Shulou(Shulou.com)05/31 Report--

Facebook's internal NPE team today released a new app called CatchUp, which makes it easier for friends and family in the United States to coordinate phone calls or set up group calls with up to eight people. Although there are many group chat apps available to users, it is unique in that it supports audio calls instead of video calls, and is marked when users are available. In addition, CatchUp can use the service without a Facebook account, and it can be used with your phone contact list.

Jiang seems to get some inspiration from family gatherings. In the sauce, the user can specify when to call by setting the application of the status. This is similar to Houseparty's video chat app, which also allows you to look at life. Friends send notifications when they open the app, and the interface of the application is marked "here".

Facebook explained that the purpose of the app is to address a key reason why people stop talking on the phone. They don't know when others are free and don't want to disturb them. At the same time, unanswered calls are transferred to voicemails that recipients are too lazy to check, forcing communications to be conducted only through text messages or chat apps. Although video chat is on the rise, it is often more convenient to make phone calls because users are not always ready for video, or they try to handle multiple tasks at the same time instead of sitting in front of the screen.

CatchUp solves the problem: you don't know if a phone call will disturb others. Once you start the application, it will show you who is ready and can talk.

Users can also create and join friends, family, and connected groups in the application, just as you can do in other chat applications. Or they can do it one-on-one instead of using the phone.

It's easy to make a phone call. It's just an one-click-- it's not a complicated process of calling a contact and then "merging" the phone, just like you do on a smartphone app.

Facebook explained that the idea for the app actually came before the 2019 outbreak and subsequent quarantine, but the NPE team accelerated application development as a result of the outbreak.

Although there are some simple ways to make voice calls using Facebook's own Messenger and WhatsApp apps, the difference is that CatchUp can contact contacts on your phone. Users must download the app, but they don't need to have an existing Facebook account or any Facebook company account. In addition, the application simplifies the user interface and makes it easier for older users such as grandparents to operate. It's really just a single-screen experience with toggle buttons.

The application also includes a privacy feature that allows you to configure which contacts can join your one-on-one and group calls.

The app comes from Facebook's NPE team, whose internal Redd team focuses on releasing new application concepts that don't have the benefits of Facebook connections. In order to survive, these applications must exist independently and gain traction.

So far, the NPE team has released a small number of apps, including meme creator Whale, conversation app Bump, music app appAux, video app appHobbi, couple app tuning and Apple Watch app toolkit. (Bump was later shut down.) However, with Facebook's early efforts and the pulmonary edema team quietly launching the app, Facebook announced that the sauce appeared in a blog post, which may indicate that it thinks the app has more opportunities than other apps. Maybe it's because similar to the social voice app in busy cities, the club hasn't released it yet, but it's been informed.

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