On July 30th, Yahoo launched a new video chat app in the U.S. called Livetext that is interestingly lacking one key feature: sound. Senior Director of Product Management Arjun Sethi at Yahoo demonstrated their new app at a press conference in New York. The video chat feature allows users to move about and display their surroundings while simultaneously texting words and emojis superimposed over a silent video.
The main concept behind this soundless video app is the idea that typical video chats lend themselves to many factors, including the timing and location of both users, the level of noise in the room or background, etc. which can sometimes make chatting difficult or impossible. This app allows users to see other users and communicate through texts rather than talking.
In order to begin a chat, users must both register and accept each other as friends. They will then be able to send each other one-on-one requests to video chat. There is currently no option for group chats, but this could change in the future.
Is soundless video chat the next big thing? In this crazy, loud, busy world, Yahoo may be on to something.
Read the full article here: http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/29/yahoo-launches-livetext/#.tbr1u3:y2RT
