Hooked provided some fantastic and thrilling chat fiction. You imagine a scenario perfectly well in your head when a story is told through text messaging, and Hooked will keep you on edge with their well-directed stories. However, Hooked is not the only app there is that can provide you with fantastic conversational fiction.
With that said, what are the best alternatives?
Chat fiction apps like Mustread – Scary short chat stories, Yarn – Chat fiction, Mistory – Chat stories platform, Tap by Wattpad – Interactive story community, and Addicted – Scary chat stories are alternatives to Hooked. These apps are available on either the iOS and Android platforms.
Chat fiction is the trendy new storytelling that has swept the nation’s teens (and adults too) off their feet. The total number of downloads for Hooked increased by 560 percent from 336,400 in October 2016 to 2.22 million in March 2017.
So, what is it about Hooked that made it so famous? It’s because it’s straightforward to use, and the stories keep you on the edge of your seat. Here is how it works.
How Does The Hooked App Work?
You’ll be sent to your first conversation story as soon as you start the app. The user interface resembles text chat messaging, but you have to tap the screen to obtain the following message, and messages are called “hoots.”
Before you begin reading, Hooked gives you no background information about the characters or their backstory. Only the names of the two significant characters are known, and a new message shows with each swipe of the device. Each message builds on the previous one in terms of suspense.
However, the chat style isn’t flawless, as it’s meant to resemble a regular text discussion between two individuals. The app may need to interrupt to let you know that some time has elapsed. There is, however, a limit to how much you can read at one time.
The software forces you to take a break after around 30 messages, refusing to show you any more of the tale for over 45 minutes. You can choose to become a “Superhoot” or a paying user on Hooked. You may read an infinite number of articles for $2.99 per week, $7.99 per month, or $39.99 per year.
Paying for the app unlocks additional features such as the ability to pick your own narrative to read rather than being assigned one by Hooked and the ability to compose your own story within the app.
If you choose not to pay, Hooked will remind you when the timer expires, allowing you to continue reading. Hooked will prod you with a sample of the chat if you don’t open the app again right away, and you may “like” a story, share it with others, or leave a comment once you’ve finished reading it.
As fascinating as Hooked unveils itself, it’s not the only app competing in the market. Hooked app alternatives have a range of competitive features to offer that may leave you willing to experiment with them and find the best story genres tailored for you. So, what do similar chat fiction apps have in common?
How Are The Apps Similar?
Since chat fiction first started, these text-based digital book alternatives have often dominated the app store’s top rankings for Android and iOS platforms. People who are used to reading paperback novels may find the format different, but at the very least, you will be able to embark on a texting story, starting with Mustread.
1. Mustread – Scary Short Chat Stories
Like Hooked, Mustread is a contemporary storybook and story writing app with short stories that appeal to teens and adults. There are genuine texting love tales that are tragic or humorous and murder mystery fiction stories. Mustread is fascinating as it gets you involved with the story with its “read and interact” feature.
Unlike Hooked, there are quests and choice options throughout the story so that specific fiction can have various endings. You might revisit stories to consider the results if you had chosen differently.
Not only that but there’s more! So that you can feel more connected to their stories, the app will ask you to do things and engage with them, such as snap photographs of a familiar household object or a glass of water within a set time limit.
Thousands of fantastic conversational tales from dark and terrifying fantasy to mystery thrillers to sweet and hilarious love stories await you! Not only can you read chat fiction on Mustread, but you can also write your own stories.
Experiment with writing detective fiction and scary science fiction stories. This chat fiction app takes interaction to new heights! Mustread is available on iOS and Android, and if you wish to go premium and give you access to more features, Mustread charges $1 per week or $10 per year.
2. Yarn – Chat Fiction
Yarn is a popular alternative to Hooked; It’s also a storytelling app that charges a similar price for premium users to Hooked. However, the content is unique and covers a variety of topics.
Hypothetical conversations with A-list celebrities and fictitious group dating chats are just a few examples. There’s also a “truth or dare” area, as well as gags about Siri and other personal assistants.
The Yarn app gives the impression that you’re reading other people’s text messages and learning about their lives. You may also enjoy images, movies, and audio snippets with a premium subscription. Like Mustread, Yarn encourages you to pick a character’s responses to modify the course of chat conversations.
Yarn is also pushing the envelope by offering short video episodes to watch. This app produces new episodes and discussions daily, keeping everything short so you can watch more throughout your day. To access unlimited and exclusive content, you must have a membership.
Yarn is available on Android and iOS, with a premium offering that you would find yourself reading on if you would like to unlock the app to its full potential. Yarn premium, like Hooked, ranges from $3 a week to $100 a year.
3. Mistory – Chat Stories Platform
Like Hooked, You will discover exciting texting tales on Mistory, including frightening stories, love stories, and more. You may also write your own chat story with the help of a simple chat story generator.
Become a well-known author by simply uploading them to the StoryBank, and what’s excellent about Mistory is that you may even read your choice of chat fiction offline! Write your own love tales, mysteries, horror stories, or anything else you desire!
