Remember Our Story? It’s a new feature in Snapchat that brings live events into one unified photo and video feed, and it’s now available to all Snapchatters.

“You’ll notice today that there’s a new ‘Live’ section beneath your Recent Updates,” Snapchat said of the feature. “That’s where you’ll be able to experience Stories contributed by the Snapchat community at all sorts of events. It’s a great way to check out what’s happening around the world.”

“Snapchatters contributed over 350 hours of Snaps to Our Story during [recent events]“

Snapchat also acknowldged the popularity of the Our Story feature during recent events:

“We were absolutely blown away when Snapchatters contributed over 350 hours of Snaps to Our Story during EDC, Rio, Outside Lands, and Lollapalooza. It was so much fun experiencing our favorite events with all of you!”

A venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins, recently announced an investment of $10 billion into the messaging company. Snapchat also might be looking into movies, tv shows, and news content with its Snapchat Discovery feature this fall.

You can enjoy the Our Story feature with the latest update of Snapchat.

Yesterday, GlobalWebIndex released information that showed how popular Snapchat is with teens overall. Today, the market research company has released new information that breaks down how teenagers are responding to the app in select markets.

The information studies the photo messaging app’s top five markets, which consist of the USA, the UK, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. GlobalWebIndex describes these markets as “mature markets where digital behaviors tend to generate the most headlines.”

Amongst teens, Snapchat is ahead of WhatsApp in its top five markets

According to the firm, nearly half of 16-19 year olds in the UK and Canada are monthly users of Snapchat, with the other three markets still ranking at over 40 percent. This means that Snapchat is ahead of WhatsApp, the current overall market leader in messaging, in all of these markets.

In fact, Snapchat has even surpassed Facebook’s Messenger in the United States and Canada, which is all the more impressive when you consider all of the would-be Snapchat competitors launching into the market and the app’s availability only on iOS and Android.

Launches of new BBM sticker packs have become quite common as of late. Less than a week ago, new weather and travel stickers were released in the BBM Shop and now another new sticker set has joined the growing assortment.

Fans of Disney Princesses will love the new sticker pack, which features Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Jasmine from Aladdin, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and more. You can see some of the other Disney Princesses in the screenshot at the top of this article.

The new sticker pack will set you back $1.99, which is about standard for most sticker packs on BlackBerry Messenger, and it’s sure to be well worth the money if it gives you that taste of nostalgia from growing up with many of these princesses, along with the ability to share that feeling with friends. Of course, it might also make some of your BBM-using children happy as well.

You can find the new sticker pack via the latest version of BBM.

The last sticker set for imo instant messenger came out nearly two weeks ago, and today, two more sticker sets are making their way to the imo Sticker Shop and introduce a few new characters to the imo family.

First, there’s the Mr. and Mrs. Egg set, which also features the below animated sticker. Who knows? This sticker might be just the thing to send to someone whom you’re trying to motivate to do something. As is the case with all stickers, this set acts as a way to replace emoticons with something a little more personal.

The second set launching on imo features the Knuckledraggers, consisting of four new characters — Dwight, Fran and baby Pat, as well as their pet dinosaur Orville. This particular set is a bid to bring you back to the caveman days and was created by designer Chris Seguritan.

Both of these sticker sets and many others can be accessed via the latest version of imo.im on Android, iPhone, iPad and Amazon.

Hot on the heels of an Xbox One Skype update comes another update for the iPhone version of the application.

Skype for iPhone version 5.4 allows you to host group audio calls from your iPhone device, which marks a “first” for Skype-powered smartphones. The update, announced this morning, may only add this one feature, but it’s nevertheless a pretty sizable and notable one.

You can add callers to a group and turn one-on-one audio calls into group calls

When you’re engaged in a group chat, you’ll see a new call button in the bottom navigation bar as shown in the screenshot at the top left. Simply tap it to start your group audio call. Once the call has started, from there you can tap on the red phone symbol to end a call with a particular participant, or tap on the green phone symbol to add the participant to the group audio call.

You can also turn any existing one-on-one audio call into a group audio call by tapping the new “add participant” button while you’re talking. All that’s required to take advantage of this new update is iOS 7 or later.

