This is getting ridiculous.

Grindr, the iPhone app that lets homos find nearby homos, has recently tightened its user guidelines.

Already forced to censor its users because of Apple's strict content guidelines, Grindr has added new rules to its terms of service:

• For your Grindr profile photo: "No underwear can be visible." Also: "Pants and shorts must be worn normally, buttoned and not pulled or hanging down."  

• For your Grindr profile text: "No text referring to genital size or sexual acts."

Whether you're a size queen or not, these new rules are concerning. Would Grindr ban a user from self-identifying as a "top," because that implies a sexual act? At this rate, it won't be long before we'll have to pose in suits and ties for our Grindr profile pics. I'm clearly exaggerating... but why should horny gay guys have to play coy when we're looking for sex? 

Sure, Grindr users can send dirty pictures through private messages, but these new rules point to a bigger issue: Apple needs to remove its restrictions on sexy content. Forcing all iPhone app developers to sanitize content to meet a family-friendly, PG-13 standard is simply not fair to the rest of us.

Apple's restrictions on iPhone apps have led many gay hookup websites to simply ditch app development altogether. Squirt.org and DudesNude.com have developed mobile-friendly websites, rather than apps. Recon.com has created an iPhone app, but it requires mobile users to agree to "not post any adult photos or text." A quick look at Recon Mobile shows that many guys are posting sexy pics and text anyway. My guess is that Recon Mobile will, unfortunately, need to start censoring its users. Otherwise, the app could face removal from the Apple App Store, given Apple's recent purge of sexy apps.

Apple could easily resolve all of this by creating an "explicit," adult-only section in its App Store. There have been rumours but nothing has been confirmed. What's the delay?

As for Grindr, users who break the terms of service may have their photo and/or profile text removed or cropped by Grindr staff. "We have censors who work 24/7 to review each profile," Grindr founder and CEO Joel Simkhai told Xtra in 2009.

Read Grindr's full guidelines here.  

Read more:

• Hunk du Jour among "overtly sexual" apps banned by Apple
• Will prudish app guidelines sink the iPhone?
  

Creators of the new Hanky Codes iPhone app hope it will revive in-person cruising for younger gays who are used to hooking up via the 'net.

The app allows a user to choose a digital hanky from a list sorted alphabetically by colour. You can choose whether to wear it on the left or right, and a small text description appears on the screen. Pink fuschia worn on right? You're looking to get spanked. Brown worn on left? You're a scat top.

If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you can also shake the iPhone to choose a hanky colour at random. There's also a brief text history of the hanky code.

The fact that Apple approved the app for sale is impressive in itself. Apple has been notoriously strict about sexual or gay-themed apps. Grindr, a popular gay cruising app, enforces a no-nudity policy (Apple does not approve apps that contain nudity).

Butt Magazine spoke with Jonathan Leach, one of the creators of the app, about its possible uses:

"Suppose you were at a bar and you saw someone with a real hanky in their back pocket, you could just pull up the app real quick, click on the colour and it would give you the meaning. The app also will light up your screen with a picture of whatever hanky you are so the iPhone actually becomes the hanky. If you're at a coffee shop or a restaurant somewhere and you're working on your computer, you can have your iPhone to the left or to the right of your computer or your coffee and guys walk by and notice it and they're like 'hmm.'"

Check it out in the app store or at Hankycode.net. Have you downloaded the Hanky Codes app? What do you think?