Following the publishing of your story, it will be readily searchable in the app for users to read. You may also send a link to your texting tale to your friends via Facebook or WhatsApp.
Each best story gets added to the Mistory recommendations, where thousands of people can see it! Authors of chat fiction in the catalog receive in-app coins for each time users view advertisements while reading their stories. Do you enjoy reading but only have 5 minutes to spare? Then you’ll love the short conversation tales. Mistory will guarantee that you’ll find something exciting to read! To read the fiction, tap one and follow the story.
All of the tales are available for free. A plus on the Mistory app is that you don’t have to stop reading after 30 minutes. However, you do experience advertisements.
Earn in-app currency and use it to bypass advertisements. If you are dissatisfied with advertising, you can always purchase a low-cost membership and become a premium user. Mistory is available for Android and iOS platforms.
4. Tap By Wattpad – Interactive Story Community
Wattpad, a social publishing site, launched Tap. It functions similarly to other chat fiction apps like Hooked and is in a similar price bracket for the entire experience.
Tap makes it simple to monitor what’s trending and how many people are swiping through it, from romance to crime stories. You may also write and share your own stories with your friends.
On the other hand, Tap by Wattpad, like Mustread and Mistory, often replaces text-only chat conversations with stories that include graphics, colorful backgrounds, audio, and videos. Due to this, your smartphone’s technology becomes even more valuable, and you’re able to create more compelling stories.
Tap by Wattpad has a massive collection of tales in every genre conceivable, including a section for LGBTQ+ individuals. Most of these stories include different endings, providing you with even more reasons to come back to your favorites.
Enjoy the Tap Original tales, which are only available in this app and are released once a week. Even if you utilize the other story apps on their list, Tap always provides new content to read.
Again, if you want to use the app’s full features, you’ll have to pay $8 a month for premium (this seems to be the going rate for premium features in these apps). Alternatively, you may read the text-based stories for free with advertisements. Tap by Wattpad is available on both Android and iOS platforms.
5. Addicted – Scary chat stories
Lastly, we have another great alternative to Hooked: Addicted – Scary chat stories. As the name suggests, this app will keep you coming back for more during your free time. You can expect lure stories, anticipate yarn, eerie words, and dramatic narrative turns when you start reading.
If you enjoy reading terrifying stories that keep you on the edge of your seat but can’t afford the subscriptions, try this app instead. Addicted, unlike the other chat story applications on this list, is entirely free.
You don’t have to pay anything to read as many horror stories as you like and enjoy all of the media in them. With that said, that means you’ll have to view advertising instead, which is how the app makes money. After a few seconds, though, you can skip them.
The spelling and punctuation aren’t as good as they are in other text-based tale apps. However, if you can get past the dubious literary quality, Addicted appears to deliver exceptionally well, owing to its extensive library of entertaining stories.
Here are some other exciting chat fiction examples Addicted provides you with:
- Tales of love.
- Humorous Stories.
- Science fiction tales.
- Text tales with wit, adventure, and suspense.
- The elderly horror.
- Creepypasta chat fiction text games.
- Chat tales that will scare you goosebumps.
Addicted – Scary Chat Stories is available on both Android and iOS platforms. You may pay a small fee to remove ads, but it is unnecessary as you can get past the ads and still clearly enjoy every story.
Chat Fiction: How Does It Work?
Netflix has become more popular with young individuals these days than a good book, which has raised concerns in the past years. Still, the breakout popularity of Hooked and related apps provides a different story.
Conversational story apps are altering the way teenagers, millennials, and adults acquire their tales in the same way that Amazon’s Kindle transformed the format of books. This new form of consuming stories, like Snapchat and Instagram, has its own unique name: chat fiction.
These short stories take the shape of talks between individuals — friends, dates, parents, etc. — in a way that seems natural and a little dirty, as if you’re eavesdropping on someone else’s private discussions.
The language is tight and captivating, and there’s an urgency to the tale since there’s so little space to get to the point quickly.
Stories for chat fiction apps are developed by an in-house writing team and creative users — including a former New York Times editor — who specialize in by-the-seat-of-your-pants tales, with readers feverishly swatting at the screen to find out what happens.
These apps all provide an introduction and an easy-to-understand tutorial to explain how to get into your stories! The user interface will become familiar once you engage with it, getting lost in the next fictional chat story, simple taps are all it takes.
Conclusion
These conversational fiction apps have you covered if you’re looking for thrilling, nail–biting stories, fantasy, sci–fi, horror, or some romance. These apps are excellent alternatives to Hooked, offering a wide range of genres in a chat fiction style.
While some of these apps charge a premium to access their full features, others, such as Addicted and Mistory, are free if you can bear the occasional pop-up commercial.
References:
Common Sense Media: HOOKED – chat stories
AlternativeTo: HOOKED Alternatives
Product Hunt: Hooked 2.0 alternatives and competitors
MakeUseOf: The 9 Best Chat Stories Apps for Reading Text Message Stories