Facebook’s Snapchat rival Slingshot goes global

Users in the UAE can now download Facebook’s new photo sharing app Slingshot, but you can only access your feed after sharing a picture.

“A user has to sling something in order to see something else on Slingshot,” Facebook said after it had initially launched the app on June 17. It was then restricted to the US market.

Images or videos shared are gone after you have seen them. While users have an option to auto save their shots to their device, the app does not allow saving reactions or other people’ apps. However one can always take a screenshot of the post.

The new platform brings a foray of messaging platforms into the Facebook fold. Apart from its own messenger, Facebook acquired popular photo sharing app Instagram, followed by the much publicised WhatsApp acquisition for $19 billion.

This is the latest attempt by Facebook to rival Snapchat, a similar photo and video sharing app where the content disappears from the screen after a set period of time.

Facebook had to abandon an earlier attempt to rival Snapchat when it unceremoniously removed Poke which it claimed it had built in just 12 days.

There has already been criticisms about the mandatory share feature. “What if someone is sharing their sorrow and I send back a happy smiling shot in an effort to view their feed,” wondered one user.

However Facebook insists that the attempt is to make everyone share.

“With Slingshot, we wanted to build something where everybody is a creator and nobody is just a spectator. When everyone participates, there's less pressure, more creativity and even the little things in life can turn into awesome shared experiences,” it said.

Facebook however insists that this is not a messaging app. In a response to a Facebook post by one of the users the developers said, “We think of Slingshot as a feed, not a messaging app, so the shots you send aren't in response to the shots you're receiving.”

The app was rolled out to internationally on Tuesday.

Announcing the rollout on its new slingshot blog the team said, “Since we launched last week, we’ve heard from lots of people around the world who are excited to give Slingshot a try. Starting today, we’re expanding our initial launch and making Slingshot available internationally!”

While the app is available across the iOS platform, it is limited to Jelly Bean and KitKat users on Android.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.