Download this: New reading app will get you in the Halloween spirit
The next page turner you read may not have anything even close to pages.
At least, if you're reading on Lure, a new reading app that styles its addictive stories into "chats" that readers "watch" by tapping through the chat. The app added some new spooky stories this week -- just in time for Halloween.
Lure is a lot like other "chat fiction"-style apps: all the app's stories are broken up into bite-sized "chapters" that take only a few minutes to read. But instead of reading paragraphs on a page, stories are structured like an SMS conversation, with the reader "watching" the chat unfold.
After each chapter, users have to wait a preset period of time before moving onto the next (unless they pony up a few bucks for a subscription).
It may sound like just another free-to-play gimmick, but it's proved to be a winning formula with dozens of "chat fiction" style apps topping the App Store charts in the reading section. A relatively new entrant to the space, Lure stands out because it offers a curated selection of stories across a number of genres, including horror, mystery, comedy, and romance.
The stories themselves are primarily geared toward teens and young adults, and the reading-disguised-as-text-messaging format has proven incredibly addictive for young users who already can't tear themselves away from their phones.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
