Facebook Launches Experimental Apple Watch Messaging App “Keep in Touch”

Facebook’s internal R&D group NPE Team has today launched an experimental new app that lets you keep up with your close friends through your Apple Watch.

According to a new report from TechCrunch, the app, called Kit — short for “Keep in Touch” — works through a combination of QR codes and Facebook’s existing Messenger platform. You first start by scanning a QR code from your Apple Watch (or entering an access code from fb.com/devices) and select the Facebook Messenger contact that you want to be in touch with. You can then send emojis, location, scribbles, text (via voice dictation), voice messages, and respond to replies.

“Kit makes keeping in contact from your watch easy. Everything you need to compose a message is just one tap away,” reads the App Store description. “No more struggling to navigate a tiny screen to find the right option. To get started, just scan the QR code on your watch and pick a contact. One tap lets you send a voice message, your location or an emoji. You also have easy access to speech-to-text. We hope that Kit helps you keep in touch with those most important to you — without constantly needing to pick up your phone.”

The central idea of the app is that you don’t have to pick up the phone to stay in touch or respond to your closed ones. In comparison, if you use the Facebook Messenger app, you’ll have to scroll through your conversations list or list of friends on the Apple Watch’s small screen, and then choose to create messages.

Kit is the first Apple Watch app from NPE Team, Facebook’s research and development group. The team was responsible for meme-making app Whale, a chat service called Bump, and social music listening tool Aux. More recently, it released Tuned, an app for couples to share things in private with each other.

Click here to download Kit for Apple Watch in the App Store.