WordPress parent buys Texts app in push for open-source communication
What's the story
Automattic, the company behind well-known web platforms like WordPress.com, Tumblr, and Pocket Casts, has purchased Texts, a universal messaging app, for $50 million.
The Texts app aims to bring together messages from various sources, such as WhatsApp, Signal, Instagram, LinkedIn, and iMessage, all under one roof.
The app even provides AI-generated responses and summaries.
For Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, messaging represents the third key area of focus for the company, after publishing and commerce, reports TheVerge.
Details
Mullenweg's vision for open-source messaging
Mullenweg is particularly excited about open-source messaging options like Matrix and other up-and-coming standards. He sees Texts as a means to gently nudge users toward more open protocols without pushing them into a specific standard.
Mullenweg said, "I think the most user-centric thing to do is not try to pick one of those standards and force people into it, but actually support them all and let the market and users decide."
Features
Texts relies on on-device encryption
Mullenweg has high praise for Texts's founder, Kishan Bagaria, whom he regards as a "generational tech genius."
He also admires Texts's security approach, which relies on on-device encryption rather than cloud storage for messages.
Mullenweg contends that the cloud-first model is less secure and could provide existing messaging apps with a reason to block interoperability efforts like Beeper, which also unifies your messages from chat apps, similar to Texts.
Insights
Future plans for Texts
The initial assignment for the Texts team at Automattic will be to finalize its mobile app.
Texts costs $15/month, but Mullenweg hints that a limited free version could be on the horizon.
"But if you're serious about this, you'll want the paid—for less than like the price of one streaming service or two cups of coffee a month, you'll get something that you'll be able to use for hours a day," said Mullenweg.