These are the 15 best apps to meet cool people around you - and while you're traveling

A lot of apps like Tinder simply show you people within a few miles of you. Happn goes one step beyond: When you open it on your phone, you're greeted by a collection of other users with whom you've physically crossed paths with throughout your day. You can then reach out to people who caught your eye, and if they're interested, you can message each other and take things from there.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Party with a Local connects travelers to locals and expats nearby who — you guessed it — want to party. You can even check their profiles and reviews. This app makes it easy to know which random strangers around you are actually open to grabbing a drink with a tourist.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Wildcard is a bit like Tinder for networking. You create a "card" which shows who you are and what you are looking for, and then try to match with others. If matched, their card goes into your virtual Roledex. You can also join and create "decks," which are collections of people based on events or locations, and serve as a shortcut to finding potential connections.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Grouper diffuses the awkwardness of a first date by setting up groups of friends with one another. You anonymously choose friends-of-friends to meet, and when you both pick "yes" (like Tinder), the app plans a "grouper" for you, which is drinks with your friends and theirs.

Price: Free (iOS)

MeetnGreeted is an app for getting a local travel concierge. It is more commercial than apps like Party with a Local, but it's still a way to get help with your travel needs while actually meeting an interesting person in the process. It's like having your own personal "fixer" who can help you with all the little annoyances of traveling.

Price: Free (Web App)

We Met on a Plane is all about finding that special someone you met on the plane but who slipped through your fingers. It's sort of like Cragslist "Missed Connections," but you can search by your flight information. Sure, it's a long shot, but what do you have to lose?

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Bumble is a dating app that flips traditional dating rules around by only allowing women to make the first move. It works like Tinder, with matches occuring when both people swipe "yes." But Bumble's twist is that the woman has to be the one to start the conversation — and matches disappear after 24 hours (though there is a feature where men can extend one match per day a further 24 hours).

Price: Free (iOS)

Beer?! is an app with a single purpose: to ask your friend out for a beer. Like the app Yo, it's a little silly in its simplicity. The only message you can send is "Beer?!" This app is for when you really just need to get a drink with someone.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Hinge is a dating app that works by matching you only with people in your extended social network. The app goes out to "third degree connections" of your Facebook friends to build you a network that is, hopefully, creep-free.

Price: Free (iOS)

Glimpse is an app for finding love via Instagram. You fill out a few tidbits of information about yourself, but it mostly works by plugging into your Instagram feed and letting your pictures do the talking. Glimpse also lets you and your potential match know if you have taken an Instagram photo from the same place.

And Tinder seems to have taken notice of Glimpse, recently adding the ability to link your Instagram to its own app.

Price: Free (iOS)

The concept behind GetReal is stopping the texting and emails and "checking up" with people you don't really know — be they potential dates or business contacts. GetReal matches you with people, romantic or not, and lets you pick a place to meet. That's it. No chatting.

Price: Free (iOS)

Chatous is all about meeting people who share your interests, and talking about what actually matters to you. The app does this by connecting you to people via what you hashtag. You type in a hashtag and then are matched with someone who also shares an interest in that topic. Then you can get down to chatting.

Price: Free (iOS, Android)

Treatings is a social network that helps you find collaborators for your next project. The core feature of the app is that it is a social network that runs on reputation — which is incredibly helpful if you are trying to find someone to work on a project with. This app is mostly useful for techies, but can function for other kinds of work as well.

Price: Free (iOS)

Tastebuds is a dating app that matches you based on music taste. If you can just never find someone who is into the same metalcore as you, this is your app. It's always good to let your inner music snob breathe a little.

Price: Free (iOS)