Amazon is working on its own messaging software called Anytime

Amazon is said to be working on its own chat service to compete with services such as Facebook Messenger, Google Allo and Apple’s iMessage. The chat software called Anytime is said to support audio and video calling, among other things.

AFTV News reports this, based on information about a user survey sent out by Amazon. The online department store itself has not yet officially announced the chat software. According to the information gathered, Amazon is working on Anytime, which will allow users to chat with each other, make audio and video calls, and message each other via @mentions that Twitter also works with. Group messages could also be exchanged with these @-mentions.

In addition, Amazon is reportedly adding features such as filtering photos and video, exchanging GIFs, emojis, stickers, and things like bill sharing, location sharing, and listening to music together. This makes Anytime seem to be somewhat intended as a social network in addition to chat software.

Anyone could be reached with Anytime, without needing a phone number; a name would suffice. However, it is still unclear how this works. It is also not yet known when Anytime, which would work on both Android and iOS, should be available.