Launched in 2015, Yubo quickly became a hit among teens. It allows them to meet new people and create live video discussion spaces where both streamers and viewers interact through a chat. Up to 10 users can join this live stream and talk about anything.
Available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store, the platform has more than 50 million users worldwide. And the number is still growing rapidly.
The app is quite addictive — you can find new people and make friends immediately without wasting time on the search option. It also has games and drawing quizzes to make things more interesting.
While Yubo is a great app to widen your friend circle, it does have some safety and privacy concerns. The platform has been criticized for allowing inexplicit content and taking lousy action against fake profiles that publish and advertise inappropriate visual content.
Luckily, there are a lot of better alternatives available in the market. We’ve listed some of the best apps like Yubo that you should try this year. They all are designed to meet new people and have fun.
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9. Spotafriend
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 3.5/5 from 7,000+ users
Spotafriend is a swiping app designed for teenagers. It shows photos of other teenagers around you; if you like the photo, you can swipe right to become friends. If you both swipe right, you get a match. You can then start chatting and sharing pictures privately.
The app is all about connecting with new people in proximity beyond your neighbors and school. It’s a great way of finding friends, especially for extroverts.
Key Features
- Find friends in proximity by swiping right
- Integrated chat box
- New updates every month
The platform has more than 2 million active users, and is free to use. However, you can upgrade to the premium version for $2.99 per week or $7.99 per month or $19.99 per year. It gives you an ad-free experience and access to priority listings in your area. Plus, you can see your swipe history and change old swipes.
8. Whisper
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 3.3/5 from 250,000+ users
Whisper is an anonymous social media platform that allows you to post and share images and videos without revealing your identity. Your posts (called ‘whispers’) contain text superimposed over a photo or a clean background image. You can retrieve this image from Whisper’s search engine or upload your own.
Once you log in, you will see several such images. You can respond to each of them privately or publicly. Even if you choose to go public, your identity will remain hidden. Other users can’t contact you except through the messages they post.
Key Features
- Share thoughts with millions of people without revealing your identity
- Create videos to express yourself better
- Connect with like-minded people
- Make new friends with chat
Since the platform has more than 30 million monthly users, you will always find something interesting to interact with.
The app has been criticized multiple times for requiring access to the user’s contact list and the smartphone camera. Furthermore, the company’s privacy policy states that it can share users’ data in the case of requests from law enforcement.
7. Swipr
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.6/5 from 30,000+ users
Swipr offers an easy to find new people who share the same interests. Its intuitive interface shows you the profile of interesting people near you — swipe right to connect with as many people as you like.
Once you are connected, you can open a chatroom to talk privately with your new buddies. The app also allows you to send texts to anyone you like before you make friends with each other.
Key Features
- Swipe to make new friends
- Online users ready to chat
- Expand your reach to other social media networks
Swipr also allows you to meet new people on Snapchat, find gaming partners on Discord, and expand your TikTok and Instagram followings. Plus, it’s a great platform to promote yourself to hundreds of thousands of people looking for new friends and convos.
6. Heyy
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.5/5 from 13,200+ users
Heyy is a video chat social app that connects you to new people hidden behind a mask. It allows you to have face-to-face conversations while ‘wearing’ unique masks to stay anonymous. If you want, you can take your mask off and show your face.
How does it work?
As soon as you create a profile and set a search preference, the app discovers and shows your potential matches. Or, you can browse through thousands of profiles and send friend requests to the ones you like.
When calling someone new, you can choose to be hidden behind an Augmented Reality (AR) face mask. This way, you will get to know people on the other side without revealing your identity.
Key Features
- AI-based matches
- Discover people by applying search filters
- Exclusive masks for women
- Chat in your native language (conversation can be translated in real-time)
If you really like the person and wish to stay in touch after the call, you can text them later through a private chatbox. If you two are from different countries, the app will translate your texts into your native language. So you can make friends from all over the world — there won’t be any language boundaries.
The premium version (which costs $14 per month) allows you to send messages to as many people as you like, use the rear camera, and have video conversations in HD quality. It also includes private customer support.
5. Bunch
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.3/5 from 34,800+ users
Bunch is a video chat application designed for gamers. It allows you to play various multiplayer games with your friends over a video call — anytime, anywhere.
