Once upon a time I was lucky to receive an invitation to collaborate with Amo, a very progressive and talented product team that made one of my favorite nav apps, Bump.

Task was simple - drop us your take on the voice-first messaging app for youngsters. Voice-only. Fully voice.

So I started thinking about the audience:

• teens and young demographics, which apps do they use for comms?
• what cool things can I take from these apps and turn it into a cool voice-only recipe?
• Finally, there was something important about the task itself: Amo isn’t really interested in the ecosystem at this point, they just wanted a standalone product that separates use cases from, say, Bump.

Discord

• 1/3 of 18-29 year-olds use it regularly in France
• Always-on virtual living rooms designed for casual drop-in/out socializing
• Real-time avatar indicators, intuitive channel navigation

WhatsApp

• Playback speed control (1x/1.5x/2x)
• Auto-switch to ear speaker when phone is held to head (Telegram too)
• Blue tick = “message heard” feedback loop

Telegram

• PTT, swipe-to-lock
• Video circles and PiP mode
• Premium feature: speech-to-text transcription (using AI)

Clubhouse

• Passive mode: listen in like live radio
• Active mode: join the conversation

LINE

• Dominates Japan (~78% of population)
• Low usage of voice notes due to cultural etiquette (quiet in public)
• Audio stickers (very cool!!)
• Features voice filters, dialect mimicking tools

Core UX idea

GenZ don’t think in chat threads, they think in moments and presence — so I dropped the classic list UI.

I built a “Universe”.
Spaces and people exist in a shared virtual space.