New Messaging App -- Peach

Something kind of funny happened last week: A wonky little app called Peach emerged out of nowhere and quickly climbed the rankings in Apple's mobile app store. Within a day or so, the gif-centric download went viral, drawing coverage from any media outlet that covers social media. The app was the ninth most popular download from the app store by Monday, according to TechCrunch. By Thursday, the rank dropped out of the top 10 to spot 17. Some declared Peach dead upon its launch, but there’s no stampede of media outlets heralding failure just yet.

What do you do with Peach? A key feature of Peach is its use of “magic words,” or command line prompts. Type “gif” to search gifs. Type “goodmorning” to post the time and weather at your location. Type “rate” to post a rating of up to five stars of whatever is it you want to rate. It’s goofy. You can also share music with Peach and, as with other apps, tag friends.

What makes Peach different? Peach has a few unique features other than command line prompts. Posts are arranged in chronological order with the newest post on the bottom, so that if you scroll to the top of a person’s profile you’ll see their first post rather than their last. Peach has no newsfeed - you have to visit individuals’ profiles to see what they’ve posted. This siloing of profiles gives Peach a more intimate feeling than Facebook or Twitter. At the same time, the app lacks privacy by not offering a direct message option.