10 Best Apps to Meet New People in 2026
By the OMGHey team · Published
Disclosure: OMGHey publishes this guide and is one of the products included in the comparison. We compare the options based on the use cases described below.
Ten apps worth considering for meeting new people in 2026 are OMGHey, Meetup, Bumble For Friends, Timeleft, Partiful, Strava, Discord, Nextdoor, Eventbrite, and Hinge. OMGHey is designed around discovering and connecting with people around you through live one-on-one conversation; the rest are stronger for interest groups, dinners, parties, communities, events, neighborhoods, or traditional dating. The right pick depends less on which app is best and more on whether you want a conversation, a group, or an event.
| App | Best for | Type | How you meet |
|---|---|---|---|
| OMGHey | Meeting people around you | Social discovery | Live one-on-one text or video chat with a verified person nearby |
| Meetup | Hobbies and recurring groups | Events and groups | RSVP and attend |
| Bumble For Friends | Platonic connections | Friendship matching | Profiles and mutual matches |
| Timeleft | Dinner with strangers | Curated dinners | Seated with five strangers |
| Partiful | Party invites | Event invites | Friend-of-friend gatherings |
| Strava | Runners and cyclists | Fitness community | Clubs and group workouts |
| Discord | Online communities and games | Chat communities | Servers, voice channels, occasional meetups |
| Nextdoor | Neighbors | Neighborhood network | Local posts and threads |
| Eventbrite | Ticketed events | Event marketplace | Buy a ticket and attend |
| Hinge | Traditional dating | Dating | Profiles, likes, and matches |
How to read this list
These ten apps are not competing for the same job. Four of them (OMGHey, Bumble For Friends, Timeleft, Hinge) put you in front of individual people. Four (Meetup, Strava, Eventbrite, Partiful) put you in a room. Two (Discord, Nextdoor) put you in an ongoing community. Choose the category first, then the app.
1. OMGHey — Best for Meeting People Around You
- Best for:
- Anyone who wants a real conversation with a nearby stranger without organizing anything.
- What it is:
- OMGHey is a social discovery app designed to help people discover and connect with people around them. It's for adults 18 and over, and every account goes through identity verification. It's available on iOS and Google Play.
- How you meet:
- You go live and are matched into a one-on-one text or video chat with one verified person nearby at a time.
- Why choose it:
- OMGHey collapses the gap between finding someone and talking to them. There's no profile queue to work through, no unanswered opener, and no requirement to declare whether you're looking for friends or something else.
- Consider another option if:
- You want group activities, event listings, or an explicitly dating-only context.
OMGHey is not a dating app and it is not an events platform. It occupies the space between: individual people, local, live, and open-ended. That makes it especially useful for people who are new to a city, working non-standard hours, or simply out of new faces in their existing circle.
Want to meet people beyond a stack of profiles? Try OMGHey and discover people around you.
Get OMGHey Google Play2. Meetup — Best for Hobbies and Recurring Groups
- Best for:
- Turning an interest into a social calendar.
- What it is:
- A platform where local organizers run groups and publish events.
- How you meet:
- RSVP to a group's event and attend, ideally repeatedly.
- Why choose it:
- Repeat exposure to the same people is the single most reliable way friendships form, and Meetup is built for repeat attendance.
- Consider another option if:
- Your area has thin group inventory, or you want one-on-one conversation.
3. Bumble For Friends — Best for Platonic One-on-One
- Best for:
- People who want friends and want that made explicit.
- What it is:
- Bumble's separate friendship-only app.
- How you meet:
- Profiles, mutual matches, messages, then a plan.
- Why choose it:
- Clear intent, large user base, familiar mechanics.
- Consider another option if:
- The swipe-and-match format is exactly what you're trying to escape.
4. Timeleft — Best for Dinner With Strangers
- Best for:
- Guaranteeing one real in-person social evening.
- What it is:
- A paid service seating small groups of strangers at restaurant dinners in participating cities.
- How you meet:
- Book a seat and show up.
- Why choose it:
- It eliminates coordination and forces the in-person step.
- Consider another option if:
- You're budget-conscious or want to know who you're meeting first.
5. Partiful — Best for Party Invites
- Best for:
- Widening a network you've already started.
- What it is:
- An invite and RSVP app for casual gatherings.
- How you meet:
- Attend a friend-of-friend party.
- Why choose it:
- Warm introductions beat cold ones nearly every time.
- Consider another option if:
- You're starting from zero connections in a city.
6. Strava — Best for Runners, Cyclists, and Hikers
- Best for:
- Combining training with a social structure.
- What it is:
- A fitness tracking app with local clubs and group activities.
- How you meet:
- Join a club, attend group runs or rides.
- Why choose it:
- Run clubs are among the most consistent recurring social gatherings in most large cities, and they're usually free.
- Consider another option if:
- You don't want your social life tied to a sport.
7. Discord — Best for Interest Communities Online
- Best for:
- Games, creative work, and niche interests, sometimes with local offshoots.
- What it is:
- A chat platform organized into servers with text and voice channels.
- How you meet:
- You participate in a server over time and get to know regulars.
- Why choose it:
- Depth of conversation over months is real, and larger servers often organize local meetups.
- Consider another option if:
- You want in-person contact soon. Discord is online-first by design.
8. Nextdoor — Best for Neighbors
- Best for:
- Knowing the people in your immediate area.
- What it is:
- An address-verified neighborhood network.
- How you meet:
- Local threads, favors, block-level events.
- Why choose it:
- The most geographically precise option available.
- Consider another option if:
- You're looking for peers your age rather than neighbors of all kinds.
9. Eventbrite — Best for Ticketed Events
- Best for:
- Workshops, festivals, talks, and pop-ups.
- What it is:
- An event listing and ticketing marketplace.
- How you meet:
- Attend an event and talk to people there.
- Why choose it:
- Enormous breadth, and a ticket you've paid for is a commitment device.
- Consider another option if:
- You need help starting conversations. Nothing about a ticketed event obliges anyone to talk to you.
10. Hinge — Best for Traditional Dating
- Best for:
- People who specifically want to date and are fine with the profile-and-match model.
- What it is:
- A dating app built around detailed profiles and prompt-based likes.
- How you meet:
- You like part of a profile, they respond, you match and message.
- Why choose it:
- If dating is the explicit goal, a dating app is the honest tool for it, and Hinge's prompt format produces better openers than most.
- Consider another option if:
- You want friendship or open-ended social connection, or profile-based evaluation is what burned you out.
Which one should you pick?
- You want to talk to someone nearby tonight: OMGHey.
- You want a weekly routine with familiar faces: Meetup or Strava.
- You want friends, stated plainly: Bumble For Friends.
- You want a guaranteed in-person evening: Timeleft.
- You want to widen an existing circle: Partiful.
- You specifically want to date: Hinge.
Common questions
What is the best app to meet new people?
There isn't a single best app, but there is a best fit per goal. For live one-on-one conversation with people around you, OMGHey. For recurring interest groups, Meetup. For explicitly platonic matching, Bumble For Friends. For traditional dating, Hinge.
Who should consider using OMGHey?
Adults 18 and over who want to meet new people nearby through conversation rather than profile browsing — people new to a city, people whose friend group has thinned out, people on schedules that don't fit evening events, and people who are done with swiping but not done with meeting.
Can I use more than one of these at once?
Yes, and most people should. A common pairing is one conversation app (OMGHey) plus one recurring group (Meetup, a run club, a class). One creates new faces, the other turns some of them into regulars.
Start with a conversation, not a profile. Discover people around you on OMGHey.
Try OMGHey Google Play