Pen palling sounds traditional but it offers a unique idea to make new friends and connect with the world. As technology advances, you don’t have to wait for days for a response from your pals. Instead, you can download the best pen pal apps and stay in touch. Pen pal apps are created to make it easier to find a new pen pal. Rather than writing a letter, you can start a conversation and share similar interests. Millions of people enjoy these apps and if you want to join the crowd, check out the following list.
Best Pen Pal Apps for Android and iOS You Should Try
A good pen pal app should eliminate language barriers that often hinder you from making new friends with different cultures. Besides, it should have a variety of features to help you with the conversation, not to mention it supports most Android and iOS devices.
1. Slowly
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store Slowly is a brilliant app to stay connected to the world. Designed to improve your social life, this award-winning app allows you to keep in touch with your pen pal at a slower pace—it lets you write letters! Bringing a traditional pen palling experience to your smartphone, this app is surely worth trying. Depending on your distance, the letter can reach your pal in a few hours to days. This allows you to enjoy every moment and make every single letter worth the wait. Featuring an attractive interface, this pen pal finder app has a bunch of features. For example, you can go completely anonymous—an avatar and nickname is enough for you. It also lets you find friends based on interests so you can share things in common. And if you love learning languages, you’ll find Slowly a useful app to try out. Collect stamps and unlock new stamps from different cultures so you’re ready to become a global citizen.
2. InterPals
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store One of the best things about having a new pal from other countries is that you can learn a new language. If you are more into this, InterPals can be the perfect option to meet new friends and exchange language with a vast community. Using this app you can chat with new pals and learn some new languages from all over the world. It also allows you to practice languages with native speakers from Japan, French, Korea, and many more. Just mention a language you want to learn and let InterPals help you out. Browsing thousands of users instantly is possible with this best pen pal app. You can filter the search to find pals that suit you the most. Only with a few simple taps, InterPals will help you find the perfect match to share similar interests. Make your profile more attractive with a profile picture. On top of that, you can edit information so other users will be attracted to choose you as their new online pal.
3. Bottled
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store Inspired by a message in a bottle, this particular app offers a unique way to make new pals worldwide. It combines technology and old-school bottled message, making it possible to send messages to anyone all over the world—one letter will be received by one recipient. If someone likes your bottled letter, he can keep it and you can start a chat. But if it’s released, it will float back until someone receives it. Since you never know where your bottles go, using this app gives you lots of surprises and fun. There are so many things you can do with Bottled, such as chat with people, track the journey of your bottle, share photos, and even answer questions that will test your knowledge. Featuring a nice design and interface, this app offers a better user experience. What’s more, you can trade your gold for unique treasures, ranging from rum, whistle, compass, and even octopus. It’s pretty fun to know that the octopus can serve you.
4. Ablo
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store Ablo connects you to the world. Being one of the best pen pal apps, it allows you to find a new pal from America to Zambia, from Spain to Algeria. This particular app is featured with advanced technology to stay in touch with new friends—you can chat with strangers and share things in common. In addition to the chat feature, Ablo comes loaded with videos. Watch a collection of videos to find out what’s out there and express yourself. Locals will be happy to share their videos and you can also do the same for them. There’s nothing to worry about the language barrier. Ablo has a built-in translator, so it is possible to translate text chats and video in real-time. Say anything you want to say and your new friends will easily understand what you mean. This functional app currently has millions of users, which means you will get instant access to them. Improving your social life has never been easy, thanks to easy to use tools brought to your table.
5. HelloTalk
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store If you’re looking for a pen friend app to help you learn languages then HelloTalk is made for you. With more than 10M+ downloads on Google Play Store alone, it comes in handy to exchange languages and connect with new pals around the globe. Using HelloTalk is easy as pie. Once downloaded, create your account and get connected with millions of native speakers from different backgrounds and cultures. Whether you want to learn English, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, you’ll easily find native speakers who’re ready to help you. Unlike most pen pal apps that adopt traditional messaging, HelloTalk comes with a user-friendly chat feature. Start chatting with strangers and ask anything about culture, language, or even travel to the native speakers. The best part of learning with native speakers is that you can perfect your pronunciation. Thanks to the audio message feature, you can easily record audio and send it to your new friend. As a bonus, it has voice recognition and text-to-voice to improve your pronunciation.
