Yahoo rolls out Livetext video messaging service

Yahoo has launched Livetext, a new video-texting app, in five new countries including the UK, Germany and France.

The service – which is also now live in the US and Canada and was initially rolled out in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Ireland – lets users send audio-free video clips to one another in a move that will see Yahoo take on the likes of Snapchat.

Announcing the service, Yahoo said that Livetext combines “the convenience and ease of texting, with the immediacy and vividness of live video”. It added that removing audio means “you can use it in any context.”

“Every platform shift leads to new forms of communication, driven by our desire to connect and interact in richer ways,” said Adam Cahan, Yahoo’s senior vice-president of video, design, and emerging products.

“We wanted to create a new way to communicate, blending the simplicity of texting with the emotion and immediacy of live video, to make your experience spontaneous and real.”