Appy in love: 5 Dating apps to try

iPhone apps

Dating goes high tech

Looking for love or at least a new way to meet people? There’s an app for that! Get out your smartphone and download some of these apps aimed at making the dating process easier, more efficient, and dare we say, a little more fun.

While a lot of dating sites and apps revolve around being online, this fun app encourages users to get offline and go on actual dates. The concept is simple: Either post a date you’d like to go on, like “get beers and go to a baseball game” and see who might be interested in making that happen, or browse date ideas in your area and see if you find a match. Browse photos and profiles and then send messages to anyone you might be interested in meeting offline. (Free)

Billed as a “romantic social network,” Zoosk allows you to browse millions of singles and send messages to people you’re interested in. Once you sign up and turn on the app's radar, you can also see singles who are nearby and online, which makes it a little easier to make offline connections. If you’ve chatted back and forth, made an initial connection and then find out the person is nearby, you can set a time to meet up. (Free)

This clever app makes it easy to find potential connections based on interests and then helps you find opportunities to meet offline. After listing different interests under a variety of categories, you can search for potential matches. Then the location-based app will show you who’s close by (in real life). Feeling bold? Head out and meet your match! (Free)

If you’re wary of giving your number to someone you’ve met online, Tingle makes it easy to text and talk without handing over your digits until you’re ready. The app allows you to flirt via text or talk on the phone without worrying about getting a slew of texts from someone you decide you’re not actually into. Plus, like other location-based apps, it’ll notify you when potential matches are nearby. (Free)

Whether you’re looking for a new friend or a new man, Skout is another great way to meet people online in your area. You can meet people by preference or proximity, chat, see who’s looked at your profile, browse pictures and profiles, and ideally, make a connection with someone you can meet offline since the app tells you who’s nearby. (Free)

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