Here.fm Alternatives in 2026 (and What Happened to Here.fm)

Here.fm shut down on July 22, 2024, three days after the team announced it, and in 2026 a rebuilt version came back at here.fm as “Here, revived”. It’s free, supports desktop and phone browsers, and has an Android APK beta, but old accounts and rooms didn’t carry over. If you’re looking for somewhere like it, the closest alternatives in 2026 are Glint (rooms you build and decorate together, with voice, video and a shared canvas), Kosmi (watch parties and games), Discord (always-on voice channels) and Gather (a virtual office for teams). Most of them are free.

Full disclosure: I make Glint, and a lot of Glint’s first users came from here.fm. When we surveyed them, around 20 people brought up here.fm without being asked. So I’ll be upfront about where Glint fits and where the others are a better pick.

What happened to here.fm?

The original Here.fm closed on Monday, July 22, 2024, after about four years. The team announced it on July 19 in a short thank-you note that called Here “a fun experiment” in feeling close to people online. Rooms went offline with the service, and a Change.org petition asking to bring it back gathered signatures from people who had used it for friendships, long distance relationships and communities.

Why did here.fm shut down?

The team didn’t share a detailed reason. The goodbye note thanked everyone who spent time there and listed the people who built it, but it didn’t say whether money, growth or something else was behind the decision.

Is here.fm back?

Yes. In 2026 a rebuilt version of Here went live at here.fm, under the name “Here, revived”. What we know about it so far:

• It’s free. You sign up and start a room.
• It runs in desktop, phone and tablet browsers, with a desktop browser such as Chrome recommended. Its Android app is available as an APK beta outside the Play Store; iOS is planned for later. We checked Here’s current product page on November 1, 2026.
• Old accounts and rooms didn’t come back. Everyone starts again with an empty room.
• It’s rebuilt, not restored. The site describes it as revived and rebuilt on new technology, and it doesn’t say who is behind it.

If what you miss is Here itself, try the revived site first. The alternatives below are for groups who want a different room style, something built around illustrated room building, or a different way to hang out. Neither service can guarantee its future.

What made here.fm special?

Here.fm wasn’t a video call app. It was a place. Each room was a canvas where your video bubbles floated next to things you’d put there together: stickers, GIFs, videos, drawings and games, all on a theme you picked. The room stayed exactly how you left it, so coming back felt like walking into your own place. That’s why people used it for movie nights, study sessions, long distance dates and group hangouts that went on for hours.

Any real here.fm alternative has to get three things right:

• A room that stays. What you put there is still there next time.
• Things to do together. Not just talking, but watching, drawing, decorating and playing.
• Low friction. Send a link, your friends are in.

What are the best here.fm alternatives?

App	Why it’s like here.fm	Voice and video	A space you decorate	Price
Here, revived	The original idea, rebuilt in 2026	Yes	Yes	Free
Glint	Rooms that stay, decorated with stickers, GIFs, notes and videos	Yes	Yes	Free, optional sticker series
Kosmi	Rooms you share by link for watch parties and games	Yes	Themes and customization	Free, optional Premium
Discord	Always-on voice channels for a friend group	Yes	No	Free, optional Nitro
Gather	A virtual office with characters, desks and meetings	Yes	Yes	From $12 per member a month billed annually

Glint

Glint is the closest to here.fm’s mix of a shared canvas and a room that feels like yours. You build a room tile by tile, decorate it with stickers from an album (furniture, plants, pets, whole room styles), and hang out in it over voice, video and chat. You can put notes, images, GIFs, documents and websites on the canvas, draw together, and play a video that stays in sync for everyone. It runs in a browser tab and is free to use, with optional sticker packs.

Kosmi

Try Kosmi if your group mostly used here.fm to watch things together (see our Kosmi alternatives if it isn’t quite right). Kosmi says it syncs YouTube, Netflix and other streaming services, and it has a shared virtual browser and multiplayer games. Invited friends can join without signing up, while creating a room requires an account, as we checked in our Kosmi comparison. Its main tools center on watching, browsing and games; room customization is part of Kosmi too.

Discord

Discord is where a lot of here.fm groups ended up by default. Voice channels are great for dropping in and out, and screen sharing works well. But it’s built around chat and servers, not a room you make together, and it doesn’t have here.fm’s visual, playful side.

Gather

Gather 2.0 is now a virtual office for remote teams, with characters, office customization, chat and meeting tools. Gather Classic still serves events. Since September 2025 neither has an ongoing free tier. See our current Gather comparison for the source pages, prices and guest access rules.

How is Glint like here.fm?

You can take a closer look at Glint’s room builder, shared canvas and voice and video, or start with the guide to hanging out online.

Glint keeps the parts of here.fm people miss most:

• Rooms that stay. Everything you add is still there next time, exactly where you left it.
• A shared canvas. Stickers, GIFs, notes, images, documents, doodles and websites, all in one space.
• Watching together. Videos play, pause and skip in sync for everyone in the room.
• Voice, video and chat. Talk while you decorate, or just hang out.
• Public and private rooms. Keep a room to your friends, or open it up.

How is Glint different from here.fm?

The biggest difference is that in Glint you build the room itself. You lay floors, put up walls and doors, and furnish it with illustrated stickers you pick up with tweezers and press into place. It feels a bit like decorating in a cozy game, with sticker series to collect, but you’re doing it live with your friends.

Glint has friends, online presence, DMs, events with RSVP and reminders, polls, a shared timer, a photo booth and face effects. See our November 2026 release notes. Those social toys are different from a multiplayer game catalogue. Glint works in a phone browser, and the iPhone app is coming to the App Store; it is not available there yet. Our Glint vs here.fm comparison has the current feature table, sources and test limits; the rooms and stickers update explains room building and decorating.

How do you move your here.fm group to Glint?

1. Create a free account and make a room.
2. Press B to build: start from a ready-made room style like the cat café or the tea room, or lay it out block by block.
3. Open the sticker album from the dock and decorate. Cozy Basics and Cat Café are free, and every other series has free stickers too.
4. Copy the room’s invite link and send it to your group.
5. Put a video on the canvas, leave a note about your next hangout, and keep adding to the room every time you meet.

If your group used here.fm for dates, there are more ideas in 25 long distance date ideas that feel like being together. And if you moved to Discord and it isn’t clicking, here’s why Glint might suit you better.

Frequently asked questions

When did here.fm shut down? Here.fm shut down on Monday, July 22, 2024. The team announced it on July 19, 2024.

Why did here.fm shut down? The team didn’t give a detailed reason. Their goodbye note called Here a fun experiment and thanked everyone who used it.

Is here.fm back? Yes. A rebuilt version called “Here, revived” went live at here.fm in 2026. It’s free and runs in desktop browsers, but accounts and rooms from the old site didn’t carry over.

What is the best free here.fm alternative? For a room you decorate and hang out in with friends, Glint is the closest and it’s free. For watch parties and games, Kosmi is free too.

Is there a here.fm alternative that works on phones? Glint and Kosmi both work in a phone’s browser, and Discord has phone apps. The revived Here also supports phone browsers and has an Android APK beta; iOS is planned for later, according to its current page, checked November 1, 2026.

What were websites like here.fm? Here.fm was part of a small group of hangout sites built around shared rooms rather than calls. Today the closest are the revived Here, Glint, Kosmi and Gather, with Discord as the everyday option.