GroupMe Blog

GroupMe for iPhone and Android 3.2

It’s a holiday miracle! We just released our new iPhone and Android apps to their respective markets. There are lots of little tweaks to make the GroupMe app faster and more fun, and we think you’ll agree it’s the best version yet. Here’s what’s new!

Likes

We’ve heard from a lot of you that while your GroupMe chats are hilarious and fun, they move so quickly that it’s sometimes hard to remember all the best things that have happened. Some of the best messages get lost in the shuffle. That’s why today, we’re introducing Likes.

Now, when someone in one of your groups posts something you like, you can tap the message and then tap “Like”. They’ll get a notification that you liked their message, and it’ll be saved for you in your own personal list of Likes from all your groups. Plus, the entire group will see a running total of the number of people who liked each message inline. 

Team GroupMe has been using Likes for the last few weeks, and we can guarantee that they’re really fun—it’s a whole new dimension on top of the GroupMe experience.

A note about conference calling

The best thing about GroupMe is the way people use it. We’ve seen extraordinary use cases that continue to inspire us.  From baby deliveries to bible study groups, and the 11% of groups that are used for keeping families close, we’ve see GroupMe help all types of people.

As the service continues to evolve, it’s important that we focus on and enhance the features that people use most.  GroupMe messaging has helped bring people closer together across the globe.  In fact, push messaging within the app recently exceeded total text messages across our network.

As we continue to focus on our core functionality of group messaging, we believe it’s important to sunset features that are not widely utilized. Starting January 1, GroupMe will disable the conference calling feature by default across the network.  We’re working to improve the overall GroupMe experience for our users and it’s important for us to stay focused on what we do best: helping people stay connected with their real life network through group messaging.

There’s good news, though: if you have made a conference call in the last month, you will still be able to make conference calls on your existing group number indefinitely. Additionally, if you start a group and find that you could use the benefits of conference calling, you can email us at conference@groupme.com and we’ll set your group up with a calling-enabled number.

Questions? We’re always here to chat with you — just send us an email at support@groupme.com. 

That’s all for now! There’s lots more cool stuff coming soon, so stay tuned—we can’t wait to show you all the new things we’ve been working on.

Now, go ahead and get the new GroupMe app for iPhone or Android! From all of us at GroupMe, happy holidays, and a happy new year!

Happy Holidays from GroupMe!

Whether you’re spending this holiday season at home with family or halfway across the world, GroupMe is here to help you stay in touch with the people who really matter to you. 

Last month, you may remember that we launched a Thanksgiving featured group designed to help us give back to our community. With your help, we were able to give thousands of dollars to help feed families in need in our hometown of New York City. 

We were so happy with the last time that we’re bringing it back for this holiday season. For each new group created on our special Happy Holidays page or in the Featured tab on your GroupMe app between now and New Year’s Day, we’ll donate $1 to the Food Bank For New York City, for up to 2,000 groups.  For every $1 donated 5 meals can be provided to New Yorkers in need.  With your help, we’ll feed thousands of hungry families in New York this winter.

Try starting a group there now and adding the people you’ll be seeing this holiday season. Whether you’re headed home to visit with family or hosting some friends where you live, you’ll all be able to stay in touch easier than ever before. Coordinate flight arrivals, chat about weather reports, and plan who’s bringing what to your celebrations. It’s easier than ever!

If you’ll be far from the ones you love, a group is the perfect way to stay in touch from all over the world. Share photos and stories from past holidays, or count down to the New Year together from opposite coasts—in real time. You’ll feel like you’re close together, no matter how far apart you are.

But no matter what you talk about, you’ll be helping people in need. Start your group right now on our Happy Holidays page or in the Featured tab on your GroupMe app.

From all of us at GroupMe, happy holidays! 

Happy Thanksgiving from GroupMe!

Whether you’re travelling thousands of miles to see your family or just shopping near home, GroupMe is your ideal companion this holiday weekend. 