There’s no word on when this functionality will be coming to Android, Windows Phone, or Windows yet, but we suspect it will arrive sooner rather than later. If you’re on iOS, you’ll get to try it first by getting the latest version of Skype.

If you love pick up and play shooters, you’ll love SpaceX Fighter 2, the newest game on the Tango game plaform. SpaceX Fighter 2 was developed by Genies Games.

The game, a sequel to the 2013 release, is both visually stunning, addictive and difficult to put down. You are in charge of a range of fighters (six total types) and must fight your way through three different levels featuring 18 bosses. There’s also a Career Campaign in the game which Tango reveals has over 60 levels based in different planetary locales. There’s also an Endless mode in which you keep playing until you perish at the hands of your foes.

Particularly with regard to Endless mode, the game contains some echoes of Road Riot for Tango, another shooter on the platform (read our review here).

Of course, the game is also integrated with Tango, which means you’ll be able to play and compete with your friends and family. You can also exchange gift coins with one another to upgrade your ships.

SpaceX Fighter 2 can be downloaded via the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store.

Remember Sinch? We first wrote about the Rebtel spinoff back in May, when it was initially launched. Sinch has just announced the launch of its new JavaScript SDK platform.

The platform, which includes “advanced management, reporting and backend features” that will co-exist with the spinoff’s existing mobile development APIs, which allow developers to integrate mobile or web communication features at free or low cost. Services include free calling, messaging, group messaging, SMS and call termination, paving the way for more apps like these.

Since the company’s spinout from mobile VoIP giant Rebtel with $12 million in funding in May 2014, Sinch has called the demand for its services “massive,” with a reported 30% increase in sign ups since the launch, resulting in about 200 developers a month. The SDK has been used in a broad range of app categories including travel, communications, gaming, social networking, commerce and dating.

“[We] are excited to help fuel next wave of innovative companies”

“We’ve been impressed by the growing demand and interest in Sinch from the developer community and are excited to help fuel next wave of innovative companies,” said Andreas Bernstrom, CEO of Sinch. “We think that features like chat and voice will remain two of the fastest-growing segments of web and mobile applications, and developers already realize they are critical to driving growth, user engagement, and sustained profitability. We believe we’ll see continued acceleration of demand and expect to be adding north of 500 developer partners a month by end of year.”

VisionMobile projects the app economy will reach $143 billion in revenue by 2016, and in-app communications are expected to grow in parallel terms. After major acquisitions such as Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp in February for $16 billion, Rakuten’s $900 million Viber acquisition, Tango’s recent valuation north of $1 billion, and LINE filing for a $10B IPO. Much of this growth will be expected from the business and enterprise market.

today’s launch allows developers to expand their apps to a broader set of customers

With today’s Beta launch, web based developers can extend Sinch’s services to a much more broad set of customers on he web, along with new features:

• Back-end to back-end integration
• Ability to manage call flows (connect, disconnect, pause calls, etc.)
• REST APIs to send and deliver SMS text messages
• Real time reporting

“Our goal with Sinch is to be simplest and most affordable solution for developers looking to add a useful social layer to their apps without compromising on quality, and today we’re excited to help our developer partners extend the value to millions of new customers across all major platforms,” said Daniel Forsman, COO of Sinch.

Sinch maintains offices in Stockholm and San Francisco with a team of 50 employees, with plans to grow by another 20% by end of year to address developer demand.

For more information on Sinch’s platform tools and developer APIs you can visit the company’s website. For those specifically interested in the company’s new JavaScript SDK, you can find a messaging tutorial here.

WhatsApp has rolled out a major update to its iPhone app today, and despite the tiny bump in the version number, it actually includes quite a few changes. Most of the changes by themselves could be defined as minor, but the list of these changes in this particular update is quite long.

Version 2.11.9 brings the ability to archive chats and groups by swiping horizontally and selecting More and then Archive. The update also adds captions to photos and videos as well as a fast camera access button for capturing and sending photos.

If you’re using an iPhone 5S, you can also share slow motion videos as well (other iPhone models won’t work with this particular feature).

