Pie App Launches Community Homes Feature, Shifting Focus from Events to Social Networking

New Community Homes Feature

Pie, the social app from Bonobos founder Andy Dunn, introduced a new feature called "Community Homes." This update allows users to establish permanent digital spaces for their social groups within the app. These homes are designed to serve as an alternative to existing group communication methods like group texts or Facebook Groups.

Shift in App Focus

Originally launched as an events app, Pie is now reorienting its mission to prioritize community building. With Community Homes, the app aims to make events a natural outcome of established connections rather than the primary draw. This change reflects a broader trend of younger users seeking digital tools that facilitate real-world connections beyond traditional social media.

Community Functionality

Each Community Home provides a dedicated feed, along with group management tools such as admin and membership controls, a shareable homepage, and resources for event planning. While administrators can manage the group, any member can share events to the group's feed. Future updates are planned to include group chats and a feature for posting casual connection requests, such as asking to "hang out and craft together."

Previous Updates and Growth

This new feature follows earlier changes aimed at emphasizing people over events. In December, Pie updated its activity feed to highlight who users knew attending an event, which resulted in an increase in average time spent on the app from 2 to 10 minutes. More recently, a "favorites" feature was added, allowing users to build public profiles based on their interests. Pie currently has approximately 300,000 users and is backed by investors including Forerunner, Lightspeed, and Accel.