At the end of last year, we previewed a brand new anonymous messaging app that combined chat and search in a unique way. This week, Reach has launched in the iTunes Store to compete with other anonymous apps such as Secret, Whisper, and Yik Yak.
Unlike other anonymous apps, such as Yik Yak which lets users broadcast messages to people in their geographical area, Reach enables users to connect in a meaningful way based on profiles of their characteristics, hobbies, interests, skills, health problems, and more.
The Israeli-based startup incorporates anonymity, messaging, GPS and search into the mix so users can discover and chat with people nearby and similar to them, using short profiles of users’ characteristics, interests, hobbies and more. Users can browse profiles in their area made up of people with the same characteristics, as well as search for specific types of people by ‘what’ rather than ‘who’ they are.
“it is still surprisingly difficult to find and chat to people beyond your social and professional networks”
“It so easy to search and find any kind of information possible on Google, so we thought why can’t people search be done in the same way?” says Daniel Setton, CEO of Reach. “Despite the vast number of existing ways to connect, it is still surprisingly difficult to find and chat to people beyond your social and professional networks”.
Reach’s fix for this people search “problem” is an app that lets users easily browse profiles of people around them and like them, and instantly chat by clicking on any profile.
The app is free to use. The founders say they have future plans to monetize, but nothing immediate. The startup received initial funding a year ago and are now seeking seed funding of $1 million USD.
Reach will be launching later this month on Android, specifically targeting university students. No word yet on Windows Phone, but we’ll be sure to post an update as information becomes available. For now, you can download Reach for iOS via iTunes.