Leader of one of the world’s fastest-growing audio communities, Picslo is currently developing Walkie-Talkie, a popular audio-based social media app aimed at Generation Z. The app’s core feature - high fidelity audio frequencies - allows anyone around the world to connect and jump into conversations with ease. In less than two years, they've passed more than 20M downloads and have more than 1.2 million active users today. Incredibly, all that growth has been organic; coming entirely from word of mouth.
Unlike traditional social networks, social audio is having its moment (i.e. Clubhouse, Spotify Greenroom, Twitter Spaces) and Walkie-Talkie has especially taken off with Generation Z. All three founders have expertise in marrying cutting-edge audio technologies with mobile applications. Picslo's CEO Stephane Giruadie sold his last company Voxeet to Dolby, which became the basis for Dolby.io. The app makes use of Dolby.io with active noise suppression for crowded environments, spatial audio that separates overlapping voices, and optimized device capture for clearer sound.
Audio has come back into fashion, especially with Gen Z and with the movement around anti-social networking. With Instagram, it’s about being picture-perfect because it’s about your images and appearance. With Walkie-talkie, you have the element of being anonymous and being yourself without any judgment.
Walkie-talkie hosts audio rooms called “frequencies,” which can either be public or private. Private frequencies can be used to have secure conversations with friends, whereas public frequencies host conversations about different topics with users around the world. The company has recently released a scanning functionality that’s akin to how the radio works, as users will be able to press a button to scan through different live audio rooms and find one that best matches their interests.
As for Walkie-talkie, CEO Giraudie sees the platform as a different sort of social audio app that will grow into a larger network over time. Walkie-talkie is more than a communication tool. People are making new friends, and the more friends they make, the more time they’re spending on the app. Users are up, retention is up, growth is up. This year, Walkie-talkie reached the #1 ranked app in social networking in the United States and countries around the world including France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Spain, and the Philippines.