Jimmy Kwon is posing a solution to overcrowded group messages.
A Wharton junior, Kwon developed Blink, an app to find a remedy for the painful process of planning activities with friends. Blink arranges get-togethers by creating specific group messages based on activities as well as users’ social circles.
“We believe that barriers of cluttered communication should never deter people from engaging with one another,” Kwon said in an email. “The goal is to provide an effortless, fun and de-cluttered method for getting together with friends.”
The app promises a two tap method for asking friends to hang out. The first tap specifies which activity, such as lunch, coffee or playing soccer, among others the user would want to do. The next tap customizes the group — the number of people, which group of friends is invited and the amount of time invitees have to respond. From there, interested group members can enter the chat and plan their outing.
After four weeks of private beta testing, the public beta launches today. Kwon is planning for the official app to be in the App Store later this month.
The idea for Blink grew out of Kwon’s app at PennApps 2013, and has evolved several times since then. After assessing Blink’s appeal with over 100 friends, Kwon and his former teaching assistant and Engineering junior Josh Pearlstein decided to start coding the app.
