Microsoft Releases ‘Snapchat Clone’ WindUp – Update

Microsoft Research has released an app for Windows Phone that works much the same as SnapChat. The WindUp app allows users to send messages that are automatically deleted after a certain period of time or after a number of views.

WindUp, which is free to install on Windows Phone 8.x devices, offers as a messenger app the possibility to share photos, videos and audio fragments with others in addition to text messages. WindUp also offers the option of giving the message a shelf life. When the allotted time has elapsed, the respective message is cleared. A limit can also be set for the number of people who may read a message.

With WindUp, Microsoft releases an app that has great similarities with the popular messenger SnapChat. However, SnapChat has not yet released an app for Windows Phone devices. By releasing WindUp, which was developed by the Research arm of Microsoft, the software giant seems to want to get ahead of SnapChat.

Update, August 16 – Microsoft says it especially wants to know how people share information online. WindUp is therefore mainly intended for research purposes.