Helsinki encourages youth to take up hobbies with new app

Available in Finnish, Swedish and English, the Harrastuspassi app features a wide range of hobbies and leisure activities provided to young people by associations, companies and organisations, as well as the City of Helsinki. It also offers benefits such as free trials to ensure as many young people as possible can find at least one hobby or activity they enjoy.

Hobby and activity organisers, in turn, will be able to reach young people better than before.

“I believe that the application will lower the threshold for starting a new hobby and more and more young people will find meaningful activities for themselves,” commented Deputy Mayor Nasima Razmyar.

The users can utilise the app to save their favourite activities and share tips about interesting opportunities with their friends and on social media. Those running out of ideas on what to try can also turn to lists of the most popular activities and benefits, and recommendations based on their own usage history.

“Harrastuspassi has been developed at all stages in co-operation with young people. The concept, usability and look of the application have been modified based on their feedback,” said Suvi Ervamaa, a project manager at the City of Helsinki.

The development of the app was carried out by Haltu and funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Tampere-based software firm is also responsible for the future nationwide launch of Harrastuspassi.