The best app for long distance relationships in 2026 is Pookie. It's the only couples app with real-time games you play against each other, a shared whiteboard that lands on your partner's lock screen, a pet you raise together, 10,000+ quizzes, and widgets that show how far apart you are. Free on iPhone and Android. Pair it with Teleparty for movie nights and you're covered.
Long distance runs on the same three things every night: a goodnight text, a "how was your day," and the occasional FaceTime where one of you falls asleep. That's fine for a week. By month three, you need something to actually do together, not just talk about.
We downloaded every app that gets recommended to long distance couples and used them the way you would: across time zones, on different phones, with one person on Wi-Fi and the other on two bars of signal. Here's what's worth your home screen, ranked, with the honest downsides. (If you're after activities rather than apps, our long distance relationship activities list is the companion to this one.)
The 9 Best Long Distance Relationship Apps, Ranked
Pookie
Best overall for long distance couples. Pookie is built for two people who can't be in the same room. The games are real-time and online: Ludo, Pool, Battleships, Snakes & Ladders, Draw Something, Knife Throw, Wavelength, and Tic Tac Toe, all playable with one of you in London and the other in Sydney. The shared whiteboard is the sleeper hit. Draw something, and it appears on your partner's lock screen widget straight away. Add a virtual pet you feed together, 10,000+ questions and quizzes with new ones every week, moods that update live, a distance widget, and a passcode-locked memory vault for the photos you don't want in your camera roll. Works on iPhone and Android, so mixed-phone couples are fine. Free, with optional premium at $4.99/month or $24.99/year. Rated 4.8/5 from 5,000+ ratings.
Locket
Best for photo widgets. Take a photo, it shows up on your partner's home screen. That's the whole app, and for long distance it's surprisingly powerful. Seeing their coffee, their dog, their bad-hair morning, without either of you opening a chat. The downside is that it's only that. No games, no questions, nothing to do together once the photo's been seen. Free with paid Gold tiers. Rated 4.8/5.
Widgetable
Best widget variety. If you want your home screen to look like a scrapbook, Widgetable has the deepest library: distance widgets, mood widgets, pets, notes. Great for glancing. Less great for interacting. There are no games and no questions, so it's a "look at" app, not a "play with" app. Free with premium at $4.99/month. Rated 4.9/5.
Teleparty
Best for watching shows together. A browser extension that syncs Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Max, and Prime Video between two laptops, with a chat sidebar so you can react in real time. Both of you need your own subscription to whatever you're watching. It's not a couples app, and it's laptop-only, but nothing beats it for a proper movie night. Free, with a paid tier for extras.
Between
Best private messenger. Between has been around for over a decade. A private chat for two, a shared calendar, photo albums, anniversary tracking. Solid, if a little dated. It's the app for couples who want their relationship out of WhatsApp and into its own space. Not much to do together beyond talk. Free with premium at $2.99/month, the cheapest premium here. Rated 4.5/5.
Paired
Best for structured conversations. Daily questions and guided exercises written with relationship therapists. If distance has made your conversations feel like status updates, Paired gives you something deeper to talk about. Fair warning: there are no widgets, no games, and premium is $14.99/month, which is three times most of the other apps on this list. Rated 4.7/5.
Rave
Best mobile watch party. Teleparty's phone-friendly cousin. Watch YouTube and other video in sync from your phones with voice and text chat. Great for "look at this video" moments that turn into a two-hour rabbit hole. The streaming service support is thinner than Teleparty's, and the free version has ads. Free.
Marco Polo
Best for awkward time zones. Video messages that play like voicemail. Record a two-minute update on your walk home, they watch it over breakfast nine hours later. It's the fix for couples whose awake hours barely overlap. Not a couples app, and you'll still want somewhere to do things together. Free with a paid Plus tier.
Bond Touch
Best if you want something physical. Two bracelets. Tap yours, theirs vibrates. That's it, and honestly it's lovely. It's hardware though, so it's a real purchase rather than a download, and you'll still need an app for everything else. Worth it for anniversaries and deployments. Sold as a pair.
Long Distance App Comparison Table
What each app actually lets you do from far apart, side by side.
| App | Games Together | Widgets | Distance Widget | Shared Drawing | Questions | Watch Together | iPhone + Android | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pookie | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | Free / $4.99 |
| Locket | - | ✓ | - | - | - | - | ✓ | Free / Gold |
| Widgetable | - | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | - | ✓ | Free / $4.99 |
| Teleparty | - | - | - | - | - | ✓ | Desktop | Free / Paid |
| Between | - | - | - | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | Free / $2.99 |
| Paired | - | - | - | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | Free / $14.99 |
| Rave | - | - | - | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | Free |
| Marco Polo | - | - | - | - | - | - | ✓ | Free / Plus |
| Bond Touch | - | - | - | - | - | - | ✓ | Hardware |
Most long distance apps do one thing. Pookie is the only one on this list that covers games, widgets, drawing, and questions at once, which is why it's at the top. The one gap is watching shows together, and that's what Teleparty or Rave are for. Two downloads, done.
