New York Knicks guard Miles “Deuce” McBride has officially transitioned from the basketball court to the tech startup scene. Alongside veteran founder Joe Einhorn, McBride has launched Mmotion, a location-sharing social discovery app designed to help users find friends and local hotspots based on shared interests.
Solving the Loneliness of Big-City Life
The inspiration for Mmotion stems from McBride’s own experience as a 20-year-old rookie moving to New York City. Facing a social environment where many peers were settled with families, he struggled to connect with people organically. McBride notes that the app seeks to combat the “superficial” nature of traditional social media by fostering real-world connections.
How Mmotion Works: Beyond Traditional Social Networking
Unlike Bumble BFF, Mmotion positions itself as a direct competitor to location-based platforms like Snap Map and Apple’s Find My. Currently in a 1,000-user beta phase in New York City, the app uses geofencing and state tracking to highlight nearby users with similar hobbies and recommend social venues.
Users must apply for membership to join. Once accepted, they can:
- Join “Circles” based on interests like hiking, art, or sports.
- Send friend requests to nearby users.
- Utilize a private timeline to track visited locations.
Privacy-First Design: Vault Mode and Personas
Security is a core pillar of the platform. By default, users are in “Vault Mode,” keeping their location data encrypted and hidden. To manage social visibility, the app features “Personas,” which allows users to curate up to three distinct profiles. This enables users—such as public figures like McBride—to share specific, curated locations with certain groups while keeping their private life or home address under wraps.
Monetization and Business Integration
Mmotion will operate on an affordable monthly subscription model, described by Einhorn as costing “no more than a cup of coffee.” Beyond user subscriptions, the app plans to generate revenue through:
- Advertising: Integrated promotional opportunities.
- Business Analytics: A future B2B subscription service offering anonymized customer insights to local bars, restaurants, and fitness studios, using data aggregated from Google, OpenStreetMap, and Apple Maps.
The app is currently available for download on iOS and Android, with a broader rollout planned following the conclusion of the current testing phase.