Path Talk messaging app combines features from Snapchat and Foursquare

Path, the “personal” social network, is reinventing itself. Today, the company split its mobile app in two, leaving social networking duties for the Path app and messaging for Path Talk.

Path Talk enters the crowded mobile messaging space with strong competition from WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and others. To differentiate itself, Path Talk offers automatic activity sharing call “Ambient Status.” This allows Path Talk to automatically post what you’re doing by detecting your location, movement, and even battery level.

For example, if Path Talk detects you’re moving rapidly, it will automatically share with your friends that you’re “in transit.” The app can also let your friends know if you’re nearby, similar to Foursquare’s Swarm app.

Users concerned about privacy will be happy to know that Ambient Status is opt-in. The feature is disabled by default. However, I can see how auto activity sharing would be compelling, especially for couples and close friends.

Like Snapchat, Path talk also features self-destructing messages that disappear after 24 hours. Messages are still sent to Path’s servers, so this feature isn’t so much for security as it is for making people feel at ease about chatting and sharing.

By separating messaging from the Path app, CEO Dave Morin hopes to make the Path experience simple. “We’ve failed a lot in terms of implementations we’ve tried, and we finally came down to – well let’s make it simple,” he says speaking with The Verge.

Path is also removing its 150 friend limit, a “feature” it used to separate itself from other social networks. The company found that the arbitrary friends limit confused users who wanted to add more than 150 friends. With its friends cap removed, Path isn’t really a “personal” social network for your closest friends any more.

Path also announced today its purchase of TalkTo, a service that connects people with businesses. The service lets people call, text, or email companies for help. Responses are returned within five minutes, supposedly. Path plans to integrate TalkTo into Path Talk by the end of this summer.

It seems odd for Path to integrate TalkTo into PathTalk. Do users really want to mingle business with private messaging? Still, it makes sense for Path as TalkTo could generate revenue for the company.

Path Talk is up against some well established competition and needs to offer something other apps don’t. Ambient Status and TalkTo are interesting, but I don’t think they’re enough to lure users from other apps. It’s one thing to get a single user to switch, but that user has to convince his or her friends to use the app too. And that’s something I don’t think most users are willing to do.

Path Talk is available today for Android and iOS.

Source: Path Talk

Follow Lewis on Twitter @lewisleong

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