Skip to main content

'Who's In' is Microsoft's new group-planning app for iMessage

microsoft releases whos in who s combined
Microsoft has just released a new iMessage app that’s designed to make it easier for you and your friends to figure out what to do and when to do it. It’s called Who’s In, and — at least on paper — it seems like one of the more useful social apps out of the company as of late.

With Who’s In, you can search for restaurants, activities, and events — or make your own — and put them to a group vote. The app will create a card for the hangout, and when other members of your chat tap on it, they can give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. You can also offer multiple times and dates, and leave it up to the majority to pick the best one.

That last point could be somewhat useful. Anyone who’s ever tried to organize anything over text with multiple people knows the grueling back-and-forth that inevitably follows. Opinions are split, a few people aren’t quite aware of what’s going on, and there’s always somebody who forgets to respond. Actually, on second thought, Who’s In probably won’t do you much good for that last problem.

Anyway, it’s a neat little tool that looks to save time and effort and could prove its worth — provided people can find and download it. Apple’s store for iMessage apps has been criticized for being poorly designed and confusing to use, which is obviously problematic for software that relies on awareness and adoption in social circles.

Who’s In is also Microsoft’s second iOS-focused social app released in as many days, following Sprinkles, an AI-powered photo-captioning app that can also guess your age and identify your celebrity doppleganger.

Who’s In not to be confused with Who’s Down, an app Google briefly tested a couple years back with college students that let users broadcast their availability. Despite the naming similarity, Who’s In doesn’t work quite the same way — and Microsoft is likely hoping it doesn’t suffer quite the same fate. The app is free and available on iPhone now.

Editors' Recommendations

Adam Ismail
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Adam’s obsession with tech began at a young age, with a Sega Dreamcast – and he’s been hooked ever since. Previously…
Apple’s iOS 16.4 beta brings new emoji, web app notifications, and more
Sample of new emoji coming in iOS 16.4

Apple has just released the iOS 16.4 beta for developers and anyone else who wants a really early look at the new software. This is the first beta for iOS 16.4, following numerous releases for iOS 16.3.

The first highlighted items for iOS 16.4 are the new Unicode 15 emoji. These are the first new emoji in over a year. Some of these new emoji include a shaking face, pink heart, light blue heart, goose, donkey, angel wing, jellyfish, pea pod, ginger, folding hand fan, maracas, flute, and more. These new emoji additions were originally proposed in July 2022, and they were added to the Unicode standard in September 2022. It has taken a few months for these to get added to iOS because designers at Apple needed to create the icons with the information provided by the Unicode Consortium.

Read more
Thanks to Tapbots’ Ivory app, I’m finally ready to ditch Twitter for good
Profile displayed in Ivory app

Ever since Elon Musk took ownership of Twitter, it’s been one chaotic new thing after another. You literally cannot go a day (or a few days or even a week) without some stupid new change to the site — whether it’s about checkmarks for verified or Twitter Blue subscriber accounts, how links to other social networks are banned and then reversed, view counts on Tweets, or something else. I can’t keep up with every little thing that has happened since the beginning of November, and it feels like the spotlight is always on the toxicity of the site in general.

New Twitter alternatives have been popping up recently, but it seems that the most popular one continues to be Mastodon. I originally made a Mastodon account back in 2018 when it first launched, but it never clicked with me back then, and I eventually went back to Twitter. With the Musk mess, I tried going back to Mastodon, but again, it didn’t really click with me — until Tweetbot developer, Tapbots, revealed its next project: Ivory.
The significance of Tapbots and Tweetbot

Read more
Sorry, but allowing third-party iPhone app stores is a bad idea
Apple Arcade page on the Apple Store as seen on the iPhone 14 Pro

Apple has always been known to have tight control over both its hardware and software, such as the iPhone and the iOS that powers it. However, it seems that the European Union continues to get more and more involved in regulating Apple’s most popular device, the iPhone.

So far, the EU has set a deadline for Apple to replace the Lightning port with USB-C by 2024, and more recently, it raised the possibility of opening up iOS to allow for sideloading and alternative app stores from third parties. Though this may seem like a good thing at first, I’m not so sure that’s entirely true. At the very least, it will cause some complications.
The App Store is a secure and trusted place

Read more