From the makers of Secret, the social app that allows users to share ideas and stories anonymously, now comes the new Ping app. The app learns about its user and gives notifications of trending Internet and social media topics that are customized to their interests.
Ping is, according to a Medium post by Secret principal designer Ben Lee, “a simple product.” Lee emphasizes that there are no sign ups and no user names, “just content.” In an email to Re/code, Secret Inc. CEO David Byttow confirmed that this app is not related to Secret and added that it has the ability to adapt to the user. Byttow revealed that Ping “evolves itself” as the user interacts with it.
How Did Ping Appear?
Lee admits that Ping was “born out of a weekend hackathon where the goal was an exercise in simplicity,” VentureBeat reports. The team was fascinated with the concept of Ping: Namely, the possibility of an app that understands its user’s interests and delivers relevant news and entertainment simply, as pure content.
How the Ping App Works
Ping automatically activates whenever a phone’s screen locks. From the lock screen, a user can select content by placing a finger on a dot at the corner of the screen and dragging the dot to open up a new screen. Users can choose to subscribe to a variety of categories, such as “apps worth downloading” and “daily fortune cookies,” and Ping sends out notifications with new content.
Behind the Design
A series of developments have allowed the team behind the Ping app to spend more time on how elements act, feel, and sound. Instead of moving between screens, for example, the user navigates with what Lee calls “portals.” Portals can be pulled open and peeked into without committing.
Secret Versus Ping
Secret remains a hot topic, even in the wake of Ping’s release. However, as Secret CEO David Byttow insists, the two apps have different uses. While Secret was created to allow people to share their feelings and experiences in an anonymous environment, Ping has nothing to do with the outer world. On the contrary, Ping has been created to adapt to each individual and gradually “evolve itself” to suit the personal interests of each user.
Ping from Secret Inc. is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Would you give Ping a try?
Image courtesy of Flickr
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