Facebook Launches “Lite” Messenger Version For Old Devices

Designing for a cross-platform world can be difficult for startup app developers, especially when you consider the severe limitations of “legacy” devices compared to the incredible computing power, memory and storage capacity of the smartphones now considered standard by the US public. Facebook recently launched a standalone app for messenger users on older devices, showing […]

Asian Chat Apps Suggest Mobile Environments Trump Interfaces

Line, a massively popular mobile messaging app from Japan, went public last week, jumping over 50% in it’s first day on the market. Mobile app developers are looking at the Asian messaging titans (Line and WeChat) with renewed curiosity and many questions. Are immersive, all-encompassing social messaging apps the future? In five years, will apps […]

Tech Company IPOs Are Rising to the Top Again

The recent Twilio IPO, on the eve of Brexit, has seemingly defined a bright new future for the tech IPO. While analysts continue to discuss whether it’ll steadily rise like Facebook or steadily descend like GoPro, the message to the mobile app development community is loud and clear: tech IPOs are hot again. Twilio doubled […]

Even YouTube Wants in on the Messaging App Revolution

It’s no secret among Chicago iPhone app developers that messaging apps like Telegram and WeChat represent the future of the mobile experience. Even social networks have been becoming increasingly private (Snapchat’s rapid domination among young users stands as living proof), while chat apps like Line and WhatsApp are now used for the sake of their […]

WhatsApp Mobile Messaging App developers Drop Subscriptions

Mobile app developers behind the popular encrypted mobile messaging service WhatsApp have been in the news the past couple weeks as their service radically changed its pricing structure, dropping their “freemium” scheme with annual subscriptions in favor of a completely free version. This is a great thing for users, many of whom might consider switching […]

Facebook Positioning Itself as “WeChat of the West”

Android app developers in the Asian market have been capitalizing on chat apps for years, combining the benefits of social connectivity, the decline of SMS, and the desire for simplicity to turn their chats apps (WeChat, Line, etc.) into one-stop-shops for everything from paying for services to shopping for clothes. Now San Francisco iPhone app […]

Vine Founder Launches Peach, a Social Network iPhone App

Dom Hofmann, founder of the wildly successful video-sharing iPhone app Vine, has been back in the news the past couple weeks drumming up buzz for a new social networking startup. Peach is an iPhone app developed to capitalize on the success of uber-simple sharing apps like Ello by applying an equally simple mobile messaging interface. […]

Startup Leverages Mobile App Tech to Save Lives

The best mobile apps solve problems and simplify life for their users. Unfortunately, not all iPhone app developers live up to their potential, and sometimes it seems like the headlines are dominated by news about Angry Birds or the Kim Kardashian emoji app. That’s why stories like the founding of FastEvac come like a breath […]

Stepes Applies Mobile Messaging Interface to Translation

Mobile messaging interfaces are quickly becoming the Helvetica of the mobile app world, with applications in every app industry from mobile payments to IoT security devices. Now the crowdsourced translation experts at CSOFT are bringing mobile messaging to translation services with Stepes, the “world’s first chat-based translation app.” While London iPhone app developers might expect […]