Mobile Phone

The Surprisingly Easy App of the Week: Who’s Down

Every Thursday, we bring you an app that'll make your life easier. This week, it's the turn of Google's latest friend-finding app, Who's Down.


What is it?

Organising a social outing is a pain in the bum, and Google knows it. Who's Down is their solution, and it's an interesting one: essentially, you toggle a switch that signals whether you are "˜down' or not.

If you are "˜down', you'll be listed as active and willing to hang out with your friends. You can also specify what kinds of activities you're down for or write your own.

Once you've done all that, the app will let your friends who are up (sorry, "˜down') for doing the same thing that you're ready to do and a chat will automatically start to sort out the logistics.


Why is it surprisingly easy?

While it sounds a bit silly "" why wouldn't you just call someone, like in the good old days?! "" Who's Down does have some great potential uses. For example, if you're trying to get a group of people together for a night down the pub, or a few people together to play Call of Duty at the same time.

It's probably useless for more detailed events, but it sounds pretty perfect for organising impromptu social events.


The best bit

It's a lot easier than firing up WhatsApp, asking if your friends are up (sorry, "˜down') for doing something and receiving a million excuses in response.

We also like the idea of being able to flick a switch to tell people whether we can be bothered to do something or not, although we imagine people will probably ignore the switch and send you a text anyway.


The downside

At the moment, Who's Down is invite only. You can request an invite by downloading the app, but it means that it's currently very, very quiet. Unless you socialise in a tech-savvy crowd, it's probably going to be a while until you can use.

Still, if you're really desperate to use it, you could always encourage your friends to download it.

Download Who's Down on iTunes | Download Who's Down on Google Play Store


Remember to give our own surprisingly easy app a try too. It lets you get an instant price for your CDs, DVDs and Games just by scanning the barcode on the case!

Download musicMagpie on iTunes | Download musicMagpie on Google Play Store