This article was published on September 27, 2014

Hands on with Ping, the mysterious new app from the people behind Secret


Hands on with Ping, the mysterious new app from the people behind Secret

The company behind anonymous sharing app Secret is back with a new app, Ping, which tries to be your new best friend.

The app, available for iOS and Android, is simple and mysterious, with even the App Store listing offering only “you’re going to like me” for the description. Once you launch, you tap the black dot and simply pick what you like from a seemingly random list of categories such as Random Thoughts, Trending on Twitter, Apps Worth Downloading and ‘Is it Friday yet?’

Ping will then send you push notifications for things it thinks you’ll like, based on what you chose. From the few notifications I’ve had appear it’s recommended a popular movie, warned me that it’s going to rain today and pondered ‘what superpowers would Kirby gain if he swallowed you?’

It’s unclear where this information comes from, but Ping’s beauty is found in it’s unpredictable recommendations. I like not knowing what it’ll offer up next and each notification was one I looked forward to reading. It’s like a little surprise for your day.

ping

Ping doesn’t seem to notify too often, either, only choosing to send notifications very occasionally. There’s not much more you can do with the app just yet; you can’t request a recommendation now nor can you do anything outside of scrolling through previous notifications, but the simplicity is refreshing.

Secret told Recode that the app has nothing to do with the company’s main app and does not share information with it. CEO, David Bytow also said that Ping will “evolves and adapts to you” over time, so it’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds in the coming days.

➤ Ping [iOS, Android]

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