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That rose in popularity quite quickly...

the spike coincides with the front page story on CNN/Money:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/18/technology/mobile/yo-app/index.html

maybe a paid product placement?

Altho, as much as I want to hate on this stupid app, it would address several cases where texting is cumbersome:

When I go visit a friend at his office, he has to come open the security-controlled door. Currently, I text "here", but a single button-press "Yo" would convey the message.

Same works for anyone who has to let visitors in an apartment building, etc. There are lots of cases when meeting up with ppl, that we type some perfunctory message to let them know we have arrived, or are ready to leave, etc. The words are really unnecessary when we are expecting a message of that type. A simple "Yo" would convey the idea.

Like I said, I still want to hate it. But I might get it. ha.
 
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This let's the other person send a "yo" back which can done very quickly with zero thinking or typing.

Didn't apple solve this with read reports?

you see they've read it. They don't reply. You assume they are busy. Seems very simple :)

For the most part, yes they did solve it. The issue with the proposed use of Yo is that it requires you to open a DIFFERENT app to send that Yo. Also, there is already a way to acknowledge you received a message from someone if you don't have read receipts as an option. You simply say "K".

Now, I have seen something similar on Twitter and App.net where a user will favorite and then un-favorite a message as a way of letting the sender know that they saw it. But again, this is all done in-app using the tools already provided. If Yo were so necessary, you'd see an "Ack" button added to messaging apps that manually "acknowledges" a message.
 
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This is the social equivalent of a fart app. Unfortunately it's so easy to develop for iOS now that these fart developers think that they can break into the social media scene. Even more frightening is that the general public loves this stuff and investors give them millions!

This has inspired me. I'm going to learn iOS development. I designed and launched my first app the other day (didn't code it). I've had a lot of mediocre ideas over the years—and apparently that's all you need to be successful now. Hell, I've even had a couple of good ideas. Imagine if I had implemented them. I wouldn't be sitting here in my office writing on some forum about Apple stuff. I'd be sitting on a secluded beach writing on some forum about Apple stuff. :D
 
Simplicity is getting ridiculous. It is trying so hard to be simple that it looks like garbage
 
sms spoofing has been possible for over a decade, nobody really gives a damn.

The question is, why would anyone want to do this other than pull a prank.
 
You must be either over 16 years old or don't have kids or don't work in a high school. This really DOES solve a problem.
...

It's hard for us old folks (those over 30) to understand but I've seen this kind of thing many times. The kids ARE smart enough to know that they might not get an instant reply during class time or whatever or at 3:00am but no instant return when he could have sent one is a big deal to very insecure people, like teens.

Yes, I'm over 30 :)

Thanks for the explanation but I still don't get why kids wouldn't use their existing messenger (say Whatsapp) to send the "Yo".

These apps also offer emoticons, which I hear are popular with teens and tweens, very quick to send a response or "mood" gauge in just one emoticon.

Why yet another app? Whatsapp etc. also offer pop-up messages and doesn't seem much slower to use.
 
Yes, I'm over 30 :)

Thanks for the explanation but I still don't get why kids wouldn't use their existing messenger (say Whatsapp) to send the "Yo".

These apps also offer emoticons, which I hear are popular with teens and tweens, very quick to send a response or "mood" gauge in just one emoticon.

Why yet another app? Whatsapp etc. also offer pop-up messages and doesn't seem much slower to use.

Because Whatsapp is not hipster enough, that's why. I can't really understand, but everyone's trying to be hipsters nowadays
 
I wish 'Yo' didnt auto-correct to 'To', and i use auto-correction a lot so i dont want to turn it off
 
I originally thought this app was beyond stupid, but I've actually thought of a use case that make sense for me.

I'm a "technical advisor" to several television shows and staff are distributed throughout our building. Instead of having to call my desk phone (which I'm not always at, and sometimes can't hear ringing with headphones on) or walk over to try to find me they could "yo" me with minimal effort and I could go to their office to see what the issue is.

Still, a million dollars in financing seems a bit much - what do they need the money for?
 
I was going to goof on this app with creative examples of other inanity, but gave pause that someone might move on the idea, code it, and earn millions in financing.
 
So yet more malware hacking rubbish apps on APPLES app store!

Where are all the Mac Rumours posters that constantly slam Android for these types of apps now then? Forgetting the exact same thing happens on Apples app store I imagine, which is worst considering Apple are supposed to vet each app before posting it up.
 
No I think "Simplistic" is the right word for this "simplistic" app.

That would be your editorial opinion about the app, which is not the same thing as a description of the app's functions.

----------

I think simplistic is accurate.

Edit: Beat to the punch.

See above. In fact if anything is simplistic, it's your understanding of the word's meaning.
 
So yet more malware hacking rubbish apps on APPLES app store!

Where are all the Mac Rumours posters that constantly slam Android for these types of apps now then? Forgetting the exact same thing happens on Apples app store I imagine, which is worst considering Apple are supposed to vet each app before posting it up.
App Store quality control is simply non-existent. You only need to consider that there are 1.2m apps available to realise that.

I'd much, much rather see 12,000 apps which were 'guaranteed'.
 
See above. In fact if anything is simplistic, it's your understanding of the word's meaning.

I’m going to stand by the description of this app as simplistic (for trying to boil social interraction down to a single word), though I will agree that this is an editorial judgement. That being said, the concept of “simple” is relative, making your description of the app as simple an editorial comment as well.

As for misunderstanding the definition of the word, having spent my professional life embroiled in the complexities of the English language, I won’t pretend that the usable definition isn’t/won’t changing/change. But if you’ll consult your nearest dictionary, I think you’ll find my understanding of the term is fine.
 
You must be either over 16 years old or don't have kids or don't work in a high school. This really DOES solve a problem.

The problem is, say a 15 year old girl texts her best friend or boyfriend and 3 or 4 minutes goes by and she does not get a reply. After the 5th minute she is certain the other person hates her and the relationship is over and her life is ruined and she is going to be a social outcast and so on and so on.

This let's the other person send a "yo" back which can done very quickly with zero thinking or typing.

There is a similar problem with some that goes the other direction. NOT getting a message for a long time (like a couple hours) means the same as not getting a reply in 4 minutes. They rarely care much what the message says so "yo" is as good as anything else.

It's hard for us old folks (those over 30) to understand but I've seen this kind of thing many times. The kids ARE smart enough to know that they might not get an instant reply during class time or whatever or at 3:00am but no instant return when he could have sent one is a big deal to very insecure people, like teens.

No, these kids aren't smart.
 
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