After Recent Update: Yik Yak Dies, New App Takes Over.
YikYak, the “anonymous” messaging app sensation among college students, is in trouble. After an impressive $400 million valuation in 2014, the company has managed to lose both its CEO/Founder as well as most of its user base.
Yik Yak originally gained popularity as a geolocation app that lets college students connect with those around them and “make the world feel small.” College students used Yik Yak to anonymously gossip and see what’s happening around them. Soon after going viral, the app creators started removing anonymity, adding unwanted features, and censoring posts. This started an unrecoverable downward trend that ended when they pushed an update on August 16th. This update, meant to pivot the app, removed ALL of its remaining anonymity and essentially turned it into a crude version of Twitter. This resulted in over 1500 negative ratings on the Apple App Store and countless more on the Google Play Store over the course of 24 hours.
Realizing Yik Yak’s fatal mistake, a Virginia Tech student rebuilt the platform from the bottom up. Covertly (currently iPhone only) aims to be what YikYak never was; an anonymous, censorship free social network that respects its users privacy. YikYak’s exodus can clearly be seen reflected on Covertly’s user metrics, which shows over 20,000 users in less than a month of its publication. We asked the Founder of Covertly to comment on the sustainability of this quick growth:
When an app [Yik Yak] doesn’t respect its users, people will leave. I’ve learned from Yak’s failure and believe we have what it takes to rise to the top.
-Sagar Govani, Founder of Covertly
Its always nice to see new companies challenging the norm and just as Lyft was able to challenge Uber, we believe Covertly has everything it needs to challenge YikYak. And yes, this includes free burritos. Anonymous App
