Like Chatroulette, a once-popular video chat app, Flinch uses video conferencing tool ooVoo to randomly pair up users.
The first to smile, laugh or "flinch," loses. The app uses facial recognition software to tell who breaks their serious face first.
Users are having mixed reactions to the app.
I have way too much fun with this Flinch app
- Nick Bruemmel (@NBruemmel) April 14, 2015 During my first attempt at Flinch and my opponent makes some sicko comment. Y'all delete that app.
- Cards ?? (@cardinale_amber) April 8, 2015 flinch is literally the greatest app I've ever had
- Zaddy Long Legs (@zhammanta555) April 5, 2015the app flinch is the sketchiest thing ever
- danielle (@danielle291995) April 3, 2015Already, the app is having some issues with inappropriate or dangerous content. People have streamed alarming things, like this:
Matthew Speiser
A Flinch user was screengrabbed doing this, which was posted to Twiter via @youngrees_
Toni Bridsong, a Family Safety Evangelist at Intel Security, wrote about her Flinch reservations in an April 7 blog post. Bridsong finds Flinch "creepy" and thinks it's the perfect cyberbullying and predator platform. According to Bridsong, the app has a mostly male 20-40 year-old audience, and it allows users to track the geographical location of their opponents.
Matt Farrell
Flinch is a new take on the classic staring contest where users compete against each other in the first real-time 'video' game. The app is unique in the fact that the app is the judge of the game - detecting which player cracks a smile first.
"Frankly, the instant streaming video of strangers on my iPhone 6-plus screen was acutely creepy," Bridsong wrote. "The app, which is now being downloaded and applauded by curious teens, is definitely gaining traction as more of a hook-up app. While Flinch features some awesome, advanced facial expression technology (it detects who smiles first and issues a win), my short time using this app sent it straight into the red zone when it comes to family safety."
Matt Farrell, a product manager at Spitfire Technology, helped design Flinch. He says censoring against offensive content is a "significant focus" for him.
"We have taken several steps to create the safest possible environment for our users," Farrell told Business Insider in an email. "In addition, the Flinch team takes account monitoring seriously; user accounts as well as social media channels are proactively monitored for violations and inappropriate uses of our app. When we identify inappropriate use through monitoring or other measures, we immediately deactivate the accounts."
Farrell contends that all users have the ability to block other users so they will not be matched with them again. He also pointed out that Flinch is a game with a finite amount of time in which interaction can occur (each game is a maximum of 60-seconds).
Still the app seems to be gaining popularity and it's one of the top free games in the iOS App Store. Farrell says the growth has happened "organically and virally" and that the app has been in the top 50 for the past few weeks. At the time of writing, Flinch was #46 on Apple's Top Free App chart.