I believe many of you will recall the app that was all over the news about a month ago by the name of “Yo”. That “groundbreaking” app got so much publicity it was insane actually. The app itself is rather useless though, the only thing you can do with it is send a word “Yo” to anyone you want, that’s it. This can of course be fun for a while, but it doesn’t really have a specific purpose. I always remember the “poke” option which is a part of Facebook and lets you poke your Facebook friends. “Yo” was installed between 500,000 and 1,000,000 times thus far, despite the fact it was full of security holes and was hacked shortly after being introduced. Those issues seem to be fixed now though, at least according to the developer, in case you want to try it out that is.
The same developer that is behind “Yo”, Moshe Hogeg, has developed yet another application that is gaining popularity rather fast. The app’s name is “MIRAGE” and it a Snapchat/Slingshot look-a-like, but with a few key differences. I guess we can say MIRAGE is a dumbed down Snapchat and that might be a good thing. The main principal stays the same though, you can send photos, short videos, text messages or short audio files with this app while you have the option to add filters as well. In MIRAGE the whole process is even simpler than it is in Snapchat app.
The main screen is split into 2 parts, the upper part is where you’ll see your camera viewfinder, whether it’s front-facing or rear-facing shooter you’re using (you can change between them by tapping on the screen once). The lower part of the screen is where contacts are located. There are some additional gestures and actions you should know about. If you tap on the screen twice the app will let you add a text message and if you swipe from right to left you’ll be able to switch between filters. If you repeat this action enough times you’ll be offered the option to record a 15-second audio message or just send a text message without an image what-so-ever. It is also worth mentioning that you cannot group message your contacts just yet, but the feature is coming soon according to the developer. You can even send messages to people who are not on your list, in which case they’ll receive a link which will take them to MIRAGE’s website where they can see the message you sent them. The developer also wanted to emphasize that they do not record/save your content in order to make you more relaxed when using the app
MIRAGE seems like a decent app with a few kinks that need to be sorted out in the future updates, bugs and what not. Even despite some issues the app itself is rather nice and far more useful than “Yo”, even though it probably won’t become as popular. If you’d like to try it, you can download it via Google Play Store.
