Best Friend Dating App

These days, there seem to be apps for everything — dating, adventure-seekers, and book-lovers. There are apps to make friends, too. Perhaps you’ve tried Meetup groups, but they’re too intimidating or have too many members — you just want something more low-key. And, yes, you can “befriend” people on dating apps, but if the initial intent was to date, a “friend” from there may have ulterior motives. So, to cut to the chase and make some bona fide friends, the apps below can help.

Dating apps such as Bumble and Tinder have introduced separate friend-making channels within their apps, and independent friend-making apps are appearing at increasing rates in the App Store. Peanut is a new app for moms to meet other moms, founded by Michelle Kennedy, who worked at the dating app Badoo before giving birth in 2013. Get Access to.all. of Cosmo Join Now. Check out the best dating apps for finding new friends, hook-ups and romantic partners, whether you're looking for a long-term relationship or just a quick fling. Since Zoosk launched its dating app, the online dating network has been on the upswing. The Zoosk app is actually the #1 grossing dating app in the Apple App Store where it has an average rating of 4.4 stars. “I like many things about Zoosk. It’s one of the best dating sites,” said Rancho Cowboy in a review.

ICYMI, the older you get, the more some of your lifelong friends get busy with other life things, like getting married, having kids, or moving across the country. Yep, they’re adulting. You are, too, though you may lose touch with them or see them less as your lives go different directions — even though you don’t want to replace them, per se, you also don’t want to stay inside alone… again.

Luckily, with a lot of the apps below, you can tailor them to your needs, whether you want to find a group of friends to go out with last-minute (via Tinder Social), fellow athletes to organize a beach volleyball game (via ATLETO), or find a new best friend (via Bumble BFF). You can even join an app for your dog to meet up with other dogs (via Meet My Dog). (Riiiight?) Whatever your friend needs may be, there’s probably an app for you, waiting for you to download it. Here are seven apps for meeting new friends.

Check out Bustle's 'Save The Date' and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

1. Tinder Social

Yep, now you can make friends on Tinder. The app launched Tinder Social, which allows users to form groups of friends (same-sex or co-ed, whichever you prefer) to match and meet up with other people’s groups of friends. But, it’s not just for daters. If you’re no longer on Tinder — i.e., you met someone — you can rejoin just for the new “social” aspect.

It reminds me a lot of Meetup groups, only way smaller ones that you hand-select. Once you form a group of 2-4 people, you assign a status to the group, like “Happy Hour, anyone?” or “Going to a concert tonight.” Then, just like with regular Tinder, let the matching begin. Once your group matches with another group, you can start messaging each other, which looks a lot like a group text. Then, just make plans to do something tonight — yep, tonight, since your group will expire at noon the next day.

2. ATLETO

Have you always wanted an app to meet fellow athletes and sports-lovers? Then ATLETO may have been made for you. Whether you want to find a running buddy — working out’s easier when you have a friend or person to hold you accountable, right? — or another person for a pick-up game of basketball, the options are endless. With over 40 sporting activities to choose from, like tennis, volleyball, and cycling, you'll find at least one you’ll like. You can either join an activity or host one.

Creating a profile’s simple, too, filling in info such as your workplace and sports club affiliations. Then, just start looking for like-minded sports aficionados based on their interest(s), location, and skill level. After meeting up with others, you rate them on a scale of one to five “knuckles,” an icon that looks like a fist, based on their athletic ability. (Yikes — I’d probably fail, unless personality counts!) This is to make sure you’re teaming up with people on a similar level as yourself, and the ratings are based on skill level, effort, and sportsmanship.

3. Bumble BFF

By now, you’ve probably heard of Bumble, the app where women make the first move in heterosexual matching and either person can make the first move with same-sex matching. The catch? It has to be done within 24 hours or else the match disappears. (I happen to be a big fan, as I met my boyfriend on it.) A few months ago, the app launched Bumble BFF, so those of us looking for a BFF, or maybe just some friends, can go on and find some. Just like when you’re in dating mode on the app, you “match” with potential friends based on their profiles.

