By Dazz
Report updated May 7, 2026
Hoop - make new friends
For teen and young adult users seeking to expand their social networks and connect with new people globally.
Hoop - make new friends is an established social networking app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.3/5 rating from 1.1M reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate social discovery features allow users to connect with new people across various global regions, though aggressive monetization tactics gate essential communication features behind recurring diamond or currency purchases remains a common concern.
What is Hoop - make new friends?
Hoop is a social discovery app for iOS and Android that allows users to browse global profiles and exchange social media handles.
Users hire Hoop to bypass the social friction of finding new friends globally, though the current currency-gated model forces them to move conversations off-platform to avoid costs.
Current Momentum
v3.30 · 4w ago
Maintenance- Ships general performance improvements.
- Maintains static profile browsing model.
Active Nemesis
MeetMe: Go Live & Meet People
By The Meet Group
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
Social NetworkingRating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User MoodAI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?
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What Are The Key Features?
In-app currency earned through daily check-ins, profile sharing, and leveling up to unlock profile interactions
User-controlled sharing of external social media handles to facilitate off-platform connection
Browsing millions of user profiles filtered by country or worldwide location
How much does it cost?
- Free tier with ad-supported diamond earning
- In-app purchases for diamond packs
Freemium model relies on ad-supported engagement loops and direct IAP for in-app currency to gate social interactions.
Who Built It?
Facilitating global social discovery through a gamified profile-browsing experience and cross-platform handle exchange.
Portfolio
1
Apps
Who is Dazz?
Dazz operates as a single-product studio focused on the 'friend discovery' niche, positioning itself as a bridge to other social platforms rather than a destination for long-form content. Their moat is a gamified 'diamond economy' that regulates user interaction and monetization without relying on traditional subscription-only gates. The strategic signal is their high maintenance cadence, indicating a focus on optimizing a single high-traffic funnel rather than horizontal portfolio expansion.
Who is Dazz for?
- Socially active individuals seeking to expand their digital network globally by discovering
- Exchanging social media handles
Portfolio momentum
Maintaining a high update frequency for their flagship title with 6 releases in the last 6 months and a recent update within the last 14 days.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 100 of 143 total reviews analyzed · Based on 143 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate social discovery features allow users to connect with new people across various global regions, but report aggressive monetization tactics gate essential communication features behind recurring diamond or currency purchases.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
What is the competitive landscape for Hoop - make new friends?
How's The Social Networking Market?
How does it evolve in the Social Networking market?
Hoop holds the #98 Free position in the US Social Networking category. The gap between its discovery-led free tier and the monetization-heavy diamond gate creates a churn risk as users hit paywalls before establishing social bonds.
| Country | Category | Chart | Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇵🇱 Poland | Social | AndroidGrossing | #146 | ▼1 |
| 🇸🇮 Slovenia | Social | AndroidGrossing | #147 | ▼9 |
The rivals identified
The Nemesis
- -
Weaker sentiment at 15/100 — but still a direct threat
- -
Integrates live-streaming video as a primary discovery mechanism, whereas Hoop relies on static profile browsing.
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Operates a mature, multi-layered monetization model including virtual gifts and live-stream tipping beyond simple diamond purchases.
Contenders
Features a 'Meet Me' swipe-based discovery game that mirrors Hoop's core interaction loop but with broader social features.
Provides a more robust suite of community-based chat rooms that encourage group interaction rather than just 1-on-1 connections.
Peers
Uses 3D avatar customization as the primary hook for social interaction, moving away from real-life profile photos.
Builds a virtual world environment where users interact in shared spaces rather than just exchanging social handles.
Facilitates social connection through shared gameplay experiences, reducing the awkwardness of initial cold-start conversations.
Maintains a cleaner, ad-supported environment that prioritizes game-based interaction over the profile-swiping discovery model.
Focuses entirely on high-production live broadcasting and creator-fan dynamics rather than peer-to-peer friend discovery.
Monetization is heavily driven by real-time virtual currency transactions during live events, creating a distinct economic ecosystem.
Leverages deep integration with the Instagram social graph, allowing users to find and follow existing connections instantly.
Prioritizes text-based public discourse and thread-style conversations over the private, 1-on-1 social handle exchange model.
New Kids on the Block
Bypasses the traditional app-open friction by delivering social content directly to the user's home screen via widgets.
Focuses on high-frequency, low-effort intimacy between existing friends rather than the discovery of new, unknown connections.
Structures social interaction around specific artist communities, creating a high-intent environment for niche-based friend discovery.
Integrates e-commerce and exclusive content drops directly into the social feed to drive daily active usage.
The outtake for Hoop - make new friends
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Gamified diamond economy drives daily check-in loops
- Global profile discovery provides infinite scroll content
Critical Frictions
- Pay-to-chat friction drives users to external platforms
- Technical instability causes frequent crashes and loading errors
- High volume of unvetted bot accounts undermines trust
Growth Levers
- Native in-app messaging would increase session duration
- Granular city-based filtering would improve match relevance
Market Threats
- MeetMe live-streaming engagement siphons discovery traffic
- External messaging migration reduces in-app ad inventory
What are the next best moves?
Ship native in-app messaging because users cite lack of inbox as top friction point → increase retention
User requests for native messaging are a recurring theme in sentiment analysis.
Trade-off: Deprioritize new profile customization features to focus engineering on messaging infrastructure.
Audit bot detection logic because prevalence of scammers is a top complaint → improve user trust
Sentiment data identifies unvetted bot accounts as a primary barrier to authenticity.
Trade-off: Pause new ad-network integrations to reallocate backend capacity to moderation tools.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's reliance on external social handle exchange is not a feature but a structural failure, as it effectively subsidizes the growth of competing platforms at the expense of Hoop's own retention.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Live-streaming video discovery (available in MeetMe)
- Synchronous multiplayer gaming (available in Plato)
Key Takeaways
Hoop maintains a strong discovery hook through its diamond economy, but the pay-to-chat model forces users off-platform, so the PM should prioritize native messaging to capture the value currently lost to external social apps.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The social discovery market is shifting toward live-streamed, synchronous interaction, leaving static profile-swiping apps like Hoop exposed. Without a transition to native messaging, the app will continue to serve as a top-of-funnel discovery tool that fails to retain its user base.
Technical instability and frequent crashes in the latest release disrupt the core social experience, leading to increased churn.
Aggressive monetization gating communication features drives users to external platforms, which compresses the long-term retention loop.