Nikita Bier, the creator of popular apps like anonymous voting app tbh (acquired by Facebook) and anonymous praise app Gas (acquired by Discord), has created a new app called Explode that Focus on disappearing messages on iMessage.
Explode is a mini-app for Apple's Messages app. It helps you send disappearing messages to other people. A user can see text or an image once and then it...explodes. The app also prevents users from taking screenshots. Bier said in a post on X that only the sender needs to install the Explode app.
While the app is free to download, users can sign up for Explode+ for $39.99 per year or $7.99 per month to unlock all features. Premium users receive screenshot reminders, can block screenshots entirely, can replay previously sent photos, and can lock photos for viewing after sending.
Bier's post about Explode on X leans heavily into a dig at Snapchat. He said in a post that after he was in talks with Snap to acquire Gas, the social media company kicked Gas out of the SnapKit developer platform.
"Two years ago, I met with the CEO of Snapchat to discuss acquiring my old company. I shared publicly how fast we were growing. Just one week later, during the Thanksgiving holiday, Snapchat kicked our app off the SnapKit platform out, thus abruptly halting our growth," he said.
In a screenshot of an email seen by TechCrunch, Snap sent an email to developers saying that Gas was using URL attachments to make friend recommendations without the sender’s clear intent — something Snap said violated its policy and try to replicate Snap's functionality. Bier said Gas relies on contacts to operate and does not rely on Snap's social graph.
However, Snap is the main growth driver for the app. Bier said in an October 2022 post that 23% of Snapchat's U.S. user base had viewed Gas Stories. He said sharing gas polls with Snapchat was used as the primary button in the app, and Snap's actions disabled the app for seven days.
Snap had no immediate comment for this story. Discord eventually acquired Gas in January 2023 and shut it down in November 2023.
Currently, the app is only available in the United States and other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, France, Germany, and Italy.