The app comes with several interesting games you can play with your buddies. It also gives you an option to launch two or more multiplayer titles and play them together over video chat.
Exclusively available games on Bunch
- Trivia: Test your knowledge
- Bunch Pool: Play pool with up to 8 people
- Mars Dash: Race on the hills of Mars
- Draw Party: Draw something intriguing, or guess what your friends are drawing
You can also play third-party games, including PUBG, Roblox, Exploding Kittens, Battlelands Royale, Clash of Clans, Call of Duty Mobile, Scrabble Go, Brawl Stars, Golf Battle, and more. You just need to install any of these games on your device, and the app will automatically detect them and show you in the ‘game section.’
Bunch doesn’t connect you with unknown users. You can create a private room where other users need to be invited before they can get access. While the app is safe, you need to keep in mind that everything is a live video, whether you are just sending messages or playing games. What happens in a live interaction can’t be undone.
4. TIYA
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.1/5 from 72,300+ users
TIYA is a high-quality social app that allows you to meet new friends with one single swipe. You can participate in interactive group chats or create a private channel and share the link with your friends.
This private chat box can be used for watching videos, sharing screens, listening to music, and playing games. Basically, the chat box has its own real-time dynamic space: with just one tap, you can view what your friends are up to.
Key Features
- Create a private group and invite your closest friends
- Group voice chat
- Share screen in real time
- Watch videos and listen to music together
If you want to play a mystery guy, you can hide your profile with masks and have some fun with your friends. Overall, the app makes it easier to consume online content with your friend. It doesn’t matter whether you are a singer, gamer, or party animal; if you enjoy spending time with other people, you will find this app useful.
3. SLOWLY
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.6/5 from 95,100+ users
SLOWLY is a geosocial networking app that allows you to exchange delayed messages. The time taken for messages to be delivered depends on the distance between you and your friends. A message can take anything from a few hours to days to “slowly” reach its destination.
The app is created for people who miss the postal system. It connects you with like-minded users across the world at a slower but better pace — one message at a time. Take your time to write a letter and make it worth the wait.
Key Features
- Mailing time depends on the distance between sender and receiver
- Find friends based on language and commonly interested topics
- Collect stamps from different countries and cultures
You don’t have to reveal your identity to use the app. Just enter a nickname and an avatar to get started. Then, search for people by applying filters like countries and common interests.
The app also allows you to collect and attach virtual stamps before sending a mail. You can unlock/collect 1,000+ stamps by meeting new friends, traveling to a new country, or logging into the app during events and festive seasons.
2. Meetup
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.7/5 from 300,100+ users
For over 20 years, Meetup has helped people make friends, explore their interests, grow a business, and find support. The platform is quite easy to use: create an account and find events on any topic you can think of, from photography and online gaming to yoga and hiking. Thousands of events happen every day.
There are more than 330,000 groups to search from. You can explore events by category, see what’s popular in your region, or search by keywords. Save the ones you are interested in and revisit them later.
You can also start a group to explore share interests and gather people together. The app recommends your group to interested people, so your community can grow as fast as possible. In the meantime, you can personalize and manage the group and schedule events on-the-fly.
To keep this group active and engaging, the app gives you options to share photos, use discussions, and message people to connect with users in your group.
Key Features
- 330,000+ groups to search from
- Explore events and see what’s popular in your region
- Start your own group and schedule events from anywhere
Since the platform has more than 50 million members, you can easily discover a community, build a career network, and create a personal brand.
1. Wink
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.4/5 from 610,000+ users
With Wink, you can swipe through thousands of new faces from your own country and worldwide. Check out interesting profiles and make friends based on your interests. If you like the profile, swipe right and send a quick hello via the Wink messenger.
To make sure you get messages from the right people, fill your profile properly by adding up to six pictures of yourself and a bio explaining more about who you are and what are your unique interests. You can also include a voice intro.
The Wink messenger makes your communication more fun: it lets you send large images, GIFs, ice breakers, and audio recordings. Users with verified profiles can make audio and video calls as well. Plus, you have the option to add friends on Snapchat.
