SOCIAL SCENE NEED A BOOST?

Bored and stuck home alone? You don’t have to be. Use these apps to find new friends, or at least, new activities that give you something to do.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

Bored and stuck home alone? You don’t have to be. Use these apps to find new friends, or at least, new activities that give you something to do.

My Reading Room
My Reading Room
Facebook Groups (iOS, Android, free)

Facebook, love it or hate it, you’re probably on it. Instead of letting it boost your FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), you can use Facebook’s Groups app to join groups and meet likeminded people online, or to create new groups, foster your own community, and graduate to meeting up one day. Since you’re already in FB, check out its Events section to see what’s happening around, and get a chance to meet some new people.

My Reading Room
My Reading Room
Foursquare (iOS, Android, free)

What’s that you say? You have a date? Great! Where are you going? What are you doing? No idea? Check out Foursquare. It’ll tell you where to eat, where to drink, where to have fun, and generally score points by being interesting. Foursquare not getting you there? Check out similar apps like Burpple and Time Out (not the magazine). Time Out especially helps you to ditch the old movie date by showing you concerts and festivals happening near you. Cheers, buddy.

My Reading Room
My Reading Room
Tinder (iOS, Android, free)

You knew this app was going to be here; it’s all the rage with young humans these days. Swipe right to like someone, swipe left to say “no.” Tinder has a reputation for being a hook-up app, although real relationships have been heard to mushroom from it. Tinder is not the only choice you have though, other apps like Match, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish will also help you find a match, with varying degrees of loaded expectations. Good luck!

My Reading Room
My Reading Room
Hinge (iOS, Android, free)

If you’ve had it with online creeps, check out Hinge. Hinge cuts away the randomness of other apps, by using your Facebook account to introduce you to friends of friends. (Slightly less awkward than meeting complete strangers. Slightly.) Being a friend of a friend doesn’t guarantee emotional maturity or physical attractiveness, but the plus side of using Hinge is you can always check with your friends if that potential next date is a nut job or not.

My Reading Room