Best Apps to Make Friends in India (2026)

The best apps to make friends in India in 2026 are Rimeso for a small online circle in Hindi or English if you're on Android, Meetup for hobby groups in the big cities, Timeleft for dinners with strangers in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, Misfits for weekly hobby clubs in Gurgaon, and Playo for finding people to play sport with. Outside the metros, local clubs and online options matter more than any one app. And before you pay anything, check how the app makes its money, because some "friendship" apps are really paid-call or dating services.

The short answer

In a metro: Meetup, Timeleft, Misfits or StepOut, plus a run club or reading group.
In a smaller city or town: start online with Rimeso, HelloTalk or Slowly, and find local sport through Playo.
In person for little or no money: run clubs and silent-reading groups such as Cubbon Reads.
In Hindi: Rimeso has Hindi circles. FRND has voice rooms in several Indian languages, with paid features.
Walk away if: you must buy coins before you can talk, strangers call you minutes after sign-up, or someone phones about a friendship club and asks for a fee.

We make Rimeso, so we're not neutral about it. We've tried to be fair about what each app is good at, including where others are the better choice.

We checked what operates in India in November 2026. There's no single best friendship app in India, partly because much of the action isn't in an app at all. Many communities live on Instagram and WhatsApp, and small clubs come and go, so look at the date of the last event before you make plans.

The best apps to make friends in India, compared

Name	What it is	Where in India	How to join	Money
Rimeso	Small online circle, daily question	Anywhere, online only	Android only	Free
Meetup	Hobby and interest groups	Strongest in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi	iPhone, Android, web	Free to join, some groups charge
Timeleft	Small tables of strangers	Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi	iPhone, Android	Paid membership, food extra
Misfits	Weekly hobby clubs	Gurgaon, with more cities planned	Website and app	Check each club
StepOut	Small curated meals with strangers	Select cities	iPhone app, check for Android	Check each event
Playo	Book courts, find players, join games	Many cities, large and small	iPhone, Android	Check each game
Run clubs and reading groups	Regular community meetups	Big cities, and spreading	Usually Instagram or WhatsApp	Often free or low cost
Bumble	Swipe matching for friends	Check inside the main Bumble app	iPhone, Android	Check your version
HelloTalk, Slowly	Language exchange, pen pals	Anywhere, online only	iPhone, Android	Free to start
FRND	Voice rooms and paid calls	Online, in several Indian languages	iPhone, Android	Free download, coins for calls

If you live in a metro

Meetup

Meetup has been around longest, and a 2026 Free Press Journal roundup notes a strong presence in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, with quality that depends on how active the local organiser is. Look for hiking, book, language and board-game groups, and read the last few events rather than the member count. Plenty of groups there are for professional networking, which is a different thing, so read the description.

Timeleft

Timeleft's cities page lists Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi. You answer a personality quiz, choose a date and it seats you with a small group of strangers. The Week described a Delhi dinner in 2025 where people had travelled from Gurugram and Noida just to meet strangers. You need a paid membership and you pay for your own meal. It's a good first step in a new city, and our guide to Timeleft alternatives explains how to make it lead to something.

Misfits

Misfits is a Gurgaon startup built on hobby clubs for board games, hiking, books, cricket, music, art and dance. You pick a hobby, join a club and go to its weekly meetups, so you see the same people again, and that's what makes friendships form. Its listed activities are in Gurgaon, with other cities promised. If you live there, this is one of the most useful options on the page.

StepOut and the stranger-meetup scene

StepOut is a Gurugram startup that matches people by personality quiz for small dinners and lunches. Its app listing says it isn't a dating app, has no bios or swiping, and runs in select Indian cities. A 2025 company press release named Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai, so check what's current.

Around it sits a looser scene. ThePrint reported in January 2025 on groups such as Let's Socialise, Xcited, MitraMesh, TheYukai and Ooparclub, running ice-breaker games, music jams and park potlucks, mostly promoted through Instagram. The founder of Let's Socialise put the number of such groups across India at more than fifty. You usually fill in a form and pay to register, and some groups have age or gender criteria. Let's Socialise also runs singles meetups, so check which kind of event you're booking.

