Lucky Buddies

First Impression

I downloaded Lucky Buddies because my old meetup app turned into a ghost town over the summer. Nobody was posting, events stopped, and I was tired of scrolling through profiles of people who lived fifty miles away. This one popped up in a search and I figured I’d give it a shot, but I was ready to delete it the second I saw a paywall. The sign-up took about three minutes on my OnePlus 11, no credit card required, just a name, some interests I picked from a list, and a photo. The first screen after that showed me three people within a few miles who also listed “trail running” and “Mondays free.” That got my attention, because my old app never showed me anyone that close. The interface is clean, not cluttered with ads or weird animations, which I appreciated right away. I spent a good twenty minutes just poking around on a Tuesday evening, seeing how far I could get without paying a cent.

What It Does Well

The matching part actually works. You pick your hobbies from a decent list, like photography, fishing, cooking, even stuff like drone racing, and the app shows you people nearby who checked the same boxes. I connected with a guy named Dave three weeks ago because we both had “backpacking” and “old video games” in common. We planned a short hike on a Saturday morning through the app’s chat feature, and it wasn’t awkward at all. The location search is the real star here. I can set it to show only people within five or ten miles, which makes it way easier to actually meet up for coffee or a walk after work. The group feature is decent too. I joined a local photography group and someone posted about a sunrise shoot at a park last Sunday. Five of us showed up, which shocked me. The chat is simple, no fancy stickers or gimmicks, just text and the option to share a photo. That’s all I need. Notifications are pushy though, I had to turn a bunch off because it was buzzing every hour about people I didn’t care about yet.

Where It Falls Short

Here’s where my budget brain kicked in hard. The app lets you do a lot for free at first, but then you hit walls. You can only message a certain number of new people per day unless you pay. I ran into that limit on a Thursday afternoon when I found three interesting profiles and couldn’t message the third one until the next day. That’s annoying because the whole point is to talk to people while they’re still active. Also, the search filters are limited unless you upgrade. I wanted to filter by age range more precisely, but the free version only gives you broad options like “18-25” or “26-35.” No way to narrow it to, say, 28 to 34. The app also ate a bit of storage on my phone. After a month of use, it was over 500 MB, mostly from cached profile photos and messages. I had to clear the cache manually. Bugs happen too. Twice the chat froze and I had to force close the app. Nothing that lost my messages, but still annoying when you’re in the middle of planning something. The free version feels like a very extended trial, not a complete experience.

Is It Worth the Price?

I spent zero dollars for several months, so for me, the value was in what I could get without paying. If you’re willing to be patient, you can do a lot: create a profile, browse people, join groups, read event posts, and send a few messages. But if you want to seriously meet new friends every week, you’ll probably need to pay. The subscription isn’t cheap, it’s around eight bucks a month for the basic upgrade, which removes message limits and gives better filters. That’s less than Netflix, but I’m still not sure it’s worth it for a social app that might become a ghost town too. My rule is I only pay after I’ve gotten real value for free, and so far I’ve made two real friends without spending a dime. So I’d say try it free first. If you live in a busy city with lots of users, the free version might be enough. If you’re in a smaller town, the paywall might hurt more because you see fewer people anyway. I haven’t subscribed yet, but I’m tempted just to remove that daily message cap.

Developer & Support

I contacted support once because I couldn’t delete an old group I accidentally created. I sent a message through the app’s help form on a Friday night, expecting a bot reply. Instead, a real person answered on Monday afternoon, which was about three days later. They gave me clear steps: go to group settings, scroll down, hit “leave and delete.” It worked. The response was polite and solved my problem, but the wait was longer than I wanted. Three days for a simple issue feels slow when you’re used to apps that reply in hours. The developer, Everybuddy Games, seems to update the app every couple months. I’ve seen two updates since I downloaded it, mostly bug fixes and one new interest category for gardening. That shows they’re not abandoning it, but they’re not fast either. For a free app, the support was better than nothing. I’ve had worse experiences with paid apps that never replied at all.

Privacy & Safety

I’m paranoid about these apps because I don’t want strangers knowing where I live. Lucky Buddies asks for location access, which makes sense for finding nearby people, but you can set it to only work when the app is open. I keep it on that setting. The profile doesn’t show your exact address, just a general area like “2 miles away.” That’s fine by me. You can block and report users easily from the chat screen, and I tested the block function on a guy who was too pushy about meeting up late at night. It worked instantly, and I never heard from him again. The app says they don’t sell your data, but I always take that with a grain of salt. I checked the privacy policy, which is long and boring, but it didn’t mention anything creepy like tracking your messages for ads. No weird permissions on my OnePlus either, no access to my contacts or photos unless I manually share them. For a social app, it feels safer than most, but I still use a nickname instead of my real name just in case.