Hands-on with Peach, a new iOS-only social network that feels a lot like Slack

There’s a new app that everyone’s talking about today, and it’s from the founder of Vine, Dom Hofmann.

It’s a social network called Peach, and it feels like a weird blend of Tumblr, Slack, and even Telegram. The service, currently trending on Twitter, is only available on iOS devices and bills itself as a “fun, simple way to keep up with friends and be yourself.”

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So what makes this app so special? Right now, Peach is incredibly simple; it’s easy to maneuver and incorporates a command line interface reminiscent of Slack — for example, when adding a new post on Peach, type “GIF” to choose from a selection of animated GIFs, “Weather” to share the state of affairs outside, or “Events” to share what meetings you have to attend today (pulling from your calendar).

I took a spin through the app, and here are my thoughts (be warned: The app’s quite buggy):

Simplicity is key, right?

Peach isn’t the first app to tackle the idea of a hyper-simple social network, as it joins the likes of Snapchat, Ello, and to a certain degree, Yo. But what’s interesting is the Slack-like command line. The interface is pretty clean, in that you’re not inundated with tons of options like you are with Facebook. But maybe it’s too simple? With hardly any users or things to do within the app, I quickly found myself wanting more.

Peach allows you to see any user’s post, but in order for you to comment, they have to accept your friend request. With friends, you can “heart” things and even take advantage of the app’s version of the infamous Poke — you can also wave at friends and send emojis like a cake, a kiss, and so on.

There’s also a feature designed to help you think of things to post. Tap on the lightbulb icon and you’ll see questions like, “What talent do you wish you had?” or “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?” These questions are designed to help start conversations.

Say the “magic words”

Peach’s “magic words” give users the ability to quickly insert GIFs, doodles, the weather, and other information. Here’s a list of the ones I found:

• GIF: share an animated GIF
• Weather: share the weather
• Events: share appointments from your calendar
• Rate: rate something on a scale of 1 to 5 stars
• Time: share the current time
• Song: share whatever song your phone is playing
• Draw: doodle right on the screen
• Here: share your location
• Battery: share your phone’s current charge
• Move: share your movement today

Beware of imposters

When you sign up for Peach, you can choose any username. The app doesn’t integrate with Facebook or Twitter, so there’s no way to verify users.

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Therein lies potential trouble: You can be whoever you want. I could have signed up as Barack Obama if I wanted to. While looking up users who are currently on the service, I spotted Taylor Swift — after checking out her profile, I’m not convinced that the pop star signed up.

Remaining questions

Who’s behind the app?

The mastermind behind Peach is Dom Hoffman, the founder of Vine, which was acquired by Twitter in 2012. Hoffman left the company in 2013 and since then has focused on developing off-beat apps, like Byte.

Will brands capitalize on this?

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Let’s not think about it right now. Please?

Are there sufficient privacy features?

The app allows you to limit your profile to only those you’ve friended, or you can be more open and enable friends of friends to see everything. Peach also offers a way to block users, should the need arise.

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Who needs another social network?

We’re not saying Peach will become the next billion-dollar company, but it’s out there and trending on Twitter. The hype feels kinda like this right now.

Is it available on Android?

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Right now, no it’s not.

Is it free to use?

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Is VentureBeat on Peach?

Umm…yes. Add us @venturebeat.

You can download Peach here.