Vamos has launched its event discovery service on Android with a significant redesign, as it seeks to tap into the fastest growing mobile platform – especially in South America. The new app marks a major improvement on its older iOS sibling, and now includes integration with Instagram.
In particular, the app is being aimed at travelers and expats in foreign cities, where the Berlin-based startup has so far seen a high engagement level and garnered good reviews. Vamos was launched earlier this year and takes information from Facebook to help users find the best events in their locale.
Another new functionality is the automatic creation of an event page when a user shares an event on the Android app. The page will incorporate real-time streams of photos from Instagram and EyeEm to make events easier to follow before, during and afterwards.
Rather than rejig the iOS app, the Vamos team decided to start from scratch after users demanded a more visually appealing experience. They are so happy with the outcome that they are planning to introduce some aspects of it to the iOS version soon.
Co-founder Luis-Daniel Alegria told Silicon Allee: “The perception of Android apps amongst iPhone users it that they are ugly; not as good as on the iPhone. But with [our new Android app] I would say that is better in terms of design. Obviously there is some functionality that it needs to catch up on, but design-wise it is beautiful.”
With Android devices reportedly outselling iPhone six to one, it’s an important step – especially in South America, which is a key market for the company. Luis added: “In South America, Android is the strongest phone [platform]. For us, the whole point of Vamos was making event discovery easier and more accessible, so it suits everything very well that we are launching on Android.”
Vamos is a great example of how fast things can move in Berlin. The four-strong founding team has put together their product in very short time – after the ‘Hackday of Destiny‘ in February, the iOS app was launched in the App Store in August, and following user feedback, a popular events feature was added in October.