Run clubs and silent reading

These need no app at all, and they may be the most useful thing on this page. Run clubs have become a social scene in their own right, described as accessible and low cost by The Style List, which mentions Daud Run Club in Bengaluru and BHAG Club in Delhi and Mumbai. The Free Press Journal lists Mumbai clubs that welcome beginners, including Bombay On Foot and Pundhechala Run Club. Search Instagram for your city's name and "run club", and go to the one that ends with chai or coffee.

If running sounds like punishment, try silent reading. Cubbon Reads began in Bengaluru: people bring their own books to a park and read together, and many regulars have lunch afterwards. Homegrown reported in 2023 that it cost nothing and had chapters in cities including Mumbai, Kochi, Dehradun and Pondicherry. It's close to perfect for shy people, because nobody expects you to talk until you want to. Our guide to making friends as an introvert has more ideas like it.

If you live in a smaller city or town

Here's the honest position: most of the in-person startups above are in the metros, and they may not reach you for years. That doesn't leave you with nothing, but it does change the plan.

Start online for conversation. The options in the next section work the same in Darbhanga as in Delhi.
Use sport for local faces. Playo is mainly for booking venues and joining games, and its list goes well beyond the metros, including Guwahati, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kochi, Madurai, Nagpur and Chandigarh. Badminton at the same court every week gives you exactly the repetition friendship needs.
Start the thing yourself. A reading group needs a park and two other people. Several chapters of Cubbon Reads began when someone in another city copied the idea. Post about it in a local Facebook or WhatsApp group, name a time and turn up with a book.

If you're at college, our guide to making friends in college covers what to do with the people already around you.

If you'd rather start online

Rimeso

Rimeso is ours, and it was founded in India, so weigh this accordingly. You're matched into a small private circle, you all get one thoughtful question a day, and you read the others' answers once you've posted yours. Then you comment and chat one-to-one. Your circle talks in English or Hindi, and Hindi questions are sometimes in Hinglish. It's free, and there's no public feed and no ads.

The limits: it's Android only, with no iPhone version yet. It's online only, and circles aren't city-based, so we can't promise anyone from your town and we don't arrange meetups. It's a young app, so some circles are quiet.

HelloTalk and Slowly

HelloTalk pairs you with people learning your language, and it covers Hindi and many others, so it can suit you if you're improving your English or teaching Hindi to someone abroad. Slowly is a pen-pal app where letters take hours or days to arrive, and you appear as an avatar with no photo or real name, which can be a relief.

Bumble and Discord

The new standalone Bumble BFF app wasn't in Apple's India store when we checked in November 2026. The Free Press Journal roundup still describes Bumble BFF working in Indian metros, with swipe matching and a separate BFF profile, so look inside the main Bumble app. It also lists Discord, where friendships grow slowly in servers for gaming, hobbies and study groups. That's a good fit if you bond over a shared interest and don't mind waiting.

FRND

FRND is a Bengaluru-built voice app for ages 18 and over, made by Cold Brew Tech. Its App Store listing centres on FRND Radio, live moderated voice rooms hosted by RJs, in Hindi and other Indian languages. The Free Press Journal says it suits people who find photo-based matching intimidating. The app is free to download, and calls use coins you buy, so treat it as a paid voice service and decide your limit before you start.

Friendship app or paid-call app? How to tell

This is a common worry, and a fair one. Search for a friend making app in India and some results will be dating apps under another name, or services where you buy coins to talk to hosts by the minute. Paying isn't the problem by itself. A membership, a venue fee or a coaching fee is an honest trade. So is paying for a voice app, if you know that's what you're buying. The trouble starts when the price stays hidden until you're lonely and already talking to someone.

Look for these signs before you spend anything.

