Amo, the buzzy Paris-based startup that retains releasing shopper social apps, is dropping its third app right now. And it’s going to look actually acquainted to former customers of Zenly as Amo’s third app is a location-sharing app — identical to Zenly.
In case you missed the previous episodes, Amo is a comparatively new startup created by 10 co-founders (sure, ten) that every one labored on Zenly, the location-sharing app that was acquired by Snap, grew to develop into one of many largest social apps in-built Europe, after which acquired shut down by Snap.
Over the previous yr or so, they’ve been engaged on a galaxy of social apps which can be tightly interconnected — one account, one record of associates, one notification display and a typical design system.
Amo first released ID, a model new take in your social media profile that permits you to specific your self with stickers, photographs and drawings. ID permits you to create a uncooked, three-dimensional profile. And it’s a enjoyable collaborative house too as you possibly can drop some content material in your associates’ profiles.
With its second app Capture, Amo is making a social digital camera app. It’s each an progressive option to take photographs and a shared digital camera roll with your pals and family members. It’s not BeReal, it’s not Locket, and it’s undoubtedly not Instagram.
Amo’s new app, Location, might be the simplest one to explain and perceive. It’s a location-sharing app so that you could see what your pals are as much as, get to know them a bit higher and spend extra time with them — in actual life. In different phrases, it’s identical to Zenly.
“And the third app will surprise you the least. It’s a kind of ‘Zenly Lite,’” Amo co-founder and CEO Antoine Martin advised me just a few weeks in the past.
Location is each a utility app and a social app. Whenever you open the app, you see a map with your pals. You possibly can faucet on somebody’s profile to see how removed from you they’re, ship some hearts, ping them by knocking on their display and inform them you’re in your means.
“We’re trying to build something a little more adult-like, not fall into Zenly’s childishness. But we still want to allow you to do this when a buddy is late,” Martin stated whereas displaying me the knock-knock button to ping somebody. “Or to do this, this, this, if they’re really, really late,” he tapped on the button just a few instances, which coated the display in 3D fingers knocking on the map.
It’s that sort of pleasant options that made Zenly stand out from pure utility apps like Apple’s Discover My. You possibly can zoom out and in on the map utilizing one hand by sliding your thumb up and down the facet of the display. You possibly can transfer from one pal to a different by swiping on the profile card — it’s like a carousel of associates.
“You’ve got all kinds of little details that we’re working on to recreate Zenly, but better than it was before,” Martin stated.
Nonetheless, Location desires to be as helpful as it’s enjoyable. From the profile card, you can too provoke a name or ship a message (by way of iMessage) or open a navigation/ride-hailing app like Apple Maps, Google Maps and Uber. You possibly can see your pal’s battery standing too — and the app isn’t imagined to kill your battery.
At this level, for those who’ve already added a bunch of individuals on ID and Seize, you would possibly assume that you simply don’t wish to share your location with everybody. Amo has arrange a easy privateness display in all its apps. You possibly can add a pal in any of the corporate’s apps and allow or disable a selected app. As an illustration, you possibly can select to share photographs together with your work associates in Seize however disable location sharing in Location.
Do individuals nonetheless need one thing like Zenly or have they moved on? Whenever you kind Zenly within the App Retailer, you get a handful of Zenly clones. They don’t simply attempt to recreate Zenly’s options. They actually appear and feel identical to the outdated Zenly. It proves that there’s nonetheless some curiosity within the location-sharing house.
Now, let’s see if Amo can deliver again outdated Zenly customers, and persuade new ones that they need to enroll — a minimum of, a few of these potential customers are already utilizing ID and Seize. It’s going to be fascinating to see the community results between these three apps.
