Wire 1.5

Keeping in contact with your friends is oftentimes difficult due to busy schedules, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spend some time chatting with them on your phone.

Wire is a brand new messaging app that takes things an extra step. Not only can you send people messages via this platform, alongside with pictures, links, music (Via SoundCloud) and videos (via YouTube), but you can also call them up when you feel like chatting.

Pretty, but a tad complicated

The app’s design is pretty cool and we found that even though it takes a bit getting used to it, it’s still a fairly nice experience. Getting in contact with your friends is easy and you just have to give Wire access to your contact list and it will locate anyone that has the app installed. Don’t put your money on finding too many people just yet since the app was just launched, though.

Wire allows users not only to communicate with one another, but also inside extended groups. You can create conversations, name them whatever you want and add people to the mix.

In order to chat with people, you can easily type in your messages in the lower area of the screen, where you see the cursor. That cursor, however, has a double role. If you swipe it to the right, you’ll uncover extra features. You can ping someone, which is pretty much the equivalent of buzzing them on the old Yahoo Messenger or poking them on Facebook.

Call your buddies

You can also send them pictures, whether from your collection or freshly captured. From the same “hidden” menu, you can also call them. The call will appear in the upper area of the screen and includes several buttons. The person you’re calling will have their phones chiming and they’ll be able to answer the phone just like they would on any other call, although the interface is different so they’ll know it’s via Wire and not another tool.

Overall, Wire is a nice app. It seeks to replace the need for a series of other messaging type apps, but it falls a bit short of being everything that you need due to the rather complicated interface. All the swiping down, right, and sideways can get confusing for first time users and that may put them off from taking this story to the next level.

Add to watchlist:

VoIPInstant messengerChat

• Skype 5.11
• Viber 5.2.2
• WeChat 6.1.1
• Kik 8.1.0
• Strings 1.0.7
• Hangouts 3.1.0
• Signal 2.0.1

Portable version:

• Wire for Android