Apps Like Slowly: Honest Alternatives for People Who Like Letters

Short version: the closest apps like Slowly are Bottled (a message drifts to a random stranger, who can keep it and start chatting) and Spillr's Scrolls (one letter a day to one random stranger, one reply within seven days, a chat only if you both say yes). For long-term pen pals you choose yourself, InterPals, Global Penfriends and PenPal World have been around for years. For real paper, Postcrossing. For a free, busy noticeboard, r/penpals on Reddit.

We make Spillr, so read that section knowing it. We have tried to be plain about where Slowly or someone else is the better choice, because they often are.

What Slowly is, and why people love it

Slowly is a pen-pal app made by Slowly Communications, a company in Hong Kong. It launched on iPhone in 2017, then on Android, and there is a web version for desktop. The idea is simple and slightly old-fashioned: you write letters, not messages, and each letter takes time to arrive.

• Delivery depends on distance. A letter to someone in the next city arrives fairly quickly; a letter to the other side of the world can take a couple of days. Slowly describes it as anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
• No photos, no real names. You pick a nickname and an avatar. People find you by what you are interested in and what you write.
• Matching by interests. You can browse profiles or let the app match you with someone who shares your topics and languages.
• Stamps. Every letter carries a stamp, and there are more than 2,000 to collect, many tied to places.
• Free to write. Sending and receiving letters is free and unlimited, with an optional paid membership (Slowly Plus) for extras.

The delay is the clever part. Because nobody expects a reply in five minutes, nobody writes like it. People write paragraphs. They answer the question you actually asked. That is hard to find anywhere else online.

Is Slowly a good app?

Yes, if you like writing and you are patient. It is one of the few places online where long, careful replies are the norm rather than the exception, and the avatars take a lot of the pressure out of a first impression. Plenty of people use it for language practice as well as friendship.

It is less good in a few honest ways. The wait is real, so if you want to talk tonight, it will feel slow (that is the name). Like every pen-pal service, a lot of conversations quietly stop after a few letters, which is nobody's fault but still stings. And it is built for ongoing back-and-forth, so if you only want to say one true thing to one person and see what happens, it can feel like a bigger commitment than you wanted.

Most people searching for apps similar to Slowly are not unhappy with it. They want a second place, or a slightly different shape.

Other apps like Slowly

Bottled: chance instead of choice

Bottled is the message-in-a-bottle app. You write a message, “throw it into the sea”, and it drifts to a random person somewhere in the world. If they keep your bottle, you match and can start chatting. If they release it, it floats on to someone else. It is free, on iPhone and Android, with optional paid extras.

Better than Slowly for: the surprise of not choosing who reads you, and getting to a real conversation faster. Less like Slowly in: pace. Once you match, it behaves more like a chat app, with photos and voice messages, than like letters.

Spillr's Scrolls: one letter, one stranger

This is ours. Spillr is a free iPhone app (no Android version, and you need an account). Scrolls are one letter a day to one stranger, chosen at random, somewhere in the world. No handle, photo or profile is attached. They can reply once, within seven days. If you both say yes, it opens into a chat. Nothing is shared unless you both say yes.

Better than Slowly for: saying one honest thing without signing up to a correspondence, and not being judged by a profile before you are read. Worse than Slowly for: long letter-by-letter friendships with someone you picked, language exchange, stamps, and anyone on Android. If what you love about Slowly is the slow back-and-forth itself, stay on Slowly.

InterPals: the long-running pen-pal site

InterPals has been running since 1998, on the web and as an app. You build a profile and search by country, age and the languages people speak or are learning, then message them. It is popular for language exchange and for meeting people when you travel.

Better than Slowly for: choosing exactly who you write to, and finding people in a specific country. Less like Slowly in: it is profile-led, with photos, and messages arrive instantly.

Global Penfriends and PenPal World

Two older pen-pal websites. Global Penfriends has been connecting people by post and online for over 25 years, welcomes all ages, and has groups for snail mail, postcards and language partners. PenPal World is a large pen-pal site with an internal mailbox, a free tier and paid upgrades.

Better than Slowly for: finding someone to write to on paper. Less like Slowly in: the experience is a classic website, not a designed app.

Postcrossing: real postcards, random people

Postcrossing is the paper version of the random-stranger idea. You request an address and get a random member somewhere in the world. You mail them a postcard. When it arrives and they register it, someone else sends one to you. It is free to join; you pay for cards and stamps.

Better than Slowly for: the physical thing in your letterbox, which no app can match. Less like Slowly in: it is one card each way, not a conversation, and your postal address is shared with the members who write to you.

r/penpals on Reddit

A big, free noticeboard where people post a short introduction and others message them. Its rules currently limit it to adults and ask posts to start with your age and gender. Some people want email pen pals, some want snail mail.

Better than Slowly for: volume and variety. Less like Slowly in: there is no structure at all, so you do the filtering, and your Reddit account history is visible to whoever you write to.

Language exchange apps

If you mostly use Slowly to practise a language, HelloTalk and Tandem are built for exactly that, with corrections and native-speaker matching. They are chat apps, not letter apps, so expect speed rather than slowness.

Apps like Bottled and Slowly: what you are actually after

People often search for Bottled and Slowly together, and they are quite different. Bottled gives you chance: you do not choose who reads you. Slowly gives you pace: you choose, but you wait. Working out which of the two you are missing makes the choice easy.

• Chance and pace together: Spillr's Scrolls. Random stranger, a reply window of a week, nothing more unless you both want it.
• Chance, then a fast chat: Bottled.
• Pace, with someone you picked: Slowly.
• Pace, on actual paper: Postcrossing or Global Penfriends.

Which one fits you

• “I want long letters with one person over months.” Slowly. It is still the best at this.
• “I want to write to someone in a particular country.” InterPals.
• “I want something in my letterbox.” Postcrossing, or a snail-mail pen pal through Global Penfriends or r/penpals.
• “I want to be surprised by who I meet.” Bottled.
• “I want to say one true thing to one stranger and see if it goes anywhere.” Spillr's Scrolls.
• “I mainly want to practise Spanish.” HelloTalk or Tandem.
• “I am on Android.” Everything here except Spillr.

Making whichever one you pick actually work

The app matters less than the first letter. The ones that get replies have three things in common: they are specific, they are a little bit personal, and they end with a question the other person can actually answer.

“It is raining here and I have just burnt the toast, which feels like the right start to a letter. What does a normal Tuesday look like where you are?”

That beats “Hi, I'm 27 and I like music and travel” every time. If you want more openings like it, how to write a letter to a stranger has a handful, and pen pals for adults covers the safety side, which matters more once paper addresses are involved.

And expect some silence. On every one of these, plenty of letters go unanswered or conversations stop after three exchanges. It is not a verdict on you. People get busy, apps get deleted. Write the next one anyway; the good correspondences tend to come from a handful of tries, not the first. If you want to widen the net beyond letters, apps to make friends that are not dating apps covers the rest of the field.