Bumble itself has approximately three million users, and when the BFF app launched, there were one million swipes in the first week (!). That’s a lot of users looking for friends. Personally, I think this is a great idea. Last year, I relocated for family reasons, leaving most of my friends back in L.A. So what did I do? Joined Bumble BFF. The only caveat is that some people are on Bumble for dating and BFFs, so you may witness some sexy pictures meant for prospective dates, not friends.

4. Meet My Dog

Have a dog and want to meet other dog-owners, and not just at the dog park or randomly on the street? Instead, why not randomly on an app? On your profile, you tell fellow users about yourself and your dog, posting pictures of you both. When you’re at a certain dog park, you can check in so all your new app friends now and you can have a play date, of sorts. Or, you can private message and have a one-on-one doggie date. Like other location-based apps, you can also see which dogs are nearby. You can also share info with other users, like vet or park advice, as well as post cute pics. And come on — who doesn’t like cute dog pics?!

5. Squad

With Squad, you pick up to five Facebook friends to be part of your “squad,” which you can switch up anytime. Then, you create a group name and tagline, the latter meaning your goal — going to such-and-such bar tonight or a Mets game this weekend. Then, check out other squads and let the swiping left or right begin. Once you match with another squad, you have 24 hours to message and make plans. Oh, and instead of a bio, you describe yourself via three emojis (and you can still write a bio if you so choose) — which is awesome and so 2016.

6. CLIQ

Do you and a couple friends want to meet some new people IRL? Why not, huh? When you log onto CLIQ, you can then match with another group of friends. But first, you’ll pick out some topics you’re interested in. Then, the app takes over and sends you “Goodies” based on your interests — they’ll suggest things or places for you to check out. When you use the app’s “Huddle” feature, you can privately chat with members of your CLIQ, too. And, CLIQs can post status updates, photos, videos, and update where they are so their followers know.

7. Skout

With Skout, you can meet people near and far. Available in almost 200 countries, you can literally meet people all over the world. Teens and adults alike can use the app to make new friends or business contacts, then chat, exchange notes and photos, and send virtual gifts. Plus, you get to decide if, and when, you want to connect with someone. Whether you want a future gym partner or to meet up with a fellow writer for advice, Skout could be whatever you want it to be.

Images: Fotolia, Tinder ATLETO, Bumble, Meet My Dog, Squad, CLIQ, Skout

Many tech platforms are now serving a vibrant niche. We’re zooming in on this today with some popular names. Friends with benefits has become an increasingly more popular relationship style in the fast-paced, modern world. People have been turning to these relationships to be able to experience pleasure when they can without having the connection of a traditional relationship. As the openness of society grows, more people feel comfortable exploring this lifestyle and have found the joys in it.

As a result of the increase in people looking for FWB relationships, there have been more people turning to FWB apps to look for a partner, or partners. This means that the apps have been becoming more and more popular.

With the number of apps that are out there how do you know which one to pick? You want an app that won’t just help you find a partner but is one that you can trust along the way. Here are some of the top apps for finding friends with benefits.

FWBdatingonly

FWBdatingonly claims to be the largest website around dedicated solely to friends with benefits relationships. The key feature of the website is that they allow you to sign up for free and search for users in your area so that you can determine how many people are using the site around you. This is crucial as you don’t want to have to pay for a website that isn’t going to help you.

FWBdatingonly brings with it a lot of top features such as Hot or Not style swiping. They also have chat rooms for members to connect with each other and live webcams hosted by other members. You will find that FWBdatingonly is more than just the place that you turn to find your next partner. It is the place you go for anything FWB related.

Tinder

Tinder is one of the most popular casual sex hookup app around the world. People turn to it to find just about any kind of relationship imaginable. That includes FWB relationships. If you are interested in an FWB relationship and want to find users in your area for free, Tinder is a good option.

The swiping design of Tinder means that you won’t match with people who aren’t mutually interested in you. This helps to prevent unwanted contact. By upgrading to the paid version of Tinder you can open up the number of swipes you get, increasing your chances of finding your next FWB partner.

While Tinder can be used for FWB relationships, it may not be the ideal platform for everyone. Every area has a different population of people using Tinder with different desires. There is currently no way on Tinder to filter out only those who are interested in having an FWB relationship.