However, no matter what iPhone version you have, you can also now trim videos before sharing them. Other changes consist of:

• Share Location: add support for satellite and hybrid map views when sharing a location
• Share Location: drop and drag pin lets you share a precise location
• New media auto-download preferences: Settings > Chat Settings > Media Auto-Download
• New Wallpapers: Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Wallpapers > Wallpaper Library
• New Notification tones: Settings > Notifications
• You can now attach screenshots when reporting problems

You can get the new WhatsApp update right now via iTunes.

It’s no secret that stickers on Naver’s LINE have really become a hit in a growing number of markets, and the latest sticker set puts the spotlight on the Thailand Tourist Police, which settles disputes and also helps keep theft down along with other assistance to travelers.

First spotted by Tech in Asia, the new sticker set is available for free and will be downloadable through October 8, 2014, so you’ll want to download the set while you can.

LINE has been making some sizable pushes into new markets, particularly the United States, as it looks to bring more competition to the likes of WeChat, WhatsApp and Skype.

Part of LINE’s strategy includes its popular Creator’s Market sticker designer shop, which currently includes over 10,000 sticker sets from 149,000 designers. LINE plans on killing the competition with creativity, and the LINE’s Creator’s Market certainly runs parallel with that goal.

You can get the new Thailand Tourist Police sticker set by getting the latest version of LINE and accessing the LINE Sticker Shop.

It looks like some users are getting Google Voice integration with Google Hangouts, though it seems to be a limited rollout a the moment. The integration, which has been long rumored and awaited, will provide users with a means to make and receive calls over Hangouts using their Google Voice numbers.

For those of us such as myself who have been using Voice since before Google bought and rebranded GrandCentral, it’s definitely welcome news.

The service and some features are not fully rolled out yet

As mentioned though, only some users have confirmed Google Voice integration is active in Hangouts, while others have reported that hey haven’t received it yet (let us know in the comments below either way. Some users are also not getting all of the functionality as well, so we may have to have some patience as the update continues to roll out.

Hangouts with Voice is another alternative in a growing calling and messaing market, and will likely be most welcomed by Google and Android fans.

Get the latest Google Hangouts version here.

Viber today announced the release of Viber 5.0 for Android and iOS, along with new versions of its desktop application for Windows, Windows 8 and OS X. The company calls the new version 5.0 update “powerful,” with new features and enhancements now available.

The most notable of these features is video calls, a feature that many Viber users have been looking forward to for quite awhile.

“We’re delighted to bring video calling to mobile,” said Talmon Marco, Viber CEO. “Now that you can make video calls from your phone as well as on your PC and Mac, you can always talk in the way that’s most convenient for you, wherever you happen to be. ”

“We’re delighted to bring video calling to mobile”

Viber 5.0 also includes an easier way to manage your contacts by simply adding their Viber number or scanning a special QR code. The updates also offer OS specific enhancements:

iOS: Users can manage sticker packs more easily, turn sticker packs on or off, reorder sticker packs, as well as easily forward photo messages.

Android: Users can enjoy a fresh new redesign, making it easier and more fun.

Viber also announced enhancements to its desktop application for Windows desktop, Windows 8 and OS X:

Desktop v4.3: Includes a new and improved design, a fun backgrounds gallery and many improvements and bug fixes.

Win 8 v3.2: Features a new and improved design, an updated snap mode with stickers, emoticons and notifications. Other highlights and bug fixes include an easier way to search contacts, the ability to see online contacts from the home screen and PNG support for photo messages.

You can download these updates right here. What do you think of the new updates? Let us know in the comments!

If you’re a science buff or you just have to collect every single sticker that gets released on imo’s instant messaging platform, then you’ll probably find Marie, the company’s newest character, at least somewhat appealing.

Marie was created by imo designer Liz Nugent.

While it’s not immediately clear how exactly you will be able to use these animated stickers, the whole point of them is to replace emoticons and provide new ways to communicate and show emotion and personality. Emoticons were largely limited to the latter, but the stickers can really help with the personality side as users send their favorites to family and friends.

The new Marie stickers are available a quickly growing number of others on imo. You’ll want to update your imo for Android, iPhone, iPad and Amazon apps to be able to download the free stickers.

What do you think of the new Marie stickers? Post your thoughts in the comments!

