Free mobile communications app
MiChat, pronounced as “mai-chat”, is a free mobile app that works as a social networking and messaging app in one. It lets you connect and talk to your family and friends, as well as meet new people near you by participating in a massive group conversation about topics that interest you. Moreover, it also offers photo-sharing features, allowing you to records snippets of your life and share them with your friends.
What is MiChat?
MiChat works primarily as a messaging app. With it, users can communicate with others, either through one-on-one conversations or group chats. To find friends, you only need to link your account to your phone number and see the list of your contacts who also use the app. You can also invite them to start a conversation if they aren’t registered in the app yet.
The interface of this app is simple. However, it comes with a bunch of cool features that facilitate smooth communication between people. In addition to text messages, you can also send images and audio. Plus, there is a whole collection of stickers that you can use to say your piece differently.
As noted, this app does not only promote easy communication between families and friends. It also allows you to meet new friends by connecting you to other users within your vicinity. With its New Friendship tab, you can see a list of users within close range. From there, you only need to open a conversation window and start talking to that person.
There is also a Message Tree that lets you pick or hang a message on a virtual tree. With this, you can leave any message you want or choose from any message “hung” on the tree and chat with the one who posted it. This function supports text and voice messaging. This app also comes with chatrooms for people with shared interests. You can join any room you like and start sharing your thoughts.
How to get started on MiChat?
Like any messaging apps, creating an account with MiChat requires a working phone number. Once signed up, you need to fill out your profile information before you can start chatting up with your friends. As noted, you can link your number to your account to see which of your contacts are using the app. You can also invite them to the app if they are not yet a user.
Alternatively, you can add friends via their MiChat ID. You can search for them and send them an invitation. The app also comes with a built-in QR code reader. With this, you can share your QR code with your friends or add them to your contact list by scanning theirs.
To make it easier for other users to find you, the app allows you to customize your MiChat ID. To do so, you only need to your Me tab, tap on your profile photo, and choose MiChat ID under the Profile option. Note that you can only set your ID once. Your profile name, however, can be changed anytime you want.
Is the app good?
MiChat offers seamless messaging and does help you meet new people. However, there are a few things you need to consider before you make the switch. For one, unlike WeChat, the app does not support video calling. Some users take advantage of this by using other people’s pictures.
Users are also getting spammed by fraud accounts promoting gambling and even sexual activities. While you can report these users, there is no option to block them. Worse, nothing is done despite reporting scammers multiple times. Aside from these security issues, users will also find the lack of an “Online” indicator a bit annoying.
With this, you can only leave a message to your friend and hope that they are also using the app at the same time. Moreover, the contact suggestion cannot be turned off. With this, you will end up getting notifications every time you open the app. There is also no option to delete friend requests that you don’t like.
There are better options
At first glance, MiChat seemed to be a good alternative to popular messaging apps. However, there are lots of drawbacks to the app. In addition to a few limitations that you won’t find in other similar software, there are annoying features that actually hinder you from enjoying your usage. However, the biggest deal-breaker of all is the hundreds of spam that you will get as soon as you start using the app. All in all, there are better options for you.
