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The Meow Chat app has been around for a while, quietly building a following. Then suddenly, the developers started sending thousands of invites through Facebook. So what is it and what can it do for you?

The Meow Chat app is a cross between WhatsApp and Tinder. There is also a bit of Facebook Messenger in there too for extra flavour. Essentially, the app helps you keep in contact with Facebook friends or chat to complete strangers using the random chat option.

It’s this last feature that offers some uniqueness to yet another chat app. It’s not the first app to let you talk to strangers, but it’s one of the better examples of them. As soon as you log into Meow Chat, you can enter into a random chat room where you can engage or move on as you see fit. You hit the orange cat icon on the screen to join a random chat about anything. It isn’t truly random though because it uses your location and sorts geographically.

If you give it more information about you and your likes and dislikes, it will use them as criteria for finding chat rooms full of hopefully like-minded individuals.

The chat rooms are the usual mix of silly, mildly interesting and downright weird. Depending on your likes, hobbies and how much information you provide, you will likely get a balance of each. Anyone used to chatting online will be more than used to identifying which is which and choosing as appropriate.

The explore option allows you to see who’s local and like or comment on their profile. It brings gamification to the app, which some will love and others will not, especially as Meow Chat rewards popularity with points.

Jesmond Darmanin is a technology enthusiast who has his own blog at www.itnewsblog.com.