Instead of headlines, you get messages that read like texts from a friend—if your friend were a news-obsessed but reliable source.
@quartz’ first mobile app looks unlike pretty much any news app you can think of — because technically, it’s a news app that functions like a chat app.
Launched on Thursday, the app allows users to literally chat with the news by sending headlines to the user much like one would send a text message to a friend. These messages occasionally contain gifs and other engaging goodies. Next to each message bubble is an arrow icon that you can click to read the full story. To get the next headline, you can simply reply with “next” or “anything else?” If you have questions about a news story’s specifics, you can ask those of the app as well.
Matt Webb, a technologist who has written extensively about conversational user interfaces, told Wired that this is likely where the future of news apps — and apps in general — is headed.
“It feels absurd to me that we talk to our friends one way, and talk to our apps by pointing and jabbing our fingers at boxes,” Webb said. “It feels like there’s a new UI paradigm emerging, and it’s based around messaging.”