Amid a plethora of social media apps connecting different people, a new anti-social app "Cloak" helps users avoid unexpected encounters with unwanted people.
If being caught in an awkward moment like a sudden rendezvous with your ex is embarrassing and you wish there was a way to stop that, then your wish has come true. A new mobile app, currently for only iPhone users, helps users avoid unnecessary encounters with people they'd rather give the go-by. Better yet, the app can also be used to keep a tab on your employees and competitors.
The new iPhone app called Cloak, created by two advertising professionals, Chris Baker and Brian Moore, extracts location check-ins data from contacts' Foursquare and Instagram accounts to let users know about their whereabouts. The app will show individuals on the Cloak map in bubbles, anywhere from two miles to one block away, so you can give them a slip, or at least prepare yourself prior to the meet.
Users of the app will see the name and the location of a person by clicking on a bubble. The app also gives the time of when the person had checked in and if it was says two hours ago, the picture will fade away and completely disappear after four hours.
"We feel like we've reached the point of social fatigue -- too many networks with too much information, all the time," CNN quoted Baker as saying. "It's OK to turn off and pick up a copy of 'Walden' and just be alone."
Cloak also allows users to set up push notifications for specific people or for everyone in their social network. But the app only works with Foursquare and Instagram, so if you or your friends have no account on either service then the app would not be of great use. On the brighter side, developers hope to include more social media platforms, including the world's most popular Facebook, which is also the most requested platform based on app reviews, and Twitter. But Twitter integration is most unlikely as the location data shared on the site is vague or not available. Cloak team also plans to include data from Google+, Snapchat and Tinder.
Cloak respects users' privacy as it only pulls information that is already out there for the world to know. The app simply organizes the data in a map layout helping its users to find other peoples' location. If a user has been blocked on Instagram or vice versa, the information related to that person will not appear on Cloak map.
Cloak is available for download for free from the Apple App Store.