You must buy coins, minutes or diamonds before a proper conversation can happen.
Strangers call or message you within minutes of sign-up, before you've done anything.
The people you talk to are paid to talk. Look for "become a host" or "earn by talking".
The screenshots are mostly young women's faces, with lines such as "lonely tonight?"
Recent reviews keep mentioning recharges, deducted coins or people who disappear after you pay.
Someone pushes you to pay outside the app, by UPI, or to move to WhatsApp quickly.

💡 One question to ask: what exactly am I paying for? A place, an event or a service is fine. If you're paying to keep one person talking to you, that isn't friendship, however warm it feels.

There's a separate problem with "friendship clubs" that find you by phone. News reports of police cases describe callers who charge a registration fee, then ask for more. In one case reported by Patrika in 2026, a man in Bhopal lost more than nine lakh rupees over about six weeks to callers claiming to be from such a club, who told him he'd won a prize and later that he'd been chosen as a VIP member. A genuine club doesn't phone strangers asking for fees.

If you've lost money, act quickly. Call the national cybercrime helpline on 1930, which runs 24 hours a day, and report it at cybercrime.gov.in (Kerala Police).

Staying safe at stranger meetups

Check the organiser. Look for past events, photos and people outside the organisation tagging them. Pay through a proper event page, not a stranger's personal UPI ID.
Choose a public place for the first few meetings, and tell someone where you're going. Share your live location if that helps.
Sort out your own way home before you go, and leave whenever you want to. You don't owe anyone an explanation.
If you're a woman going alone, ask about the group's mix, and consider daytime events in parks. Some clubs run women-only sessions: BHAG Club held an all-women 3 km run in Mumbai in March 2026.

How to choose in two minutes

You've moved to a metro for work: a Meetup group plus one run club, and our guide to making friends after moving.
You want dinner with new people: Timeleft or StepOut.
You're shy: silent reading in person, or Rimeso online.
You'd rather read this in Hindi: try our Hindi guide to friendship apps.
You're on iPhone: Meetup, Timeleft or Slowly. Our full list of the best apps to make friends has more.

Whichever you choose, give it time. Most first meetings go nowhere, and the second visit is harder than the first. If the loneliness feels heavier than wanting company, our guide on how to deal with loneliness may help, and Tele-MANAS is on 14416 if you'd like to talk to someone.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good friendship app in India?

There is no single winner. Rimeso suits a small online circle in Hindi or English on Android, Meetup suits hobby groups in the big cities, and Timeleft suits dinners with strangers in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi. Many good options are local clubs that run on Instagram or WhatsApp.

Are friendship apps in India safe?

Some are and some are not. Be careful with any app that asks you to buy coins before you can talk, sends you calls from strangers straight after sign-up, or pushes you to pay outside the app. Meet in public, tell someone where you are going, and never pay a fee to someone who phones you about a friendship club.

Is there a free friend making app in India?

Yes. In Rimeso the daily question, circle, chat and Vent Room are free. Meetup membership is free, though some groups charge, and HelloTalk and Slowly are free to start. Many run clubs and reading groups cost little or nothing.

Is there a friendship app in Hindi?

Yes. Rimeso has circles in Hindi, with daily questions that are sometimes in Hinglish, and its interface is available in Hindi. FRND offers voice rooms in Hindi and other Indian languages, with paid features.

What if I live in a small town in India?

Start online, because most in-person startups focus on the metros. Rimeso, HelloTalk and Slowly work anywhere, Playo lists sports venues in many smaller cities, and a reading or walking group needs little more than a park and a few people.

Sources

A small circle that actually gets you.

Rimeso gives you one thoughtful question a day to answer with a small private circle matched to your interests. No feed, no followers, no ads. About four minutes a day.

Get Rimeso free on Google Play Android now · iOS coming soon

If you're struggling right now: Rimeso and this article aren't a substitute for professional care. If you feel unsafe or in crisis, please contact your local emergency number, or find a free, confidential helpline in your country at findahelpline.com. In India you can call Tele-MANAS free on 14416, 24 hours a day.