Amo, the rising startup based in Paris, is rolling out its third app today. And it closely resembles a popular app that some of its co-founders developed in the past – Zenly.
For those who are not familiar, Amo was established by 10 individuals, all of whom had previously worked on Zenly, a location-sharing app that was bought out by Snap. Zenly quickly gained traction as one of the top social apps in Europe before being discontinued by Snap.
Over the last year, the team at Amo has been busy creating a series of social apps that are tightly linked – one account, one friend list, one notification screen, and a cohesive design system.
Amo’s initial release was ID, which offers a fresh take on your social media profile by allowing users to express themselves through stickers, photos, and drawings. It’s a unique and unfiltered way to showcase your personality. Additionally, Amo’s ID allows you to interactively personalize your friends’ profiles as well.
Their next release, Capture, is a social camera app that revolutionizes both taking and sharing photos among friends and family. It’s unlike any other photo-sharing app out there – not trying to be the next BeReal, Locket, or Instagram.
And now, Amo is launching its latest app, Location – probably the most straightforward and easiest to understand so far. It’s another location-sharing app, allowing you to stay informed about your friends’ whereabouts, get to know them better, and ultimately spend more time with them in-person. In other words, it’s very similar to Zenly.
“And our third app is our version of ‘Zenly Lite,'” Amo’s co-founder and CEO Antoine Martin disclosed a few weeks ago.
The third app from Amo is called Location, and it’s the ultimate tool for keeping your friends on the map – from checking in on the squad to coordinating hangouts. Brought to you by the original team behind Zenly, you can see where your friends are in real-time with this app.
– See where your friends are right now with live tracking
– Easily plan meetups and get-togethers
– Create an interactive map of your friends
– Share your location and keep your loved ones informed
Location serves as both a utility app and a social app. When you open it, you’ll see a map populated with your friends’ locations. Tapping on their profiles will reveal their exact distance from you, which you can show your love and support with emojis, as well as send them a knock-knock notification to let them know you’re on the way.
“We’re creating something more mature, veering away from Zenly’s playful style. But we still want to offer you this feature when your friend is running late,” Martin shared, as he demonstrated the knock-knock button to notify someone of your arrival. “And here’s how you can do this, this, and this if they’re really, really late,” he added, continuously tapping on the button, causing 3D hands to knock on the map.
These delightful details are what made Zenly stand out from competitors like Apple’s Find My. The app also lets you zoom in and out of the map with one hand by sliding your thumb up and down on the screen, as well as easily swipe between friends like a carousel.
“We’re constantly working on tiny details to improve the Zenly experience, making it better than before,” Martin remarked.
However, Location is not just all fun and games – it also serves a practical purpose. From the profile card, you can directly call, message, or open navigation apps like Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Uber. You can even see your friend’s battery level, and rest assured, this app won’t drain your battery.
Now, if you’re thinking, “what if I don’t want to share my location with everyone?” Fear not, as Amo has implemented a simple privacy setting in all its apps. You can add friends in each app and choose to enable or disable specific apps for certain people. For example, you can share photos with your work friends in Capture, but turn off location sharing in Location.
But the question remains: do people still want something like Zenly, or have they already moved on? A quick search of “Zenly” on the App Store reveals numerous clones, which not only replicate the features but also the original app’s look and feel. This goes to show that there is still a demand for location-sharing apps.
Now, the challenge for Amo is to attract former Zenly users and convince new ones to sign up – especially since some potential users may already be using ID and Capture. It will be fascinating to see the interplay between these three apps and how they contribute to the network effect.
