For those of you who aren’t very tech savvy would be wondering what the hell is Hike and why is it being compared with the behemoth Whatsapp. I’ll be honest Hike and Whatsapp are not in the same league at all. But, what we are going to do is compare the applications, their markets that they are in and the future of these apps. Hike’s existence could be a story that could benefit people who want to enter a market that is saturated and already has a leader. Let’s do the comparison of Hike and Whatsapp!
Difference between Hike and WhatsApp
I’m writing this after I’ve gone through Hike and I’m a bit surprised. It’s a great application. It’s a lot more colorful and has some really cool features. What I realized with Hike is, they want to create an experience within the application and I think they’ve succeeded.
Hike Amazing Features
Their entry screen has an Image of all their stickers. Stickers are like emojis, but as you can see, it’s more expressive.
Now this has to be mentioned about Hike. They were late to the messenger game and Whatsapp had all the users. So, Hike tapped into the emerging markets where smart phones and data packs are bought. And most of these emerging markets are in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and English isn’t as widely spoken as the urban cities. This is why you can access Hike in multiple languages and I think it’s a nifty feature. People do not have to resort to using their language with English alphabets.
This is the experience bit I was talking about. Hike has games, news, coupons right inside their application. And it is pretty great.
All the games are free and they are entertaining. There are individual games and games you can play with your friends as well. You can ask the question, if it is really necessary to have it in built when you can get an Independent application? The thing with independent applications is, most of the games are intensive, but the games on hike are simple and it’s great for whiling away time.
I also saw a very Interesting feature which is new to Hike and that is Match Up. Match Up is literally a Tinder like option but built into the Hike messenger. With options like this, people will never leave this application. I took a look inside to see how it was and here are the results.
To access Match Up, click on three vertical dots and then click on ‘Rewards/Extras’. There you will see that the second option is Match Up.
When you click on that, you’ll get the following screen and when you click on ‘Get it Now’. Match Up would be engaged.
When you get on the platform you are asked basic questions like your age and who you are interested in. After that you go straight to the section where you can choose to like or deny. There were a lot of profiles with pictures like the one below where they had random pictures in their profile which really doesn’t help when it comes to dating and relationships.
I skipped 3 to 4 profiles directly and then I was re-directed to a different page. It was a set of questions so that they could match my replies to what people replied and try to find a connection.
Features like this may not work up to standard but it is quite catchy and can keep users hooked.
Another cool aspect about Hike is they have a Virtual Assistant called Natasha. With this, Hike gives a more immersive experience to its users. You can ask Natasha for the weather or even ask for a joke. A really cool feature is the fake call. If you type #fakecall on Natasha’s chatbox then you get a call within seconds with which you can excuse yourself from any situation you want. Is it necessary no? Is it cool, yes! Natasha also provides you movie reviews if you would like one.
Another feature of Hike has been taken from all the other social networks. They provide a timeline where you can see your friend’s content, posts and other things. I do not have this feature because almost none of my close friends are even on hike.
This is the big problem for hike. Even if a user(like me) wants to use the application regularly, his or her friends are not on it. You cannot convince your friends to download the application and converse via that. They are not going to do it just because of one friend. I don’t know if Hike has any idea of how to solve this, but this does pose a big problem.
Hike has in-built privacy feature where you can lock some of your chats which makes it impressive. So you could password protect conversations with one friend of yours. If the topic of the conversation is private, then you can keep it that way and away from prying eyes.
I just realized I haven’t spoke about Whatsapp in this article and I want to cover a new feature they have. Before we get to that, in comparison to Hike, Whatsapp may seem ‘Boring’. But it is extremely functional and reliable and has all the right features.
There is a feature called starred messages in WhatsApp, which let you save very important messages that you get from your friends and family. We all share messages like addresses, phone numbers, bank account details etc. These messages can be starred and stored in an accessible place.
These two apps are for different uses. They are for different people. In comparison I would say both are great depending on your personality.
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