In today’s fast-paced world, forging new friendships can be challenging. Whether you’re relocating to a new city, transitioning into a different life stage, or simply seeking to expand your social circle, technology offers innovative solutions to connect with like-minded individuals. A variety of apps have emerged, each designed to facilitate meaningful connections based on shared interests, activities, and lifestyles. Below is an overview of some notable platforms that are transforming the way we build friendships.
Washed Up
Launched in early 2026, Washed Up is a social event discovery app tailored for residents of the Los Angeles area. It assists users in discovering local events such as concerts, trivia nights, and comedy shows. A standout feature is the ability to create or join plans, which are small group meetups tied to specific events. This approach encourages users to attend events with others, fostering new friendships in a relaxed, group setting. The app is available for download on the App Store.
Wyzr Friends
Designed specifically for adults aged 40 and above, Wyzr Friends caters to empty nesters, individuals who are divorced, and others seeking to connect with peers. Users can express interest in potential friends by swiping and arrange in-person activities based on shared interests, such as attending movies or hiking. The app is accessible on iOS and Android devices across multiple countries, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Ireland, the Philippines, Singapore, and Mexico.
Mmotion
Mmotion is a newly launched friendship app that combines location tracking with social discovery, enabling users to connect with nearby individuals and explore local venues. Upon joining, users can participate in interest-based groups—such as hiking, basketball, or art—view a map of active users, and send messages to those nearby. The app also highlights new places on the map, making it easy to find a restaurant or venue to try. Currently, Mmotion is available exclusively to New York City residents on iOS and Android devices, with an application process required for access.
Synchrony
Launched in March 2026, Synchrony is a social app tailored for neurodivergent adults. Founded by a mother of a son on the autism spectrum, it aims to create a supportive community through features like interest-based matching and two-step identity verification. This ensures that users engage safely, as both a user and a trusted person must verify personal details and a photo ID during registration.
A standout feature is Jesse, an optional AI communication tool that assists users in navigating conversations. The AI provides editable prompts to help express thoughts, clarifies conversations, and offers boundary-setting suggestions. While the incorporation of AI may raise concerns, there are guardrails built into Jesse, such as avoiding medical advice.
Users must pay a monthly subscription of $44.99 after a 30-day free trial. It’s available on iOS and Android devices.
Les Amis
Originally launched in Europe, Les Amis is an app designed to help women, transgender, and LGBTQ+ individuals form friendships. It uses AI to pair users with similar interests and encourages participation in local events offered within the app, such as pottery classes, book clubs, wine tastings, and Pilates. After its success in Europe, Les Amis expanded to U.S. markets, including New York City.
Bumble BFF
Bumble BFF, a branch of the popular dating app Bumble, underwent a significant revamp to focus on friend groups and community building. The updated app offers one-on-one matching and private direct messaging, allowing users to swipe through profiles and chat individually with their matches. A new Groups tab enables users to engage in chat rooms, plan hangouts, and utilize an in-app calendar to create and track upcoming events. This shift reflects a growing trend of individuals seeking to expand their social networks through community-focused platforms.
Cheers
Cheers is a matchmaking app that allows users to play matchmaker for their friends. Users can swipe on behalf of their friends, share profiles, and ask for introductions, removing the awkwardness of meeting potential matches online. Additionally, Cheers incorporates social media features such as photo sharing, letting users post as many images as they want, rather than being limited to the six or so photos that most dating apps allow.
Jagat
Jagat is a location-based social network designed to help users focus on real-life connections and make friends. The app features an interactive map interface that allows users to keep up with their friends in real-time and discover new people and activities around them. Since its launch, Jagat has surpassed 10 million users globally, indicating a strong demand for platforms that encourage offline interactions.
Swsh
Swsh is a social app that helps users maintain their friendships through polls and games. Every night at 9 PM, Swsh users answer five daily Most Likely To questions with their friends, voting on who is the most likely to dance with a stranger or party till 3 AM then work out at 6 AM. Users collect superlatives and points for how many votes they earn. There’s also a comment section where users can debate about which friend best fits the description.
Rex
Rex is a social app aimed at helping people share their personal recommendations of places to visit—like restaurants, bars, museums, and other businesses, even trails and parks. Using a combination of AI and computer vision technologies, the app makes it easier to get started sharing your recommendations by scouring your phone’s Camera Roll for photos from favorite spots, which you can then add to curated playlists that are shared with friends and followers.
Liveliness
Liveliness is a sports community app designed to help users find new workout buddies. The app lets users set up a profile to find others with the same activity interests. There’s a chat function and the ability for users to set up events other users can sign up to join. It also features a feed of organized events, geared toward learning and improving at different sports, such as running clubs, street yoga, calisthenics sessions, and so on.
Retro
Retro is a deeply personal photo journaling app that allows users to share what’s happening in their life with a small group of friends and family members. The app offers a private space for users to share photos and updates, fostering closer connections with their inner circle.
Locket
Locket is a social app that allows users to share live photos from friends in a widget on their iOS homescreen. It turns Apple’s widget system into a private social networking platform, enabling users to stay connected with their friends in a more intimate and immediate way.
These apps represent a growing trend of leveraging technology to foster genuine, platonic connections. By focusing on shared interests, activities, and community engagement, they offer diverse avenues for individuals seeking to enrich their social lives. Whether you’re looking to attend local events, find activity partners, or simply expand your circle of friends, there’s likely an app tailored to your needs.
