Whisper is a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch that picks up where Post Secret left off when it shut down at the beginning of January. It lets you anonymously share your secrets with the rest of the Whisper community using photos and text overlays.
The app reminds me somewhat of Pinterest. It’s not simply just typing in a secret and broadcasting it to the world. You open the app to find a sea of different photos sorted by the most popular or latest submitted from users with text on them detailing their secret. You can tap the heart to like these photos, reply with your own, or share it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, email, or text message.
To share your own secrets, you first take a photo or choose one from your library, stylize it with a filter, put in some text to pour your heart out, and then choose one of four fonts for it. Submit it and bam — now you’ve gotten something off your chest without revealing your identity.
The developers supposedly released the app quietly to test for bugs, but it took off quickly. They do have a number of security features implemented already, though, that aim to fight spam, bullying, and pornography. Humans moderate the “whispers” at all hours of the day, Automated Image Analysis detects nudity in photos, text analysis will rid of bullying or hate speech, and moderators can permanently ban users if necessary. The entire Whisper community can also contribute by flagging posts and if they get enough flags, it’s automatically removed.
I do wish taking a photo wasn’t necessary — it just seems like a tedious step to take. The app could also benefit from an optional passcode upon launch because if someone else has your iPhone, they can launch the app and view all your secrets pretty easily. Other than that, Whisper is a fresh approach to expressing yourself. Get it for free in the App Store.