Having a horrible day at work? Frustrated with your parents? Just broke up with your cheating boyfriend/girlfriend? Want to complain?
If something frustrated you today and you’re looking for a place to complain all about it without being judged, then Vent is the perfect app for you!
The Vent app is currently available on iOS and they have an Android version on the way. Now, that’s something to vent about (no pun intended). The general idea behind the app is that you can update your status based on what you’re feeling about a particular issue. The good thing is that your contact list is kept away from your profile and you can maintain anonymity for as long as you like.
App Walkthrough
As soon as you sign into the app, you’ll have the option of viewing the most popular vents from other people. If you do like what a particular individual is venting about, you’ll have the option of following them. Any vents they do in the future will appear in your vent feed. You also have the option of liking a person’s vent (“favourites”) and you can choose to comment if you like. That’s pretty common among many other social networks.
You can also filter out the vents based on a selection of emotions. These emotions range from one end of the emotional spectrum, where an individual is Calm to the other end of the spectrum, where the individual is Furious. Each emotion is represented by a particular color; blue represents being Calm while purple represents being Furious.
Also read: Apps I live By: Founder of Paktor, Joseph Phua
Personal Review
The one thing that I’m most impressed about with Vent is the element of anonymity. I don’t feel the compulsion to upload a real picture of myself, neither am I forced to use my real name. The community of users isn’t bothered about the details of my personal life, which is quite rare these days.
I personally feel quite obligated to do all these things when I’m on Facebook because of the very nature of the social network. You’re generally supposed to use real names, like posts, upload pictures, etc. because people are more interested in what you’re about. It’s really difficult for me to complain about sensitive issues, especially when the very people I’m complaining about are following me. That’s where Vent does it for me. I’m freer to express myself without being held accountable.
That being said, I have a major issue with Vent – my emotional well being wavered after using the app for only a few minutes. Many of the updates were really depressing, sad, and melancholic. As I spent more time on the app, I felt like I was being baptized in the pool of human misery and I was really concerned with a few individuals because their vents were quite suicidal. On the other hand, there were people that were quite petty about the things they were venting about. Would you really want to follow and favourite updates like that?
The other problem that I faced was that I couldn’t message a few of the individuals that I felt really needed someone to talk to. I feel that Vent is Twitter’s depressed counterpart that is back from the future.
Final Verdict
One thing that won’t frustrate or depress you when you’re using the app is its user interface. It’s quite simple and straightforward to use. However, I recommend that you don’t start your day with Vent because you’re going to waste time being depressed, and life is too short for you to do that. Download an app called Happier and you will feel better about yourself because people are more “happy” and “positive”, which definitely helps when you’re sad and depressed.
