Who remembers Yo?

The app went viral back in 2014 to the surprise of many people, including the makers themselves. They had built the app — the one with a single button to say “Yo” — in 8 hours as a quick way to communicate with family and friends. With its own momentum, and buzz generated from Product Hunt and Reddit, Yo launched to the top of the App Store.

Then there was Push Party almost exactly one year ago today 🤔... we're still waiting for an update on that one.

The reason for our nostalgia? A new app that hit the top of the App Store last week across 5 countries, called Push it. The app has a single feature. The big red button lets you send a push notification to everyone who subscribes to you on the app. Simple as that.

Yo comes from the makers of Sendit, an app that lets Snapchat users play games (like Truth or Dare) and start AR-powered conversations with their friends. The app has been gaining traction with 9 million downloads worldwide, so the makers created Push it to explore more mechanics for driving interactions between friends.

We’ve seen other startups tackle the challenges of push notifications, but products in this space are almost always meant for businesses. We’re looking forward to seeing where this P2P push goes, but unfortunately, most of us will have to wait a bit longer. Push it is only available to users in California and Australia for now.

“But didn’t you say it’s at the top of the app store in five countries?” Yup. The buzz is strong with this one. If you don’t live where Push is live yet, you can always add it to a collection on Product Hunt and save it for later.

In the meantime, we rounded up a handful of new apps from the last year to help you connect with your friends.

Party Blends - Share a link, connect to Spotify, and create a music mix with your friends
TICE or Beacon - Two options for location and ETA sharing, while staying private
XSight - Find friends and get deets with AR using your phone camera
Hyperbeam - Browse and watch movies together in your browser
Friendspire - Get and share recs for food, movies/shows, books, and podcasts
Letterloop - Create private, group newsletters with family and friends
Call Your Friends - See how long its been since you’ve been in touch and get reminders (mom will probably like this one too)

If time with friends seems like a tall order right now, these two launches from the weekend might be more your speed.

Shhh Noise lets you mix and max sounds (like raindrops and typing) for focus and relaxation.

Spark a small app, made in collaboration with a psychologist, to help people with severe social anxiety discuss their issues without stigma or judgment.

These days, you have a lot of options for growing herbs on your desktop, from Click and Grow to Herbert. This new tool for growing sprouts caught our eye. Throw in some seeds, rinse, and SproutyPod will give you fresh, nutrient-dense sprouts a few days later.