A recently launched mobile application, Honk, seeks to redefine how individuals connect with their friends through messaging, offering a more dynamic and instantaneous communication method. Rather than dispatching messages and awaiting replies, Honk facilitates conversations where messages appear live as they are composed, without any saved history or the need to press a send button. This design fosters a heightened sense of presence during interactions, as users are immediately alerted when someone exits a conversation. Furthermore, to ensure a message isn’t overlooked, users can dispatch a “Honk” – a prominent notification designed to draw someone into the chat.

For particularly pressing matters, the “Honk” button can be activated repeatedly, sending multiple notifications to a friend’s device, even if they aren’t currently using the app, or displaying a burst of vibrant emoji within the application.

The process begins with account creation, where users personalize their profile picture, choose a unique username, and add their friends. To initiate a message, simply select a friend’s name from your contact list.

Within a Honk chat, two sizable conversation areas are displayed. The upper, gray area showcases messages from your friend, while the lower, blue area is where you compose your responses. (Users have the option to customize these colors and the overall theme.)

As you type, your words appear in real-time for the other participant, including any pauses or typographical errors that might typically go unnoticed. This “live typing” functionality echoes earlier communication platforms, such as the pioneering instant messaging service ICQ, or the innovative collaborative environment of Google Wave.

Honk limits messages to 160 characters, with a character counter displayed below the conversation areas. However, there’s no traditional “Send” button; the recipient sees your text as you write it. To clear the screen and begin a new message, simply tap the double arrow “refresh” button.

The app also provides options for sending emoji, capturing photos with the camera, or selecting images from the device’s photo library to share within the chat. When using the emoji feature, the effect is similar to iMessage’s “Send with Echo,” as multiple large emoji temporarily fill the screen.

Users can also assign emoji to specific words or phrases within a chat using the “Magic Words” feature, triggering visual effects as they type. Additionally, chat themes can be customized on a per-conversation basis, and notifications from individual users can be disabled.

Conversations are not saved, and there is no chat history available, mirroring the ephemeral nature of apps like Snapchat or Messenger’s Vanish Mode. (Honk has not yet released information regarding its security measures, so users should exercise caution when sharing sensitive information.)

And, naturally, the “Honk” button is always available to quickly grab someone’s attention with a flurry of notifications.

If this concept appears playful, it’s likely because Honk is specifically designed for a younger demographic.

The application is clearly geared towards a predominantly teenage audience. During the setup process, Honk requests the user’s age, presenting a list of specific numbers to choose from. The final option on the list is “21+,” designated for “older folks,” a distinction that might resonate with millennials who still consider themselves at the forefront of online trends.

Honk is actively targeting Gen Z, even promoting the app on TikTok, where it has already garnered over 140,000 “Likes” as of the time of writing, despite its first video being uploaded just yesterday. Benji Taylor, the founder of Honk, also shared on Twitter that the app has seen 550,000 “Honks” sent so far as of Wednesday, December 23, 2020, shortly after noon Eastern time. This number increased to 1 million by the time of this article’s release.

According to its website, Honk is the primary product of Los Feliz Engineering (LFE), a software company and app publisher supported by investors including Naval Ravikant, Elad Gil, Brian Norgard, David Tisch, Jeff Fagnan, Ryan Hoover, Sarah Downey, Josh Hannah, Sahil Lavingia, and others.

Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund investor, commented, “It’s exceptionally well designed.” He further added, “[Honk founder] Benji [Taylor] and team dedicated significant effort to the finer points, from the animations to the sounds. They are also intensely focused on speed.”

When contacted by TechCrunch, Taylor declined a comprehensive interview, stating that the team’s priority is currently focused on product development.

“We’ve been developing Honk for some time now. Our aim is to make messaging enjoyable and empower people to communicate in innovative ways that strengthen relationships,” Taylor explained to TechCrunch. “Ultimately, we’re a small team building this for ourselves and our friends. If others appreciate it, that’s a bonus.”

Honk has encountered some difficulties managing the influx of new users and high usage levels. Users have reported instances of the app incorrectly displaying an offline status, among other technical issues. Honk has acknowledged these problems on Twitter and is actively working to resolve them.

The app is currently available as a free download on iOS and does not include in-app purchases or a clearly defined revenue model.