6. Speaky
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store Here’s Speaky, the best free pen pal app that highlights simpler and faster language exchange. Finding a pal to learn a new language has never been this easy—all you have to do is download this app and discover a language partner to exchange language. With a large community, you will get access to connect with users with a variety of native languages, from Chinese to German, from Spanish to Arabic. It supports more than 110 languages with friendly native speakers who will be happy to be your partner. When it comes to features, Speaky comes packed with text chat feature to stay in touch with your pen pals. This tool is equipped with text correction feature, so you can avoid messages with typos. Using this app you can see if your partner is online, allowing you to choose a potential partner to start an instant conversation. Additionally, you can easily browse friends list to find language partners you have already got in touch with.
7. VoicePenPal
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store Pen palling with letters is so yesterday. Today, you can send voice messages and enjoy a brand new way of communication with new pen pals. VoicePenPal, as the developer named this app, is one of the best pen pal apps that promise more effective communication, thanks to the voice chat feature it highlights. Using this platform, it is much easier to learn new languages and culture from the native speakers. Get connected to users around the world and start fun chatting to make new pen pals. If you’re concerned about safety, VoicePenPal gives you peace of mind. Your safety is at the top of priority, allowing you to enjoy positive and safe chat experience with strangers. Additionally, it features customer support to help solve your issue. What’s interesting about this app is that it utilizes AI-based software which reviews users’ activities 24/7. This help ensures a safe and fun environment for everyone in the community.
8. Hello Pal World
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store Having friends from other countries is undoubtedly fun. If you don’t know how to get connected to strangers and make new friends, Hello Pal World offers a brilliant solution for you. This platform has everything you need to meet new pals and stay in touch with them. This particular app highlights global coverage with millions of users from more than 200 countries worldwide. Upon joining, you can browse friends and pick one that catches your attention. Feel free to ask questions about language or talk about anything of your interests. Aside from built-in chat feature, Hello Pal World allows users to livestream. Other users can stream your broadcast, so it’s possible to become popular. Do you speak your native language only? Don’t worry. Hello Pal World has a translation tool that will help translate messages in a variety of languages, such as Arabic, English, Italian, Chinese, Korean, and many more.
9. Yubo
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store With Yubo, making new friends is only a few taps away. This best pen pal app has a huge community that enables you to find online pals via virtual interactions. Pick a pal with similar interests and start a fun chat—it’s all for free. The latest version of Yubo comes packed with a YouTube stream with which you can share fun moments with friends directly from YouTube. Collaborated with Snapchat, it also provides you with Lenses, a useful feature to try attractive filters.
10. Tandem
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store If you yearn for learning languages directly from native speakers then Tandem deserves your attention. As an Editor’s choice on Google Play, this platform lets you learn more than 300 different languages from their natives. With millions of users, Tandem is one of leading pen pal apps with the largest community to exchange language. How it works is completely simple. Find your partner, start chatting, and make your way to fluency. Not only can you achieve better fluency, but you can also expect improved vocabulary, clearer pronunciation, and better grammar. Meet new people, upgrade your social life, and learn new languages.
11. Doongle
Download on Google Play Download on the App Store Designed for Android and iOS, Doongle is among the best pen pal apps to connect with real friends around the globe. Featuring a nice and simple interface, using this platform won’t get you puzzled. Simply browse a partner and start chatting—you can share your moments or talk about random stuff. To encourage better communication, Doongle is featured with Story that lets you share voice stories and images to other users. Also, you have an option to any questions to get closer to other Doongle members. There’s nothing to worry about language barriers. This platform is equipped with real time translation, making it possible to chat with international friends without misinterpretation.
12. TalkFi
Download on Google Play TalkFi is another functional app to help you make new pen pals from your smartphone. Not only can you practice languages, but you can also meet cultures and chat directly with your pen pals. Plus, it allows you to share audio, video, and photos to bring your conversation to the next level. The best thing about TalkFi is that it provides you with a safe environment to meet new people. Thanks to the reputation-based new moderation system, it’s possible to get rid of scam users. Thus, you can get the most of this app. Find the best pen pal app of your version and get connected to the world. Whether you yearn for language exchange or culture learning, there’s always the right app to download.