An anonymous messaging app is exploding in popularity on Instagram — here's how it works

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An anonymous messaging app is exploding in popularity on Instagram — here's how it works
NGL, an anonymous messaging app, lets users request questions or comments from their Instagram followers, like the ones above.Jordan Erb/Insider
  • NGL is a new app that lets users send and receive anonymous messages via Instagram.
  • The app is soaring in popularity, clinching top spots on Apple's App Store charts in June.
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Anonymous apps have long held a certain kind of allure for young people. They offer a sense of anticipation, a dopamine hit if the anonymous comments or questions are favorable. Will someone confess their feelings for you? Shower you with compliments? One can only hope.

NGL is the latest to offer this experience — and has exploded in popularity in recent months. Named after an acronym for "Not Gonna Lie," the app debuted in November 2021, and has since garnered about 7.3 million global downloads, according to Apptopia.

Most of those downloads happened in mid-June, briefly sending NGL to the No. 1 overall spot on Apple's US App Store. It's still holding onto the top spot on the App Store's Lifestyle chart.

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The app itself is simple: once downloaded, it sends a link for you to paste into your Instagram story or bio, inviting your followers to send you anonymous messages. Then you wait for responses, which appear in an inbox in the NGL app. By hitting "reply," you can post the messages to your Instagram story with a response.

"I just saw one person using it, then I saw three or four people using it in a day," 23-year-old Tomás Mier told Insider. "I was like 'what is going on? I haven't seen this sort of anonymous question-answer thing in years.'"

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Indeed, NGL is hardly the first to tap into young people's fascination with online anonymity. Its predecessors — services like Ask.fm, Curious Cat, YikYak, Yolo, and LMK — have been met with mixed reactions.

Last year, Snap suspended Yolo and LMK after being hit with a lawsuit involving a teen who was bullied on the platforms for months and died by suicide. The still-pending suit alleges Yolo and LMK broke consumer protection laws and that apps of their kind enable bullying to the point that they should be considered dangerous.

Meanwhile, rival apps Ask.fm and Yik Yak were plagued by claims they enabled cyberbullying. Yik Yak eventually shuttered in 2017, but has since returned.

Amid NGL's newfound success, similar concerns are starting to emerge. Even though its website says it uses algorithms "to filter out harmful language and bullying," NBC News tested the app and found some inappropriate phrases and bullying terms slipped through the cracks.

NGL did not respond to requests for comment.

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Two users who spoke with Insider said they didn't experience harassment or cyberbullying — but actually did receive the aforementioned showers of compliments and confessions of feelings.

"With anonymous messaging, it's easier to quote-unquote 'shoot your shot,'" Christopher Macias, 25, said.

"Someone told me they thought I was cute, but that they were shy. So I told them to swipe up (on my story) and they did," he continued. "Once my schedule clears, we're going to get together."

Macias did receive a few questions he felt didn't deserve an answer, but overall, he said, using the app was a good experience. Most people who submitted questions were people close to him, or people who would like to be close to him, he said.

Mier, who said he's previously received mean comments while using Ask.fm and Curious Cat, said he'd use NGL again when he's on the hunt for external validation.

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"I think there's a little bit of an ego thing — to think that someone might want to share something with you anonymously," Mier said. "It makes you feel good about yourself when you get messages saying 'you're really cute' or 'I'm really proud of you.'"

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