CoffeeMeetsBagel

Coffee Meets Bagel is an interesting competitor when it comes to dating websites for finding an FWB partner. Instead of having a website that is focused on connecting random people together, Coffee Meets Bagel starts by trying to spark meaningful relationships between users. When it comes to FWB relationships, that means finding someone who can both be a great friend and a great partner in bed.

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For the most part, Coffee Meets Bagel looks like Tinder and other dating websites, the main difference is the website makes discussion suggestions when connecting people together. This helps to break the ice and gives people something to talk about so there is no awkward silence.

You may have seen Coffee Meets Bagel on Shark Tank or BuzzFeed.

The one downside of Coffee Meets Bagel is that you are bound to come across some people who are interested in traditional relationships and you will have to filter them out to find what you are looking for.

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OkCupid

OkCupid is the place to turn when it comes to looking for a very flexible dating platform with all of the filters you desire. How did OkCupid become so popular? It offers almost all of its features for free. Paid accounts are not that expensive and are not necessary to find a partner. OkCupid also allows users to be completely anonymous and only fill out the portions of their profiles that they want to.

For those looking for FWB nearby, they will notice that OkCupid has boxes to check for looking for friends and looking for casual relationships. This helps you to filter out users to those who are looking for similar things to you.

For the most part OkCupid has a very diverse user base, offering people from all walks of life. However, depending on where you live you may have a little trouble finding an FWB relationship that is perfect for you. Not being able to find a partner is rare on the site though, as it has a large number of users, many of which are active every day.

Happn

Ever been at the bar or walking down the street and made eye contact with someone that you were interested in but for some reason were unable to go up to them and ask them out? Happn is here to give you a second chance. Happn is a dating site dedicated to helping you reconnect with people who have crossed your path.

Those interested in finding Friends With Benefits will love this app as it helps you to find people near you who do things similar to you. For example, you might be able to find people who go to the same gym as you or the same coffee shop.

The website exchanges long, complicated profiles in favor of pictures to help spur your memories of people that you have crossed paths with. The app shows you all other users whose path you have crossed with recently and who fall within your filters.

In order for Happn to be effective for you, you need to be in an area where a significant number of people use the app.

Zoosk

Zoosk is an affordable dating option that maintains the traditional aim of matching people based on personality tests and filters. For some people they are just looking for a traditional dating site to find a friend with benefits. They don’t want all of the frills and just a large number of other users, Zoosk is that app.

In the background though, Zoosk is doing more than just using your personality tests to help match you. Instead, it is also utilizing learning technology to match your behavior and personality with others like you. Over 35 million users help to make this matching algorithm accurate.

Again, like with other traditional dating websites, Zoosk is not meant exclusively for hookups. You will have to filter out those who aren’t looking for a hookup, but a traditional dating experience.

DownApp

You can’t get any more straight forward than the name of this app, DownApp is dedicated to helping you find other people who are down to have a good time. For some, this means finding a partner for a one-time thing, for others, it means finding FWB relationships.

Users browse through a catalog of other users similar to Tinder and pick out those they find sexy or interesting and the potential matches don’t know that you are interested until they select you to. This gives you a level of anonymity and comfort that other dating apps don’t. Once you match with someone you can decide whether you want to hookup for a one night stand, or have a traditional relationship.

While people can find traditional relationships through DownApp, those are less popular. DownApp is more in favor of FWB relationships than any other kind of relationship due to the nature of the app.

HUDApp

HUD is the website for those that want to have a commitment-free relationship with someone that they can still get along with. Their homepage puts it bluntly as the app for people who want to eggplant emoji, not ring emoji. A.k.a. the website for those that want to hook up but not marry. Users of HUD app are there for fun and friendship but in varying levels.

The one thing that HUD gets rid of is the swiping aspect of Tinder that many websites have adopted. Constantly swiping can be tiresome and what happens if you want to go back and see a profile again? Instead of swiping, HUD uses an endless scrolling feature where you can scroll through all matches in your area.

Many people like HUD because it is designed to be the dating app for everyone and has a policy of inclusivity. Everyone, no matter where they fit on the spectrum of human beings, is welcome and encouraged to use the app.

Lastly, romance scammers and catfishers are always creating fake profiles on dating apps, so it is recommended to run a reverse image search such as Social Catfish to verify the identity of the person you’re talking to online.