5 Apps That Help You Make New Friends

5 Apps That Help You Make New Friends

Designed to combat rising rates of loneliness in our tech-obsessed age, a new wave of friendship apps is taking a ‘swipe right, swipe left’ approach to finding your new BFF. Fancy giving a platonic Tinder a try? In honour of the UN’s International Day of Friendship on Monday 30th July, we’ve rounded up the best ones to match on…

Bumble BFF

Along with giving you the option to find dates (the original Bumble) and career opportunities (Bumble Bizz), you can now use Bumble to find a new best friend. To access it, download the Bumble app, select the BFF option and start swiping.
Just like the dating side of the app, you set your desired age and location distance, and if you don't talk to someone you've matched with within 24 hours, the BFF match disappears. The only difference is, everyone you’ll see will be the same sex as you. Oh, and rest assured, when you sign up to BFF only, your profile won’t be shown on the dating side of Bumble.

For iOS and Android; FREE from the iTunes App Store and Google Play

Visit TheBeeHive.Bumble.com
 

Peanut

Dubbed ‘Tinder for mums’, Peanut is the app making it easy for mothers to connect with each other and learn from like-minded women. Simply swipe through profiles to find another mum like you, near you – select from different interests, identities and parting styles – and if you’re a match, you can chat. The app also has a community discussion feature, called Peanut Pages, designed to act as a better alternative to Facebook groups and other social platforms. Here, you can share experiences across various topics, and arrange meetups thanks to handy scheduling features.

For iOS and Android; FREE from the iTunes App Store and Google Play

Visit Peanut-App.io

Girl Crew

Founded by a Dublin-based woman who wanted to go dancing but didn’t have a crew of girls to do it with, the GirlCrew app has gone from small start-up to global app, connecting women in cities around the world. Simply follow the group in your city, post to say hello, suggest an activity (such as brunch, a night out or a fitness class) and go on an adventure with other like-minded women. If you don't have anything in particular you'd like to do, you can pick an event hosted by someone else and head along. You can even chat with the other girls beforehand to get to know them a little in advance. Plus, the community is great for getting insider advice about a new city, including recommendations of what to eat, drink, see and do.

For iOS and Android; FREE from the iTunes App Store and Google Play

Visit GirlCrew.com
 

Huggle

Designed to help avoid people from discovering they have nothing in common once they’ve matched, Huggle filters who you connect with based on where you go and what you do. Essentially, it lets you discover potential new friends by automatically checking you in to the locations you visit (the app also allows you to import places from Instagram, Foursquare and Facebook), and showing you people who are into the same things. Pick how many places you want to have in common and select the ‘friend’ option (you can also search exclusively for dates, or dates and friends). You can also select your search preferences, such as age and gender too.

For iOS and Android; FREE from the iTunes App Store and Google Play

Visit Huggle.com
 

Patook

A ‘strictly platonic friend making app’, Patook uses a points-based system to match people with similar interests and dislikes. So, instead of swiping right based on a giant picture alone, you can look through shared interests. The app gives users a lot of control – for example, you can award 20 points to women, ten points to people who speak French, and 20 points to anyone that plays the violin – this point count shows up next to users’ names. And we’re not joking about the strict part: try to flirt, and you’ll be banned. Women, men and couples can all use the app – but they can’t use it for the wrong reasons, thanks to a clever ‘flirting detection’ algorithm that stops sexual messages or unwelcome advances making it into your inbox.

For iOS and Android; FREE from the iTunes App Store and Google Play

Visit Patook.com

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