A screenshot of the Locket app.
Our social networking habits have become all too familiar. We open up our app, whether it’s Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. We scroll our feeds. We like the photos of our friends and family and tell them how cute their dog is or send them a happy birthday message.
The app Locket, which has climbed the App Store charts, is taking another approach. It’s a photo widget where users can exchange pictures with each other. What makes it different is those changes go out immediately, so at any point you can check out the widget on your iPhone screen and find an update from a friend or loved one.
Another big difference: there’s no like buttons.
“It is very personal putting someone on the home screen and kind of giving them that permission as well to actually send these photos to you,” said Locket creator Matt Moss during an interview with USA TODAY.
The idea for Locket Widget was inspired by Moss’ girlfriend. Moss graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara last summer but wanted a way to keep in touch with his girlfriend who was still attending school.
VIDEO GAMES: For Reggie Fils-Aimé, it’s not game over after heading up Nintendo’s US business
DON’T WANT WORDLE TO CHANGE? This trick could let you preserve the current viral game
Moss created Locket as a birthday present for his girlfriend. Over the next several months, they sent photos to each other that popped up on the widget.
“You’re not expecting to see anything new, and there’s just like this new photo of someone you love cut out right there,” he said.
After friends noticed the app and asked about using it, Moss decided to release it on Apple’s App Store right before New Year’s Day.
To help bring attention to the app, Moss turned to TikTok, posting a video of some of the images he and his girlfriend shared to the song “I Love You So” by The Walters. It has amassed nearly 930,000 views and spawned hundreds of videos of Locket users.
Since then, the app has topped more than 4 million downloads on iOS, according to research firm App Annie, and became one of the top 10 social networking apps.
As of Monday, Locket is the 16th most popular free app overall on the App Store and the fourth most popular social networking app in the U.S.
“It’s like the much better version of Snapchat,” reads one review on the App Store from a user who goes by the name Ami.hh. “No annoying streaks or numbers, just the people you care about.”
Moss plans to introduce support for multiple Locket widgets on screen to represent each of your friends or family. And he said he’s received thousands of TikTok responses begging for an Android version of the app.
Unlike other social networks where you can find countless numbers of friends, Locket is more intimate. You can only add up to five friends on the app. Moss said while it’s great to have social apps where you can share with a lot of people, it also limits what you share.
Moss said Locket’s appeal has been staying close to friends and family without having to worry about social media trappings such as how many likes you get.
“The coolest thing we’ve seen with the app is people being a lot more authentic and people sending a lot more photos because it is just those people that they really trust and care about,” said Moss.
Need a break from social media? Here’s how
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Locket widget app: From birthday gift to iPhone’s most popular apps
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/locket-app-iphone-birthday-present-141424702.html
