For members

Going out on Wanderist

Find something near you that you'd actually want to do, ask the host if you can come, and turn up. Joining is free. A few hosts sell tickets for things that cost money to put on, and you see the price before you pay.

Find an Outing

Opens the App Preview, in your phone's browser.

My Outings in the Wanderist app, for the member Sam Rivera, verified, with tabs reading Hosted, Upcoming, Pending and Past. Under Upcoming, one card with a photo of sunlight through a forest: hosted by Sam, Sunday hike: the Fells Skyline Trail, tagged Outdoors, Nov 1 2026 at 9:00 AM at Middlesex Fells Reservation, Verified, 2 of 8 going.
  • Free to join Tickets only when a host charges
  • The host says yes Nobody joins without it
  • Friends first Direct messages and games, by default
  • 18+, block and report Reports go to moderators

Finding something

Close enough to reach, and something you're into.

Explore ranks what's near you by distance and by the interests on your profile. You choose the radius, and where it measures from: where you are now, or somewhere you're going to be.

The same feed, cut other ways: Happening Soon, This Weekend, Friends Going, Free and Almost Full. Or search by activity, venue or category, or open the map.

Swipe a card to save it or hide it. Both land in My Outings, so hiding something never loses it.

What else is in the feed besides Outings →

Explore in the app, scrolled: the line Nearby, 10 mi, the chips Suggested, Happening Soon and Friends, then a card under a photo of a die on a board game: hosted by Theo, Board games at the library, tagged Games, Oct 28 2026 at 6:30 PM at West Branch Library, 0.2 miles away, matching the interest Board Games, Verified, 4 of 8 going.

Going

Ask, hear back, get ready.

  1. The foot of an Outing's page. Who's going, 3 of 12: three verified members, their names cut short on screen — Priya, marked Host, Marcus and Elena — pictured by a sunflower, a dog and a cat. Below, a switch reading “First time doing this”, and a button reading Request to join.

    Ask to join

    You see who's going before you ask. New to the activity? Switch on First time doing this and it shows beside your name, on your request and in Who's going.

  2. The Requests screen in the app: Theo Park, verified, wants to join and is marked “First time doing this”; Marcus Webb and Priya Natarajan, both verified, want to join. Their photos are a succulent, a dog and a sunflower, and each row has a red decline button and a green approve button.

    The host decides

    Every request goes to the host, and you hear back either way: a yes and a no both arrive as a notification. Once you're in, the Outing says You're going!

  3. The middle of an Outing's page: the host's description — “A friend's trio is playing on the hill by the Powder House. Blankets, a thermos, and an afternoon of standards before it gets too cold.” — then the tags Live Music and Jazz, and a What to bring list with one item, a blanket.

    Get ready

    The Outing says what's included and what to bring, and it has a chat for everyone going. Add it to your calendar from My Outings.

On the day, and after

  • Check in when you get there

    It opens two hours before the start, and it's what lets your emergency contacts see where you are.

  • Your entry code

    Every Outing has a door. Show your code and the host or a co-host scans it, or checks you off by hand.

  • Rate it afterwards

    Once it's over, people who checked in can rate the Outing, and nobody else can. Ratings count toward the host's score.

  • Share the photos

    Each Outing has an album for the people who were there. Only a friend can tag you in one.

Can't make it? Cancel your spot from the Outing. Coming back means asking again, and the spot may have gone by then. A ticket is refunded under the host's refund policy, and in full if the host changes the event after you bought it.

Friends & the Lounge

Keep the people you meet.

Add someone after an Outing and they're in your Lounge: your friends list, one-to-one and group chats, and four small games to play together.

People you might click with come from shared interests and from Outings you've both been to. Someone you haven't met is only suggested if they've verified their identity.

Direct messages need a friendship first, unless you open yours to anyone. The games are friends-only, with no matchmaking with strangers, and they're in the iPhone and Android apps rather than the App Preview.

The four games →

The lower half of the Emoji Charades lobby: Players (1 of 12), listing one player marked Host; a Free Play toggle, off, with the note “One team, no clock, everyone guesses.” The only way forward is a button reading Invite friends; Start game is disabled, with “Invite at least one more player to start.” underneath.

Notifications

Only what can't wait interrupts you.

A push is for the things that go wrong if you only hear about them tomorrow: your request answered, an Outing moved or cancelled, a friend's game invite, a check-in from someone who named you their emergency contact.

Everything else — friend requests, photo tags, what your friends are hosting — waits in your Feed. Each kind has its own switch, and turning one off never takes it out of the Feed.

The Notifications settings in the app. The first group of switches covers Outings you're going to: being approved, a request declined, an Outing moving to a new time, an Outing cancelled and a friend inviting you to a game are on; an Outing's details changing and someone hosting a listing you'd go to are off. Below it, a Safety group with one switch, on, for someone checking in with you as their emergency contact.

Safety

Meeting people is your call.

We don't vet the people you meet, and we won't pretend otherwise. There are no background checks, and a badge on a profile is not a character reference — it means a document was checked, nothing more. Who you meet, where, and whether to go at all is your judgement to make.

  • Tell someone where you are

    Pick friends as emergency contacts. While you're checked in, they can see your live location — and only then.

  • Look before you ask

    An Outing shows its host and who's going, and which of them have verified their identity.

  • Block and report

    Blocking is immediate and mutual. Reports go to moderators with your reason.

  • Lock the app itself

    A PIN or Face ID lock, separate from your phone's.

Wanderist is 18+. We ask for your date of birth at sign-up. Our terms set out what we do and do not check, in the same words as above.

What each tool does, in full →

Your profile

Most of it stays off until you turn it on.

Interests
Up to twenty. Hide one and it leaves your profile but still shapes your feed. Remove it to stop that.
Activity
Two counts, hosted and attended. The lists behind them stay private until you publish them.
Photo tags
Friends only. Untag yourself from anything, or turn tagging off.
Socials
None shown until you choose. Each network is its own switch.

You can delete your account from inside the app whenever you like — here's what that removes.

Profiles, and what other people see →

The foot of the interests editor. Each interest is a chip with an eye icon and a remove button; several — cider, art exhibit, hiking, somerville, Exercise, back bay — are drawn struck through with a crossed-out eye, marking them hidden from the public profile. The add field at the bottom reads “Limit reached (20)”.

Getting Wanderist

Explore is live across New England and New York. Boston and Providence are where we're growing first.

Want to host something yourself? It's free — here's how hosting works.

Try the App Preview

Wanderist in your phone's browser, today. Nothing to download.

Open the App Preview

The apps

In testing now, for iPhone and Android.

  • iPhone · coming soonApp Store
  • Android · coming soonGoogle Play