Hello! Just stumbled here after a good week of research, both here and, generally speaking, on the internet as I, like many of you - unfortunately - happened to be banned from the app for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I want to preface this by saying that this is based on u/Zealousideal_Tip_220’s tutorial (which happens to be, if I’m correct, the first post that pops up as you look for ban solutions). Take this post as a more recent follow up that ensures that this method really does work.

First, if you get banned you either get an account or a device ban; it’s usually the latter. If you get your account banned, you’d only need to sign in with a different email, but with a device ban, no matter how you try to sign in (could be by a different email, or by an authentication method like Facebook, Google or Apple ID), you’re denied access. Grindr basically banned your device. I’m not mentioning phone numbers because you won’t even get to that point of signing in.

So, to get around the problem, you’ll need to factory reset your phone. This ensures that your phone is brand new. These are the steps:

1 - Make a backup of your iPhone through iCloud and make sure to have your iPhone synced to iCloud itself. Go to Settings > your name > iCloud > first, you’ll see “iCloud Drive”, press “sync with (this) iPhone” and let all these apps sync automatically. Then, go back and click “iCloud Backup”, press “yes” and let iCloud do a backup of your phone (I’d suggest to pay for more storage). Now, all your files are saved within an online storage (it being iCloud) and in sync, which will come in handy later.

Reason why I’m implying that you should do an iCloud backup, and keep it “online”, and not an iTunes backup through your PC is to highlight that BY NO MEANS should you restore a backup once your phone turns on after the reset. As you all know, your iPhone, after greeting you, will ask you to sign in a pre-existent iCloud mail and, eventually, restore a backup from there, or from your computer/PC (through iTunes). Don’t. For those who, like me, had access to Grindr through Apple ID authentication, Grindr banned your ID first, then your number and also your device, everything. If you restore a backup from iCloud or iTunes as soon as you turn on your phone, you’ll be back to point 0. The backup is solely to have remote access to your files if you’d ever wish to have them somewhere, and manage/download them.

2 - To backup WhatsApp, go on the app > Settings > Chats > Chat backup and make sure it’s on iCloud and completed.

3 - If you do not want to pay for iCloud storage nor do you wish to do one, that’s what I did:

I connected my iPhone to my PC and transferred my photos and videos manually. As you connect your phone, a page will pop up with your device name and the storage disk. Click on it and you’ll see a few folders (each one marked with a date, such as “202403”, which refers to pictures and videos from March 2024; at least for me). I dragged all folders to a new folder in my PC and was done.

I sent the rest of my files, such as: files from the Files app (the ones that didn’t make the cut on the backup, given that I only had the free 5gb version), recording memos and three WhatsApp chats I exported (didn’t care to do a backup, so I went to each of the three chats, clicked “export chat” and “include media”) to Google Drive. Make sure to write down all your saved passwords, starting from your iCloud mail passcode (which will be asked regardless once you’re bound to reset) and get your credit card off your iCloud

4 - Go to Settings > General > Erase all content and settings.

4.1 - Once you’re greeted with a “Hello”, connect to your wi-fi per usual and SET UP A NEW ICLOUD MAIL AND ACCOUNT. Attention, when you make an iCloud account, you’ll have to provide a phone number too. If you add the same phone number that was associated to your banned email and ALSO the number you provided to Grindr for phone verification, then DON’T SIGN-IN WITH YOUR NEW ICLOUD MAIL. This can create problems and get you banned again. Obviously, if you only have one SIM card, you’ll have to add your number to your mail before even being able to download apps, but stick with me.

4.2 - Download Grindr. Open your computer and get on Youtube but logged out of your usual account. Click “Log-in”/“Create channel”, and YouTube will let you create a mail without having to add a number, just click “skip”. Try to create a mail that has a different name to the one that got banned. I made up a fake name and surname. Go back on Grindr and sign-in. Add the Google mail, a password and for the phone number, I used my sister’s number (lol). It’s a one time authentication. You could use a fake number from Dating Zest but I never did, personally. Now you’re in! If you’d wish to sign-in with an authentication method, use Google with your YouTube mail and, for Facebook, I don’t know, guess you could. For Apple ID, don’t. (If you bought a new SIM card for this and you add it to your new Apple ID, then feel free to sign-in with Apple)

4.3 Once Grindr is working and all, sign-in with your old iCloud mail from Settings and let it sync with your iPhone. Apps and all should return back to its original state. For WhatsApp, download it and restore the backup from iCloud. We synced at first to make sure that your apps and all could be restored to your phone at a later time. Don’t restore backups please, especially when your phone is being started after the reset.

That’s it.