Meet Whisper, the Best Private Messaging App for iPhone – orm
iPhone.AppStorm
I’m very selective about the way that I privately communicate with friends, family and colleagues. I truly like iMessage and I often feel like it’s the best solution for most of my needs, especially since it’s built right into iOS. I don’t like Facebook much, but use Facebook Messenger because of its popularity.
I love Twitter, but I’m not a fan of its implementation of messages or the standalone apps that have attempted to take advantage of them. And albeit a lot of friends of mine use Google Hangouts, I find the app is remarkably inconsistent and attempt not to rely on it. That’s why I was astonished when I attempted Whisper, a fantastic private messaging app for App.net. It’s the very first third-party app of its kind to make its way into my daily life. Read on to find out why I’m so excited about it.
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Downright Private Messaging
From a logical perspective, I’m not astonished that Whisper is built on App.net. Because it’s a subscription service, ADN doesn’t mine your data or track your information. The folks at ADN aren’t interested in selling anything. That makes it particularly apt for private messaging.
This is Whisper.
And because the API for Whisper is so broad open, there are a lot of unique opportunities a stand-alone app for messaging can take advantage of that a typical ADN app isn’t meant to treat. Whisper’s take on it includes Stickers, Locations/Nearby Places and Photos.
The app does a excellent job of feeling like a very customized talk room for iPhone tho’, which is high praise for me. I have fond memories of sitting in talk rooms during my early teenage years, appreciating that they were designed to make private communication as effortless as possible. Whisper is one of the very first app interfaces I’ve seen with the same respect I nostalgically believe these web apps to have held.
Whisper is made by the same guys who developed Riposte, an excellent app for ADN that covers every gamut of the social network. You might be wondering why you should bother with Whisper in that case. Primarily, it’s because Riposte doesn’t suggest photo integration, Stickers or location sharing. As well, Riposte’s Private Messages UI doesn’t have the same layer of grind that comes with Whisper.
The interface has an insane level of grind.
In that sense, you’d want to use Whisper for many of the same reasons you’d want to use Facebook Messenger over the Facebook app if you use Private Messages extensively on that service.
They didn’t leave behind the basics. You can still view a user’s profile from within the app.
The fattest reason, however, is app independency. I like Riposte, but I much choose Felix for more ADN needs. The only feeble part of Felix is the Private Messages, whereas Whisper does a much better job. Not only that, but Whisper’s interface is one of the most intricately designed beauties I’ve ever had the pleasure of using.
The Details
You’re going to notice some of the details that separate Whisper from your run-of-the-mill app right away. Timestamps show up when you scroll through a stream of messages, but automatically vanish shortly after that. There’s a dividing line to indicate the beginning of a fresh day. The font defaults to the cool Avenir Next, which is very readable in any lighting condition.
One of my favourite features is the full-screen mode, which I find apps either get entirely right or hopelessly wrong. Whisper smashes it. Swiping through the app with one palm is a totally painless practice. In fact, some of the animations feel more visceral when you’re swiping overtop of them instead of just pushing a button.
The Stickers are good.
Of special note are the app’s included Stickers. While geotagging posts is superb if you want to share where you are with friends (and I think the feature’s handy), the Stickers are where the money’s at. They’re akin to visual messages, sort of like Emoji. In the case of Whisper, most of the Stickers go beyond a ordinary Emoji and are more intricately detailed or interesting.
The Stickers menu also has a Backspace button built in, which makes it even lighter to use. My only qualm is that there simply aren’t enough of them. There are two keyboard screens of Stickers right now, and albeit they’re all lovingly designed, I would love to see more. It’s not that the app needs more, but they’re on such a roll — why stop?
In-app Purchases
There is a one-time in-app purchase that unlocks all the features of the app, and it’s worth exploring what your hard-earned money gets you before you drop it.
Whisper Pro, as it’s called, includes extra fonts from the Helvetica, Avenir, Exo, Georgia, Gill and Source Sans families, along with a few others. I like Avenir Next as much as the next man, but after a few hours of fiddling across the day, I’ve come to lodge on Helvetica Neue and am loving the practice more as a result.
Whisper Pro comes with its fair share of perks.
Whisper Pro also includes Dark Mode, which is both lighter on the eyes and more beautiful than the regular mode. With Dark Mode comes Auto Dark Mode, which automatically triggers Dark and Light Mode based on the time of day in your location. And if you want to quickly adjust your iPhone’s brightness, Whisper Pro also includes a three-finger Screen Brightness gesture that permits you to brighten or dim the screen by sliding your fingers up or down the screen.
Eventually, Whisper Pro includes high-resolution photo sharing. While Whisper includes photo sharing, the app automatically scales photos to half-quality unless you’ve paid for the in-app purchase.
High-resolution photo sharing is excellent.
Whether or not you’ll use all these features is something you’ll have to consider, but on a individual level, I made extensive use of every one within twenty-four hours of purchase and have no regrets.
Keep It Secret. Keep It Safe.
Whisper is one of those infrequent iPhone apps that excels in both its implementation and execution of design. It’s one of the smoothest practices I’ve had the pleasure of having on my iPhone; one that Apple could use promotionally as a demonstration of the “magic” of the product. Enable Full-Screen Mode and swipe from a conversation to your messages list for an example of the fluidity of the app. It’s flawless. Grab the in-app purchase and attempt switching the screen brightness with three fingers. It’s intuitive, reliable and just as sensitive as it should be. I wish Apple would implement the feature across iOS.
Beyond that, there’s a definite peace of mind that comes with Whisper’s ADN backbone and truly “private” messaging. It’s the only private communication app I trust as much as iMessage with my privacy.
At the end of the day, the only way to adequately tell you how much I love Whisper is to tell you it’s secured a stable place on my home screen. Beyond that, I’ve been sending friends ADN invites just so they can pick up Whisper and talk with me. It’s quickly becoming one of my favourite apps of all time and has earned an all-too-rare Ten/Ten score from me. I can’t recommend it very enough.