Surging in a market that's growing out of a niche segment and filling with rivals, Movy offers all of the feature that could be expected from a video messenger and executes well on each one.
Facebook has waded into the video messaging market and Skype has wiggled its toes at the water's edge, but Movy's uncapped video lengths and lightweight app size have welcomed a solid following aboard its ship.
For the past few months, Movy has enjoyed 300 percent growth and has seeped into more than 150 countries. The video mail app and service is available in 12 languages and has rooted itself in the mobile storage space of approximately 50,000 users. It got its start as an internal business tool for Joyce Co. employees who were having trouble scheduling times for meetings.
Interface and Aesthetics
While Movy was released before Google began handing out Android Lollipop, the video-messaging app is wrapped in a sleek interface that's akin to the search engine company's Material Design scheme. The user interface is clean, the buttons are flat and no one element feels like it claiming more than its share of screen space.
Features
The button in the top left corner takes users to the public video stream, where they can view "movies," pronounced moh-Veez, made by individuals they follow. The next button takes users to the direct messaging stream, where users can review and replay private videos they have received. The notifications, contacts and settings buttons round out Movy's toolbar.
Creating a movy is as simple as tapping the record button that rests in the bottom quadrant of the screen. Users can initiate a video by tapping on a contact's icon, either in the contacts menu or in the public stream.
The record button fires up the camera and, once the tie is straightened and that stray lash is picked, another tap starts the recording process.
While setting up the recording, users can toggle between front and rear cameras or set the flash for on or off. Users can selected between auto post or preview post -- auto post sends the movy as soon as recording has ended, while preview post gives the user the ability to review the video and delete it if desired.
Support
It's interface is simple enough, but Movy comes with a cache of video tutorials for those who want to be sure they understand what each of the app's buttons do before fiddling with them -- ah, don't record me with rollers in my hair! But if prepackaged tutorials aren't enough, some Movy users have reported that the company will video chat with those who still have questions.
The Verdict
With a cumulative rating on Google Play that's near perfect, we, too, struggled to find areas where we could dock Movy. The app is available on both iOS and Android. It generates email links to messages sent to recipients who don't use the app. And each of its features are thoughtful and well-executed, garnering Movy a rating of 5/5.
