Are WhatsApp’s blue ‘message read’ confirmation checks too much for you? Then Android-only Beam Messenger will terrify you!
Much like Google Wave (remember that?), instead of telling you when someone is typing a message, with Beam you can actually see the other person typing (and deleting, correcting, etcetera) their message. While this could be seen as next level messaging-voyeurism, it could just teach you to think before you type instead, much like we do when we talk! Of course, it also means that you can see when someone has stopped typing partway through a reply.
The developers say Beam is a ‘real time’ conversation app. As well as seeing what others are writing, you can interrupt, and even take back what you said. This is literal – you can delete a message and it will be removed from both devices in a conversation. They also say messages on Beam are ‘inherently secure’, as no message is ever delivered: “letters simply arrive on your phone in an organized fashion”. This is hardly a convincing message for the security conscious, however. The company doesn’t mention what is kept on its own servers, or whether anything in encrypted.
Beam’s growth has meant that the company has temporarily stopped new signups for the service while it upgrades its infrastructure. You can apply for an account at getbeammessenger.com. The app is still available to download as usual, but you can’t use it until you’ve been granted an account.
Source: Buzzfeed
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