Delete Facebook? Two Ex-WhatsApp Engineers Launch Ad-Free Social Media 'HalloApp'

Two engineers responsible for making the earliest iteration of WhatsApp have come together with a private social media network that promises to be secure and ad-free, dubbed HalloApp.

HalloApp

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The social media platform went live last week on Google Play Store and Apple App Store and the platform has quite a few similarities with WhatsApp.

Reported first by The Verge, HalloApp is designed for group or individual texting with close friends and family and the only way people can add you is through their phone number.

The platform also promises that the conversations on the platform will be end-to-end encrypted for an additional layer of security. And one of its unique selling propositions is the fact that the app would not host advertisements -- something WhatsApp¡¯s parent company Facebook truly relies on for its revenue.

The app is created by Neeraj Arora and Michael Donohue who both worked with WhatsApp until 2018 and 2019 respectively. Arora worked as WhatsApp¡¯s chief business officer whereas Donohue was WhatsApp¡¯s chief engineering director.

The novel social media platform is broken into four main tabs -- a home page that is like a feed for all posts of people in your network, group chats, private chats and settings. The app continues to follow a minimal design language and looks quite fresh.

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In a blog post hosted by the company, Arora shared the philosophy behind the app, calling engagement-driven social media the '21st-century cigarette'.

Reuters

¡°Imagine your friends online were your real friends. Imagine your feed wasn¡¯t filled with people and posts you didn¡¯t care about. Imagine scrolling through meaningful moments and seeing what you wanted you to see¡ªnot what the algorithm wanted you to see. Imagine not being treated like a product.¡±

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While the app looks great for now and is free to use, in the future it is expected to charge users for the feature through a subscription model, similar to what WhatsApp tried to do in the initial days before Facebook took control of the app.

Would you prefer paying for social media with an ad-free or tracking-free experience? Tell us in the comments below.