HalloApp, created by two early WhatsApp workers, is a private, ad-free social network app

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Image Courtesy: The Gal times

Two of WhatsApp’s early workers have launched a new private social network called HalloApp. Beginning Monday, anybody may download and join up for HalloApp in the Apple App Store and Google Play for Android devices. HalloApp and WhatsApp have many similarities: the software is meant for group or individual conversations with close friends and family, the only way to locate people is by knowing their phone number, the messages are encrypted, and there are no advertising.

While numerous businesses have attempted and failed to establish effective social networks for close friends over the years (RIP Path), the pedigree of HalloApp’s two cofounders, Neeraj Arora and Michael Donohue, distinguishes this specific endeavour. They both worked at WhatsApp before and after Facebook paid $22 billion for it. 

While numerous businesses have attempted and failed to establish effective social networks for close friends over the years (RIP Path), the pedigree of HalloApp’s two cofounders, Neeraj Arora and Michael Donohue, distinguishes this specific endeavour. They both worked at WhatsApp before and after Facebook paid $22 billion for it.

Both Arora and Donohue declined to be interviewed for this storey, claiming a wish to avoid press attention at such an early stage in the app’s life. They did, however, recently appear on Christopher Lochhead’s “Follow Your Different” podcast, where Arora stated, “I think the greatest approach to expand is to develop a fantastic product that people love to tell their friends and family about.” 

HalloApp is divided into four major tabs—a home feed of postings from your friends, group conversations, individual chats, and settings—and has a fairly simple design. There are no algorithms in place to sort postings or group conversations.

HalloApp eventually aims to charge users for services via membership, similar to how WhatsApp was marketed before Facebook purchased it. For the time being, the 12-person firm is funded by an unknown sum of money obtained from investors by the cofounders.