Hoop is an amazing health-activities app designed to help families find and book local activities for their children. It aggregates information about various child-friendly events, classes, and workshops, allowing parents and care-givers to easily discover and plan activities based on their location, their children’s ages, and interests.

There is another app called Hoop (this was released after our app was released) and is a plug-in to Snapchat. This is not the same app, and if you are looking for Hoop – Healthy Events for Kids, then look for our distinctive logo online or search for “Hoop families” in Apple App Store or Google Play.

As for safety, Hoop itself is a platform for information and does not directly conduct the activities listed. Therefore, the safety of individual events or activities found through Hoop largely depends on the providers. While we cannot be responsible for how an activity is run, or activities that are listed, we do have some safeguards in place to help ensure that things are as safe as possible for kids and parents:

Listings Must Agree to our Conditions:

• List only safe classes/events/camps.
• All events must be monitored by appropriately trained leaders or teachers.
• Be honest with how you list your event.
• Necessary insurance must be in place.
• Always be kind.
• All events must be healthy for children.

Vetted Listings: While Hoop aggregates listings, there is often a level of vetting or review to ensure the activities are legitimate and appropriate for children. We check the app regularly to ensure that the right events are being added. If we spot any obvious anomalies, we can remove them.

User Reviews and Ratings: Our previous version of Hoop allowed users to leave reviews and ratings, which can provide insight into the quality and safety of the activities from other parents’ perspectives. Some events will still have this rating while we work on the new updates on the app.

Data Privacy and Security: In terms of user data, Hoop is expected to follow standard data protection regulations, such as GDPR in the UK, to protect personal information entered into the app.

Community Feedback: Hoop often relies on community feedback and users; parents and event organisers email us if they spot any anomalies with events. This can help in maintaining a safe and trustworthy database of activities.

Flag button on the event: We have a flag button on the event so any user can flag it as an anomaly. This sends us a notification so we can investigate it further.

Information about the event organiser: By clicking the name of the event organiser, you can bring up more information about that organiser. This can help you with any due diligence.

Future Plans:

As we develop Hoop further, we plan for event organisers to have some level of accreditation that may represent a blue check or tick, like we see in apps like Instagram and X.

While Hoop provides a convenient way to find children’s activities, it is always advisable for parents and care-givers to perform their own due diligence by researching the activity providers, reading reviews on the app and online, and where possible, visiting the location or contacting the organisers directly for any safety concerns or specific needs. As we always say, DYOR – do your own research, in the same way you might do for seeing a dentist, a vet, or taking your child to a nursery.

Thank you for using our amazing app Hoop which can be downloaded by clicking this link from your device or search in Google Play or Apple App Store for “Hoop families”.