Messaging platform Moped has introduced the Aviary photo editing tool to its apps to allow users to be more creative when it comes to sending images. The new feature, available on Android and iOS, includes 12 Instagram-style filters as well as a crop function, meme text and even the ability to add your own MS Paint-like doodling.
Moped is a simple yet powerful way to communicate using Twitter-style functionality. Users can sychronise messages across platforms, and there is integration with FourSqaure and Dropbox as well as rich messaging and a Chrome plug-in. Allowing users to get creative with photos is aimed at making their experience more fun, according to the Berlin-based startup.
A blog post declared: “We’re building Moped to help improve the way we communicate with each other, whether it’s a long-time friend or someone you’ve just been introduced to at a conference.
“Photos are a big way of how we share our private experiences, feelings and just have fun together.”
Privacy is one way Moped distinguishes itself from its messaging rivals. Users direct messages to each other by @-mentioning the intended recipient(s) (e.g. “@dave what time does your flight arrive?”). They can also create message filters on-the-go with hashtags (e.g. “@sarah, arriving in #Berlin around 8ish”). All messages are private.
And the Moped team have been busy adding features since its launch last June, and you can now play shared Spotify tracks, post links to Facebook and create IFTTT recipes with the platform. It wasn’t a difficult decision, said founder Schuyler Deerman, to turn their attention to photos next with the Aviary editor – whose filters Twitters also uses: “We wanted to give people an outlet for creativity that wasn’t something you have to broadcast.”
Moped closed a $1 million investment round last year involved leading European and American investors including Earlybird, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel and Betaworks. After announcing it, Schuyler said: “Moped gives you universal access to your messages, like email, but it’s much lighter weight.”