Where to post a missed connection in 2026: sites and apps compared

The right question is not “which site”, but “what does the other person have to do”

You crossed paths with someone, you do not have their name, and you are looking for a place to say so. There are several, and they are less alike than they seem. The real difference between them is not how they look: it is what they ask of the person you are looking for, so that they find you. A missed connection nobody reads is no use to anyone. Here is, option by option, what you do and what it takes on the other side.

Craigslist Missed Connections

The original. The phrase “missed connection” comes from this section of Craigslist, and it is still alive: every large city has its own list, with new posts every day.

• On your side — a free post, in the list of your city, written in a few minutes.
• On their side — they have to think of Craigslist, open the right city, and read the list during the right weeks.
• The weak point — time. Posts scroll down under the newer ones and expire after 45 days. If they look two months later, there is nothing left to find.

Local groups, city subreddits and “Spotted” pages

Facebook groups for a neighborhood, a campus or a train line, and the subreddit of your city. Some are asleep, some are very much alive, and a respectful post is usually welcome.

• On your side — a public message that describes a person in front of every member of the group.
• On their side — they have to follow that particular group, and come across your message among dozens of others.
• The weak point — the public description. What feels tender to you can read as awkward to the person described — and to their coworkers.

Missed connection websites

Several sites do nothing else. iSawYou has been online since 1999 and lists posts by location. Missed You has a page for each city, such as New York or Los Angeles. CrossedConnection publishes anonymous stories, without an account.

• On your side — a post, sometimes very detailed, on a site that search engines know. That is their strength: posts can be found with a search.
• On their side — they have to search, land on the right site, then read through the posts for their city.
• The weak point — the reading. One post among many, sorted in a list, on a site they have never heard of.

Dating apps: Happn, and Tinder’s Missed Connections

Happn does not look for someone after the fact: the app notices the people you cross paths with while you are using it, and shows them to you afterwards. Tinder has a feature called Missed Connections that works on the same principle: in the markets where it is available, it sends a weekly selection of members you may have been near during the past week, without saying where or when.

• On your side — having the app installed, with location sharing on, at the moment you crossed paths.
• On their side — the same thing, on the same app, at the same moment.
• The weak point — if either of you did not have it that day, there is nothing to find. And you cannot tell the story of an encounter so that the other person recognizes themselves in it.

They are very good at tomorrow’s encounter. They are much less suited to yesterday’s.

SeeYouLater: a marker on a map

On SeeYouLater, you do not post in a list: you drop a marker exactly where the encounter happened, at its date, with the scene in a few lines. The map is worldwide, the app speaks ten languages, and everything is free during the beta.

• On your side — an account, a marker, the story of the scene. You choose who can see it, and the location shown to other people is blurred to within about 500 meters (a third of a mile).
• On their side — looking at the map in the places they have been, which people do naturally, rather than reading a list. They tap “I think that’s me” and give a detail only the two of you know; you confirm, and the conversation opens.
• On top of that — if they drop a marker of their own for the same encounter, within 1 km (about half a mile) and 24 hours of yours, the app matches you on its own. The marker does not expire, and a public marker has its own page, which opens without an account and can be shared.
• The weak point, to be straight about it — the app is young. It was born in France in 2026, that is where most markers are today, and your odds depend on how many people are on the map around you. In your city you may well be the first pin. You can look at the live map without an account before you decide.

Which one to choose, depending on your case

• You want to cross paths with people tomorrow — a dating app like Happn or Tinder is made for that.
• It happened this week, in a big American city — post on Craigslist too. That is where people in your city are most likely to think of looking.
• You want them to recognize themselves without being described in public — SeeYouLater, where you tell the scene and they bring the detail.
• You want it to still be there in six months — a marker, which stays where it happened.
• Nothing stops you from doing both — a post where you like, and a marker on the map. The encounter belongs to no one.

Wherever you post: the three rules

• Tell the situation, not the person. They will recognize themselves in what happened.
• Never a photo of a stranger, anywhere.
• A no, or a silence, is an answer.

For the complete method, read how to find a missed connection, and if you do not have their name, what you really have in hand.

More guides, by situation

• Missed connection? How to find someone you crossed paths with
• How to find someone when you don’t know their name
• Missed connection on the subway, train or bus: how to find them
• Missed connection at a coffee shop, bar or restaurant
• Missed connection at a concert, festival or party
• Missed connection at the grocery store: how to find them
• Missed connection at the airport or on a flight: how to find them
• Missed connection at the gym, on a run or on a ride