Timeleft

What is the Timeleft app?

Timeleft is an app for meeting new people offline. You sign up, answer a short personality questionnaire, and tell it your city, language, and availability, and it matches you into a small group of strangers, classically six people total, for a dinner at a local restaurant. The twist that makes it work is that everything is arranged for you: Timeleft chooses the venue, assembles the group to mix ages, backgrounds, and personalities, and reveals the restaurant shortly before the event. At the table there are app-provided icebreakers to get conversation going, and afterwards a Connect feature lets you ask to stay in touch with people you clicked with. Beyond the classic Wednesday dinners it now also offers drinks, coffee, and walk meetups.

The reason Timeleft exists is urban loneliness: it is built for people who want to widen their social circle but find it hard to meet new people as adults, whether they are new in town, working remotely, or simply looking for friends outside their usual bubble. It is explicitly a friendship and social-connection tool, not a matchmaking service, which is why its iOS app is literally titled "Timeleft: Make New Friends IRL."

Timeleft company information

How Timeleft works

The flow is deliberately simple. You download the app, take a short personality quiz, and choose an activity (dinner, drinks, coffee, or a walk) along with your city, preferred language, and the date you are free. Timeleft then matches you with about five other members and, shortly before the event, sends you the venue and the plan. You turn up, use the in-app prompts to break the ice, and share a meal or activity with people you have never met. After the event, you can rate the experience and use Connect to request contact details from anyone you would like to see again. Timeleft handles the matching, the booking, and the logistics; you handle showing up and paying for your own food and drinks at the venue.

Is Timeleft a dating app?

No. Timeleft is not a dating app, and this is the most common misunderstanding about it. It is a friendship and social-connection app: you are seated with a group of five strangers, not paired one-on-one, there are no profiles to swipe, no bios, and no romantic matching. The explicit goal is making friends and fighting loneliness, and the app itself is branded around meeting new people "IRL." That said, because it puts you face to face with new people in a relaxed setting, some members do meet romantic partners through it, and a few cities have run themed "singles" dinners, so it can lead to dating the way any social event can. But its core purpose, format, and design are social rather than romantic. If you specifically want dating, a dating app is the right tool; if you want to widen your social circle and might meet someone along the way, Timeleft fits.

Is the Timeleft app free, and how much does it cost?

The Timeleft app is free to download and free to create an account and take the personality quiz, but booking dinners requires a paid subscription. In 2026 the company moved to subscription-only, removing the option to buy a single dinner ticket, so to actually attend events you subscribe. The price is shown in-app after you choose a dinner date and varies by country, but in the US it has typically been in the region of 20 to 28 US dollars a month, with a discounted multi-month option (one example cited around 66 US dollars for three months). On top of the subscription, you pay the restaurant directly for your own food and drinks, usually around 20 to 40 US dollars per person, since Timeleft only covers the matching and the booking. Two things to watch: the subscription auto-renews, and there is a no-show penalty (reported at around a third of the monthly fee) if you book a seat and do not turn up. So Timeleft is free to try and browse, but genuinely using it is a paid subscription plus the cost of your meal.

Timeleft app reviews: is it a good app?

Timeleft is generally well rated where it counts: its iOS app holds around 4.6 stars from over 9,000 ratings and its Android app around 4.4 stars, though its Trustpilot score is lower, near 3.3, which reflects the usual gap between in-app and complaint-driven reviews. Across app stores, Trustpilot, and Reddit discussions, the sentiment is consistent and worth knowing before you subscribe. On the positive side, people say it genuinely works for meeting new people, that it is a low-pressure, fun way to try restaurants and have real conversations, and that it is especially valuable if you are new to a city or want to break out of your routine, with many reviewers saying it is worth it if you commit to going more than once. The honest criticisms: it is not cheap once you add the subscription and the meal, the matching can be hit or miss, the app can be glitchy, friendships usually need follow-up outside the app to stick, and the experience depends heavily on your city, since turnout is strong in big, active markets and thin in smaller ones. The fair verdict: Timeleft is a good app for the specific job of meeting new people offline, as long as you go in expecting a paid, group social experience whose payoff grows the more you show up.

Timeleft apps and links

Apps like Timeleft (alternatives)

If Timeleft is not available in your city, is too expensive, or you want a different format, several apps and services fill a similar need for meeting people offline.

• Meetup: the biggest platform for interest-based group events, from hikes to board games. Broader and often free to attend, but you choose events yourself rather than being matched into a curated dinner.
• 222: an AI-driven app that curates small-group hangouts and dinners, a close competitor to Timeleft in major cities.
• Bumble For Friends: the friendship mode of Bumble, for one-to-one friend matching rather than group dinners, closer to a traditional app in format.
• Local dinner clubs and supper clubs: many cities have independent "dinner with strangers" clubs and events you can find on Eventbrite or through local communities.

The main difference is curation: Timeleft and 222 match you into a small group and handle the venue, while Meetup and Bumble For Friends put you in control of who and what you choose. Pick based on whether you want to be matched or to browse.

Timeleft vs Meetup

The comparison people make most is Timeleft versus Meetup, since both help you meet people in person but work very differently. Timeleft is curated and matched: you subscribe, it seats you with five strangers at a chosen restaurant, and the appeal is a low-effort, structured way to meet a fresh group. Meetup is open and interest-based: you browse groups and events (hiking, tech, language exchange, games), many of them free, and you decide what to attend, with the appeal being choice and shared interests. In short, choose Timeleft if you want to be matched into a dinner without planning, and Meetup if you want to pick events around specific hobbies and often pay nothing. Many people use both, Meetup for interests and Timeleft for new faces. The table sums it up.

Tips for getting the most from Timeleft

To get real value from Timeleft, treat it as something you do repeatedly rather than once. Go in with no expectations about any single dinner, since the group is the luck of the draw, and judge it over several events. Use the Connect feature and actually follow up outside the app, because that is where acquaintances turn into friends. Budget for both the subscription and the meal so the cost is no surprise, cancel the subscription when you are not using it to avoid auto-renewal, and only book when you are sure you can attend, given the no-show penalty. And check how active Timeleft is in your specific city before subscribing, since the experience is far better in busy markets.