Tencent’s star child WeChat has launched its latest Friends n Rewards campaign in India that users can take advantage of simply by making a video call, sending a voice message or sharing a sticker.

According to WeChat’s official blog, WeChat India users “have an opportunity to earn up to Rs. 150 of free call time,” or almost double the reward that WeChat India offered in the previous August promotion, which gave users up to Rs. 60 for sending stickers to friends.

“we understand the value in connecting with the people you care about”

At the beginning of September, WeChat users in India received a deposit of Rs. 150 in their account, and starting September 1 and extending to September 10, users could begin activating the reward by simply making video or voice calls with friends on WeChat. Now, though, until September 20, users simply send stickers in a group chat daily, after which point the offer will be “unlocked”.

“Here at WeChat, we understand the value in connecting with the people you care about,” the company posted about the campaign. “So have fun using WeChat’s innovative features and enjoy free call time on us!”

WeChat users in India can find out more inforamtion by visiting the WeChat Team Official Account on WeChat.

There’s no questioning WeChat‘s popularity. The messaging application skyrocked to 438.2 million active users in May, giving it the second largest active user base in the messaging world, trailing only behind WhatsApp’s 600 million active user count.

According to market research company GlobalWebIndex (GWI), WeChat’s growing active user base has increased over 55% from Q2 2013 to Q2 2014 globally, with Singapore’s growth attributed at 60%.

During this same period, WeChat’s active user base in Asia Pacific (excluding China) has grown by over 60% in the past year. Among Asian markets, Hong Kong (222%), Taiwan (166%) and The Philippines (100%) have experienced the most impressive growth rates. The results show that 74% of WeChat users in the Asia Pacific are between the ages of 16 and 34.

“We consistently strive to provide users with a holistic social communication experience”

“We are extremely pleased with WeChat’s positive growth both globally and in the Asia Pacific region. WeChat continues to revolutionize the way people connect with each other, GWI’s recent results indicate WeChat’s strong and diverse offering to users. We consistently strive to provide users with a holistic social communication experience and will continue to deliver with this revolutionary, all-in-one approach,” said Poshu Yeung, Vice President of International Business Group at Tencent.

“WeChat has witnessed a remarkable penetration rate this quarter, further emphasising how WeChat’s efficient and entertaining platform continues to attract users at a massive scale. We are excited about WeChat’s breakthrough and look forward to witnessing its continued growth globally,” said Brett Petersen, Director of Research and Consulting at GlobalWebIndex.

WeChat says its success among younger users “lays within its offering of a unique and seamless interactive experience and growing game portfolio” and the app’s ability to offer a “fun, interactive and social experience through many communication features and localized Stickers.

WeChat is available for most major mobile platforms.

Remember Road Riot for Tango? Apparently it’s a pretty big deal and not surprisingly from our own experiences with the game. Road Riot is so big, in fact, that it’s just become the first Tango game to hit over 10 million downloads since it launched a little over a year ago.

It is also currently in the top spot for racing games on the Google Play Store.

“This is a huge accomplishment and shows that our new publishing strategy, which we announced in July, is on the right track,” Ying at VentureBeat‘s GamesBeat 2014.

It also gives Tango plenty of bragging rights against other messaging apps with a similar content strategy, in particular Japan’s LINE, China’s WeChat and South Korea’s KakaoTalk, all of which have had games reach the top spot in app stores in various locations around the world.

“This is a huge accomplishment and shows that our new publishing strategy … is on the right track”

About 70 percent of Tango users play mobile games.

Tango, which recently expanded their Tango Channel offerings, is currently valued at $1.5 billion.

In a bid to become one of the top gaming platforms, Tango set aside $25 million in a Global Games Fund aimed at improving relationships with developers and encouraging growth in gaming on the platform.

“In just two short months, Tango’s relationships with developers have deepened, and we’ve been able to prove that on- and off-platform marketing brings eyeballs to the games that Tango publishes with Road Riot being a great example of this success,” said Eric Setton, chief technology officer and co-founder.

Tango launched its Channels feature in June shortly before announcing a 3-D version of its app for the Amazon Fire Phone.

