JoinLinks vs Sonar Connections
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
JoinLinks
Easily make meaningful friendships in real life by discovering or creating local hangouts and interest-based communities. Connect with others through a live feed and dedicated group chats to build lasting connections.
- Discover local hangouts and events
- Create your own hangouts
- Join interest-based communities
- Connect via live feed and group chats
- Share memories in community photo vaults
- Build real friendships
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Make Real Friends. Join Real Communities. Host Real Events. JoinLinks is the easiest way to build meaningful friendships in real life — and now, the easiest way to host the events and communities that bring people together. Whether you're new to a city or just looking to meet new people, JoinLinks helps you find others who share your interests and gives you the tools to turn connections into community. Create or join Links — real-world hangouts hosted by people nearby. From coffee meetups to weekend hikes, Links make it simple to get together in the real world. Build your Community — start or join interest-based communities, each with its own group chats, dedicated feed, event links, and private photo vault. Approve members, spin up multiple chat channels, and give your people a place to belong. Host and sell out your events — turn any Link into a ticketed event. Set prices, sell tickets right in the app, and check guests in at the door with a built-in scanner and live dashboard. The Wallet tracks your sales and payouts with simple Stripe setup.* Stay connected — share posts and photos on the Live Feed, reply in threads, @mention friends, and switch between accounts without logging out. Offline mode keeps your tickets and content available even when the venue Wi-Fi doesn't cooperate. Whether you're into running clubs, creative workshops, foodie adventures, or just want to meet good people, JoinLinks helps you make it happen. Key Features: • Discover local hangouts and events hosted by real people • Create your own Links and invite others to join • Sell tickets to your events and get paid, with check-in tools at the door* • Join interest-based Communities with group chats, feeds, and photo vaults • Post, react, and connect on the Live Feed • Switch between multiple accounts instantly • Access your tickets and content even when you're offline JoinLinks is your gateway to a more social, connected life. Wherever you are, there's a Link waiting for you. *Ticketing and payouts requires host verification. ToS: https://www.joinlinks.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.joinlinks.com/privacy
Sonar Connections
Navigate events with an interactive map and find people based on shared interests. This app offers an AI assistant to locate booths and connect with individuals, ensuring privacy with no background tracking or data sales.
- Interactive event floor plans
- AI-powered booth and person finder
- Interest-based user matching
- Privacy-focused location sharing
- Vendor and organizer tools
- Content moderation and reporting
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Sonar Connections turns an event into a map you can actually navigate — and the people in it into people you can actually find. FIND ANY BOOTH Walk into a convention, trade show, or farmers market and get a real, tappable floor plan instead of a folded paper handout. Tap any booth to see who they are, what they sell, their photos, their website, and their links. Search the whole floor by what you need, not by booth number. JUST ASK DRW is Sonar's built-in assistant. Type it or say it — "where's the tamale booth," "who here does fraud detection," "take me to booth 12" — and DRW answers, or moves the map to it. No menu diving. MEET THE RIGHT PEOPLE At a convention, the right person beats the nearest person. Sonar matches on badge intent, interests, and what you actually do — then shows you where they are. Send a connection request, swap a digital handshake, and keep the thread. BUILT FOR WHERE YOU ARE • Events — conventions, trade shows, expos, and career fairs. Your badge, the floor, the agenda, and the people, in one place. • Social — what's happening near you and who's up for it. • Live — venues and nightlife, in the moment. Each mode keeps its own profile and its own face. They never cross. FOR VENDORS AND ORGANIZERS Build your booth from your phone in under a minute — speak it, or paste your website and Sonar pulls your logo. Arm a swag drop for everyone on the floor. Organizers get live floor heat, dwell time, and top-booth data, plus edit access to every booth at the event. PRIVACY IS THE ARCHITECTURE • Your exact location is never visible to another user. Ever. • Location is read only while the app is open. No background tracking. • No ads. No data sales. No advertising SDKs. • You are never a dot on someone's map — identity is revealed on a tap, by consent. SAFETY Photos are screened automatically before anyone can see them. Report or block any user from anywhere in the app, and we act on reports within 24 hours. We have zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. Sonar Connections is for adults. You must be 18 or older. Terms: https://sonarconnections.com/terms Privacy: https://sonarconnections.com/privacy Support: https://sonarconnections.com/support
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sonar Connections at none against JoinLinks's 3. Sonar Connections also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). JoinLinks's advantage is ratings volume (40 vs 1) and device support (4 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. JoinLinks sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Sonar Connections asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sonar Connections holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: JoinLinks has 40 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
JoinLinks ships an update every 2 weeks, Sonar Connections weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | JoinLinks | Sonar Connections |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (40 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 90.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 40 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 246 MB | 115 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Join Links | JONATHAN CANTLO |
Customer experience
JoinLinks
Sonar Connections
In-app purchases
JoinLinks
- Monthly Subscription$2.991 Month
- JoinLinks Plus 3 Months$6.993 Months
- JoinLinks Plus Yearly$24.991 Year
Sonar Connections
No in-app purchases








