Facebook's Slingshot App Will Rival Snapchat
Facebook's Slingshot app will look to challenge the hugely popular Snapchat messaging app.

Facebook's messaging app Slingshot that had been playing hide and seek in app stores is now available for free download from Apple's iTunes Store and Google Play.

The 5.2MB Facebook Slingshot is all set to poach on the relatively large user base of rival messaging app, Snapchat.

The app lets you capture photos or videos, caption them and add text and illustrations to make your photos eye-capturing. You get to 'sling' these photos to a group of friends.

However, the most interesting feature of Slingshot is that your friends will not be able to see your sling until they sling something back at you.

'Slings' can be in the form of photos or videos. The Slingshot app works a bit like the barter system and compels you to exchange stuff with friends, rather than just view and like what your friends have posted and vice-versa.

Slingshot also lets you customise images with various one-click options such as Draw using which you can virtually draw or scribble anything on top of your image. You can also select the colour and line width for your drawings.

The application also lets you reject slingshots from friends. You can choose to reject 'shots' upon being notified, by swiping away the shot on your display.

The app discards rejected shots, and those will no longer be viewable unlike Snapchat, which lets you set a time limit on how long your message remains on a friend's smartphone.

A 'Quick Reply' service is also provided within the application to let users respond to unlocked shots (shots from friends that you choose to receive).

Slingshot also reserves all your unlocked shots for viewing at a later time, if you are busy within other applications.

"With Slingshot, we wanted to build something where everybody is a creator and nobody is just a spectator. When everyone participates, there's less pressure, more creativity and even the little things in life can turn into awesome shared experiences. This is what Slingshot is all about," states the official Slingshot blog post.

With its Slingshot application, Facebook has undoubtedly created a unique app to rival Snapchat, but users preferring casual sharing of stuff may find it annoying as the functionality mandatorily requires sharing among users.

Facebook's Slingshot is compatible with Android Jelly Bean and Kit Kat. It requires you to run iOS 7 or later versions if you are on Apple's iOS.

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