GroupMe Rolls Out Major App Update, Adds Direct Messaging, Questions And More

Group messaging service GroupMe has rolled out an update to its apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 devices. With the launch of GroupMe 3.0, the service is now available in more than 90 countries and has a bunch of new features.
First is the option to send a direct message to another user. GroupMe is all about communicating with several people at once, but sometimes you might want to say something to just one person in a group. To send a direct message to someone, all you have to do is tap on their avatar anywhere within the app and you can start to have a private conversation with that person. Direct messages are now available on the iPhone and Android apps and the feature will be launching on other platforms soon.

Also new to GroupMe is Questions. This feature, which is currently in beta, allows you to start new kinds of conversations on the service. You can ask questions to a select number of people within a group, an entire group or everyone you know. You can push the questions to Twitter and Facebook as well so that everyone in your social graph can participate in the conversation. Right now, you can only ask questions on the iPhone and Android apps as well as the GroupMe website. You can respond to questions via the website, SMS (note: full GroupMe SMS features are only available in the U.S. at this time) or one of the apps.
On the GroupMe website, you can now do everything that you can on the GroupMe mobile apps. As well as asking and answering questions, you can create and manage groups; share photos; send messages and more. This was a widely requested feature from GroupMe users. The website is optimized for mobile devices as well, so you can still use GroupMe even if your phone does not support one of the apps.
Perhaps with user privacy in mind, GroupMe has removed the ability for you to be able to automatically see the phone number of anyone in your groups. However, if you need to know someone’s phone number, you can ask them for it by sending a direct message.

  

In addition to all of these updates, the iPhone and Android apps have been given a fresh look with a new user interface design. The “News” tab in the app now provides you with all of the latest information about GroupMe and there are several other improvements that have been made through the apps.
You can download GroupMe to your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone 7 device now.