House party apps on the rise since evening lockdown

Apps, such as BASH and Amigos that facilitate organizing house parties have flourished since coronavirus measures forced bars and restaurants to close their doors at 5 p.m.

Amigos, produced by the Utrecht company Dutch Concepts, has grown in popularity each week. According to founder Johanan Fraanje in NOS, around 75 thousand users have joined the app in the past two weeks. It allows users to invite others to events spontaneously. Users can award each other stars to boost their credibility.

It can be used for activities such as finding a workout buddy, but mainly users organize house parties on the app. Around one-third of the 20 thousand activities organized each week on Amigos are categorized as house parties.

Fraanje said it is up to the users to decide how many guests they want to invite. "Similar to Facebook and Whatsapp, it is a platform where users bear the responsibility themselves for what their plans," Fraanje said.

According to the Amigos founder, his app helps combat loneliness in a time when especially young people feel isolated. "We developed this app before the pandemic because we noticed that loneliness is a growing issue. And due to the pandemic, that problem has only increased," Fraanje said.