In safe hands: Preserve your memories with Whisper O

Mobile phone application provides global platform to share sounds, photos and videos

KARACHI: With social media networks becoming more popular every day and photo shares being the driving force behind their immense popularity, mobile phone applications are now also trying to hop on the bandwagon. One such local effort is the launch of Whisper O, an app for sharing stories, moments, videos and sounds and giving it a global reach.

What is a 'Whisper'?

A Whisper is any sound, picture or a video taken using the Whisper O app and geo-tagging it. Like any other social media network that allows you to post your location, Whisper O goes a step further by categorising it.

"It's a global app that serves as a platform for sounds and images geo-tagged with different locations and shared on a global level," said Whisper O CEO and co-founder Taha Bin Khalid.

At the launch of the app at The Nest i/o, Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA)'s tech incubator, Khalid said there are sounds today that will not exist in the near future. To make his point, he played the Windows 95 tune, which very few attendants were able to identify. After this, he played the sound of a tonga moving, which people were able to identify. "We have to preserve sounds like these. Our future generation won't be able to experience them," he warned.



Functions of a 'Whisper'

At present, Whisper O can be used for preserving, recalling and sharing sounds, images and videos. Another use for it is citizen journalism, where people can capture sound and events around them and geo-tag them for people to see.

"A lot of stuff that happens around us is not able to get registered on a world-scale," said Faisal Kapadia, a blogger and digital media strategist, talking about the benefits of the app for citizen journalists.

How do you 'Whisper'

The app has a simple interface, like that of a voice recorder. Along with video and photo capturing facilities, users can record sounds, which will be preserved forever. The location can then be tagged and people can view your content anywhere in the world.

Another element that the team will be adding to the app is a search feature, where people will be able to look for content as per geographical filtering. "You will also have the option of privacy where you can choose whether you want your memories to be public or just be viewable to your friends," he said, adding that a web version will also be created.

P@sha president Jehan Ara said that as soon as the idea was pitched to her she fell in love with it. "Memories are important to human beings. As you grow older, memories fade away," she said. "Whisper O will be able to preserve them," she explained, saying the app is going to go global and be a winner.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th,  2016.