When comparing Hop vs Line, the Slant community recommends Line for most people. In the question“What are the best messaging apps for iOS?” Line is ranked 9th while Hop is ranked 27th. The most important reason people chose Line is:
The caveat is that they are in Japan, but the app is commonly used to 'follow' public figures.
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Pros
Pro Turns your e-mail into mobile messaging
The app takes your email provider such as Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or iCloud and uses their infrastructure and your established contact-list there and creates a messaging platform.
Pro Users can see when another person is typing
Users can even see when another person is typing, as you would with iMessage or chat.
Pro Supports voice and video calling
Pro Hop is the ultimate unified conversational tool for productivity and communication
Pro Large celebrity and public figure usage rate
The caveat is that they are in Japan, but the app is commonly used to 'follow' public figures.
Pro Enormous, constantly updated stamp collection
Since many brands use stamps for promotional purposes, everything from movies to food brands to Taylor Swift have released stamp collections.
Pro Photo filter and editing capabilities
Users have in-app editing tools, as well as Line's separate camera application, which has additional tools.
Pro Integrated social network
Similar to Facebook's timeline.
Cons
Con Account is locked to the Phone Number & Device
The entire account is locked to the phone number, which cannot be changed. If the application is installed on a new device with the same phone number, the previous account data will be wiped.
Con Users have been concentrated in Japan
Of the 360+ million registered users, the top country is Japan (50 million). Thailand and Indonesia are 2nd and 3rd with 33 and 30 million, respectively, with very small market penetration in the US (10 million, 11th place).