When was the last time you untagged yourself from a photo on Facebook? What about excluding yourself from a conversation thread that distracted you, or tried to delete a post you wrote in the heat of the moment? The delete button is becoming increasingly difficult to find, and it may not actually delete your work at all. Facebook is notorious for hanging onto your account details well after you’ve opted out of its services.
The full extent of our publicly available information is starting to drive much of our activity online. How many of you have thought of donning an anonymous screen name for blog comments, and one for your own life? That’s why entrepreneur Dez White started the Invisible apps suite.
Going Invisible
It began with Invisible Text, an application that could make a message self-destruct. The iOS app connects with other Invisible Text users, via your phone’s contacts, and allows you anonymous messaging capabilities. Invisible also offers the ability to take something back. When you slide your finger over “SENT,” you are given the option to delete your message. You can also control how long a message remains active and viewable, important if you need to convey a lot of information.
What makes the messaging private in Invisible is the self-destruct capability. Invisible does keep track of the phone numbers and registration information of its users, but does not track any messaging that goes on in the app itself. Proprietary coding keeps those messages sealed until their intended recipient finds them. Once the message is read, the data is wiped from both user’s phones.
How Invisible Started
The process to make Invisible wasn’t easy. Dez White, the mind behind the project, didn’t know how to code. In her words, “I didn’t go to Stanford for code.” But she did have friends who knew the art of coding and worked on learning what she could from those resources. Had her friends not shown her the ropes, she would not have learned about project management and application design.
Invisible grew out of White’s need for confidentiality when dealing with sources. “I was a journalist, and people trusted me with their stories. I needed a way to protect their identities and keep my information secure.”
She developed the application with an entire suite in mind. Eventually, Invisible apps will include call and video versions, to add on to the email and text versions that exist already.
Launching Invisible
In order to get Invisible off the ground, Dez first needed to contend with several challenges. For one, she needed money to hire a team that could keep the app running. After a lengthy search, she found her investor and then hired her developer. She also applied for multiple patents during that first year, all while pregnant. It took a year for the application to complete testing and deploy.
Then there was the matter of getting Invisible out to people who would actually use it. White, a Southern California native, turned to athletes and celebrities to help her launch her product. Us Weekly featured a spot on Invisible with Paris Hilton talking about the application. She also got much needed endorsement from Lamar Odom, Andy Milonakis, and Gilbert Arenas. Arenas loved the application so much, he even became an investor in the product.
Invisible Text launched in 2013 and has over 200,000 downloads to date. The newest version has added even greater social functionality, including emojis and games you can play with your Invisible friends.
The Future of Invisible
Dez White continues to bring the Invisible suite of apps into the wild. Invisible Email takes the concept of Invisible text to the world of email. Once the message is sent, no one but your recipient can see it. You can also delete the message from that user’s inbox at any point if you decide.
After a recent face lift, the application is sporting a four and a half star rating in the iTunes app store.
Invisible is experimenting with monetization, like most entries in the space. In-app purchases currently sell optional emojis and additional games friends can play. Paid services with additional functionality may also play a role, but the core of Invisible is accessibility.
Invisible apps are fast becoming a tool in demand for smartphone and desktop users. We all have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and we shouldn’t have to sacrifice that to connect with our friends, family and coworkers.
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