On Monday night, Facebook accidently launched Slingshot, its Snapchat competitor. It appeared on the App Store for a limited time, before it was taken down by Facebook,TechCrunch reports.
We first heard about Slingshot last month when Financial Times revealed the nature and functionality of the app. The app essentially lets you send photos and videos to others, which will be deleted after a point of time. You will also be able to doodle on the clicked images or add captions before sending it. You can immediately respond to a message once opened, however it’s not quite clear how long the message will be accessible before it self-destroys.
There is currently no word on how this app went live on the App Store or when Facebook plans on finally launching this app. In a statement to AFP, Facebook said that this was purely “accidental.”
Earlier today, we accidentally released a version of Slingshot, a new app we’re working on. With Slingshot, you’ll be able to share everyday moments with lots of people at once. It’ll be ready soon, and we’re excited for you to try it out.
This is not the first time Facebook has tried taking on Snapchat. Back in 2012, itlaunched a service called Poke. But it failed to take off and was recently taken off the App Store. The social giant also tried buying Snapchat, but its bid of $3 billion was turned down. A recent report revealed just how popular Snapchat is as a photo sharing platform compared to Facebook. Users were uploading around 400 million photos daily on Snapchat, while Facebook lagged behind with about 350 million photos shared daily.It will be interesting to see how Facebook markets Slingshot, considering it already has its own standalone Messenger service. The social giant also bought WhatsApp for a staggering $19 billion, which too boasts more than 500 million users.
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