The basis of the app is exactly the same as that of the website: a stream of text messages, submitted by users, from last night (obviously). You can submit your own message, and users can either vot texts up or vote them down. Probably the most popular feature of both the app and the website is the feature known as Top Nights, which is basically a collection of the most popular texts, sorted according to month, week, day, or all time.
So what’s the attraction of a bunch of messages that aren’t in context, are anonymous, and quite possibly invented? Simply put, they can be really, really funny. They aren’t just ordinary texts; they’re embarrassing and mostly pretty vulgar. The cream of the crop are those which imply a whole story of regret and debauchery, which surpasses the limitations of the 160 character maximum. It reads like the Twitter feed of a sexy teen comedy.
This brings us to the most basic and important information about the feed: the messages fall way outside the realm of safe for work, in the most literal sense. The app is rated by iTunes as 17+, due to frequent and intense references to drug use, tobacco and alcohol use, profanity both intense and frequent and sexual content that also frequent and intense. This is the truth. if you’re easily offended, or maintain strict moral standards, this is not the place for you to go seeking entertainment.
Having said that, if you can cope with the raunchiness, this app is a wonderful way to waste some time and a perfect fit for the iPhone. The brevity of the texts makes for ideal quick reading if you’re looking for an entertaining way of killing some time during your day. And if you feel the need to submit a message yourself, it’s very easy to copy and paste the text.
The app itself is a simple 99c purchase from the App Store, but to gain the ability to rate texts by voting them down or up, you’ll need to splash out another 99c from inside the app. It’s strange for the developer to treat such a fundamental part of the app as an optional extra, but the added cost is not very expensive.