Quickie: Like Snapchat and Slingshot had a Crazy Baby
Snapchat is a phenomenon that still somewhat eludes me. Why would I want to send photos to people that’ll just vanish? It seems like a lot of effort for little reward – besides, I like being able to refer back to things I’ve said and sent so I don’t forget stuff. When Slingshot came out from Facebook last year, I was even more baffled: you couldn’t look at messages until after you’d already sent a reply? What? Now a new evaporating instant messenger has launched – called Quickie – and while I’m still not a huge fan of the disappearing message, at least this one’s fun and easy to use.
Quickie allows users to send hand-written notes or pictures, quick text bursts, audio messages, or animated selfie gifs to other users. It’s incredibly simple and easy to use, and it lives up to its name: Quickie. Just like in Snapchat and Slingshot, whatever you send will disappear after it’s seen by the recipient and vice versa. Moreover, if you don’t catch the Quickie you’re sent within 24 hours, that too will go away. There are some other features that set Quickie apart, though.
While I was trying the app out this morning, I tried grabbing a screenshot on my Nexus 5 – but I couldn’t do it. That’s because the app blocked it. Until someone circumvents that particular feature, it would seem that Quickie truly emphasizes the ephemeral nature of these messages in a way that the services it’s following don’t. Additionally, you can only have up to eight Quickie contacts, meaning you can only send stuff to the people who you really trust and/or care about.
Quickie also discourages editing. The moment you start drawing or typing out a message, you only have a few seconds to finish your thought or delete the whole thing before it can be sent. I predict a lot of fights started because of Quickie.
The name itself, too, seems to reinforce its emphasis on privacy and speed. “Quickie,” of course, is slang for a fast session of love-making. And, well, this is the perfect app for sexting – the fact that you can send photos to only a select few people and have a pretty good guarantee that your picture will vanish without any chance of a screenshot helps bring that concept into the smartphone world. Maybe I’m reading into its name a bit too much…but probably not.
Quickie’s creator, Erez Pilosof, offered a statement on the occasion of the app’s launch today:
“When we first imagined Quickie, we studied the progress technology has made from the first version of online communication – email. From there, cross-platform mobile messaging was born. The natural next step was to create a type of communication that was simple enough to be used on multiple platforms as well as multiple devices. With Quickie, fast, fun communication with your friends is not limited to any one device or platform because its interface accommodates all of them.”
Quickie is currently available for iOS and Android devices. I’m still not entirely sure that I’ll use Quickie as opposed to my standard texting apps – I hate disappearing messages in general. But it’s nice to know that Quickie is straightforward and fun, and could give Snapchat a run for its money. The Quickie announcement also boasts itself as an “app that’s fit for an age of wearables.” While there doesn’t seem to be any wearable-focused functions just yet, I have a feeling that’ll change once the Apple Watch launches later this year.