There’s a new free messaging app that is driving people crazy. Peach, created by Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann, was launched for iOS Thursday and it went viral Friday afternoon, attracting so many users that it even reported intermittent outages and assured it was trying to fix technical issues.
The addictive app considers itself as a “fun, simple way to keep up with friends and be yourself.” Once you create and account and add some friends, you have access to a stream of live updates from everyone you’re connected with, and tapping into a friend’s post shows you more information.
Peach’s functionalities make it similar to Twitter, Slack, and Instagram. However, what makes it so unique is its easy-to-use interface that lets users share content in creative and simple ways. The “magic words” feature allows people to summon specific commands so they appear in their status updates. For example, if you type “here,” it adds your current location. Typing “shout” puts your words in big letters, and “draw” lets you add a doodle.
“Magic Words give you fun things to post to your space. Start typing a Magic Word, then tap the bubble that appears to activate it,” reads Peach’s website.
There’s more complex content you can also share on Peach by using simple commands. The magic word “song” enables the app to identify the song you’re listening to right in the moment and then it adds a link so your friends can open the track in Apple Music or Spotify.
When trying the app out, keep in mind that there’s no one-to-one communications on Peach. Every message will be posted on some kind of a “News Feed” so that all your friends can have access to your updates.
The intermittent outages were not the only issues the new app was struggling with. Peach also reported a problem that was affecting people with international phone numbers as they were trying to connect with their friends. The Peach team wrote on the app’s website that they were looking for a fix to that problem in the next release. Whereas the technical issues were only reported as the massive influx of users affected the app on Friday, people with international phone numbers will have to wait until the next release to find their friends without complications.
Some people commented on social media that Peach was another messenger that would soon die, but it’s having a great start. If the app is soon released for other widely used operative systems such as Android, it might increase its chances to survive.
Source: Peach