Pie: Free Events, Cool People

Review by eFreeware

Pie is a free social app built around a simple idea: finding something to do and someone to do it with should be as easy as ordering a ride. It lists local, in-person events and helps you run into the same people often enough that friendships form on their own. The app is available now in Chicago, Austin, the Bay Area and Columbus, and the developer says more cities are coming.

What stands out to me is the pairing of two things that usually live in separate apps. One half is a feed of things to do; the other half is the people who show up to them. Pie ties the two together so that an event is not just a listing but a place where you might see familiar faces again. If you live in one of the supported cities and want a low-pressure way to get out more, this is the audience the app is built for.

Finding something to do this week

The events side of Pie is deliberately narrow: free, local, in-person gatherings that match your interests. These are not ticketed concerts or big productions; they are the kind of small, casual meetups that are easy to show up to alone.

A personalized feed shows which events your friends and their friends plan to attend. That social layer is what separates it from a plain events calendar. Instead of scrolling a list of anonymous happenings, you see where your extended circle is going, which makes it easier to pick something and less awkward to walk in.

The feed leans on your existing connections, so the app works best when some of your friends are already on it. If your circle is not there yet, the events themselves still give you a reason to open the app, and the people you meet at them become the network over time.

Meeting people without the pressure

The second half of Pie is about the people. The developer describes the goal as running into like-minded people often enough that you accidentally become friends, with no pressure and no promises. That framing matters: the app is not a dating product and does not promise a match. It is closer to a way of increasing your odds of seeing the same faces again.

In-app chat is where those connections turn into plans. You can say hi, share photos, and coordinate meetups with people you have met through events. The latest update lets you take a photo in chat and send it without exiting the conversation, and tap a post photo to view it full screen. Those are small changes, but they make the chat feel more like a normal messaging thread and less like a bolt-on.

Chat management also got a little smoother. Mute a conversation with a swipe, or open its header for details on the plan or the person. If you end up in several group threads after a few events, that kind of shortcut saves you from hunting through a list.

Hosting your own thing

Pie also lets you host. You can keep an event private for people you know, or extend it to your friends' network through snowball mode. That second option is the interesting one: it turns a small gathering into something that can grow through people you trust, which is a reasonable way to fill a room without broadcasting to strangers.

Sharing is built in. You can share the hang from the app by link, text, or AirDrop. For hosts who already juggle group chats and shared calendars, that is one less step.

Events can also be added straight to your calendar, which helps if you are the type who forgets plans the moment they are made. The recent update fixed a couple of small annoyances here: plans with no set time no longer display as 12:00 am, and sold-out plans no longer show buttons that do nothing. Those are the kind of details that make an app feel cared for.

What you need to get going

The main requirement is location. If you are not in one of those cities, the developer's advice is to sit tight; the app is not useful to you yet. That is a real constraint, and it is worth being upfront about it rather than installing and hoping.

Beyond that, there is not much setup to describe. There is no paid tier to navigate: Pie is free, carries no ads, and offers no in-app purchases. The content rating is Teen.

The app has been downloaded more than 10,000 times and holds a 4.6 average from 143 ratings. It launched in November 2024 and was last updated in October 2026, so it is still being worked on. Those numbers are modest, which is normal for a city-by-city rollout.

Who gets the most out of it

Pie suits people who have recently moved to one of its cities, or who have lived there a while but want a social life that does not depend on a standing group of friends. It also fits anyone who prefers small, free, in-person gatherings to big ticketed events. The app is built for people who are willing to show up somewhere alone and see what happens.

It is less useful if you are outside the supported cities, or if your friends are not on the app and you are not comfortable meeting new people through events. The feed is social by design, so it rewards having at least a few connections. If your main goal is browsing a comprehensive citywide events calendar, Pie is narrower than that.

The overall pitch is a social life that compounds: you go to something small, you see the same people again, and eventually you have a circle. That is a slow build, and the app does not pretend otherwise. For the right person in the right city, that is exactly the point.

A free, focused social app for four cities

Pie is a free app with no ads and no in-app purchases, and it does one job: connect you to local events and the people who attend them. The combination of a personalized feed, chat, hosting tools and calendar sync covers the basics without much clutter. The recent update shows the developer is still smoothing out rough edges.

The catch is the map. If you live in Chicago, Austin, the Bay Area or Columbus, there is little reason not to try it, especially if you are looking for free things to do and open to meeting people. If you are elsewhere, the app simply cannot help you yet, and no amount of enthusiasm changes that.

It is not a replacement for a full events calendar or a messaging app, but as a bridge between the two, it makes a clear case for itself.

What's new in version 5.33.0

Snap a photo straight into a chat • Take a photo from the chat menu and send it without leaving the conversation • Tap a photo in a post to see it full screen • Swipe a chat to mute it, or tap its header to jump to the plan or person • Plans with no set time stop showing 12:00 am, and sold-out plans lose dead buttons Plus handful of bug fixes to keep the app running fast and smooth