Facebook
Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team released a Messenger Rooms-like voice calling app called CatchUp on Tuesday. The experimental app is supposed to simplify the coordination of group calls with up to 8 friends and family members.
“It is important to keep in touch with friends and family, especially at this time of physical distance,” said Product Manager Nikki Shah in one blog entry on Tuesday. “Based on our studies, we found that one of the main reasons why people don’t call friends and family more often is because they don’t know when they are available to speak or fear they will reach them at an inappropriate time.”
CatchUp hopes to encourage voice calls by showing when contacts are available to speak with a “ready to speak” status. The app also has the option to set “automatic availability”, which will automatically update your status when you are connected via Bluetooth. The app also shows ongoing group chats that you can join.
Although there are already easy ways to make voice calls with Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger app, CatchUp users don’t need an existing Facebook account. The app should work with your phone’s contact list.
CatchUp is now available for iOS and Android users in the United States.