The app can be downloaded here. Have you played Road Riot for Tango yet? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Stickers are a great way to express yourself when you’re chatting with your friends via VoIP or messaging, and go farther than emoticons go as far as options and expressions go. Viber’s stickers are no exception, and there’s now a new set available for download in the Viber sticker shop, launched today.

The new set, Bear With Me, contains a kind of grumpy seeming bear with plenty of grumpy statements in stickers to boot, including such classics as “This sucks!” and “WTF?!” but there are also some times when he almost seems nice with statements like “I’ll be bear!” and “Sweet.”

The fun of the sticker sets, though, is not so much in their content as it is in their actual delivery. How you use the stickers is completely up to you, and can change the meaning of the stickers under a variety of circumstances.

You can get the new “Bear With Me” sticker set for free via the latest version of Viber.

BlackBerry recently announced that BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), particularly the app’s Channels feature, is now compatible with social media management dashboard Hootsuite.

This means that Hootsuite users can now manage BBM Channels — post messages, share pictures, and reply to followers — from the Hootsuite dashboard, which also includes real-time analytics on such activity. The integration will be offered to Hootsuite users for free, regardless of their Hootsuite plan.

“With the undeniable popularity of messaging apps, brands are looking for ways to join the conversation”

“With the undeniable popularity of messaging apps, brands are looking for ways to join the conversation,” said Greg Gunn, VP at Vancouver-based Hootsuite. “Our collaboration with BlackBerry on the BBM Channels App will empower users to leverage social strategies in real-time across multiple platforms, straight from the Hootsuite dashboard.”

BBM Channels launched on BlackBerry 10 in November of last year and moved to iOS and Android in February. The company is also expected to launch the service on Windows Phone soon.

BlackBerry says “there are over 900,000 Channels” present on BBM, which is available for all major mobile platforms.

iOS 8 is now available to Apple users starting today, and it brings with it some minor issues as well as support from a growing number of developers, the latest of which is imo.im.

iOS 8 includes features like Today, Share and Touch ID that developers can integrate into their apps, and that’s exactly what imo.im has done with their new version announced today. The iOS 8 changes, which includes both iPhone and iPad support, include:

You can now chat with your friends via AirPlay

• Today
  We added support for the Today widget so you view a list of people you have chatted with today and quickly chat with them again. We also added a Today widget for photos and videos.

  To turn Today notifications from imo on, select the Edit option in Today, then add imo “Contacts” and “Photos and Videos”.

  Upload photos, videos and links to your contacts and groups directly from apps that support sharing, like the Photos app. You can share photos to individual contacts and your imo groups.

• Touch ID
  With Touch ID on imo you can securely verify sensitive user actions like changing your name.

It’s not just iOS 8 that’s getting imo love today. The messaging service provider also made some improvements to the overall video chat experience to allow chat over AirPlay, along with some UI improvements.

Of course, we can’t mention all this without mentioning the scores of free stickers that you can find and send to your imo.im friends. While there are certainly a growing number of messaging apps that offer stickers, imo.im has so far offered more free stickers than other apps have.

You can find imo.im version 5.0 in the iTunes App Store.

It’s not just new social enhancements that has BBM users all fired up. There’s also BlackBerry’s BBM Money service for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone users in Indonesia to consider.

Developed by Monitise and issued and managed by PermataBank, BBM Money was initially made available in early 2013 to BlackBerry users, offering basic mobile wallet services.

“we are uniquely placed in the growing mobile payments space”

“By combining our DNA around security, and the real-time collaboration and privacy attributes of BBM, we are uniquely placed in the growing mobile payments space,” said John Sims, President Global Enterprise Services at BlackBerry. “These new mobile payments partnerships demonstrate how we have effectively evolved BBM from the best real-time chat experience to a true social engagement and e-commerce platform. Whether it’s sending pictures and files to groups or contacts; sharing their location or sending money or airtime – all from within the BBM app – our users’ real-time engagement experience will continue to get richer.”

The new BBM Money will also be made available to Android and iOS smartphone users, regardless of who they bank with or whether they have a bank account. The new BBM Money will enable payments in participating retail stores and online, while continuing to benefit from bank-grade security measures including passcodes and encryption and leveraging BlackBerry’s expertise and legacy in security and privacy.

