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This article was published on May 15, 2010

Pen Pals for the iPhone. It’s like Chat Roulette, but with less sausage.


Pen Pals for the iPhone.  It’s like Chat Roulette, but with less sausage.

Pen Pals is a new iPhone app that does just that, finds you pen pals from all over the globe. The app was created by The Dos Hombres, and is really a very interesting concept.

After opening the app and noticing the very polished UI, you really only have one option, writing your first letter to a pen pal.The whole process is very simple, write a letter, and the app randomly delivers it to someone else who also has the app and vice versa where you get delivered other folks letters.  Some of the very cool options that come with writing these letters is the ability to add audio clips and photos besides the usual text message. In no time you’ll be receiving letters back from random pen pals, and for the most part in my experience using the app, I haven’t had a bad apple yet.

In the event that you do receive a bad apple, I am quite glad to let you know that the smart people who made this app included a block and report feature which is a lacking feature in many other random communication apps for the iPhone.

After you finish writing your more or less golden letter, you get to “send” it off in a literal sense. To complete the process of sending a letter, you actually flick it off your screen, creative yes, necessary no, but do I like it? Very much so!


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Pen Pal’s only customizable feature is your profile (and settings of course). You can add your name, or an alias, your location (which they determine using location software) and an image.

One of the things that I really find fascinating about this app is its simplicity. There’s nothing to it, write a letter and get one back, make a new friend or add someone to the block list. It’s really that simple, and quite fun and educational talking to people from around the globe.

This has to be on the list of my top ten all time favorite apps, and I don’t throw that title around lightly, it has joined the likes of Tweetie, Skype and 7 lucky others.

Go check out Pen Pals in the iTunes App store, it retails for $1.99 and is really well worth the money.

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