Unmute Is an iPhone App Inspired by Old-School Phone Calls

If you’re old enough to remember getting landline calls from your high school date and having younger siblings listen in on the other line, you’ll have no trouble understanding what Unmute is all about. It’s just like that, but with anyone in the world listening in — instead of just your little sister. For teens and influencers in the mobile sphere, it’s the best thing iPhone app developers have dreamed up since Periscope.

Texting and mobile messaging have been eating up the communications game for years, not to mention taking the app development game by storm for iPhone app development companies. Landlines are getting cut faster than ever — and when it comes to calling versus texting, almost everybody prefers to get a short, low-commitment text message.

…So Unmute, from entrepreneur Justin Spraggins, is flying in the face of that trend and generating a lot of buzz among iPhone app developers by “bringing back” the good ol’-fashioned telephone call. (With a few updates for the mobile app generation, of course.)

So far as functionality, Unmute is similar to Periscope, Meerkat, and other live-streaming apps. The difference is that there’s no video, lowering the barrier to entry, and the ability for users to “mute” and “unmute” followers listening in on broadcasts. Users gather followers just like any other social media platform, and users are alerted when someone they follow is live. Other than that, it’s just like a regular phone call.

The question is, will a few 2.0 updates from these Los Angeles iPhone app developers be enough to bring audio-only communication to the text-and-video driven modern mobile marketplace?

Venture capital certainly seems to think so; the young group of iPhone app developers has already earned well over $2 million in seed round funding from a variety of sources including trend-setting Greycroft Partners, Comcast Ventures, Greylock, and Betaworks.

Said Spraggins in a statement to Entrepreneur, the secret behind the app’s success is how video-free communication doesn’t “require you to be camera-ready or to have a certain level of skill … to what you’re presenting that’s engaging for the audience.”

Not to mention it’s just handy to place a voice call when you’re driving, running, or otherwise unable to tap out messages on a tiny keyboard.

The Unmute app is currently available for download at the iTunes App Store.