#appsessed

We love Youtube reaction vids as much as the next person. But have you ever wished you could watch your friends' reactions in real time? 

Meet Samba -- an awesome video messaging app that automatically records your friends' reactions to your videos. Just download the (free!) app, record a video in it, and send it to anyone on your contact list. As they view your message, their reaction will be recorded and automatically sent back to you.

Recipients, fear not -- reactions can be deleted at any time. But hey, sharing a videos of yourself snorting while laughing is the definition of friendship, areweright?

Ever wonder if there's a way to share the music you love -- without having to send links every time? Move over, Youtube, here comes Musx! 

Referred to as the Instagram for music, Musx makes tedious copy-and-paste music sharing obsolete -- allowing users to seamlessly share songs with their friends, explore what's popular, discover new tracks, and listen to music nonstop with the "up next" feature. Get song recommendations straight from your friends, like and comment on what they've posted, and add them to your own favorites. You can even build playlists with the people you follow, or create your own -- publicly or privately (take that, Hypem!)

The Musx app just went through a pretty fabulous facelift -- showing off a hot new design, iPhone 6 optimization,  streamlined navigation, support for public playlists.

After a fun evening with friends, the last thing we want to do is wait around for the check. Thankfully, there's TabbedOut!

TabbedOut, used by popular watering holes nationwide, makes your night hassle-free by allowing you to close your tab automatically.

The app conveniently displays nearby TabbedOut locations using your mobile phone’s GPS (or you can search for specific places from within the app). Once you've picked a place, select a payment method within the app (can be credit or debit), and let your waiter know you'll be using TabbedOut. Order normally, and watch your items appear on your virtual tab in real time. When you're done, walk out -- your payment will be processed automatically, and is 100% secure. 

The app can be downloaded from either the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store (depending on your device), and is free. So give it a download, and bar-hop to your heart's content!

Stop us if this doesn't sound familiar. The holidays are fast approaching, gifting season is upon you, and the hours to find perfect presents are running out. But with every store you visit, you feel more out of your element. Your guesses at what your loved ones want are vague, at best -- and for some reason, you just don't believe the sales lady when she tells you that this perfume would be perfect for your dad.

Never fear -- Jifiti is here. Jifiti is a handy gifting app that takes the guessing out of giving, right down to size, color & style. Essentially, shoppers can select gifts in-store, online, or thumbing through the app -- and 'teleport' these products to their friends instantly as digitally transmitted gift cards. If the gift is a hit, friends may use the digital card to redeem the item in-store and select the appropriate size, color and style. But if it's a miss, they can use the gift card to purchase something else, hassle free. 

As the holidays approach, we'd rather be spending time with family than pounding the retail pavement. So thank you, Jifiti, for letting us sit back, relax, and enjoy another eggnog.

Guilt-free, self-destructing messaging is a competitive market in the app world these days — and a brand new platform we’ve got our eye on is Frankly. A next-generation messaging app that (over Wifi) offers free communication worldwide, Frankly lets you be the “unedited version of you” — allowing you not only to send messages that disappear after being read, but also to organize anonymous group chats with friends, un-send regrettable unread messages, and snap “rapid fire” Insta Photos while simultaneously chatting with friends. Controversy involving private messages being saved on app servers has arisen for older apps like SnapChat — but Frankly assures downloaders that its servers do not save any messages, ensuring privacy and permanent deletion of content as promised.

We're not arguing that this idea hasn't been done before. But as we've said, anonymous messaging is a hot commodity — so as Frankly picks up speed, we'll be watching!

Let’s be honest: we’ve all sent messages we wish we could make disappear. Trends in the app world have shown it, demonstrating a clear consumer demand for confidential, “off the record” forms of messaging. While ensuring total privacy in mobile communication is difficult, we’ve seen several apps rise to the challenge. But we think Ansa is the one to watch – as it offers unique, sophisticated features that show a lot of promise in keeping what’s personal, personal.