Home featured Featured News Startup Featured The app that says ‘Yo’ – and that’s it Stephanie Zillman June 23, 2014 ‘The devil is in the detail’ is a phrase that does not apply here. This is an app which really is as simple as it sounds – perhaps even more simple. Making headlines this week is the incredible $US1 million in funding received by Or Arbel’s ‘Yo’ app – an app which literally allows users to send a picture of the word ‘yo’, and nothing else. Although, users can also reply with ‘yo’ to one another. Already the app has been downloaded over 790,000 times across the Android and Apple app stores. Despite international derisive media coverage, and even being parodied on The Colbert Report, the man behind the app, software engineer Or Arbel, has denied the app is excessively simplistic. “If you think this is just an app that says ‘yo’, you are getting it wrong,” Arbel told Mashable . “It’s a new way to get lightweight, non-intrusive notifications. We are here to cut through the noise. We like to call it context-based messaging. In defending the popularity of his app, Arbel says it’s a way to play with ‘context-specific’ communication, similar to how the word ‘mate’ can be a term of genuine warmth or a passive aggressive warning. Indeed, the app was apparently inspired by Mr Arbel’s former boss who had wanted an app that functioned like a summons button for his assistant. There are also other examples