Best Apps for Solo Travellers Who Want to Meet People

Solo travel has a specific and somewhat paradoxical quality. You're free, flexible, and fully present in a way that travel with others sometimes prevents. And you're also on your own, which in some destinations and contexts creates a mix of liberation and loneliness in equal measure.

Many solo travellers describe the same experience: finding themselves in extraordinary places, surrounded by interesting people, but with no reliable way to actually meet them. The logistics of solo travel are solved. The social part remains ad hoc.

Why Solo Travel Is Surprisingly Good for Connection

Before getting to the tools: solo travel creates genuinely good conditions for meeting people, more so in some ways than group travel. You're approachable in ways that pairs and groups aren't. You have more flexibility to follow social opportunities when they arise. You're more likely to be seated next to strangers, to join group activities, to spend time in hostel common rooms rather than just with the people you came with.

The challenge isn't the conditions — it's the initiation. Even in ideal conditions, approaching strangers is uncertain and often anxiety-producing. Tools that reduce this friction have real value for solo travellers.

What Different App Types Actually Provide

Hostel and accommodation communities. Platforms like Hostelworld have social features, and well-run hostels have their own community mechanisms — common rooms, organised dinners, group activities. These are some of the best organic connection opportunities for solo travellers, because the shared context (everyone is travelling, everyone is in the same space) does a lot of the work.

Activity and tour apps. Booking group experiences — walking tours, cooking classes, surf lessons — is one of the highest-yield approaches to meeting people as a solo traveller. The shared activity creates common ground instantly and gives you something to do while getting to know strangers, which removes some of the social pressure of pure conversation.

Community platforms. Local Facebook groups, couchsurfing meetups (which continue to exist even as the platform has changed), Meetup groups in major cities — these can connect you with local communities and other travellers in the same city.

Travel-specific social apps. There are several apps designed specifically for travellers wanting to meet people. The quality and user base varies significantly by location.

Real-world event apps. When you're in a city for more than a few days, attending local events — industry meetups, cultural gatherings, music events — can produce surprisingly good connections. The shared interest context works in your favour.

What to Actually Look For in an App

For solo travel specifically, the most useful apps are ones that:

Work in the specific location you're visiting (user density matters enormously — a great app with no users in your city is useless).

Facilitate in-person meeting rather than extended digital exchange. The goal is to get to an actual meeting; an app that creates long message threads before ever producing a real encounter is less useful in a travel context where your time is limited.

Have a clear consent and safety model. Solo travellers are often in unfamiliar contexts and don't have the local knowledge or established network that provides some safety in home environments. Apps that require mutual opt-in and have clear safety mechanisms are more appropriate for travel contexts.

Allow ephemeral connection. You're in the city for a week. You don't necessarily need a connection that creates permanent digital ties — you want to meet the interesting person, have the experience, and potentially keep in touch if something genuine develops.

The Events Approach

One of the most reliable routes to meeting interesting people as a solo traveller is attending events in the cities you visit. Not tourist events — local ones. Industry meetups, cultural events, arts openings, local sports, neighbourhood gatherings.

These put you in contexts with people who have genuine roots in the place you're visiting, which produces richer experiences than purely tourist social environments. And they're often remarkably welcoming to strangers — a visitor who genuinely cares about the local scene tends to be interesting to locals.

Try FirstMove

FirstMove works particularly well in event contexts that solo travellers can access anywhere they go. VibeZones, Mutual Handshake, Ephemeral Profiles — designed for the in-person moment, which is exactly what solo travel creates. If you're in a new city and attending a local event, FirstMove helps you find who else in the room is open to connecting.

Download FirstMove before your next trip and bring it to the events you attend.