What Is The Monkey App? Connecting Teenagers To Strangers Via Movie Talk
What Is The Monkey App? Connecting Teenagers To Strangers Via Movie Talk
The Monkey app icon, an app that connects teenagers via movie talk. Photo: Monkey
If you recall the days of Chatroulette, the website that connects you to strangers to talk with movie and a talk box, the Monkey app will sound familiar.
It’s an app developed by two Australian teenagers who dropped out of high school to stir to Fresh York City and work on their idea. One of the founders and developers of the app, Isaiah Turner, told The Fresh Yorker that Monkey is “like Chatroulette, without the pervs.”
It’s actually more of a speed dating-Chatroulette hybrid, and is presently only available on iOS devices. Users get matched with a random person from around the world the two have fifteen seconds to movie talk, if they like talking to one another they can determine to extend their talk time. Each user has to tap “time” to keep talking, if only one taps “time” the call will disconnect when the fifteen seconds is up.
Users can also determine to add the stranger as a friend. Once they have a friend added, there’s the option to talk them, send photos and play games like “truth or dare.”
Turner told The Fresh Yorker that he and his co-founder Ben Pasternak made the app to help teenagers who feel lonely connect with others.
The app is rate d 12+ for infrequent or mild sexual content and nakedness and crude humor among other things. The community guidelines prohibit bullying, illegal content and lounging about age and encourages users to, “ Use this incredible chance for good, and before you say something, consider whether you would like it if someone said this to you. ”
The founders also partnered with a Crisis Text Line so that any users who need to talk to a trained crisis manager have the resources to do so.
However, the app may cause concern for parents who are weary of their children interacting with unpredictable strangers or providing out individual information.
The app has gained some attention since its launch and teenagers on Twitter rave about it.