Yo App: One-Word Messaging Service is More Popular Than Facebook's Slingshot

A mobile messaging app that is only capable of sending the word "yo" has raised $1 million in seed funding and interest from over 100,000 users.

The Yo app was developed in just eight hours by Or Arvel, who responded to a request from his boss at image-sharing app Mobli to create an app that could send a message at the touch of a button.

According to Arbel, the service provides "context-based messaging", which broadens the meaning of the single word as users understand what situation and for what purpose it is being said.

Having picked a username, the app encourages users to add contacts and message them the word 'yo' to let them know you are thinking of them, or to ask "what are you up?"

The simplistic app boasts that it takes only two taps to send the two-letter message, an act that takes up to 11 taps on rival messaging services like Whatsapp.

More popular than Slingshot

The launch of the Yo app in April gained little attention, however reports on Wednesday from the Financial Times about Yo's $1 million funding garnered a flurry of interest for the app and a surge in downloads.

It has since passed Facebook's recently launched Slingshot app on Apple's App Store charts and continues to be in the top 50 of the most downloaded free apps.

The Yo app is having less of an impact on Android, with Slingshot reaching close to 50,000 downloads compared to less than 10,000 for Yo.