We all love our dear social networks. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, they all keep us in the loop, on our toes, and well connected— and here at L Style G Style, we love to stay connected! But of course, there’s always that one follower or friend that we’d prefer not to connect with and surely, we’d hope to avoid them in person as well (that ex you’re having a hard time getting over, or perhaps that one friend of a friend that rubs you the wrong way).
Well, now you can avoid those very awkward and unwanted encounters with Cloak, the new “anti-social network.” Simply sync Cloak with your Instagram or Foursquare app to see where your friends— or enemies — were last seen so that you can be sure to keep your distance. The app pulls from your friend’s recent check-ins and posts’ locations to let you know where exactly not to go! You can even let Cloak know which exes, friends, coworkers, or relatives you’d like to avoid and Voila! Cloak alerts you when you’re close on their heels or they’re close on yours. So when you’re feeling a bit reclusive, or just too busy to run into your chatty neighbor, you can keep it moving smoothly with this app downloaded onto your smartphone.
We’ve put the app to the test over here at L Style G Style and it worked like a charm, notifying us who was near and who was “far enough.” It’s easy to get the hang of and certainly easy to navigate with only a few functions (options to refresh, locate people, and change settings). It’s perfect for going “incognito mode.”
Cloak creators, Brian Moore and Chris Baker were inspired to develop this app after Moore experienced one to many run-ins with his ex-girlfriend. In six months, he had cross her path four times. Last month (March 2014), the two founders launched the new app, receiving an overwhelming response. However, Cloak still has a little cleaning up to do for three reasons in particular that I can think of after trying the app out.
What initially surprised me was that only 8 friends were located out of the 368 friends I have on Instagram, even after adjusting the app’s settings. I expected more friends that I know who frequently check-in on Instagram to pop up. Secondly, the app is limited to Instagram and Foursquare, which makes the app unavailable to those who are avid users of other social networks, but not Instagram and Foursquare. The good news is, Moore and Baker have expressed that they hope to expand to Facebook soon and possibly Twitter. Moreover, reviewers and frequent users report minor glitches and also say that the app tends to run slow after using it for some time. Of course, with every app, these glitches can be addressed with time and I’m sure the developers will be working to better the app continuously.
The concept is awesome and Cloak appears to be off to a great start, racking up over 100,000 users and making it into the app store’s top 50 within a few days of its release. This could be the beginning of an “anti-social media” era, or just a really cool app that can assist us all in avoiding a few frenemies. Either way, Cloak is ideal for moments when you just want to steer clear of not-so-pleasant run-ins.
photo credit for featured image: Jason A. Howie via photopin cc
