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ZeeroChat allows only real-time chat

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 24 May 2016
New messaging app ZeeroChat gives users peace-of-mind knowing their communications are truly deleted.
New messaging app ZeeroChat gives users peace-of-mind knowing their communications are truly deleted.

Another Snapchat-like ephemeral app, ZeeroChat, has entered the crowded instant messaging space.

The app lets users send phone-call-like notifications to other users to get online to chat and share real-time content, which "self-destructs" after one user leaves the app.

Joel Yakubu, founder and CEO of ZeeroChat, says he came up with the idea after being betrayed in the past by people who relayed information from a private conversation into the public arena.

"So I wanted to have a messaging service that only works when both users are online and to ensure that all shared information is deleted afterwards. There was no app that offered such a service, so I decided to create one."

Yakubu says his target market will include college students, celebrities, investment bankers, lawyers, politicians, couples, military officers and diplomats.

"Anyone who would like to chat and share private information online without it ever being leaked."

The app has a feature called 'dropmail', which allows a user to send one message at a time to another user who is not online. The message will be deleted straight after it has been opened, similar to the service rival Snapchat offers.

Yakubu says ZeeroChat was made public through its launch in January. Presently there are only 171 active users. He says the low number was intentional.

"This was to enable us to fix all critical bugs and add new features that our early users recommended. We plan to start doing more aggressive marketing as soon we get our latest updates out on Friday, 27 May."

Last week, tech giant Google launched two of its own new messaging apps called Allo and Duo. The space already consists of Facebook-owned WhatsApp, and Messenger, Snapchat, Skype, Viber and Telegram, to name the most popular services.

ZeeroChat is available only on the iOS platform at the moment, and the Android version will come later.

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