This year, we’re using this holiday as an opportunity to give back to our beloved New York City. For each new group created on our special Thanksgiving page or in the Featured tab on your GroupMe app between now (11/22) and Sunday night (11/28), we’ll donate $1 to the Food Bank For New York City, for up to 2000 groups.  For every $1 donated 5 meals can be provided to New Yorkers in need.  With your help, we’ll help feed thousands of hungry families in New York this Thanksgiving.

Try starting a group there now and adding everyone who’ll be at your Thanksgiving feast this year. Whether they’re coming from near or far, you’ll be in control of who’s arriving when and who’s bringing what. No more worrying about coming up short on ingredients—if you’re short on cranberries, just send a message to the group and see who can pick some up.

If this weekend is more about shopping for you, there’s no better way to coordinate Black Friday than with a group. Get your shopping crew together and you’ll be able to compare deals from across the mall or across the country. Or, just start a bragging contest by sharing photos of the deals you snagged.

But no matter what you talk about, you’ll be helping people in need. Start your group right now on our Thanksgiving page or in the Featured tab on your GroupMe app.

From all of us at GroupMe, happy Thanksgiving! 

GroupMe 3.0 for BlackBerry

It’s finally here!

A few weeks ago, iPhone and Android users were treated to our 3.0 update, bringing Questions, Direct Messages, and a new visual style to the core GroupMe experience. Today, we’re thrilled to bring that same awesome experience to the BlackBerry. 

On the new app, users can create new groups and questions with people in their address book, as well as other people they know on GroupMe. With the new API, users should notice a faster feel to the overall app experience. 

The UI has been completely overhauled, from the list of chats to your list of contacts and much more. There’s a new ribbon of buttons at the top of the app that lets you start a group, Question, or Direct Message quickly, just like in our other apps. Picture sharing and downloading is much faster. It now works on BlackBerry OS 7. 

Basically, everything is faster, prettier and easier to use. You’re going to love it. 

Get GroupMe 3.0 now in App World.

Or, download it directly to your BlackBerry here.

Dearest GroupMe Groupies,

We have very exciting news to share. Today, we have entered into an agreement to be acquired by Skype.  Over the last few months, we had been in talks with Skype that started with discussions about potential commercial partnerships. As we got to know the core Skype team better, though, and as our conversations evolved, it quickly became evident that our visions were perfectly aligned. Both companies are focused on changing the way the world communicates, and helping people stay in touch with the people they really know. With a shared vision—an ambitious one—we decided our efforts to own real-time communications and the real life network could be best executed as one company.

This has been a remarkable year for GroupMe, and we believe that this is a big win. And not just a big win for GroupMe and our amazing investors, but also for New York City. As part of the deal, GroupMe will remain in New York, team intact, working on our standalone application. The major difference will be that we will now have access to Skype’s 175 million monthly connected users. 175 million people. That’s a very big deal. 

When we first started GroupMe, we set out to achieve two major goals. The first was to solve a very simple problem we had as individuals: how do we stay in touch and coordinate with our friends better in real-time?  The second was a bit bigger: how can we change the way people across the globe communicate and get together better in real life?  We solved problem #1, and our efforts alongside Skype will accelerate the execution of problem #2 tenfold. This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

With all of this excitement, we want to take a moment to thank you, our amazing users.  Because of your excitement about GroupMe, your inexhaustible support, and your invaluable feedback, we have been able to make GroupMe into what it is today. We simply could not have done this without you. From all of us here at GroupMe— thank you so much.

We’re going to keep working hard on making GroupMe the best way to keep in touch with your real life network. We still have a long way to go with our product and vision, and we can’t wait to show you where we’re going next. 

Love,

Team GroupMe

Introducing GroupMe 3.0

It’s a very exciting day here at GroupMe. Thanks to the invaluable feedback we’ve received from our users over the last few months, we have a slew of new features today that make GroupMe the easiest way to start conversations and keep in touch with your real life network.

There’s a lot of new stuff to celebrate, so let’s get to the point. Here’s what’s new!

