Nikita Bier, creator of popular apps like the anonymous polling app tbh (acquired by Facebook) and the anonymous compliments app Gas (acquired by Discord), has created a new app called Explodewhich focuses on missing iMessage messages.
Explode works as a mini app for Apple's Messages app. It helps you send lost messages to other people. Users can see the text or images once, and then… it explodes. The app also blocks users from taking screenshots. In a post on X, Bier said that only the sender needs to have the Explode app.
While the app is free to download, users can sign up to Explode+ for $39.99 per year or $7.99 per month to unlock all features. Paid users can receive screenshot alerts, can block screenshots entirely, can replay images they've previously sent, and can lock image viewing after sending them.
Bier's posts on X about Explode lean heavily towards acquisition to dig in Snapchat. In a post, he said after he talked to Snap about acquiring Gas, the social media company kicked Gas off the SnapKit developer platform.
“Two years ago, I met with the CEO of Snapchat to discuss the acquisition of my old company. I quietly shared how quickly we had grown. Just one week later — on the Thanksgiving holiday — Snapchat pulled our app from SnapKit platform, which abruptly stopped our growth,” he said.
In a screenshot of an email seen by TechCrunch, Snap sent an email to developers saying Gas was using URL attachments to make friend recommendations without the sender's explicit intent — which Snap thought was in violation it has its policy and tries to replicate Snap's functionality. Bier said Gas operates on contacts and doesn't rely on Snap's social graph.
Still, Snap is a key growth driver for the app. In an October 2022 post, Bier said that 23% of Snapchat's US user base viewed a Gas story. He said that sharing the Gas poll on Snapchat was placed as the main button on the app, and that Snap's action broke the app within seven days.
Snap did not immediately comment on the story. Discord was eventually acquired Gas in January 2023 and it will close in November 2023.
Currently, the app is only available in the US and other countries such as Canada, UK, Australia, US, France, Germany, and Italy.
