Hey! VINA Alternatives in 2026: Friend Apps That Still Work

The short answer, as of November 2026: Hey! VINA, the friendship app for women, looks discontinued. If you want the closest replacement, try BFF by Bumble (free, 18+, selfie verification) or Peanut (for women and mums). For groups and events, try Meetup; for planned dinners with strangers, Timeleft; for long letters, Slowly. To text one person in another country right now, try Olu.

Chat with someone now, text only, adults 18+

Olu is an independent app, not affiliated with Hey! VINA, Bumble, BFF or any app named here. Product names are used only for comparison. Features, prices and age rules change; check each one yourself.

What happened to Hey! VINA

Hey! VINA was a friendship app for women: you swiped through profiles, answered quizzes, made plans and joined group chats. When we checked on 3 November 2026:

• We couldn't find Hey! VINA in the US or UK App Store.
• Its old website, vina.io, was a parked domain offered for sale.
• A gofrendly blog post says Hey! VINA shut down because of "operational and product-related challenges". We couldn't confirm the date.

Many "best friend apps" lists still recommend it, so if you were sent there and found nothing, that is why.

The alternatives at a glance

App	How you meet	Where	Cost
BFF by Bumble	Matching and groups nearby	Local	Free (App Store listing)
Peanut	Matching and groups, for women and mums	Nearby	Free, with extras
Meetup	Groups and events	Local, some online	Joining groups is generally free
Timeleft	Booked dinners with strangers	200+ cities in 52 countries	Paid; price depends on city
Slowly	Long letters that take hours or days	Worldwide	Free letters, optional Plus
Olu	One-to-one text chat, someone online now	Worldwide	Free

BFF by Bumble

Bumble's friendship side is now its own app, called BFF. Its App Store listing is rated 18+, says every feature is completely free, and uses selfie verification. It is the nearest match to Hey! VINA's "swipe for a friend nearby" idea, though it is open to everyone, not only women. More in apps like Bumble BFF.

Best for: meeting people in your own town. Watch out for: how many people are on it depends on your city.

Peanut

Peanut is aimed at women and mothers, and connects them through matching and groups. It is free, with paid extras. If you used Hey! VINA because it was women-only, Peanut is the closest in spirit.

Best for: women, especially mums, looking for people at the same life stage. Watch out for: it is built around motherhood, so it fits some people far better than others.

Meetup

Meetup is built around groups and events: hiking, board games, books, being new in town. Many groups run online events too. You meet several people at once, which takes some pressure off.

Best for: people who would rather share an activity than swipe. Watch out for: busy groups in big cities, quiet ones in small towns.

Timeleft

Timeleft books you into a dinner or coffee with a small group of strangers. Its site says it runs in 200+ cities across 52 countries, and the price depends on your city.

Best for: people who want real-life meetups with the planning done for them. Watch out for: it costs money, and you need a city where it runs.

Slowly

Slowly is a pen pal app: you write letters that take from a few hours to a few days to arrive, and you appear as an avatar, with no photo or real name. It is rated 16+, and letters are free. See apps like Slowly and Is Slowly safe?.

Best for: people who like writing and don't need replies today. Watch out for: it is slow by design, and your friends will mostly be far away.

Olu

Olu is free, text only and for adults 18+. One tap looks for someone online now in another country (or an AI local, always marked AI), and every message is translated both ways, so you can talk to people whose language you don't speak. It runs in the browser, with nothing to install. Messages are filtered, you can report and block, and location data is stripped from photos; see the Olu safety page.

Best for: a real conversation with someone abroad, right now. Watch out for: it is not for meeting people nearby, and the community is small, so the busiest time is World hour, every day at 19:00 UTC for 30 minutes. Use the time zone overlap tool to see it in your time.

Which one should you pick?

• You want a women-first friend app: Peanut, then BFF.
• You want to meet people in your town: BFF or Meetup.
• You want planned meetups with strangers: Timeleft, if the price is fine.
• You like writing: Slowly.
• You want to talk to someone in another country now: Olu.

Whatever you pick, keep chats in the app at first, meet in public the first time, and never send money. Our safety tips for chatting with strangers cover the rest, and apps to make friends online compares more options.