There are tons of mobile chat rooms on the Internet. And they all share the same purpose—to connect people.

But not all of them have the same features and user demographics. Some are also very niche-specific, such as gay or lesbian chat rooms. To help you narrow down your choices, we’ve rounded up five of the best mobile chat sites and apps for you.

How to Find the Best Chat Rooms for Mobile

Here are a few tips to help you find the best paid or free mobile chat room.

1. Decide if you’re willing to pay for access or not

If you can get something for free, would you choose to pay for it? Probably not. There are tons of chat apps and sites that provide free access to their platform, like iSexyChat. We suggest that you take full advantage of that, especially if you’re new to the world of online dating and chat rooms. But if you think you’ll get what you’re looking for in a paid service, then go ahead and subscribe. It’s totally up to you and your preferences. After all, you know best what you want.

2. Paid services are not always better

Some people argue that free chat rooms are more likely to attract bots, fraudsters, and trolls. The paid ones, on the other hand, attract more serious users. Well, they’re not wrong. Of course, when money is involved, people tend to be more serious. But that doesn’t mean that all paid services are better in quality. Tons of free chat sites and apps offer the same level of quality—if not better—than the paid ones.

3. Choose between a general and niche-specific site

If the app or site you’re on only has a few thousand members, it won’t give you a large enough pool of people to match with. This is especially true if you live in a rural area. That’s why it’s always best to start with the most popular dating sites, such as Tinder and OkCupid. This will give you the best chance of meeting more people and matching with someone.

But you can also check out niche sites if you have a specific reason for narrowing down your choices. This could include race, religion, or politics. For example, BlackPeopleMeet was created specifically for black and biracial singles. There are a lot of other niche-specific chat sites. A quick Google search will reveal a lot of them.

4. Consider your goals

Your main reason for joining a chat room is to meet new people. But how satisfied you’ll be will depend on the kind of interaction you’ll have on the chat site. So think about your goals. Are you looking for friendship, casual dating, or a serious relationship? The best chat app for you will be the one that meets your goals and expectations.

5. Research your options

Each chat site has its own target market. For example, Tinder and OkCupid are more popular among millennials. But EliteSingles tend to attract a more mature crowd. Make sure to research your choice of chat rooms to see which users they cater to. Figure out if a niche or large site will best serve your needs.

Reading online reviews also help. Check how users are rating these chat apps. Read from a trustworthy site like Consumer Affairs, where real people provide ratings based on their personal experience. Take note of the online reviews and list down the ones you like.

But always take everything you read online with a grain of salt. Yes, even this one you’re reading right now. Why? Because it’s always best to form your own opinions. We can only recommend, but it will still be you who decide which ones to join.

6. Try multiple chat apps or sites

There are many high-rated chat sites. But even those have their kinks that not everyone will like. The bottom line is there’s no such thing as a single “best” chat site. It’s okay if you don’t settle on one platform right away.

We’re not saying you should bounce around from one platform to another. But you should at least give each one on your list a fighting chance before you make your final choice.

7. Check out the safety features

Safety is the biggest concern among those who join chat rooms–and for good reasons. While the anonymity offered by many chat sites protects your personal information, criminals can also take advantage of it.

In one of the FBI’s online crime reports, investigators found that scammers frequently targeted people who are divorced, disabled, widowed, and aged 40 and above.

Fortunately, many chat sites are taking measures to protect their members by adding safety features. By monitoring online activity, chat sites can decrease the number of scammers and spammers. Some platforms are even starting to verify the identity of new members.

You should also be able to report or block members who are acting in a threatening, harmful, or suspicious way. Having these tools will encourage members to police the chat platform they’re on.

What’s the Best Local Mobile Chat App for You?

Many chat sites offer both free and premium versions, with the free version having limited features. OkCupid is no different. It has three membership levels: free, basic, and premium. You get more premium features for each membership tier.

The free version lets you:

  • Send messages for free
  • Check out who messaged you in DoubleTake
  • Send and read intros one at a time
  • Exchange messages with matches with mutual likes
  • Filter matches

Some of the paid features include:

  • Filter and set “Dealbreakers,” so you avoid seeing matches that don’t fit your criteria
  • Respond to as many intros and like as many profiles as you want
  • Remove annoying ads that distract you while chatting
  • See the full list of everyone who likes you

The paid features are nice to have but not necessary. If you’re looking for responsive, local chat rooms for mobile use, we highly recommend OkCupid. It’s also highly geo-targeted. That means you can easily search for people near you. It’s a great way to meet locals. But if this chat site isn’t very popular in your area, you’ll hardly get any match.

You can change the “Looking For” settings to “located anywhere” if you also want to see people from outside your area. But OkCupid will only show you people who are looking for matches in your location.

