If there’s one thing the mobile app industry has right now, it’s a glut of messaging apps. Now, Microsoft has decided to pile on with Skype Qik: an app that’s designed to help friends share video messages with one another.
The concept behind the app is fairly simple: users can send videos using the service to their friends, and their friends can reply back in a similar fashion. It’s a bit like Vine meets, well, just about any other messaging app.
The messages are tied to a person’s phone number, so people can message anyone they have in their phone book – though people without the app will just get a message telling them to install it. Here’s a video that shows how it all works:
The one interesting thing about Qik (pronounced “quick”) that sets it apart from other apps is the use of “Qik Fliks” – pre-recorded reaction GIFs that users can fire off to respond when they don’t have time to take a video. It seems like a neat little touch that helps fix one of the problems that would otherwise crop up with a system like this.
It’s a part of an ongoing push by Skype to play a greater part in the messaging app conversation. The company recently updated its desktop apps to put the service’s chat feature front-and-center in a response to the growing popularity of apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Line.
Of course, since the app is made by Microsoft, it’s available for free on iOS, Android and Windows Phone today.
