Knicks’ Miles McBride Launches Friendship App to Rival Snap Map

Moving to New York City as the youngest player on the Knicks roster, Miles “Deuce” McBride quickly discovered how challenging it can be to form genuine connections in a massive metropolis. The isolation he felt sparked the idea for Mmotion, a new friendship app designed to help people find others with shared interests while discovering local social spots. Partnering with experienced startup founder Joe Einhorn, McBride developed a platform that moves beyond superficial social media interactions by blending location awareness with community building.

Unlike typical friend-finding services such as Bumble BFF, Mmotion enters a space currently occupied by Snap Map and Instagram’s new Map feature. The app uses geofencing and state tracking to follow user movements, highlighting nearby individuals who share similar hobbies or passions. It also records visited locations to suggest new bars, restaurants, and venues, while providing a private timeline so members can revisit their favorite places.

Image Credits: Mmotion

Access to Mmotion requires a membership application. Once approved, users can list their interests, join themed “Circles” like hiking groups or basketball fan clubs, and send friend requests to people in their area. Private messaging is available to facilitate conversations, helping users move from digital contact to real-world meetups.

Privacy and safety form a core part of the Mmotion experience. All location data is encrypted and remains private unless a user chooses to share it. By default, everyone starts in “Vault Mode,” meaning their location is hidden. Users can toggle this setting on or off at any time. A feature called “Personas” lets individuals create up to three separate groups, allowing them to share specific locations, like a home address, only with trusted contacts while maintaining a more public profile for broader connections.

Image Credits: Mmotion

Einhorn illustrated how this works for public figures like McBride: “Miles could have a ‘Deuce’ Persona for Knicks fans, showing places he’s comfortable sharing publicly. Then he might have another Persona for private trips where he wants to stay low-key.” Standard safety tools, including blocking and reporting functions, are also integrated into the platform.

Mmotion will operate on a monthly subscription model. While exact pricing hasn’t been finalized, Einhorn confirmed it will be affordable, comparable to the cost of a monthly coffee. A basic membership allows users to join up to five Circles per city, with premium tiers expected to offer expanded features.

Local businesses also stand to benefit from the app. By featuring restaurants, bars, gyms, and cafes on its map, Mmotion helps small venues attract new customers. The app pulls location data from sources like Google, Apple Maps, and OpenStreetMap. In the future, the company hopes businesses will subscribe to access anonymized analytics, helping them understand and reach their ideal customer base. Advertising will provide an additional revenue stream.

Image Credits: Mmotion

This venture marks McBride’s debut as a startup founder, joining a growing list of professional athletes exploring entrepreneurship. Einhorn brings experience from his previous roles as founder of Fancy, a social e-commerce platform, and more recently, the luxury goods brand Long Story Short.

Currently in a beta phase limited to 1,000 New York City users, Mmotion plans a broader rollout after gathering sufficient feedback. The app is available for download on both iOS and Android devices.

(Source: TechCrunch)