ChatGum

ChatGum is one of the premier mobile chat apps around, and it allows you to make friends with people from all around the world. Online chat services once appeared to be the vanguard of communications. Early only messaging services like AIM and ICQ gave a glimpse into the rise of text messaging and services like Facebook messenger. But as social media has come to dominate our online presences, something was lost in the process. Services like Facebook has allowed us to communicate with our existing friends whenever we want, but it's also in some ways minimized the inherent curiosity of meeting new people and broadening our horizons. ChatGum is a live chat app that allows you to reach outside of your comfort zone and meet new people from around the world. The breadth of options here are wide, and if it can get the user buy-in it needs, it could serve as a revolutionary force in how we communicate. But the current lack of users could serve as a major breaking point for individuals who are curious about the services and features on offer.

ChatGum's main advantages is that it helps you connect with new friends based off of personal interests rather than relegating you to conversations with people already on your friends list. They host a huge selection of chat rooms in a wide variety of different disciplines, and that makes it easy for you to connect to like-minded people you might not otherwise ever get in contact with. If there's a topic that interests you, there's likely going to be a chat room for it, and ChatGum makes it easy to zero in on the categories that spark your passions. Their simple interface and robust search functions makes it easy to track down the right room and start talking with fans of similar interest right away.

If that sounds similarly to the web client chat rooms that were so popular in the 1990s, that's because it is. But ChatGum has smartly updated the format with a number of modern features that would feel right at home in a more modern social media platform. Users have the ability to like one another's profiles, and there's also a dedicated private chat function you can use to initiate one on one conversations with both old and new friends. If you're looking for a more leisurely alternative to the fast paced conversations that take place in chat, each room also has their own message board you can use to keep the discussion going. Users also have the ability to customize their profile to their heart's content, and thy can manipulate their profile avatar and use animated emojis to react more expressively to the conversations taking place.

Pros:

• A modern take on traditional chat room culture built for use with mobile devices
• Additional conversation options in the form of private messaging and message boards
• A ton of chat categories to browse

Cons:

• Tiny user base means it can be hard to find an active chat room
• A lack of moderation in the chat rooms

-Reduced app size

-Optimized load time