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App of the week: Beam

By Julia Knope

A common issue with texting is the interruption of thought with other text messages.

Beam creates real-time conversation by allowing users to see what the recipient is typing letter by letter. This gives users the option of interrupting if they want to add a thought — eliminating the process of waiting turns and the social anxiety that comes with not knowing when and what the recipient will say.

The app was launched last month and was co-created by Ryerson computer science grad, Tania Hew.

“Conversations become much livelier when you’re texting in real time,” Hew said. “We had users report that they felt physically closer to the other person.”

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Hew, along with members Alec Gordon, Paul Wang and Cherry Cho created the app in hopes to mimic verbal conversation, but in situations when the user doesn’t want others to hear.

“[Imagine] you are in a crowded airport and you don’t want everybody hearing your business because you are having a very private conversation and you don’t want to get up because you are waiting on your plane,” Hew said.

Other features of Beam include a profile page and header for personalization.

The app is available on Android, but Beam plans to make it accessible on IOS.

“We have a whole list of features that we definitely want to add too,” Hew said.

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