How 'honesty' app Sarahah is taking the net via storm
RIYADH: Fizzing with boyish exuberance, Saudi programmer Zainalabdin Tawfiq may be flawed for a university freshman, but the recognition of his “honesty” app has shone a highlight at the conservative state's nascent tech scene.
Tawfiq catapulted to fame when he took day trip of his day activity as a business analyst closing year to broaden an anonymous messaging tool referred to as Sarahah — honesty in Arabic — that subsequently crowned the charts for app downloads.
to start with conceived as a tool for soliciting bluntly frank place of business comments, Sarahah has observed its way into the smartphones of millennials worldwide, whilst critics have raised alarm approximately trolling and privateness issues.
“Sarahah is the digital equal of an vintage-school notion box,” 29-yr-antique Tawfiq told AFP, including that it is built on the basis that stripping customers in their identification promotes ruthless honesty.
“feedback is the aim — nameless comments.”
The app has a frugal design and a simple spark off that encourages users to “leave a positive message :)”, with the recipient not allowed to answer but simplest percentage it on social media or block the sender.
Its mass attraction stems from the urge for food within the Arab international — infamous for on line censorship — for unfiltered structures for expression, although Tawfiq said it has also gained a robust recognition in Western countries.
Such has been its power to knock down social obstacles that hinder loose speech that one consumer described it as an app in which you could “hit input on remarks you'll have otherwise backspaced”.
Sarahah has so far drawn 85 million registered customers, and rocketed to the top of the Apple app save in some international locations, ahead of heavyweights which includes Snapchat and Instagram.
RIYADH: Fizzing with boyish exuberance, Saudi programmer Zainalabdin Tawfiq may be flawed for a university freshman, but the recognition of his “honesty” app has shone a highlight at the conservative state's nascent tech scene.
Tawfiq catapulted to fame when he took day trip of his day activity as a business analyst closing year to broaden an anonymous messaging tool referred to as Sarahah — honesty in Arabic — that subsequently crowned the charts for app downloads.
to start with conceived as a tool for soliciting bluntly frank place of business comments, Sarahah has observed its way into the smartphones of millennials worldwide, whilst critics have raised alarm approximately trolling and privateness issues.
“Sarahah is the digital equal of an vintage-school notion box,” 29-yr-antique Tawfiq told AFP, including that it is built on the basis that stripping customers in their identification promotes ruthless honesty.
“feedback is the aim — nameless comments.”
The app has a frugal design and a simple spark off that encourages users to “leave a positive message :)”, with the recipient not allowed to answer but simplest percentage it on social media or block the sender.
Its mass attraction stems from the urge for food within the Arab international — infamous for on line censorship — for unfiltered structures for expression, although Tawfiq said it has also gained a robust recognition in Western countries.
Such has been its power to knock down social obstacles that hinder loose speech that one consumer described it as an app in which you could “hit input on remarks you'll have otherwise backspaced”.
Sarahah has so far drawn 85 million registered customers, and rocketed to the top of the Apple app save in some international locations, ahead of heavyweights which includes Snapchat and Instagram.
