The next big app for Windows Phone: ChatUp!

[bartk]

Hi there,

We are two students who have just created their first app together!
Our app is called ChatUp! and you can chat with random people
over the internet! And the best part: You don't need to sign up/sign in.
Just enter a username, select a language, select a room you want to join and
start chatting!

You can also checkout our website (unfortunatly we are unable to use links....)
so go to google and search for: ChatUp! thoughts | Bart Kessels
it's the first result in Google (don't about Bing scince it doesn't work well in Europe).

We are always looking for Windows Phone users to give us feedback and
their thoughts about the app so if you guys could check it out we would be delighted.
The app has a BETA in the store right now.
Search for: ChatUp! BETA
(yes it's the angry looking guy).

We'd love hearing from you and as always keep up the good work on the website.

Come on guys, check it out and chat with us!!!!

Kind regards,

Ties Baltissen & Bart Kessels

 

[gpobernardo]

Interesting concept, but I wonder what will happen as soon as a lot of users start using the app. I was once active in a sports website where there were "rooms" for chatting, and I observed a few things in that kind of setup:

1. Nobody was chatting with anyone specific, so the chat room was chaotic.
2. Somebody was chatting with someone, so the chat room was "owned" and dominated by these two (or group of people) and no one else can start a conversation. Starting a different conversation results in #1.
3. Resulting from number 1, chats often became abusive.
4.Resulting from number 2, some members invite other members in the same room to a private chat where they can converse without disrupting the entire chat room.
5. Those chat rooms were finally taken down by the website, as a result of number 3.

From these observations, I think it would be nice to have:
1. Moderation options - where members can report if a certain room or member is becoming offensive. The anonymity is very inviting for offenders to start, well, offending others.
2. The ability to start a conversation with a particular member or a group of members from chat rooms, for those who want a more in-depth discussion about whatever they were talking about in the room.
3. Do NOT add the ability to share photos, that is if you want your app to be used with decency and with security. Besides, this keeps the anonymity. However, most users may want to have this feature, so it's your call.
4. It would be nice to have the app save one's username, so that there would be no need to enter the same username next time the app is launched. Is this possible without the need to go through the usual sign up process, perhaps just to have usernames in your servers? This makes it possible to start one-on-one chats with other members.
5. From #4, push notifications for chats.

More to come in the future, and good job with your app. Good luck!

 

[bartk]

First of all thank you for your post and ideas.

To make the rooms less chaotic we decided to let the users create their own 'private' (yet public) room. But as you
stated those 'private' rooms can be used for abusive chats.

To make other user moderators is something we haven't really thought about yet.
Since we where affraid it might cause some people to kick other users (but then again, it's better
than abusive chats, so...). We'll definitly look into this!

The reason we didn't/don't want to store usernames is that you will have to use some kind of password
or secret phrase to make sure that YOU are the real YOU. And that was something we don't want. It might
be great when you want to chat with the same people over and over again but than it would become something like WhatsApp.
But it might be added if there are loads of request for that. This would also remove a little of the anonymity resulting
in less abusive behaviour so we'll have to see what we'll do with that.

The ability to share photos won't come either since we were affraid it might cause pictures like you see
on chatroulette (you know what i mean...) and it would make our app suck (pun intented!).

Push notifications is something we haven't thought completely through yet. Because if you are in a chat with
a few hundred users (not that there are so many WP users hahaha) your phone wouldn't stop vibrating and those
toast messages would be visible at the top of your screen all the time (it takes a while for WP to remove those).
But we exually want to try that since it would be cool if we could! Ofcourse this could be disabled/enabled in the settings.
Giving the user options is what we want.

We hope to see you in a chatroom someday and keep it cool!

Kind regards,

Ties & Bart

 

[bartk]

The app has been updated!!

Here's a list of the changes:

- Fontsize slider
- Textwrapping
- Set username with enter key
- Send message with enter key
- Link to website
- Overall settings
- Character limit for message
- User can change the background color
- Added logos for smaller screens
- Improved message layout

There were so many changes and features added we've even changed the
version number to 0.1.0.0 (previous version was 0.0.1.0).

Screenshots can be found in the Windows Phone store.
Just search for: ChatUp! BETA

So check it out and let us know what you think about the updated app!

Keep it cool Windows Phone enthusiasts.

Ties & Bart

 

[bartk]

Hello folks,

Yet another update will be hitting the stores in some time!
This update isn't as big but still worth downloading!

We've added an option to enable or disable autocorrect (which we needed
since WP changed English words to Dutch, which was annoying), added a rate button
and we fixed a bug of the Enter key!

So grab the app/update and lets us know what you think!

Later,

Ties & Bart

 

[bartk]

Hello (again),

This time we've made some huge changes
in the app!

The new features and fixes:

• New way of loading messages
• Added time stamps
• Added function to create a room
• Added join random room button
• Added search room function
• Added function that will remember your user name
• Added option to change user name
• Added donate button
• Fixed crash on bad internet connections
• Made loading messages faster

We hope you'll try this update out and let us know what you think!

Because of the massive changes the version will go to 0.1.5.0!
This app is still in BETA (hopefully it will be released soon!) so
if any bug is bugging (see what I did?) you let us know!

Cheers,

Ties & Bart

 

[bartk]

Hey there,

We have pushed 3 other updates
since our last message.

What has changed I hear you think... Well
here's a little break down per version

Version 0.1.6.2 (Current)

• More bugfixes regarding joining a room after searching
• Added a confirmation message when trying to add a room
• Tidied the app up overall

Version 0.1.6.1

• New logo made by a lovely redditor!
• Overall performance
• Bugfixes

Version 0.1.5.1

• Little bugfix for loading messages in room
• Fixed In-App purchase

So if you haven't already grab the update from
the store and start chatting!

We'll be happy to hear/see or answer you.

Hopefully see you guys in the app,

Ties & Bart

 

[bartk]

Hey there,

Yes, another update will be hitting the
store near you! Try it out and let us
know what you think!

The app has already so much features that
we've decided to add an in-app-purchase.

What can I buy? I hear you think... Well
you can buy another ten theme colors for
the app for just $1,49!

And as with every update so far we hope
to expand our userbase a little more. The
real MVP's are you guys! Without you
we wouldn't be this far with the app!

Anyway, what we've done basically comes down
to this:

• Added new themecolors as in-app purchase
• Dangerous characters arent dangerous anymore, you can now use standardized smileys without interfering with the app
• Optimized room adding some more
• Made the logos even more pretty

So, go ahead, check it out for yourself and let us
know what you think!


And we'll hopefully see you in the app!

Later,

Ties & Bart