• I'm a reporter covering social media for Business Insider.
• My phone has well over 150 apps, and I'm quick to test out any new social app.
• Here are three apps worth trying if you're looking for alternatives to Instagram, X, or TikTok.

More apps? For this social-media reporter, the answer is "always."

I'm back with my favorite apps from the year.

At a glance, the dozens of apps I've downloaded this year fall into a few themes: IRL social, close-friends-focused apps, social shopping, and anti-swipe dating apps.

Last year, I highlighted 13 apps that I downloaded in 2023 as part of my reporting on the social-media industry. Since writing that story, some of those startups have continued to grow, while others have been acquired, and a few have had to pivot.

For instance, Artifact, an AI-driven news app founded by the original creators of Instagram, shut down and was acquired by Yahoo. Lex, a queer social network, laid off staff before getting acquired by mobile app conglomerate 9count. And Landing, a creative social collaging app reminiscent of Polyvore, changed course and pivoted to building Zeen, a shoppable blogging platform.

Meanwhile, new apps have launched or expanded this year, making their way onto my phone (which, yes, has very low storage).

Here are the three of the best apps I downloaded in 2024:

Disclaimer: These are my favorite downloads of the year and this is very much an opinion.

1. PI.FYI is a recommendations-based feed

What it is: Created by the team behind the pop-culture newsletter Perfectly Imperfect, PI.FYI is a mostly text-based feed where people answer questions, share recommendations, and post micro-blogs about topics like music or film. The app was built by ex-Meta staffer Tyler Bainbridge, who cofounded the PI newsletter with Alexander Cushing.

When it launched: 2024

Why I haven't deleted it: When I'm on the hunt for new forms of media to consume (be it books, movies, music, etc.), I'll open up PI.FYI to see what people are sharing. The app lets you add a link to a post, which helps when going down rabbit holes. Posting there sometimes feels like writing into the void on Tumblr or Twitter in 2012 (in a good way).

2. Airbuds lets you see what friends are listening to

What it is: It's a feed of music. It's that simple. Airbuds pulls information from several music streaming platforms (including Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud). The team behind Airbuds also built Cappuccino, a social-audio app that launched in the early days of Clubhouse.

When it launched: 2022

Why I haven't deleted it: I switched from Spotify to Apple Music several years ago, and the one feature I missed was the ability to see what my friends were listening to. Airbuds lets me do just that and also makes it easy to save music to my own library.

3. IRL social app 222 coordinates experiences with strangers

What it is: 222, which started as a dinner series in Los Angeles in 2021, is an app that matches users with strangers for in-person experiences. The in-person events range from dinner and drinks to DIY art classes, and users take a robust personality quiz that is used to pair them with compatible matches. It was founded by Keyan Kazemian, Danial Hashemi, and Arman Roshannai, and was part of Y Combinator. In February, 222 announced it had raised a $2.5 million seed investment round.

When it launched: 2021 (222 expanded to New York in 2024)

Why I haven't deleted it: I've gone to several experiences through 222 this year and even made a few friends along the way. I've described the app to friends as a way of working out my socializing muscles, more than a guaranteed way to make friends or find new romantic sparks. You do have to pay a fee to access the curated experience (the monthly fee, for example, is about $22) on top of drinks, food, and other expenses.

• Many social-media users are looking to make friends and spend time together in person.
• A new wave of startups is capitalizing on this demand with tools to help people make plans.
• The "IRL Social" trend grew in 2024 and could carry into the new year.

Making new friends, it turns out, is pretty hard.

While the dominant social networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have proclaimed that they connect us with our friends, many users feel less connected and more alone than ever.

A new wave of apps is trying to fill that void by replacing content algorithms with features designed to help users get together in real life. This year, several of these apps hit new peaks in popular culture and adoption.

One of the biggest stars in the space is Partiful, an events app that has replaced Facebook Events for many. Google named it the 2024 "app of the year," and it was even used for the viral Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest.

Then there's Timeleft, a European startup that gets groups of people together over dinner every Wednesday night in over 60 counties. It was also recognized by Google this year as a "hidden gem." Timeleft, which launched in 2020, expanded to the US in March.

"This year, we found product-market fit," Lais De Oliveira, head of North America for Timeleft, told Business Insider. "We've had over 20,000 people dining with us this year in the US and we've been handling weekly about 6,000 people dining with us across the US."

IRL social startups are not just getting users to download their apps. Some are also getting investors on board.

Posh, another events app that offers a feed of nearby happenings, closed a $22 million Series A round this year led by Goodwater Capital. Other firms, like FirstMark, Forerunner, and Best Nights VC, have also participated in IRL-focused tech.

For Zehra Naqvi, an angel investor and VC focused on consumer startups, IRL has been a core concept in her investing thesis this year.

"There is this overwhelming desire for people to just connect with one another," Naqvi said.

She sees IRL social apps right now falling into two camps. One is advanced event tech that makes things easier on hosts and attendees (like Partiful, Posh, or Luma), and the second is apps that foster a sense of "whimsical" in-person connection (like Timeleft and 222, another app that connects strangers over dinner or activities).

Some IRL apps are tackling monetization, though others are not in that stage yet. Posh, for example, takes a percentage of ticket sales, and 222 has a subscription model for access to curated events.

Read more of BI's coverage of emerging IRL social companies.

These IRL social startups have raised millions of dollars:

• 222, which coordinates plans with strangers in Los Angeles and New York, announced that it raised $2.5 million in February.
• Pie, founded by Bonobos' Andy Dunn, raised an $11.5 million Series A in September.
• Posh, an events feed inspired by TikTok, raised a $22 million Series A in July.
• Howbout, a calendar app geared toward helping friends make plans, raised an $8 million Series A in September.

Meet the founders behind the apps trying to help people make friends:

• Kndrd: How a 25-year-old went from talking to 1,000 strangers in NYC to quitting her finance job and founding a social startup
• PamPam: Ex-Google staffers are building a social-mapping platform for online and IRL communities