Facebook Quietly Launches Whale, a New Meme-Creation App for iOS

Facebook has released a new app called Whale for iPhone users. This app has been launched on the App Store only, and only users in Canada are able to download it for now. The new Whale app allows users to create their own memes. It lets users utilise images from their phones, apart from stock photos. They can then use text, effects, and other tools to build their memes. Facebook's New Product Experimentation (NPE) team developed the Whale app.

The Whale app is NPE's new experimental app that has been launched only in Canada for now, as per Apptopia - cited by The Information. The free-to-use app doesn't have any hidden subscription pricing, and allows you to use a wide variety of editing tools for creating a meme. Users can snap a real-time photo, choose from their camera roll, or browse through the library of stock images. They can then add creative text, emojis, filters, and popular effects to make the meme more contextual and humorous. These creations can then be saved and shared on social media, or message threads.

Features inside the app include two-grid- three-grid, four-grid, or blank canvas layouts, a freeform draw tool, emojis and customisable sticker options, and effects like laser eyes, vortex, bulge, and more. The Information report also cites a Facebook spokesperson to say the apps the NPE team spins up could be shut down quickly and are intended to help the company find new features and services that people like. This could be a test app that may never see a release outside of Canada, or it may be launched to a broader audience once testing is complete. Currently, you can find the app on the Canadian App Store.