To add to the growing list of things you can do with your cell phone, hear this: If you are a little lonely or at loose ends, a growing number of cell-phone services offer a chance to see if true love is just around the corner. Yes, sometimes the very one on which you are standing.

Here's how it can work, as told through the experience of 27-year-old Juston Payne:

Headed to a New York City bar recently, he was in the mood to get to know someone new. So he logged on to Meetmoi, a mobile-dating service. He then scrolled through a list of profiles on his mobile phone and found a like-minded stranger in the area. The two swapped text-messages and soon met up for a drink and a game of Skee-Ball.

''It's simple and it's immediate,'' said Payne, 27, who checks in with Meetmoi weekly. He's already been on two casual, on-the-go dates in the city.

Of the nation's estimated 213 million mobile-phone users, 3.6 million used a mobile-dating service in May 2007, according to M:Metrics, a Seattle-based mobile-research firm. Use of such services, mostly by men ages 18 to 34, has grown with the services themselves.

''For younger folks, the phone plays a very different role in their life than it does for older Americans,'' said Mark Donovan, an M:Metrics analyst. ''To them, it's a tool to entertain, to connect with their friends, to flirt and meet new people.''

Some ''traditional'' - meaning Internet - dating Web sites like Webdate and Match.com are rolling out mobile services, and there are a handful of stand-alone ventures such as Meetmoi, Zogo and Jumbuck Entertainment's Fast Flirting.

All work similarly, allowing users to scan profile and contact potential dates, using various screens to protect identities. (Geography is not necessarily a factor.) Most are free to register. Meetmoi charges 99 cents for 10 back-and-forth messages. Though now free, Zogo may soon start a monthly subscription. And for about $3 per month, users can chat on the Fast Flirting service for up to 10 minutes.

Users beware: Some cell-phone providers charge per text message, sent and received.

Safety is always key. All connections are made anonymously, and only users can reveal their true identities if they choose. And should a meet-up occur, it's always advised to do it in a public place, like a bar or coffee shop.

''There's a paradigm shift in dating,'' said Meetmoi's founder Andrew Weinreich, who declined to disclose how many have signed up with his new service. ''With online dating, you've got to sit in front of a computer, e-mail someone, get an e-mail a week later, arrange a date, pick the place. Too much hassle.

''Now you can flirt with or meet someone instantly.''