A new app is helping people to come together through a shared passion for sports, games and hobbies.
The Hands Up app allows users to select their preferred pastimes – anything from five-a-side football, tennis or bowls, to card games, board games or arts and crafts.
They can then find individuals and groups nearby who want to participate in those activities.
App creator, Alistair Cohen, said: “Hands Up is tackling loneliness and stress by getting people off their phones and into the real world.”
Cohen, 42 and based near Paddington, had been “sitting on the idea for 15 years” before he decided to take the leap and create the platform.
He said: “Only now is the technology good enough for me to build, support and market the app myself while keeping it safe and responding to users.”
Since its launch at the start of October, the app has attracted nearly 500 users worldwide, leading its designer to discover “some amazing people doing some amazing stuff.”
Cohen said: “There have been loads of walk-and-talk men’s groups; another man is running an event which brings hiking and [board game franchise] Warhammer together.”
Anna, a Hands Up user from Kensal Rise, said: “I moved to the area two years ago. Life had shrunk to work, housework and looking after my teenager.
“Signing up for a board game evening with strangers through Hands Up felt a bit wild for me; I’m not very sociable, and this was well outside of my comfort zone.
“I’m so glad I went. The group was a real mix: an elderly couple, a recent graduate, and a few people my age.
“Nobody asked what we did or who we were. We started playing and it just felt natural – no pressure to prove anything or be a certain way, and no expectation that anyone had to come back.
“But I did come back. Now I have a new weekly routine that I look forward to – just being with people without any effort at all.”
For Cohen, stories like this make his efforts worthwhile.
He said: “I got so emotional when I read of Anna’s experiences with Hands Up. I thought ‘my app did that!’ which makes me incredibly happy.
“If a person is on their own in a new location – maybe they’ve moved to a new house – then they can find someone else who shares a passion for the same interests.
“The app can help groups of people to find a player for a game that would otherwise have been cancelled.
“It’s a non-awkward way of meeting people.”
Four weeks after its launch, the app has nearly 300 users in the UK and 22 in the US, despite marketing being limited to a few posts on Facebook.
Cohen said: “I designed the app as something to go global; we’ve got people in Australia, Portugal, Israel and Spain, three individuals in the Netherlands, some in Canada and France too.
“There’s apparently a very big Philippine pickleball community. I didn’t know the Philippines was big on pickleball, but there we go.”
While there may be some paid additional features on Hands Up in future, Cohen said:
“All the core stuff – creating a profile, groups, events, meeting up with each other – that’s all staying as it is.
“I will always keep it free to use because I want it to be a community-generating tool.”
Featured image credit: Alistair Cohen
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