Houseparty was a group video chat app launched in February 2016 by the team behind the Meerkat livestreaming app [1]. Epic Games acquired the company in June 2019 for a reported $35 million [1]. Epic announced the app’s discontinuation on September 9, 2021, removing it from app stores immediately and shuttering the service in October of that year [2].
Design and History
Houseparty’s visual identity went through two distinct phases. At launch, the app used an icon depicting an unbranded red plastic cup, a recognizable symbol associated with American house parties [3]. Contemporary coverage from 2017 and 2018 instructed users to look for the “red cup logo” when locating the app in the App Store or Google Play [4][5].
In December 2018, the app was rebranded, replacing the red cup with an emoji-style waving hand [6]. The new icon featured a yellow waving hand on a red background [7]. The waving hand motif echoed the app’s core interaction: users tapped a waving hand icon next to a friend’s name to signal they were ready to chat [4]. The hand symbol also appeared within the app’s interface as a way to invite contacts into a conversation [7].
By early 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the red icon with the yellow waving hand was widely recognized as Houseparty’s mark, with press describing it as the app’s “famous logo” [7][8]. The app’s icon was also used as the Chrome extension icon, where it appeared as a small waving hand [9].
Meaning and Symbolism
The red cup icon referenced the disposable plastic cups commonly associated with American house parties, serving as a visual shorthand for the app’s casual, social premise [3]. The later waving hand icon directly represented the app’s signature gesture, the “wave,” which users sent to friends to indicate they were available for a spontaneous video chat [7]. The hand was described as looking as if it were “inviting you to join in the fun and start chatting with your friends” [7].
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