If you're a Snapchat fan and a frequent traveller who doesn't use the service abroad due to exorbitant international data roaming charges (or are simply on a budget plan), Snapchat has some good news for you.
Their latest update, now live in the App Store, brings an all-new Travel mode designed specifically to reduce mobile data usage when roaming. In addition to Travel mode, Snapchat's iPhone application now lets you see who viewed your Story and puts more emoji characters at your fingertips.
As vaguely hinted yesterday, Yahoo held a press conference in New York City this morning to announce its brand new mobile product: a messaging app called LiveText.
The app recently soft-launched in HongKong, Taiwan and Ireland and is scheduled to roll out in more markets tomorrow, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Don't worry, we'll keep you updated as soon as it hits the US App Store.
LiveText promises to transform simple conversations into rich, fun and memorable experiences with text and live video, but without sound. It's very Snapchat-esque and you might be willing to give it a try.
According to Re/code journalist and technology columnist Kara Swisher, the Internet's pioneering company, Yahoo, will announce a brand new mobile messaging app at a forthcoming media event.
The press conference is apparently scheduled for later this week, but the company has yet to formally announce it.
“It's likely a messaging app,“ Swisher wrote on Twitter this morning. Yahoo's press event should be held in New York City and serve as a launchpad for new consumer products focused on mobile.
Microsoft's hybrid email/IM app which leaked back in May is now official. Today, the Windows giant said a new app called Send is launching exclusively on the iPhone. Designed for “in-and-out email,” Send for iPhone lets you engage in brief and snappy communications with co-workers using quick text message-like conversations without a subject line or formal email constructs. All of your communications gets automatically saved in Outlook for reference later.
You no longer need a Facebook account in order to exchange instant messages with your contacts through the Facebook Messenger service. By dropping the Facebook account requirement, the social network hopes to bring in even more people under the Messenger fold.
By last count, Messenger had 700 million active users, approaching the 800 million user base of WhatsApp, a wildly popular messaging service Facebook acquired for a staggering $19 billion.
Microsoft-owned Skype has now made its web-based client available regardless of where you live, following its limited rollout last November.
Skype for Web runs in any web browser that supports modern web technologies, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox on Windows and OS X.
Viber, the popular VoIP and messaging platform owned by Japan's Rakuten, hasn't updated its iPhone app in any meaningful way for a while now. And just when you thought they've neglected the iOS app for good, here comes a brand new release packing a few solid improvements.
I've always hated Viber wouldn't let me chat while on a VoIP or video call. This should be expected behavior as iPhones have always supported messaging during a cellular call.
In latest Viber 5.4 for iPhone update it's now possible to minimize a VoIP call and open any other screen within the app without interrupting your conversation.
Microsoft-owned Skype today issued an update to its free-of-charge iPhone application in the App Store, adding a few enhancements related to chatting on both your handset and the Apple Watch.
Web link previews are now available in your chat, courtesy of Skype 5.13 for iPhone. When you paste a URL into the chat window, the mobile application will now provide a preview of the website similar to Facebook.
Previews are available when you send or receive a web link and support video content, blogs, news websites and many other types of web content.
Microsoft has inadvertently leaked an upcoming hybrid email and messaging app via a download webpage marked "Microsoft Confidential", ZDNet reported Wednesday.
Called 'Flow by Outlook,' the lightweight email app should release for the iPhone. It's being billed as a “great way to have rapid email conversations on your phone with the people who are important to you,” as per leaked changelog.
Facebook confirmed today that free video calling in its mobile Messenger application has begun rolling out to all users worldwide. The feature launched in select markets on April 27, 2015.
“Quick update on video calling in Messenger: we're happy to share we've now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we're still working on improving quality for,” David Marcus, Messaging at Facebook, wrote in a post on Facebook this morning.
With ephemeral messaging growing in popularity, and given ongoing fear of government-sponsored snooping, small wonder that BitTorrent has now entered the market for secure chat apps — and in a pretty big way, too.
Bleep, their new Mac and iOS secure messaging and VoIP software, strives to ensure the privacy of your conversations by never saving them on your device or the servers. In a nutshell, Bleep uses encryption and peer-to-peer networking to establish a private, secure connection between devices.
With Bleep, you can whisper with friends on your Mac or iPhone and the messages will disappear after they are read.
Following months of promises and multiple delays, Facebook-owned WhatsApp, which commands more than 800 million active users worldwide, on Tuesday started rolling a voice calling feature in its iPhone application.
WhatsApp Calling is a staggered release and will be rolling out “slowly over the next several weeks,” the company said, meaning it may not be available for you immediately.
In addition to calling other people for free over Wi-Fi networks, regardless of where they may live, the app has gained other enhancements, too, starting with a much welcomed app extension on iPhones running iOS 8. Sadly enough, this update hasn't brought out support for iOS 8's Interactive Notifications.