It seems there's an app for everything these days. We've all spent time browsing the apps available for download, whether on iPhone or Android, and come across an app that makes us think, “who would ever use this?”

Honestly, I thought I'd seen it all, until I came across Yo. This app takes the cake.

It sort of reminds me of the Facebook poke, because it serves no purpose whatsoever than to annoy your friends (or at least that is how I would imagine your friends would feel if you insisted upon using this app a lot.)

How It Works

It is simple – just choose your user name and add friends by typing in their user names. Once you've compiled your friend list, you're ready to start “yo-ing.” Just tap the friend you wish to “yo.” A “yo” is sent, and they can send you a “yo” back by tapping your name. And that's honestly all it does. You can't add more text, just a simple “yo.” Say what?

A friend that has sent you a yo pushes their name to the forefront of your friend list. Are you dying to know when that friend last sent a yo? Simply swipe right and you'll see the time stamp. If you swipe left, you are able to delete a friend's yo. You can even block a friend so they cant send you any more yos.

The app provides information as to how many yos you've received over time, as well as the ability to share your Yo user name on Twitter and Facebook. You know, in case you don't have enough people to yo throughout the day.

Not So Stupid After All

So why in the world would one need such an app? And why would an app that sends out a simple “Yo” and do absolutely nothing else require the hiring of both an Android engineer and back-end engineer? To know the answer to that question, you need to look to the future, and probably the whole reason the app was created in the first place. It's more than a way to annoy your friends, although it might not seem that way at first glance.

The developers see this app being useful for many applications. It's a great way for bloggers to alert people to a new blog post, especially after Facebook made it harder for pages to reach their audience without paying. Instead of the simple auto-post on Facebook, it could send out an automated yo to all of those who subscribe and use yo so they won't miss a post.

Storefronts and online retail sites could use the app to alert customers to new sales, coupons, or products. However, texts seem to be working just fine, so it remains to be seen if customers would sign up for this app just to get a deal they could get via SMS.

Developers also suggest linking this app up with your neighborhood ice cream truck, allowing you to see when it will be making a run down your street. While the kids might find that useful to obtain ice cream, parents who feel the truck is highway robbery could use the service to redirect the kids inside to eat ice cream sandwiches, allowing them to say, “Oh darn, I had no idea the ice cream truck was coming this way. Too bad you're already eating ice cream sandwiches!” instead of looking like the mean parent who says “no” all of the time.

Another idea is to have sports teams use the service to send out a yo each time their team scores. But if you're a die-hard fan, aren't you watching already?

It remains to be seen what will happen with this app. A couple of the ideas pitched by developers are decent, but it just seems like yet another useless app to me.