Facebook just released a brand new app called Facebook Poke for iOS. This release is no doubt trying to steal some market share from the incredibly popular photo and video sharing app, Snapchat. Like Snapchat, Poke will let users send messages, photos, and videos that will self-destruct after a preset time. You can choose to have your content disappear after 1, 3, 5, or 10 seconds after being opened.
This application comes at a time where Snapchat is gaining a significant amount of users. By releasing the Poke app so quickly, Facebook hopes to gain some market share in the private messaging market while it still can. Still, Facebook Poke will have to face privacy headaches that Snapchat has been facing with users being able to take screenshots of private messages. While Facebook Poke is built to only function if there’s a finger on the screen, it’s still possible to take a screenshot. Poke and Snapchat both have features that detect this and will send the sender of the message a warning that a screenshot has been taken of a private message.
Both Snapchat and Facebook Poke require the recipient to have the app. If a message is sent to a person without the app, they will be redirected to the App Store to download it.
You can download Facebook Poke for iOS and Snapchat for Android and iOS from Softonic.
