It's goodbye from us
Like many businesses all over the world the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on Hoop.
When the lockdown in the UK began the revenue Hoop generates from bookings quickly went to near zero. And while we were able to introduce a feature that would allow organisers to sell spots to online activities, this hasn’t ben able to make up for the losses we’ve seen.
We’ve spent the last few months searching for ways that would allow Hoop to continue, however these attempts have ultimately proven unsuccessful.
We’ve loved getting to know the families who use the Hoop app, and been amazed by the creativity and passion of activity organisers up and down the country. It is these interactions that make us confident that family activities will return as strong as ever.
Team Hoop
What was Hoop?
Hoop was an app that helped families across the UK discover things to do with their kids. It was chosen by Apple as an “App of the Year” twice, and installed by over 1.5 million families. Our platform “Hoop for Organisers” was used by over 15,000 organisers to help promote their activities.
Team Hoop at our 2019 summer party
Team Hoop at our annual Remote DaySend us your stories
One of the joys of working on Hoop has been receiving messages from families explaining how the app has helped them. The time to read those stories is now coming to an end, so if you have one you would like to share with the team, now is the time to do it. Simply send an email to hello@hoop.co.uk — it really would make our day.
All of these stories have been published with the permission of the author.
We are a family from South London who have used Hoop for a number of years to try new things. Our eldest has SEN so needs to kept busy. I have really appreciated how easy and flexible it was to find something that suited all of us.
— Brona
I suffered from postnatal depression and anxiety, and Hoop gave me the confidence to leave the house for planned activities until I was confident enough to freestyle.
— Hannah
Honestly, when you're a new mum, and exhausted and you're breastfeeding, and you forgot to charge your phone, and have only a finite amount of browsing time left before it dies, or you nod off from exhaustion or are called away attending to baby a thousand times before midday, every ease of access thing counts. COUNTS. It's not a small thing. Hoop was the only platform that provided this ease.
— Sophia
I’m a 44 year old mother with only one child. As you can imagine, my friends had their children when they were younger than me and they were not up to date on activities for children anymore. So I got lost. But with your help I found a lovely place to support my little girl and see her develop skills for the future.
— Vannessa
You have been my go to for activities since I had my kid and realised I knew all the nightclubs but none of the kids clubs!
— Nikki Beatnik
On low days when times were hard I'd pick up my phone book an amazing event and know - yes today is actually going to be a good day - and it would really turn my mood around and make me feel like a supermum.
— Abby
You've been my favourite companion in the sensory development of my "now" toddler, an amazing partner in my discovery of motherhood and an inspiring unique business, enabling parents to find and effortlessly book baby/toddler activities.
— Lucille
Hoop helped me, a single dad, loads when looking for things to do with my son. We’ve enjoyed countless activities out that we may not have heard of before.
— Andrew
My pregnancy coincided with a relocation from a village to London. If I hadn’t discovered Hoop soon my child's birth I would have been really lonely. Hoop helped me find activities beneficial for my baby like baby sensory and massage, and events for me-bring your baby quizzes, comedy and so on. It gave me the opportunity to meet other mums and make friends for myself and for my baby boy to create his community too! While calling this a ‘lifeline’ may sound dramatic, for me this is what it has been.
— Asma
As a single Mum of two boisterous boys, you've saved me loads of times.
— Toks
I was lucky enough to have some shared parental leave with my daughter after she was born and Hoop helped me hugely in my time as a stay-at-home dad and beyond.
— Peter
It's genuinely no exaggeration to say that Hoop was a lifeline for me during the early months of maternity leave - even on the days I didn't make it out of the flat, knowing there were activities available to me nearby, and being able to plan things to look forward to, helped me so much - I actually think it's one of the main reasons I just about avoided PND.
— Lowri
Jan 2015 – June 2020