The new social media app, Airchat, which has attracted high-profile users and investors from Sam Altman of OpenAI for Complice VC’s Jeff Fagnan, it’s currently a quiet departure from the usual cacophony of social media chatter, even as it puts user voices front and center.
Airchat first launched in mid-2023 and is still invite-only. Bloomberg reported this week that the invitations have been circulating widely in Silicon Valley recently following the app’s relaunch this month. According to the publication, more than 30,000 of Airchat’s 45,000 downloads occurred this month.
Entrepreneur I secured an invite and tested the app to see if it was worth advertising.
If your eyes glaze over at long social media posts and you find yourself overstimulated by endless videos, Airchat is a happy medium.
Anyone who has browsed Facebook or Threads can quickly understand Airchat. The app combines the standard newsfeed format with audio notes directly from users. Users speak into the app, they don’t have the ability to type posts, and as their followers scroll through their feeds, they hear the voice as well as seeing the AI-generated transcript.
If a user wants to comment on a post, they also record an audio of their thoughts. The entire app is a series of ongoing conversations.
Airchat feed of audio recordings and AI-transcribed posts. Credit: Entrepreneur
The concept of Airchat is to allow users to tune into conversations it’s happening right nowso as not to recover what they have lost.
“I want a house party in my pocket,” Airchat co-founder Naval Ravikant told Bloomberg. “I want to be able to pull out this phone and talk to someone interesting, delightful, and witty whenever I want.”
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What works
When I scrolled through my Airchat feed, I found that the presence of other people’s voices captured my attention, but in a less abrupt way than a TikTok video or YouTube short. I was also more present than if I were scrolling through text-heavy posts on Facebook.
That said, there is an option to upload videos that I haven’t seen anyone use. It was an audio-centric platform.
I could press the play button in the bottom right corner of the screen and have the newsfeed play all the audio clips of the people I followed, or manually scroll and find the clips that interested me most.
If your eyes glaze over at long social media posts and you find yourself overstimulated by endless videos, Airchat is a happy medium.
Influencers are not the focus of the app, with Ravikant saying the app is more of a social messenger like WhatsApp or WeChat than an influencer platform.
The two founders, Ravikant and former Tinder executive Brian Norgard were both active on Airchat.
Posted by Ravikant. Credit: Entrepreneur
Posted by Norgard. Credit: Entrepreneur
My overall impression was that the app was intensely personal and thoughtful in a way that traditional social media apps are not currently.
Comparing Airchat to Twitter, now X, Ravikant summed it up perfectly in an Airchat audio. He said Twitter was once his favorite social media site until he saw hundreds of people rephrase what he said in different ways.
“Or I would see people copying the same content a year or two years later,” he continued. “And you mean that, really? Let’s talk in person. Get in the ring… And that’s what I think this app does. It really allows people who are incredibly witty to really shine. Or people who are incredibly empathetic.”
Listening to Ravikant speak added a human element to the app. As social media competes with bots, it’s important to have that touch of authenticity with your tone.
Unlike competing social audio app Clubhouse, Airchat is not about having live conversations, but about having ongoing conversations that take place over time without any pressure to respond immediately. Clubhouse’s friends versus followers mission seems to be what Airchat also sticks to, but the user experience for both apps is different.
What could be useful to improve
Since synthetic voices are already used in scams, the authenticity of Airchat could be compromised if users used it.
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One thing I noticed that could be improved is that even when I exited the app, the audio feed continued to play in the background. Even locking the phone didn’t pause the audio. I’m thinking about the success of podcasts and white noise channels on Spotify, and the possibilities on Airchat for the same sort of thing, even in a smaller community.
Why I will use Airchat again
I’m very excited that Airchat prioritizes human connection and voice in social media, and does so asynchronously, allowing users to participate in conversations. The “quality over quantity” approach taken by Airchat’s cofounders bodes well for the overall quality of the app.
Everyone acted like they were at a dinner party.
Another possible use of the Airchat app could be to make new friends or even date.
The content was also well moderated and thoughtful; there was nothing inappropriate in my feed. Everyone acted as if they were at a dinner party, which led me to wonder whether it was the app’s audio format that added an extra layer of civility to the discussions, or whether the app’s relatively small, invite-only user base app created the atmosphere.
I closed the Airchat app feeling more connected to the world, no longer disconnected from it, as I usually feel after scrolling through major social media. The app is easy to use and the original discussions that take place on the app between real people have proven its quality.
I’m thinking about what to say when I use it again.