QUEENS — Looking for friends in your neighborhood? A new meet up app may help you find them.
Meshed, built by Forest Hills resident Dave Luke, 31, is designed to help locals connect and meet.
“I built this app because I had trouble getting my friends to come out sometimes,” said Luke, a Stony Brook University computer science graduate who worked on the project with his former college roommate, Ryan Hook, of Astoria.
“So I thought if I could just meet someone [from the neighborhood] in one of our local cafes it would be very convenient.”
The app, which was launched a couple weeks ago, allows users to post a message which is visible to others nearby. Those willing to connect will also see how far away the person posting it is and will be able to respond by opening a chat dialogue where they can come up with a meet up location.
Users can also tag specific locations in the neighborhood in their messages and check-in when they arrive, Luke said.
They can also look for friends based on activities by using various hashtags, such as #coffee, #meditation, #fitness or #chess.
Meshed is not a dating app, its developers said.
"None of the pressure of dating apps," they wrote on their website. "Casually see if anyone near you wants to hang out!"
“It’s really trying to bring people in the community together,” Hook said.
The app, which is free to download and use, currently has about 150 users, primarily in Forest Hills, but also in other neighborhoods in Queens, as well as in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Meshed is available both in the iPhone and Android app store, and can be downloaded at www.meshed.nyc.
Meshed, a new meet-up app, seeks to bring communities together, its developers said. (Credit: Meshed)
