{"id":62943,"date":"2023-12-19T13:20:10","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T13:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/19\/with-amos-third-app-the-makers-of-zenly-release-a-zenly-like-app-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2023-12-19T13:20:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T13:20:10","slug":"with-amos-third-app-the-makers-of-zenly-release-a-zenly-like-app-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/19\/with-amos-third-app-the-makers-of-zenly-release-a-zenly-like-app-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"With Amo\u2019s third app, the makers of Zenly release a Zenly-like app | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Amo<\/a>, the buzzy Paris-based startup that keeps releasing consumer social apps, is dropping its third app today. And it\u2019s going to look really familiar to former users of Zenly as Amo\u2019s third app is a location-sharing app \u2014 just like Zenly.<\/p>\n

In case you missed the previous<\/a> episodes<\/a>, Amo is a relatively new startup created by 10 co-founders (yes, ten) that all worked on Zenly<\/a>, the location-sharing app that was acquired by Snap, grew to become one of the biggest social apps built in Europe, and then got shut down by Snap.<\/p>\n

Over the past year or so, they\u2019ve been working on a galaxy of social apps that are tightly interconnected \u2014 one account, one list of friends, one notification screen and a common design system.<\/p>\n

Amo first released ID<\/a>, a brand new take on your social media profile that lets you express yourself with stickers, photos and drawings. ID lets you create a raw, three-dimensional profile. And it\u2019s a fun collaborative space too as you can drop some content on your friends\u2019 profiles.<\/p>\n

With its second app Capture<\/a>, Amo is creating a social camera app. It\u2019s both an innovative way to take photos and a shared camera roll with your friends and loved ones. It\u2019s not BeReal, it\u2019s not Locket, and it\u2019s definitely not Instagram.<\/p>\n

Amo\u2019s new app, Location<\/a>, is probably the easiest one to describe and understand. It\u2019s a location-sharing app so that you can see what your friends are up to, get to know them a bit better and spend more time with them \u2014 in real life. In other words, it\u2019s just like Zenly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the third app will surprise you the least. It\u2019s a kind of \u2018Zenly Lite,\u2019\u201d Amo co-founder and CEO Antoine Martin told me a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

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The friend map is back \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Location by amo is the app that puts your friends on the map \u2014 from checking in on your crew to making moves to meetup. Brought to you by the original team behind location-sharing app Zenly.<\/p>\n

\u2022 See where your friends are right now, in real time.
\u2022\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/y8uIRAINQG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 amo (@amoamoamo) December 19, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Location is both a utility app and a social app. When you open the app, you see a map with your friends. You can tap on someone\u2019s profile to see how far from you they are, send some hearts, ping them by knocking on their screen and tell them you\u2019re on your way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to build something a little more adult-like, not fall into Zenly\u2019s childishness. But we still want to allow you to do this when a buddy is late,\u201d Martin said while showing me the knock-knock button to ping someone. \u201cOr to do this, this, this, if they\u2019re really, really late,\u201d he tapped on the button a few times, which covered the screen in 3D hands knocking on the map.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that kind of delightful features that made Zenly stand out from pure utility apps like Apple\u2019s Find My. You can zoom in and out on the map using one hand by sliding your thumb up and down the side of the screen. You can move from one friend to another by swiping on the profile card \u2014 it\u2019s like a carousel of friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got all kinds of little details that we\u2019re working on to recreate Zenly, but better than it was before,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

Still, Location wants to be as useful as it is fun. From the profile card, you can also initiate a call or send a message (via iMessage) or open a navigation\/ride-hailing app like Apple Maps, Google Maps and Uber. You can see your friend\u2019s battery status too \u2014 and the app isn\u2019t supposed to kill your battery.<\/p>\n

At this point, if you\u2019ve already added a bunch of people on ID and Capture, you might think that you don\u2019t want to share your location with everyone. Amo has set up a simple privacy screen in all its apps. You can add a friend in any of the company\u2019s apps and enable or disable a specific app. For instance, you can choose to share photos with your work friends in Capture but disable location sharing in Location.<\/p>\n

Do people still want something like Zenly or have they moved on? When you type Zenly in the App Store, you get a handful of Zenly clones. They don\u2019t just try to recreate Zenly\u2019s features. They literally look and feel just like the old Zenly. It proves that there\u2019s still some interest in the location-sharing space.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s see if Amo can bring back old Zenly users,\u00a0and convince new ones that they should sign up \u2014 at least, some of those potential users are already using ID and Capture. It\u2019s going to be interesting to see the network effects between these three apps.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n