The next big app? Well, let’s just say the next big app youngsters are talking about is Noplace (stylised as ‘noplace’), a text-driven app that wants users to talk about what is going on in their lives and around them at the moment rather than reflect on what has already happened.

Currently meant for iOS only, the app has made it to the number one spot on the iOS App Store.

Created by Tiffany “TZ” Zhong, who previously founded her own early-stage consumer fund, Pineapple Capital, and has worked at Binary Capital, Noplace is a mashup of MySpace and an early version of Twitter.

What makes it different?

Noplace doesn’t want you to stress over curating posts, rather let thoughts flow through your feed. When you sign up, the under-18 is taken to a more curated feed and users have the option to build a customisable colour-block profile to display what they're listening to, watching, eating, doing, and feeling.

It’s easy to spot the target group of the audience when you sign up: You are asked questions that teenagers would be interested in. I went with “listening to Olivia Rodrigo” as my taste in music, besides choosing photography and cooking. The app allows you to connect with users with common interests. Once you add new connections, there is the option to pin your top 10 friends to your profile… more like a speed dial from the good ol’ days.

There is no support — at least not for the time being — for photo- or video-focused updates. The profile is also customisable and you can set “stars”, which are like tags, on your profile to let people know the topics that interest you.

The app offers a mini, customisable profile

There are two feeds to choose from — one allows the user to view their friends’ updates and the other is for updates from around Noplace. Users can’t set their profiles to private but those under 18 have access to a more moderated feed. The company is currently working on the moderation aspect.

A good place to spark conversations is the "currently" segment on the profile page, where you can add details like what you're eating, watching, doing, mood, or listening to at the moment.

TZ knows the game

According to its App Store description, it aims to take users back to a time when "algos and ads" were not important. Zhong has been in the tech game for long and she is entering a lucrative but highly competitive space. In 2020 the world fell in love with Clubhouse whose valuation went through the roof before its steady decline. In 2022, BeReal became the darling of the app world and it was recently sold for 500 million Euros. In 2023, there were a number of apps that had their moments: Lapse to ByteDance's Lemon8.Zhong began testing on the app, then called Nospace, in late 2023 and back then there was a waitlist. Her small team continued to work on the app until she was forced to change the name of the app. Her team took to TikTok and one user suggested Noplace as the new name.

Reddit is a source of inspiration for Zhong’s app since one of Reddit's founders, Alexis Ohanian, has advised Zhong on her app and his firm 776 invested in her previous company, Islands XYZ.

“Facebook 10 years ago — or Facebook when I was using it in middle school — was all around cool, life updates,” Zhong has told Techcrunch. “We don’t get that anymore, right? You can follow (friends) on Instagram, but it’s still highlights, less updates.”

At the moment, the app doesn’t have any monetisation plans. It has as competition friend-finding apps like Wizz, Yubo, Purp and LMK.