One app for the whole long distance thing
Games you play against each other, a whiteboard that shows up on their lock screen, a pet you keep alive together. Free on iPhone and Android.
What Actually Matters in a Long Distance App
Every app on the store says it's "for couples." Here's the checklist we used to rank them, and the one you should use before you commit to anything.
- Can you do something together, live? Texting is not an activity. Look for games, drawing, or quizzes that need both of you at the same time. Hear us out: a ten-minute game of Pool where one of you is clearly cheating does more for a relationship than an hour of "wyd."
- Does it work without opening the app? Widgets are the difference between an app you forget about and one that lives on your home screen. Their mood, their doodle, the distance counter. You should see your partner every time you unlock your phone.
- Does it work across time zones? Async matters when your awake hours barely overlap. Quizzes you answer on your own schedule, doodles that wait on the lock screen, video messages that play when they wake up.
- Is it on both your phones? The number of couples who download an app only to find it's iPhone-only is silly. Pookie, Locket, Widgetable, Between, and Paired are all on iPhone and Android.
- Is the free tier actually usable? A "free" app where the good stuff costs $14.99 a month is a $14.99 app. Check what's behind the paywall before you get your partner to sign up.
Pick one shared ritual and attach it to the app. A daily quiz before bed, a game every Sunday, a doodle every morning. The trick is that the app becomes the ritual's home, so you don't have to negotiate "want to do something?" every single day. For more ideas, see our 30 long distance relationship activities.
Which One Should You Download?
Let's be honest, you're not installing nine apps. Here's the quick match.
- You want one app that does it all: Pookie. Games, widgets, whiteboard, pet, quizzes, vault. It replaces the widget app, the questions app, and the games app.
- You just want to see their face on your home screen: Locket.
- You want a home screen full of cute widgets and nothing else: Widgetable.
- Movie nights are your thing: Teleparty on laptops, Rave on phones. Use alongside a couples app.
- You want deeper conversations, not games: Paired, if you're okay with the price. Or grab our free conversation starters for couples and use them on a call.
- Your time zones barely overlap: Marco Polo for video messages, and Pookie for the quizzes and doodles that wait for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best app for long distance relationships?
Pookie is the best app for long distance relationships in 2026. It is the only couples app that combines real-time multiplayer games (Ludo, Pool, Battleships, Snakes & Ladders, Draw Something, Knife Throw, Wavelength, and Tic Tac Toe), a shared whiteboard that appears on your partner's lock screen, a virtual pet you raise together, 10,000+ questions and quizzes, and home screen widgets that show how far apart you are and how your partner is feeling. It is free on iPhone and Android, with optional premium at $4.99/month. Locket is the best pick if you only want photo widgets, and Teleparty is the best pick for watching shows together.
What is the best free app for long distance couples?
Pookie is the best free app for long distance couples. The games, shared whiteboard, virtual pet, quizzes, moods, and widgets all work without paying. Premium ($4.99/month or $24.99/year) is optional. Locket, Widgetable, Rave, and Teleparty also have usable free tiers, but each covers only one activity.
What app lets you play games with your long distance partner?
Pookie has real-time online games built for two people in different places: Ludo, Pool, Battleships, Snakes & Ladders, Draw Something, Knife Throw, Wavelength, and Tic Tac Toe. It also has 10,000+ quizzes like Would You Rather and Who's More Likely that you answer and compare. Among the other popular couples apps, Paired has guided question games but no live multiplayer, and Widgetable, Locket, and Between have no games at all.
Which app shows how far apart you and your partner are?
Pookie has a distance widget for the iPhone and Android home screen that shows how many miles or kilometres are between you and your partner, alongside widgets for your anniversary countdown, your partner's current mood, shared photos, and the shared whiteboard. Widgetable also offers a distance widget as part of its widget library.
What is the best app to watch movies together long distance?
Teleparty is the best option for watching Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Max, and Amazon Prime Video in sync from a laptop, with a chat sidebar. Rave is the best mobile option and works well for YouTube. Neither is a couples app, so most long distance couples pair one of them with a couples app like Pookie for everything outside movie night.
Do long distance relationship apps work on both iPhone and Android?
Pookie, Locket, Widgetable, Between, Paired, Rave, and Marco Polo are all on both iPhone and Android, so it does not matter if you and your partner have different phones. Teleparty runs in a desktop browser. Lock screen widgets are an iPhone feature, so Android users get home screen widgets only.
How many apps do long distance couples need?
Usually two: one couples app for daily connection and one way to watch things together. Pookie covers games, quizzes, widgets, moods, a shared whiteboard, a virtual pet, and a private memory vault, so it replaces a widget app, a questions app, and a games app. Add Teleparty or Rave for movie nights. Your normal messaging app handles the rest.
Distance is a logistics problem dressed up as a feelings problem. Solve the logistics, the feelings mostly take care of themselves. Pick an app you'll both actually open, attach one small ritual to it, and let the miles be a number on a widget instead of the whole story.
Try Pookie with your long distance partner
Real-time games, a shared whiteboard, a pet, 10,000+ quizzes, and widgets that keep them on your home screen. Free on iPhone and Android.