 Questions (Beta)

• Today, we’re releasing a new kind of conversation you can start on GroupMe. It’s as simple as asking a question.
• Use it to plan a real-life meetup, chat about something with your friends in real time, or whatever else you want!
• You can direct your question to just a few people, an entire group, or everyone you know. You can even broadcast it to Twitter or Facebook and let the world respond.
• We’re so excited about this feature that we can’t contain it all to this post. Please read more about Questions here. 

 Direct Messages

• Now, you can send a message to another GroupMe user, because sometimes, you don’t need to say it to the whole group. 
Just tap on a user’s avatar anywhere in the app, and you can have a conversation with them without ever leaving the app.
• Today, you can send and receive Direct Messages from the iPhone and Android apps. It’s coming soon to our other platforms, including the web.

Website

• Now everything you can do on the app is possible on the web. Start and manage groups, send messages, share photos, ask questions, and more, all from the comfort of your desk. You asked for it, so we built it. 
• Plus, it’s optimized for mobile browsers, so if your smartphone doesn’t already have a GroupMe app available, you can still chat for free wherever you are.
• On top of all that, we have a new About page, a new Jobs page (apply now!) and new pages for all of our apps. It’s like a brand new website! 

Who You Know

• To date, you have been able to view the phone numbers of anyone in your groups. As GroupMe has grown and our users have discovered awesome new reasons to start groups, we’ve heard from some people that you don’t always want to share their phone number in their groups.
• So starting today, your phone number is kept private from other group members.
 The only way you can see another group member’s phone number in the app is if they’re already in your phone contacts. Of course, if you need to know it, you can always ask them for it by sending a Direct Message in our app. It’s that easy!

International Support

• The GroupMe app is now available worldwide on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 7. Full SMS chat support is currently limited to the United States, but users in other countries can use GroupMe for free with our app or on our website. Today, GroupMe apps are available in over 90 countries.

New Apps and More

• In addition to all the awesome new features described above, the new versions of our iPhone and Android apps also feature a gorgeous new interface design. They’re faster than ever and better looking to boot.  
• If you didn’t see the news last month, we have a brand new app for Windows Phone 7 that’s just getting started. Try it out!
• The retooled “News” tab in the app now tells you everything you need to know about GroupMe.
• There are so many optimizations and detailed improvements in our apps and website that we couldn’t possibly list them all here.

We’re so excited for you to start playing with the new apps and features! So what are you waiting for? Here are a few things you should do right now:

Download the latest version of our app. Ask a question of your friends! Send a direct message to someone you’re in a group with! Chat with your groups from our website! Let us know what you think on Twitter or Facebook! And if you have any problems or questions, feel free to send us an email. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Team GroupMe

Introducing Questions (Beta)

Today, we’re excited to introduce a new type of chat you can start on GroupMe. It’s as simple as asking a question to spark a conversation.

As we’ve heard from our users over the last few months, sometimes starting a group feels like too much pressure. You may know what you want to talk about, but not necessarily who you want to talk with. Maybe you want to ping a few friends to see who’s up for dinner. Or maybe you just have a burning question you’d like all your friends to answer.

That’s why we built Questions. It’s the easiest way to start a conversation with whomever you want. Direct it to just a few people, or to all of your groups. You can even broadcast your question on Twitter or Facebook.
 Everyone you ask has a chance to decide whether they’d like to join the discussion, or just comment on the question without receiving everyone’s updates. 

You can use it to plan a real-life meetup:

• Anyone want to see a movie tonight?
• What is everyone doing this weekend?

Or to chat about something with your friends in real time:

• Is anyone else watching this game?
• What’s the best restaurant for a date downtown?

Or even let your friends come to you.

• I’m in Brooklyn. Who else is here?

We think of questions as a lightweight, fun companion to groups. It’s the fastest way to start chatting with your real life network.

At launch, you can ask questions from iPhone, Android, and the web. Anyone can answer a question and participate in the discussion, either on our website, on an app, or via SMS. 

The uses are limited only by your imagination… and we can’t wait to see what you ask. It’s a brand-new beta feature, so we’re looking forward to seeing what people really do with it and where it goes next.

So what are you waiting for? Ask your first question now!