Applications
Hoppr & Tiny Mogul integrated under Hike Messenger
NEW DELHI: Hoppr & Tiny Mogul Games (TMG) have been integrated under the Internet company Hike Messenger.
In the last year itself, Tiny Mogul Games amassed five million downloads including hit games like Shiva: The Time Bender, the first Indian game to be featured by Google Play globally.
With the integration, Hike will bring quality gaming to the platform, with the aim of building it into a service that goes beyond simple messaging.
In addition to games, the integration will bring coupons from a host of 200 brands to Hike.
Hike Messenger founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal said, “We’re excited to take a big leap forward in our mission to bring India online as we bring everything under the Hike brand. From Day 1, we’ve believed that messaging will be a gateway to the internet for the masses in India and this move reflects just that.”
He added, “By the end of the year we’ll truly see Hike, India’s first messaging application emerge as the platform that will bring India online in a big way. We’re just getting started.”
According to the Ericsson Mobility and Quettra report, Hike is the biggest made in India app by active usage. The messenger is India’s first and only home grown messaging app and is extremely localized to the needs of the Indian market with over 35 million users sending 10 billion messages per month.
Hoppr was launched in 2012 as a location based check-in service that works across all mobile devices, with the aim to build the hyper local commerce ecosystem in India, wherein consumers get to explore rewards and offers available with brands and merchants in their vicinity.
On the other hand, Tiny Mogul Games was set up in 2013 and has been operational for over two years and launched more than twelve games for Android.
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
