Chances are you have already heard of the Hi5 dating app. Even so, it has gone through a few changes over the years, so you may not be familiar with what it is capable of today. We reviewed Hi5 recently. Take a look at what we found. It should help you determine if your people discovery needs can be fulfilled by Hi5.

— Pros and Cons —

Pros

• Free version is very powerful
• Lively community
• Great for leisurely discovery of new people
• Good for finding friendships as well as dating

Cons

• Not so good for finding same-day dates or hookups
• Desktop version clunky compared to its mobile apps

— In-Depth Hi5 Dating App Review —

Are you currently single? Do you want to meet someone that is interested in the same things you are?

If the answer is “yes,” you are probably looking for a site or app that can help you meet the person that is right for you. Here, however, is where things can get confusing. There are long-term dating sites, casual hookup sites, kinky fun sites — the possibilities are endless.

What if you want something less confining? What if you want to discover new people at a more leisurely pace and with less pressure?

That’s where Hi5 comes into the act. A social network geared to help people discover and meet new people, it is seen by some as an ideal tool to find friends, romantic partners, or whatever.

— A Little Background —

When we take a look at platforms that have been around as long as Hi5, we like to present a little bit about their past. After all, it is highly likely that you have already heard of Hi5 or even used its services in the past. Of course, what Hi5 was in 2005 or 2010, is not what Hi5 is today.

At its core, Hi5 is still a social network. Unlike Facebook, however, Hi5 is meant to be used to help you meet new people — not find people that you already knew at some point in your life.

Look at it this way, on Facebook, you may find and connect with your old college friends, relatives, an old roommate, etc. On Hi5, you may find those same people, but in addition, you will also be meeting new people. Hi5 provides you with a wealth of opportunities to meet new and fresh faces. Now, don’t get us wrong, the Facebook model is good to sustain established contacts, but it does little to help you meet new people. Hi5 does — and that is how it has grown to become a social discovery platform.

Social discovery platforms are not wholly dating sites, neither are they wholly social networking sites. They are a hybrid. This is what makes sites like Hi5 highly flexible. You can meet new people on Hi5 for friendship, chatting, long distance fun, or local long-term and casual relationships.

— Registration —

Registering on Hi5 is fast and simple. The easiest way to do so is by linking your Facebook account to it. Hi5 then imports your basic identifying data from Facebook to populate your Hi5 account. Don’t worry, after reviewing Hi5’s terms of service and going over feedback from Hi5 users, we are reasonably certain that they do not use your information in any malicious way. In other words, it is safe to link your Facebook account to Hi5. If you don’t want to link your Facebook account, you can always just use an email address and fill out a simple registration form to join.

— Usability —

When Hi5 first launched in 2004, smartphones had yet to exist. Partially, for this reason, Hi5 still has a legacy desktop platform that can be accessed from your web browser. As stable and complete as the Hi5 desktop version is, in our opinion, you get the best user experience when using one of its mobile apps.

Available from the App Store and Google Play, the Hi5 apps for iOS and Android devices offer a clean and easy to navigate user interface. This makes engaging on the app with other people fun and almost addictive.

The Hi5 mobile apps, in our opinion, are well crafted and optimized for engaging in online chats. The desktop version, although capable of all of the same functions, is clunkier and less practical for online communication.

— Key Features —

There are three key features on Hi5 than can be used to help you meet new people. First, there is Hi5’s search engine. This allows you to search for other people matching specific search parameters, such as gender, age, and location.

This is a great all-purpose tool for discovering new people.

A feature called “Meet Me” is much more interactive. It mirrors the popular swipe-games on apps such as Tinder. This means that you can like or pass on different profiles presented to you.

Once you have a few friends on Hi5 you can use the “Pets” feature. This places you in competition with your existing friends to collect each other. In other words, it allows for the cross-population of friend circles. The more friends you have, the better your chances of intermingling and finding new connections that way.

As far as communication and messaging are concerned, Hi5 has a robust messaging and online chat feature. It is intuitive to use and there is no need to have a premium membership to have full use of it.

— Cost —

Hi5 is free to use. As we mentioned above, even the chat features are fully activated in the free version. However, for those who want the ability to see who has liked them on the Meet Me game, check when their messages have been read, see who has visited their profile, and the ability to contact new users first, then the premium version of Hi5 might be for them.

The premium version can be obtained as an in-app purchase on either of the mobile apps, or it can be paid via credit card or Paypal on the desktop version. It has a cost of $9.99 for a one-month package, $20.97 for three months, or $29.94 for six months.

From our perspective, purchasing the premium package is useful only if you plan on being a power user of Hi5. Otherwise, the free version should serve you just fine.