From the studio that got you the blockbuster app “Yo”. From the company which received a $10 million valuation for a seemingly stupid and useless app. From the hottest new startup in Israel. Now comes their next product MIRAGE – an app which helps you and your friends enjoy and view life in the moment : here & now!
Seems like the guys at Mobilio too have jumped onto the messaging apps bandwagon with Mirage. Thus, now they will have to compete with and try to wrest users away from industry leaders like Snapchat & Facebook’s slingshot. Mirage is being touted as a “ONE tap messaging app that lets you send UNRECORDED photo, video, text and voice messages”. Moreover, like Snapchat, it destroy your sent photo/video message as soon as the intended recipient has viewed it. Also, if they end up taking a screenshot of it, you are intimated of the same.
How does one operate MIRAGE?
Mirage is just as easy to use as any of its peers, if not more so. All one has to do is capture and send a picture/video (text is optional, depending on the user) to any of their friends in their phone’s contacts.
- To send a photo, simply aim the camera at the desired object and tap the recipient’s photo (which would be visible on the app screen).
- To send a video of up to 15 seconds, follow the above procedure with the small difference of holding the recipient’s photo for the duration.
- If you want to add a caption/send a text message in the photo/video, double tap the screen after aiming the camera at the desired object and before tapping / holding anybody’s photo.
- In order to change the camera, simply tap the screen once.
As is visible from the above instructions and their design mantra even with Yo, Mobilio wants to keep the number of user taps to a bare minimum.
So, how is it different from the other deluge of similar apps? For the most, Mirage too is almost the same as its brethren. However, the one major difference is that once you have verified your mobile number, the app syncs with your phone contacts & then displays friends with whom you can message using the app! Thus, it has obviated the need for manually adding people (at least known ones)!
Conclusion
This growing fad of using one’s camera to communicate and message means that apps like Snapchat & Slingshot cannot simply rest on their laurels & popularity and will have to continue innovating in order to remain at the top of the pecking order in this vicious market. Else, apps like Mirage which proffer, primarily, the same thing albeit in a slightly different manner will end up dismantling these aforementioned leaders from their lofty perch. As to which app is better, I’d recommend you give them all a try and determine which one suits yourself best!
Download the app from Google Play Store using this link and from iTunes.
Image Credits: Mirage App (Links above)