Key Features
- Explore thousands of new faces
- Connect instantly by swapping right and sending a quick hello
- Send audio messages, ice breakers, and GIFs with Wink Messenger
The app also features ‘Gems.’ You can use them to send friend requests to unknown people, go back to the profile you may have accidentally missed, and add a new background to your profile picture. You can either purchase gems (1,000 gems for $5.99) or earn them by completing certain tasks such as daily check-in or sharing Wink with your existing friends.
The premium version of the app (called Wink+) is available for $4.99 a week or $9.99 a month. It gives you access to unlimited swiping, unlimited rewind, and more awesome perks.
Read: 13 Best Apps Like TextNow
Other equally good Yubo alternatives
10. We3
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4/5 from 8,000+ users
We3 connects new people in groups of three, making it a less awkward and safer way to make friends nearby. When you sign up, the app asks you a series of questions related to your passion, hobbies, and favorite activities.
It then uses its advanced machine learning algorithms to find you the best match. This means when you meet other people from your groups, you are most likely to get along.
The app keeps your profile private, so only the new users you match with will be able to see you. Once you get a match, you can see the group’s overall compatibility, including mutual quirks and shared life goals.
Unlike other social apps, We3 doesn’t have ads. Plus, they do not link your account to services that track you across apps or sites. They only focus on facilitating valuable conversations with new friends in your area.
11. Chatspin
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.2/5 from 62,000+ users
ChatSpin is one of the fastest-growing video chat applications that connects you with random people. It takes only a few seconds to start a random just using your device camera. You don’t even have to make your profile — you remain anonymous throughout conversations.
However, you do have options to choose who you connect with. You can apply country and gender filters and use unique face masks to make your chat more exciting.
Once your conversation is over, tap the next arrow to be connected with a new match based on your preferences. You never know who you are going to see next. So far, the platform has created more than one billion connections.
12. Miki
Platform: Android
Rating: 4.6/5 from 12,400+ users
Miki is another random video chat app that allows you to talk to strangers and make friends with cool new people. You can start by creating your profile and adding all the necessary information about yourself.
The app has thousands of profiles. Swipe them to chat with people or let the app make random video calls instantly. It provides you with plenty of fun stickers to break the ice in random chat.
Miki also offers automatic text translation to help you get over the language barrier and make friends across borders. Its international community will give you a glimpse of the world.
13. Tango-live stream
Platform: iOS | Android
Rating: 4.5/5 from 4,140,000+ users
Tango is a social live community platform with more than 400 million users. Everything on Tango is live. Every second, hundreds of people make new connections and build real friendships.
The platform makes the live streaming experience even better with its powerful personalized feed, effects, and unique gifts that you can easily receive and send. It allows you to quickly discover your favorite content, video chat with your favorite broadcaster, and live stream your special moments.
You can even watch your favorite YouTube clips with friends, share gaming and music videos, or add engaging content to your stream. The app instantly translates your content so you can communicate easily with people from other countries and cultures.
Overall, it’s a really great platform for people who want to become social media influencers or make new friends from all over the world.
Things you should do for your own safety
While all apps tag themselves as the safest platform to be on, there are some crucial steps you must take to protect your privacy:
- Be cautious of friend requests: Check the profile thoroughly before accepting the request. Fake profiles could be spam bots or specifically created for cyberbullying.
- Check your privacy settings: In most cases, the default privacy settings give you the most public exposure.
- Disable location services when posting content: Do not share location or pictures while on vacation. Wait until you are back home.
- Keep your private information private: Never give away your address, phone number, or email.
- Think before what you post: Do not apply the reckless, impulsive approach to social media. Although there are options to delete posts, you can never permanently erase something that has been published on the internet.
Safety measures for parents to put in place
Pay close attention to how your children are using social media platforms. Monitor their action and behavior with their smartphones. Notice if they are running to the bathroom or bedroom to use their device or regularly asking for privacy.
It will be better if you keep open lines of communication with your kids. Talk to them about their usage of smartphones and make them aware of the potential risks of using social apps and websites. If you have teens, discuss how to find healthy and safe relationships so they don’t fall into some nasty traps. Remind them that nothing is more important than their safety.
You can also utilize tools that provide parental controls. They can help you monitor apps/websites your child visits, enforce time limits, and block harmful content.
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