Meeting people for hooking up has never been easier thanks to online dating apps, but what are the hookup apps for casual sex?
I always say that dating apps are a blessing because they allow you to flirt at any time, anywhere. You no longer religiously have to go out on a Friday night and hit the bar with your friends if you want to find someone for one night stand, or fall in love with.
In a bar, or at a party, you might, at best, find a couple of hundred singles. Online, you’ll find thousands.
So, while Friday nights are great for fun, you no longer have to feel the pressure of meeting someone special. You can do that from the comfort of your couch.
If you want to meet people for casual dating and hookups it’s easy to think Tinder is the only option. Especially if you have tried one of the lesser well-known apps and realized it’s filled with bots and scams.
There are other options though and they will get you laid.
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1. DOWN
Down is a hookup app similar to Tinder in that it searches for people near you. As you have to log in using Facebook, they verify users (i.e. bots can’t become members), but keep all information completely private. Not even other users are able to contact you, unless you both like one another.
As Down doesn’t match you until you’ve both liked one another, the app ensures that no one will know you are interested unless they’re also interested in you. You can choose whether you want to get down with someone, or date someone. It makes it easy enough to figure out what someone wants from you before you even meet up.
This app has been around for many, many years and been written up about in several major magazines, plus it has over 5M members, so you know it’s not a scam. The downside is that compared to an app like Tinder, there will be a lot less people using it.
Check out Down
2. Happn
Happn is your best hookup app if you always wished there was a way to start talking with that really cute guy/gal you see every day on the bus, or at the gym, but don’t want to invade their space. Happn lets you see whenever you cross paths with other members using the app.
They’ll simply pop up on your timeline. You can also see how many times you cross paths with them, so if fate is trying to give you a nudge, you’ll know.
If you like a member you cross paths with, you can heart their profile. They won’t know you’ve hearted it unless they heart you too. That means there won’t be that awkward moment when you realize your friend just hearted your boss for you…unless they hearted you right back, that is.
The problem with this app?
You may come across 1,000 people on one single train journey in a city with millions as it will match you with people in your immediate proximity, not necessarily people you saw face to face as it can’t determine that. It makes it a bit hard to go through all potential matches you come across in a bigger city to decide whom to heart.
You also have to turn the app on and off so it doesn’t track you at all hours. Unless, of course, you want to be tracked at all hours.
The upside?
It has 50M members (about 6.5M monthly active users). That’s ten times the amount of Down. And give it to the French — you finally can hookup with all those missed connections, whether you didn’t dare speak to them face-to-face, or simply missed them by a couple of minutes in your favorite bookstore.
Check out Happn
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3. Tinder
Of course, Tinder has to be on this list of best hookup apps. With over 50M users and 26M matches a day (in 2018), Tinder has the kind of potential most other apps don’t: it has a ton of members. Tinder is usually the first app people turn to when looking for hookups for that very reason: it’s hard to find a city where people aren’t using Tinder.
Tinder verifies users via Facebook, which makes fake profiles less of a common problem. Surely, some people create a Facebook profile just to get a Tinder profile, but it takes a bit of work.
The downside with Tinder is that it’s not strictly for one thing or another. On Tinder, anything goes. You’ll find people looking for kinky sex, marriage, or a date for the night. Of course, it’s quite easy to vet people simply by asking what they are looking for, but there’s no saying they’ll be 100% honest.
As Tinder is the original casual dating app, you should definitively try it out. Just make sure to put a variety of different profile pics on there, as well as a short (funny) bio, as the competition is stiff.
Tinder is best when you first start using it as your profile will be pushed out to hundreds, if not thousands, of users, so make sure that profile of yours looks good from get go.
Check out Tinder
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4. Casualx
Casualx is a lot more casual than Tinder. As mentioned, on Tinder anything goes. On Casualx people are, generally, looking for no strings attached relationships (NSA) or friends with benefits (FWB).
This is a free app for hookups, in whatever format. Couples who want to do some swinging can also be found on here, as can married people looking for affairs. Anything goes, so long as it’s consensual and legal.
Casualx goes as far as to allow you to create a secret album with sexy pictures that you can show your matches. Casualx is now KinkD for iPhone users.
What’s great about Casualx is that it’s legit. It’s not some random app filled with scammers — their team actively works to prevent it from happening. Of course, as with any app, you can’t be 100% assured you’ll never run into anyone with dodgy intentions, but at least they try to find the scammers in their midst. In fact, they approve all profiles manually!
Check out CasualX
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5. Pure
Pure is a hookup app purely for one night stands. You aren’t even supposed to be looking for relationships on here. They also happen to take anonymity very seriously — they erase your profile within a couple of hours of you creating it.
Yes, really. Why?
Because this app is for instant hookups. You’re meant to logon, put up a pic and make your pick (sorry I appear to be stuck in a pun state of mind). Basically, you are meant to upload a picture of yourself and use the next hour to find your date. After that everything gets erased.
This means you can quickly find people to have sexy conversations with, or simply meet up and have sex with. As with any dating app, you’re better safe than sorry: it’s good to meet in public first, but the intention with Pure is that you are going home with someone.
