Yahoo just released a new messaging app, Livetext.
Livetext is essentially FaceTime without sound — as you text your friends, you'll see a live, but silent, video stream of their reaction.
The idea behind Livetext is that many people don't make phone or video calls these days, mainly because they feel too formal and intrusive.
Simply calling someone out of the blue, Yahoo argues, could catch them off guard and even disrupt their day.
"People would say to us that video chat is very formal. It feels like you need to make an appointment," Adam Cahan, Yahoo's SVP of Mobile and Emerging Products, said during the launch event. "We wanted to bridge the gap between the simplicity and ease of texting with the live connection and expressiveness of video."
Yahoo first released a version of Livetext to Hong Kong's iTunes Store earlier in July. The app will be available for iOS and Android in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, and France starting Thursday.
This isn't Yahoo's first foray into messaging. Its previous desktop messaging product, Yahoo Messenger, was the number one instant messaging service in terms of total unique visitors, before it shut down in 2012.
According to TechCrunch, Yahoo has experimented with six different mobile messaging apps since then, though Livetext is the only one to emerge from testing.
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