That means they wouldn't be held accountable by Meta's developer policies related to anonymous messaging apps, either. Neither Sensor Tower nor data.ai had visibility into either app's components, they said.Īs the apps only offer the ability to post links to Stories, they aren't necessarily reliant on technical integrations offered through Meta developer tools in order to function. Meta, so far, has been unable to provide this information.Īpp intelligence firm Apptopia told us it only has visibility into NGL at present and found it uses the Facebook SDK in its Google Play version but not in the iOS app. We asked Instagram if either of these apps were integrated with its platform by way of Meta's developer tools, which are governed by its platform policies. No one had access to the links we had created, so these were clearly automated messages. #Apptopia sendit snap kit snapchat yolo series#Several hours later, both apps sent us a series of questions supposedly sent from "friends." The questions were innocuous, like "the strangest dream you've ever had?" (Sendit) or "what was the best day so far this year?" (NGL), for example. This tricked the apps into thinking we had published our link so friends could respond. We copied the personalized links and posted them to an Instagram Story that was only shown to "Close Friends,” then immediately took the post down so no one would see it. TechCrunch tested both apps, NGL and Sendit - for Instagram. NGL did not respond to a request for comment. Users are also complaining this paid service only offers hints like what kind of phone the user has or what area they live in. Notably, the app is charging users a subscription of $10 per week to "reveal" who sent the question. Similar to the concerns consumers had raised about Fullsenders' apps, many NGL users insist they're seeing questions they believe were not sent in by their friends. But there are a number of people griping about bots asking them fake questions here, too. (A recent Forbes investigation found the app struggled to block explicit British slang and French, Spanish and German profanities.)Īs it turns out, there are not many complaints about bullying among the app's 68,000+ App Store reviews. To differentiate itself, the app touts its "world class AI content moderation," which claims to filter out bullying and harassment. Image Credits: Sendit for Instagram App Store reviewsĮssentially a clone of Sendit, the new app NGL also allows users to post anonymous Q&As on Instagram. Obviously, this was a big draw for the app's young users, as everyone wanted to know who had said what. The company, the reviews allege, had promised a new Sendit app that would reveal which friends had sent the anonymous messages. There are concerns these apps aren't necessarily operating on the up-and-up, however.įor starters, Sendit for Instagram users have been complaining in reviews the app had originally marketed itself to them as "Sendit Reveal" during the preorder phase. And Apptopia sees 7.29 million lifetime installs. Data.ai had estimated its downloads were even higher - around 5 million. App Store for the first time on June 16, 2022, and has now topped $1 million in consumer spending. Meanwhile, the anonymous Q&A app NGL launched on December 10, 2021, and has seen more than 3.5 million iOS installs to date, Sensor Tower data shows. The same company behind Sendit for Instagram also operates a version of Sendit aimed at Snapchat, which has more than 18 million lifetime installs and has generated more than $11 million in consumer spending to date, Sensor Tower said. Image Credits: data.ai (opens in a new window) Lawmakers and regulators have also been pressuring social platforms to implement more safeguards for their youngest users. Snapchat, for instance, ultimately chose to suspend anonymous apps on its platform after being sued multiple times by families whose teens died by suicide after being bullied on Snapchat-connected anonymous messaging apps. Online anonymity among teens often leads to bullying and abuse. History has demonstrated these sorts of social experiences tend to be problematic. Teens flocked to the apps, both of which surged to the top of the App Store after launching. In recent weeks, new apps like Sendit for Instagram and NGL have launched anonymous Q&A apps that allow users to post "ask me anything"-style questions to Instagram in order to receive anonymous responses from friends. Instead, the apps have simply found a new way to reach young people: via Instagram. Anonymous social apps targeting teens haven't gone away in the wake of Snapchat's new policy, which earlier this year banned these types of social experiences from integrating with its developer platform.
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