A unique chat-stories app called ‘Hooked’ is now one of the top apps on App store, surpassing Snapchat and Instagram. Hooked tells suspenseful stories in text messages form, making it irresistible for readers to stop.
Initially launched in 2015, the Hooked app starts growing rapidly last year and received over 2.5 million downloads till the start of 2017. The number keeps increasing as more and more people get to know the app and the amazing features it offers.
Reason behind the popularity of this app is its new format of reading stories, introduced by a husband-wife couple named Parag Chordia and Prerna Gupta from their startup called ‘Telepathic’. Hooked is the first app they launched from Telepathic and it is already taking the internet by storm. “We love reading, just like you, but we know it can get BORING when stories are too long. So we created this app to make reading snappy, spooky and fun.”
The bite-sized stories that look like real conversations are written to keep the readers ‘Hooked’ to their screens. Thriller, suspense and fascinating content is the key requirement of Hooked chat-stories which range from horror to romantic tales. “We don’t think fiction’s dying, but they do think there are ways to improve the way it’s currently presented and produced”, says Gupta.
After the user launches the app in his phone, Hooked opens up with a thrilling story and takes its user to the fantasy world, which is totally a new way of reading and literature.
Hooked offers many interesting features for reading-lovers, such as choosing their genre of books from the collection of hundreds of stories available, writing and creating your own stories. User can also like, comment and share the stories with people over social media or invite their friends to write and create stories with them for the world to read and rate.
Although not everything is for free on Hooked, sadly. Users need to subscribe in order to gain full access of Hooked. The packages offer $2.99 weekly, $7.99 monthly and $39.99 annually. Also, the story is shown for a certain time and takes a break of 45 minutes to show the next part of the story, which seems to be annoying the readers, “I love the stories and I’m so hooked, but the timer, shouldn’t be added. It’s ridiculous that you have to PAY. if you don’t want to deal with the timer. Instead of the timer, and paying not to deal with it, you should just have people pay to get exclusive stories, or write there own. I mean the timer to read the next part of the texting is stupid. It literally took me 2 hours to read own fricken story!!!!!! Just delete the timer”, customer review by Cadence, who gives 3 stars to the app.
Hooked might have a very unique design of chat-stories, but it has still got some flaws, for example, the story is interrupted by the app showing a message telling that some time has passed, which doesn’t happen in regular chats people do. But it still makes reading easy and fun for people who can’t take out time to find books and satisfy their hunger for reading fiction. Hooked has got it covered!
Telepathic is also gathering data to improve Hooked, by checking which stories are grabbing the attention of the readers the most, so that they can fill the app with more of such genre of fiction.
Chordia believes that there’s still a huge demand of fiction. “We thought Wattpad was one approach until we realize that there’s much more that can be done”. He’s just right as there are many story-telling apps available on app store and play store; Read me stories, Speakaboos, Kobo books etc, and now with the addition of Hooked, the idea of reading has taken a new route.