It’s also worth noting that OkCupid is one of the most affordable top dating sites. But if you live in a sparsely populated area with not many users, it’s not worth upgrading your account to a paid subscription.

Best Mobile Cam Chat App for Cam Chatters

Chatrandom is a free mobile cam chat app for flirting, dating, meeting new people, and having fun. It lets you video chat with random people from around the world. But it’s not exclusively a video chat platform. You still get to choose how you want to chat: text or cam. Aside from its random chat room, Chatrandom also has an app specifically for gay cam chat.

Being able to see each other is a huge part of the Chatrandom experience. After all, its goal is to connect people via video chat. So get your webcam ready. You can still use the service even if your webcam is off, but you’ll only be connected for text chat with other users until you turn on your webcam.

Here’s the Best Gay Mobile Chat Room

Grindr is probably the most popular gay mobile chat room today with 27 million users. It’s mostly known as a hookup app for gay, bi, and queer men. But some also use it for serious dating. There are also those who use it to find friends and travel buddies.

Grindr lets users search using different filters, such as tribe, location, and other sexual interests. It offers three subscription plans: free, Xtra, and Unlimited. You get more perks with the paid versions.

Grindr Xtra perks:

  • Remove annoying ads that distract you from chatting
  • View up to 600 profiles in the grid
  • Search using premium filters, such as photos only and online now status
  • Use global chat/explore mode to search and interact with users in other regions
  • Tap, favorite, block, or chat with users in Explore searches
  • Create custom notifications to make them SFW

Grindr Unlimited premium membership is basically Grindr Xtra with five extra perks.

  • See who has viewed your profile in the last 24 hours
  • Undo sent messages and photos
  • See if someone is actively typing you a message
  • Chat and browse without showing up in people’s “Viewed Me” list
  • Browse new profiles without limit

Xtra and Unlimited subscribers also get to add a pin on the app and change the Grindr icon to a more discreet one. Grindr Unlimited costs $49.99 a month.

The monthly fee for Grindr Xtra, on the other hand, rose from $11.99 to $24.99 a month. It’s a good chat app, but the new pricing tier is a little too extra.

What’s the Best Mobile Lesbian Chat App?

Most chat apps and sites are fairly LGBTQ-inclusive. But there aren’t as many exclusive lesbian mobile chat rooms in existence.

This is what the developers of HER (formerly called Dattch) were trying to address when they created it. HER is made specifically for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women. Men are not allowed to create profiles on this app. It’s one of the most popular lesbian dating apps with over 5 million members.

HER, unlike most other dating apps, has a more open approach. Its long-term goal is to connect queer women to their community. It’s no simple hookup app. It also serves as a social media platform where users can post status updates.

The registration process is pretty straightforward. It takes less than five minutes to get started. The app doesn’t require an email address, but you’ll need a Facebook or Instagram account to sign up. This helps the admins verify the identity and authenticity of the people joining the platform. This has raised a few protests in the past because they would sometimes mistakenly reject “masculine-looking women.”

Once you’ve successfully connected your FB or IG account, HER will grab your name, profile photo, and birthday to build your profile on the app. Don’t worry. You can change your profile photo later on.

HER is a free app, but it also has premium subscription plans where you get to:

  • Remove annoying ads that distract you from chatting
  • Change your location to get more matches
  • Search using premium filters, such as sexual identity and relationship status
  • View who likes you
  • Go incognito to prevent exposing your identity
  • Swipe without limit
  • Boost your profile once a month

Best Free Mobile Chatting Site for Hookups

Flirt.com is a dating site most popular among singles looking for hookups. It aims to provide a safe environment where members can freely flirt and connect with other members. Anyone aged between 18 and 78 can create an account in a few minutes.

Once registered, you can start browsing based on basic search settings, such as age bracket, sex, and location. This is the perfect platform for people who are looking for casual and low-commitment relationships.

The overall layout of the site is simple and pleasing to the eye. It doesn’t have its own mobile app. Instead, it has a responsive mobile site, so you can still enjoy flirting while on the go.

The features on the basic (free) account let you interact with people. But if you want to access premium features, you’ll have to get a paid subscription plan.

Free features:

  • Add users to your “Favorite” list
  • Send winks
  • Reply to messages

Premium features:

  • Share videos and photos in chat
  • Fine-tune your search filters with its extended search options
  • Send as many messages as you want
  • Get your queries answered quickly and efficiently with its premium support feature

Takeaway

There are so many things to consider when choosing a chat room. On top of that, there are so many chat apps and sites to choose from. This makes the selection even more complicated.

But don’t let that discourage you. Keep in mind your goals and what you hope to achieve by joining one. It’s okay if you don’t find the right one right away. Just keep looking and you’ll find a chat room you’ll fit right in.