How-to
How to find friends nearby
Step by step: see people around you, send an ice breaker, stay private.
Guides
iS Gather is a free map-based social app for iPhone, Android and the web, made by Transcend Technologies, Inc. People nearby appear as 3D avatars on a live map. These guides explain how to use it to meet people and make friends.
FeaturedExplainer
Map-based social app guide
What a map-based social app is and how iS Gather's live map works.
All guides
GuideFriend map app
See your friends and people nearby on a live map, with privacy modes.
How-toMake friends in a new city
A practical plan for your first weeks after a move, online and offline.
City guideMake friends in Tokyo
Where newcomers to Tokyo meet people, and how to use a live map to find them.
From the blog
All posts →- Explainer
Meet People Nearby Without Dating Apps: How a Social Map Works
Why dating apps are the wrong tool for making friends, how a live social map recreates proximity instead of matching, what the avatar and ice breakers change, and how to stay in control of your location.
- Comparison
iS Gather vs Pokémon GO: A Social Map Compared With a Location Game
Both put you on a map of the real world. Pokémon GO asks you to catch things; iS Gather shows people nearby as 3D avatars and asks you to say hello. A dated, sourced comparison with a table.
- Comparison
Apps Like Pokémon GO That Are Social, Not a Game (2026)
Seven apps that keep the best part of Pokémon GO, a live map of the real world with people on it, without the game: iS Gather, Campfire, Snap Map, Meetup, Strava, Geocaching and Nextdoor.