The 4 Best Apps to Meet People and Find Events in 2026
Making friends as an adult in a new city is a real problem, and oddly worse served than dating, where ten apps compete. What works is the same as always, moved to your phone: crossing paths repeatedly with the same people doing something you both care about. In this guide we compare the 4 best apps to meet people and find things to do in 2026.
Apps to make friends and find things to do in your city
Apps for meeting people with shared interests, with recurring hobby groups, local events and activities, dedicated friendship modes and alerts for nearby gigs and plans.
Top pick
Meetup: Grupos y Eventos
Free (with purchases) · 10M+
Best for making friends
3.9
234K reviews
TopApps analysis
Meetup organises recurring groups by interest — hiking, languages, board games, photography — and that repetition is exactly what turns a stranger into a friend.
Meetup organises people around interests: hiking, languages, coding, board games or photography groups that meet regularly in your city. It is the most natural way to meet people through shared interests rather than through a profile, with real events in between.
Pros
- Meet people through a shared interest, not a profile
- Recurring groups that build continuity
- Plenty of free or very cheap events
Cons
- Activity concentrated in big cities
- Quite a few inactive or abandoned groups
- Organisers pay, which limits how much is on offer
Fever: Ocio y Eventos
Fever Labs · Free · 10M+
Best for out-of-the-ordinary plans
4.6
139K reviews
TopApps analysis
Fever surfaces experiences that don't show up in conventional listings, from candlelight concerts to immersive exhibitions and tastings.
Fever is a Spanish company that has become the reference for discovering things to do in the city: candlelight concerts, immersive exhibitions, food events and experiences that never show up on traditional ticketing sites. Everything is bought and accessed from the app.
Pros
- Events and experiences not found on other platforms
- Spanish company with a strong local presence
- Digital tickets, no printing
Cons
- Catalogue concentrated in big cities
- Booking fees on top of the ticket price
- Less useful for large-scale concerts
Bumble
Free (with purchases) · 100M+
Best for one-to-one friendship
4.2
1.6M reviews
TopApps analysis
Bumble has a dedicated friendship mode, separate from dating, which removes any confusion about why each person is there.
Bumble flipped the dating script: in heterosexual matches only women can send the first message, which cuts down on spam and changes the whole tone of the app. With fuller profiles than Tinder and separate modes for friendship (BFF) and networking (Bizz), it appeals to anyone after more than a quick match.
Pros
- Women make the first move
- A better-behaved crowd than Tinder
- Friendship and networking modes
Cons
- Matches expire after 24h without a message
- Smaller user base than Tinder in Spain
- Premium features are expensive
Bandsintown: Conciertos
Free · 10M+
Best for live music
4.4
263K reviews
TopApps analysis
Bandsintown alerts you when the artists you listen to are playing nearby, and a shared gig is still one of the best excuses to meet up.
Bandsintown doesn't sell its own tickets: it tells you. Connect it to Spotify or your music library, it works out which artists you listen to and alerts you when they announce a gig near you, then links out to the relevant ticket seller. The best way to avoid finding out too late.
Pros
- Alerts you when your artists play near you
- Connects to Spotify and your library
- Covers everything from small venues to festivals
Cons
- Doesn't sell tickets, only redirects
- Patchy coverage of small Spanish venues
- Notifications can get excessive
Frequently asked questions
What's the best app for making friends as an adult?
Meetup, because it solves the factor that really matters: repetition. A group that meets every week for the same thing builds ongoing contact, which is how friendship happens; a one-to-one app depends on two strangers keeping up the momentum. Bumble's friendship mode works well as a complement.
Do these apps work outside big cities?
With difficulty. Meetup and Fever concentrate their activity in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and a few other provincial capitals; in mid-sized cities the offering drops sharply and in small towns it's practically nil. In those cases, local hiking, sports or neighbourhood groups still work better than any app.
Is it safe to meet people I don't know?
With normal precautions, yes, and group events are considerably safer than one-to-one meetups precisely because there are more people around. The usual advice: a public place, tell someone where you're going, arrange your own transport, and don't share your address until you trust them.
Do you have to pay to use them?
Meetup is free to attend, though some groups charge a small fee per event to cover costs; it's the organisers who pay. Fever charges for each experience's ticket. Bumble is free to use with limits, and Bandsintown is free, since it only sends alerts and redirects you to the ticket seller.
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