BBM is one of the most popular messaging applications in Indonesia, with the monthly active user count having grown by 150% over the past 12 months. Because of the country’s low penetration rate for debit cards (11 percent) and the fact that it has the second fastest rate of e-commerce growth after China, it’s easy to see why BlackBerry considers it the ideal target market for BBM Money.

Earlier this year, BlackBerry launched BBM Channels giving Indonesia’s largest brands and retailers a social presence on BBM. “Many of these brands and retailers have a huge following on BBM,” says Matthew Talbot, SVP for Emerging Solutions, BlackBerry. “When you realize the amount of time that is spent using BBM to engage with friends, family and now brands, linking payments was a logical extension.”

“PermataBank plays a vital role in enabling BBM Money in Indonesia. In addition to acting as the issuing bank, obtaining necessary licenses and meeting the regulations of the central Bank of Indonesia, PermataBank will use its enterprise payments expertise in working with retailers to increase adoption of BBM Money as a simpler way to pay,” said Bianto Surodjo, Retail Banking Director, PermataBank.

“Simplifying the payment and checkout process while maintaining bank grade security standards is vital for both consumers and retailers,” says Darren Sugden, EVP, Monitise Asia Pacific. “We have always believed in the power of partnerships and by combining the strengths of BlackBerry and PermataBank with our 10 years of experience in mobile financial services we have developed a service that puts Indonesia at the forefront of mobile payments and commerce innovations.”

BBM Money also looks to bring contact to contact airtime remittance to BBM via TransferTo, allowing customers to send airtime to their friends and relatives. Complementing BlackBerry’s extensive mobile network operator relationships, TransferTo works with over 350 MNO’s in 100+ countries, reaching over 3.6 billion prepaid users. The service will initially launch for BlackBerry 10, iOS, and Android users in Indonesia starting in “early 2015,” with plans to roll out integration with TransferTo to all users later this year.

Allowing 80 percent of mobile users to stay in touch across the world

“Integrating TransferTo’s global airtime remittance network with BBM will provide a simple and seamless way to enable small value transfers between people. As almost 80% of mobile users are prepaid, sending prepaid airtime will enable BBM users to stay in touch with their friends and family overseas. Moreover, the added simplicity of the service will be a win for end users, while providing our mobile operator partners the opportunity to leverage the reach and level of engagement of the BBM user base,” said Eric Barbier, CEO, TransferTo.

BBM has certainly been on a roll with new enhancements to its messaging application. Recent BBM updates have also added file- and location-sharing capabilities to boost the productivity of users, as well as the BBM Shop, from which users can download virtual goods such as a growing selection of stickers.

The app recently launched on Windows Phone and it’s not clear when WP users will get these enhancements, but we’ve reached out to BlackBerry to see if we could get a confirmation. In the meantime, you can download BBM onto your favorite device.

Arguably one of the best parts of being a LINE app user is the ability to play an extensive library of mobile games on the messaging platform, games that you can play alone or with friends.

Now a new game has just launched on LINE, and it just so happens to be the messaging app’s first-ever rhythm game: LINE Stage.

In LINE Stage, you take control of the Stagees, the group founded by the LINE characters, in an attempt to recover a stolen debut song (which happens to have been stolen by another member of the group). They must follow the guidance of the “Rhythm Fairy” in order to find the song and become big stars.

To do this, you have to tap or flick notes (characters’ faces) a la Guitar Hero. You might also be required to tap with both hands or in quick succession, or flick in a certain direction, which should keep things challenging.

Obviously, the more accurate your taps and flicks are, the more points you score. Bonuses, coins, and fans also await you once you’ve cleared each stage, and the more fans you have, the bigger your bonus will be. You score fans by beating each location’s boss. You can also use various items to score bigger combos.

Like most games, the missions get harder as you progress, and you can choose between 3 levels of difficulty for each stage: “Rookie,” “Veteran,” and “Master.”

The game also includes the multiplayer element that is common among LINE games. If you beat your friends, you’ll gain even more coins.

You’ll find both original songs and songs you’ll recognize in each of the stages, and LINE promises more songs to come. You’ll also find costumes for your characters to give your group a look all its own.

LINE Stage is available on both iTunes and Google Play.