Yahoo launches Livetext: A video messaging app, minus the audio

 

Livetext is a new video-calling app with a very big difference: it doesn't support audio

Like Apple's FaceTime, Google Hangouts or Skype, Yahoo Livetext uses a smartphone's front-facing camera to establish a live video connection between callers, but rather than talk, users text each other.

The app, which goes live for iOS and Android devices as a free download on Thursday July 30,2015

Livetext arrives at a time when messaging apps have never been more popular. On Wednesday, Facebook revealed that WhatsApp has 800 million active users and Facebook Messenger 700 million. And while WhatsApp doesn't currently support video calling, both apps enable voice calls as well as text messaging and video and image sharing.