Last year, Meerkat - an app that let you stream live videos like Periscope - received $12 million in start-up funding. Unfortunately, the app never took, off, especially with Twitter choosing to buy Periscope...
But its owners are now developing a new service, called House Party. You've probably never heard of it - but it already has a million users in the U.S. alone!
This made me wonder: how many other apps are out there that people don't know about? So I did a little digging around and found 11 great services I had no idea existed.
In this article, I'd like to share them with you so you can join me and millions of others in all the fun we've been having with these. First up is...
1. Prisma
Prisma is a Russian-made app that transforms photographs into art. All you need to do is take or select a photograph; crop and rotate it; choose an art style from inside the app.
Options include comic book styles, classic paintings and even stained glass effects reminiscent of Photoshop.
Best of all, Prisma is powered by a neural-network algorithm that improves the filters over time, meaning the app's only going to get better and better!
2. Hear
The "hear" app, formerly known as H—R, remixes the sounds around you using your phone's built-in microphone or an auxiliary device. This makes for great white noise if you want to drown out the sounds around you - or a fun experiment when you're bored.
Like Prisma, Hear comes with a range of filters which range from useful to weird too, of course, autotune.
3. Figure
You've probably seen hundreds of apps that promise to help you make music. However, Figure is the first one made by Propellerhead Software: the company that made Reason and ReBirth.
As such, it's the closest thing you can get to an in-pocket beat-machine - and it integrates with a range of professional software, meaning you can use whatever you produce on Figure later!
4. Cheatsheet
Don't you hate having to keep track of Wi-Fi passwords, your hotel room number, and your ZIP code? With Cheatsheet, you no longer have to!
You can load the app up with "cheats" in the form of passwords, numbers and hints so you never forget another bit of information again.
5. DuoLingo
DuoLingo is a strange organization, in the sense that they provide a totally free, community-made, no-strings-attached piece of software that's great at helping you learn languages.
The app is fun, friendly and well-designed. It's also effective, and has a growing list of languages. For now, you can use it to learn Spanish, French, German, Irish, Swedish and a few more - as well as English for non-native speakers!
6. MSQRD
Everyone and their mom seems to be using this app - and if you still haven't figured out how people add all those crazy effects and masks to their faces, it's thanks to MSQRD!
The app uses your phone's camera to locate your head and add any of its large range of special effects to it. This includes cartoon-style enlarged eyes; a realistic batman asks; an "angry birds" face.
7. Periscope
This is the app that "killed" Meerkat after getting bought by Twitter and receiving the social media giant's backing. It is now Twitter's live streaming service where journalists, celebrities, and regular people entertain each other by sharing live camera feeds with each other.
8. Instafamous
The ability to buy Instagram likes has been around for ages. On websites like Gramblast, you can buy as many as 100 for just $1.99 - but not everyone wants to pay money to get likes and followers for a variety of reasons.
If that sounds like you, try Instafamous: an app that allows you to exchange likes with people and grow your following organically.
So there you have it: 8 cool new apps that most people still don't know exist.
The exceptions are MSQRD and Periscope, which are well-known amongst a small number of people - but fairly unpopular amongst "muggles", by which I mean non-advanced internet users.
I hope you enjoy using these apps as much as I did!