By Diana Hofmann
Staff Reporter
A new app has been released known as Houseparty, which is essentially a group FaceTime with up to 8 of your friends. Houseparty has more than a million users so far. The creators encourage the users to have frequent, candid conversations with their friends and family using this app.
When you and your friends open up the app at the same time, you will all see each other live instantly. You are immediately being broadcasted with the front-facing camera on your cell phone. When you are on, a notification goes out to your friends that you are live or in the house.
“Houseparty is a more convenient app for me and my friends than FaceTime because you don’t have to call someone and wait for them to pick up. It’s an easy, quick way to video chat and logging into Houseparty is sometimes more useful than texting a friend,” said senior Chris Kenedy.
The app has goofy features to it, such as when a friend of a friend enters your chat a banner will then come across your screen warning stranger danger. You can also wave at other users to send them a push notification, inviting them to join you, just like a FaceTime call.
To ensure your group’s safety while chatting, you can lock your room for privacy so no one can join in. There are also no advertisements interrupting your chats.
Houseparty allows everyone to converse all at once rather than texting in a group chat with friends or family. Essentially, it is a place to video chat with your loved ones, connecting you all even when you’re apart.
“I could see families using this to converse all at once. Your parents and grandparents would rather hear your voice and see your face rather than need to put on their reading glasses and get irritated by autocorrect in order to have a conversation with you,” said senior Kyle Unger.
Students can use the app to make Friday night plans, to reminisce the morning after and to do homework together during the week.
“I used the new Houseparty app to work on a group project. Some group members couldn’t meet in person, so we all used this new app to work on our project,” said senior Joe Cordasco. “Being able to have 6 of us in a video chat was very helpful for us to complete our project. It has made communication easier amongst groups in many contexts.”
The Houseparty app is available for free in the app store and Google play.
“The Houseparty app adds more depth to those who Facetime. It’s simple, but genius. It brings friends together easier than just a group chat,” said Unger.
