookups outside of a committed relationship.

But the term “hookup” can still be confusing, as it means different things to different people. For some, it is a classic one-night-stand, after which neither person sees the other again. For others, it could be a friends-with-benefits situation, in which two people can get physical without commitments or emotional attachment. And those options are only the beginning.

Pure logo
Pure gives singles a place to share their desires and find hookups.

No matter what someone is looking for when it comes to a hookup, they can find a match using the Pure app.

Pure users can feel comfortable explaining what they’re looking for when it comes to a hookup. The app allows all users to feel at ease asking for what they want. Users simply need to follow their desires and clearly define their vision of a fun evening together.

Anna Hintsyak, Pure Marketing Manager, said the app is a safe and sex-positive place for people to find who and what they desire.

“We always recommend avoiding switching to any external messengers or chats on Pure,” she said. “As long as people remain on Pure, we can assure you that our safety measures will keep you safe.”

An App Designed to Make Hookups Fun and Convenient

Entrepreneurs Roman Sidorenko and Alexander Kukhtenko developed Pure in 2012 as a place for people to find the types of hookups they desired. The pair raised $400,000 in investment capital for the app’s launch, proving the great demand for such a service.

“The service began to spread under the slogan ‘Sex here and now,’” Anna said.

They gained more traction when writer and sexologist Carol Queen supported the app and its straightforward design. By October 2013, the team launched the app in the United States in the iOS App Store. The following year, they introduced it in the Russian market, and by June 2015, they created an Android version of the app.

Screenshot from Pure app
Pure serves singles in markets around the world, including the U.S., UK, and Russia.

In 2015, the team participated in the Lisbon Challenge, a program that helps accelerate startup businesses. They took third place, and the city of Lisbon provided the company with office space for the next 30 years. And the app only grew from there.

“During that period, Pure generated more than 1 million meeting requests over the span of 12 months,” Anna said.

In 2020, the Pure team welcomed Olga Petrunina as CEO. Olga previously founded several IT companies in the travel and crypto industries. Under her leadership, the app has become one of the most popular hookup apps in the world. Its largest membership bases are in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Russia.

In addition to fostering clear intentions and providing a sex-positive environment free of judgment, the app is well-known for its safety protocols that give users peace of mind.

The Online Ad Board Lets People Find Their Perfect Match

Pure is similar to an online ad board where people can get creative in sharing their desires and dreams with others who are ready and willing to join in the fun. It works best when users aren’t vague, shy, or use nothing but emojis, according to the Pure Journal.

“Our goal is to make sure all your desires and needs are being met on Pure, whether it’s a passionate fling, a spontaneous museum date, Netflix and chill, or eternal love,” the team writes. “And if you’re not telling people who you are and what you want, then how could they possibly know and deliver?”

Once two people match on the app, a chat window opens. What distinguishes Pure chats from those on other platforms is that they are automatically deleted after 24 hours unless both parties agree to turn off the chat timer. If they decide to continue, the platform assigns random nicknames to keep a level of anonymity until the two parties are ready to reveal more about themselves.

Screenshot from Pure website
Users can post ads on that tell potential hookups exactly what they want.

In private chat, people can send audio messages to give the other person a better idea of what they sound like. They can even send photos that self-destruct once the other person has seen them. If both parties like what they see, the next step is scheduling a video chat through the app and, eventually, meeting in real life.

“Users can either pick a city of their choice or search for people within a certain distance from their current location. A worldwide option is also available,” Anna said.

Pure app users can find matches based on their own gender identity — whether male, female, or nonbinary — and their sexual preferences. They can search for heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, and asexual partners.

The app currently has more than 500,000 active users located in cities throughout the world. The app is free for all female-identifying users, but male users have to pay for a subscription. Male and nonbinary users also have the opportunity to pay to be “King of the Hill,” which means their ad goes to the top of the newsfeed for other users to see.

Anna said the app offers plenty of additional features that can make hookups even more exciting. For example, users can buy each other gifts and attach a photo, note, or audio message. The two can start a private chat when the recipient accepts the gift.

Pure: A Safe Space Free From Judgment

The Pure team puts extra effort into ensuring a safe environment that’s free from scammers and any other unwanted behavior. The platform has a moderation team that checks the feed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The app also features an automatic warning when someone uses trigger words that are common in scams.

“Our system automatically sends an alert about that. This does not necessarily mean that your chat partner is a scammer, but better safe than sorry,” Anna said.

Thanks to the safe and non-judgmental environment, there have been plenty of hookups on Pure. Stevie, a 49-year-old MILF, said she got to live out her fantasy of being with a younger man. As a result, she regained the confidence she said she had lost from years of unsuccessful online dating.

“I can say I did the Cougar thing! I don’t feel guilty or anything like that. It was super fun!” she said in an online testimonial.

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