The anonymity side comes with a big perk as your boss is unlikely to find you on Pure, unless they too happen to be looking for a hookup at exactly the same hour you are. Nor can any potential future employer find your profile while Googling your name.
The issue?
You have no clue who’s on the other end. When you meet someone on Pure you don’t know who they are. When profiles are being erased at the speed of light, it’s not like a team has the time to go through each one. And due to the anonymity there is no connection to other social media networks. So, as already mentioned: meet them in public first.
Check out Pure
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6. Grindr
This is another one of the apps that’s been on the scene for a while. Created exclusively for the LGBT community, it’s one of the best hookups apps within its niche.
Grindr is all about finding people nearby — you can see exactly how far away people are, meaning you can go to a club and locate users in that club.
While Pure is all about finding someone fast as your profile will be erased, Grindr lets you customize your settings so that you find exactly what you’re looking for. While Grindr can be used for finding love, it’s really an app for hookups. Many people don’t even show their faces on there — they are looking for conversations that get dirty fast. If you take offense to dirty talk, this is likely not the app for you.
Again, remember safety first: meet in public before you take someone home.
Check out Grindr
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7. Feeld
Ever wanted a threesome? There’s an app for finding that. No more fumbling in the dark when trying to figure out if some of your friends might be up for it. Feeld is also an app for anyone looking for kinky sex — you can be straight or gay, but whatever you are, you need to be open minded.
Feeld let’s you choose whether you’re two people looking for another one to join, or if you’re single looking for two other singles, or a couple. Makes it easy to find your perfect threesome!
Sometimes, looking at the apps today, you wonder what they’d have thought back in the seventies, or eighties if there was “an app for that.” Not to mention what people back in the 1700s would have said:
“So, Mr Darcy, how do you fancy a little romp with the chamber maid and Lady Austen?” The ton would, most likely, have fainted had they known where society was heading. Back then you couldn’t even spend time alone with anyone of the opposite sex, these days you can use an app to find a threesome… The times most certainly have changed!
This app guarantees you interact with real humans. In other words: they’ve banned the bots. They also allow you to hide from Facebook friends. After all, it would be a bit weird if you found out your local librarian is looking for a threesome or some kinky sex behind the bookcases. Then again, if you aren’t friends on Facebook with your local librarian, maybe you’ll still find out about that…
Check out Feeld
8. Tonight
For the New York crowd there’s a new app in town: Tonight. As the name implies, tonight is all about finding a date for the night. It simply finds you a match on nights when you’re looking for a date.
Tonight is a bit like Tinder in that it’s a mixed crowd: some people on there are looking for casual hookups, while others are after something a bit more serious. You have to make it clear what you are looking for, so as to avoid disappointment.
The whole idea behind Tonight is that you avoid people who will chat with you on and off for three weeks and then never meet up with you in real life. Anyone without the intention to meet up the very same night is not using Tonight. They’ll be on Tinder checking how may people are swiping right on them instead.
Check out Tonight
9. Whiplr
If ya wanna get spanked, or spank, Whiplr is the place to be.
Whiplr is a free hookup app if you’re looking for people with similar fetishes. With over 2M members, you’re bound to find someone into the same things you are!
Members, or “kinksters,” can search for others based on sex, distance, fetishes, etc. so it’s easy enough to find the right person to hookup with. And unlike Tinder, you know this is about sex from the get-go. That’s not to say you can’t meet someone and fall in love (all the best plans are waylaid and all that jazz), but this is an app for people looking for kinky sex.
Apart form your profile pics, you can upload sexy photos of yourself and choose who sees them. You can also delete photos you’ve sent via messages, but of course people can do screen grabs, so don’t feel too safe sending sexy pics to strangers.
One great thing with Whiplr is that it offers icebreakers — lines you can use if you’re unsure of what to say to someone. We all know what it feels like coming up with the perfect conversation starter when we have a temporary brain freeze because the person we’re staring at on the screen is just too hot.
It can make the best of us tongue-tied. I write dating advice for a living and I’ve had moments when I’ve lost my marbles and forgotten every conversation starter I’ve ever come across. And let’s just say I’ve come across a few.
There are public groups within the app where you can talk to people about different topics. If you ever wanted to understand what Mr Grey was truly all about, then this is the place to start the research. You’ll meet everyone from novices to expert BDSM peeps.
Check out Whiplr
10. Once
Tired of swiping left and right? Got a bit of an ache in your finger when using Tinder? Or simply tired of wasting too much time swiping right and left? (Let’s face it: it’s a bit addictive!) Once helps you out by sending you one single match per day. Just the one.
This is great if you want to save time and are looking for something a bit more serious. However, for hookups it might be just a tad slow going.
This is an app worth mentioning as it’s different and good if you really don’t have much time to play the dating game, but if you want an instant date, or only want to meet others who want to hookup, this is probably not for you.
Check out Once
Apps have made it possible to meet others for sexy conversations and real-life sex in a much more comfortable way than the days of “ads.” It’s also helpful if you don’t want to roam the clubs and bars looking for your next hookup. Even if you love the bar scene it’s nice to know that you don’t have to put all your hopes into one night of the week. It makes things a tad more relaxed, whether you’re looking for love or a hookup.
