Hago

Is Hago safe?

Hago is a legitimate app from a listed company, but it puts cartoon party games and anonymous voice rooms in the same place, and that mix is a poor fit for the teenagers it attracts. We score it 43/100, close to Likee (44) and WePlay (46). It shares device and purchase data for ads, its age rules clash with its store ratings, and India has blocked it since 2020.

Hago belongs to JOYY, the Singapore-based group behind Bigo Live. JOYY's annual report for 2025 says Hago launched in 2018, operates mainly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America, and earns most of its money from "virtual tips for live streaming". The app is very much alive: it has more than 100 million downloads and 6.38 million reviews on Google Play, and both stores carried updates in late October 2026. It is small in the US, with about 100 App Store ratings there, against about 3,000 in Indonesia.

Games next to strangers

The draw is a library of more than 100 mini-games, from Ludo and Draw & Guess to Werewolf and Sheep Fight, which you can play with friends or with players matched from anywhere. Around the games sit voice chat rooms for up to 8 people, live streams with animated gifts, private messages and a 3D avatar space. Apple lists frequent cartoon violence and mature or suggestive themes, infrequent simulated gambling, loot boxes and user-generated content.

The age rules do not line up. Hago's privacy policy says: "Our Services are not for users below age 18." Apple rates the app 16+. Google Play rates it Teen. A parent looking at the Android store sees a teen game; the company's own policy describes an adult service.

That gap matters because of what has already happened. In mid-2019 police in Jakarta said a 27-year-old man had used Hago's chat feature since 2017 to find children under 15, with 10 victims identified. Hago Indonesia responded, after instruction from the communications ministry, by blocking phone numbers in chat, adding privacy reminders and limiting image sending. Those are sensible fixes, but they target one route of contact, not the pairing of children and adult strangers in the same rooms.

What Hago shares about you

Apple's label says identifiers may be used to track you across other companies' apps and websites. It lists identifiers, usage data, advertising data and purchase history as collected but not linked to your identity.

Google Play's form tells a fuller story. It says Hago shares device IDs, approximate location, app interactions and purchase history with other companies for advertising and marketing. It collects contacts and precise location as optional data, plus web browsing history, and name, address and phone number.

The privacy policy, last updated in May 2025, adds latitude and longitude in profiles, data from "creator agencies", attribution and advertising partners, and password-recovery answers that may include part of your ID number. It says Hago is "not in the business of selling your information" and that personalised ads need your "express consent". Messages and their metadata can be reviewed for rule breaks, and data may be stored in Singapore or any country where JOYY or its suppliers have servers.

India's block and other records

India's IT ministry put "Hago Play With New Friends" on its June 2020 list of 59 blocked apps, with TikTok, Bigo Live and Likee, citing data security and the country's sovereignty. JOYY's latest annual report still notes that India "has previously blocked our apps". We found no privacy or consumer fine against Hago, and no breach.

Security is about average for the group. JOYY reports no material cybersecurity incident for 2025, and the policy promises to tell users of a breach as the law requires. But it gives encryption only as an example of its measures, and we found no public bug bounty. On Android, account deletion means emailing a Gmail address, while iPhone users get an in-app option.

How to keep Hago safer

1. If a child plays, use Google Family Link or Screen Time to block in-app purchases, or the app itself.
2. Hide your location, gender and age in Hago's privacy settings, and do not grant contacts access.
3. On iPhone, refuse the tracking request; on Android, delete your advertising ID in Google settings.
4. Leave any voice room where someone asks for photos, phone numbers or a move to another app.
5. Report and block, then tell a parent or the police if an adult pressures a child.

How we scored it

Regulatory record (58) reflects India's 2020 block and the 2019 Indonesian instruction, without any fine. Scams and harmful content (33) is the weakest factor, because teen ratings sit on top of an 18+ policy, stranger voice rooms and a known grooming case. Privacy (35) reflects ad sharing of device, location and purchase data. For a similar voice-game app that admits teenagers openly, see WePlay.