Competing against giant messaging Apps such a Facebook Chat and WhatsApp may sound rather daunting but 12-year-old Jaheim Pierre is going for it anyway.
Backed by his manager, Terrick Victor, who is also 12 years old, Pierre, from Mero, recently launched Indago Chat on 1Mobile Market.
The App will be available at the end of this week on the Google’s Play Store, Apple’s App Store, Mobogenie, among others.
Pierre is confident that his App is better than WhatsApp because it provides total privacy.
Actually, it was privacy that got the ball rolling into putting the App together.
According to Pierre, WhatsApp doesn’t have a log out feature and anyone who gets your phone has access to your account.
“I came up with the idea of the App when my friend got caught,” he told Dominica News Online. “He was messaging his girlfriend and he got caught. Why he got caught is because Whatsapp doesn’t have a log out button, so he couldn’t log out of the account …”
When Pierre’s friend related the story to him, he immediately decided to create a messaging App which would have a log out feature.
He began working on the App at nine and for three years he laboured at home until Indago Chat was born. He had originally told DNO it took him three days, but has since said it was a mistake.
He said the App is cloud-based and can be used on any platform and any device.
For him privacy was very important while putting the App together and he thinks this is what makes it better than WhatsApp or other messaging Apps.
“It is heavily, heavily encrypted,” the young programmer said. “You information is protected, your information will not be revealed.”
Pierre said he is willing to sell the App to a company since he is going to be very busy with school.
“Any technological company which is willing to manage the App and to maintain it, I will sell it,” he stated. “I have school to go to, I have to maintain my schooling.”
The App is available in a number of languages including Spanish, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian and Russian.
Updates will include voice and video calls.
Pierre has created about five other Apps.
It is truly a significant achievement for these young men that at the age of 12 they were motivated to take on such a task. Many folks accused them of plagiarism and theft without being aware of the scope of the licence the original software possesses. Under the GPL3 licence which is not “open source ” as others have stated it is totally legal to copy the work and modify it according to your needs..and even sell it if you so desire…but these very same rights must be passed on to the ones acquiring the software. This is a superifical description of the dynamic of “Free Software” world. So you folks can stop accusing these guys for they haven’t done anything wrong. Check out https://www.fsf.org
Omg! this app sounds so great! cant wait to download it. great job guys its amazing what a 12 year old can do
This is really great. Glad to see young people expanding their horizons. And it is called open source. You can use the main codes however you want. What most don’t realize is that these pieces of code usually don’t originate from the famous app anyway. The internet is littered with sources of code that do millions of things. It is A LOT of work to take the pieces and put them together to male a functioning app.
bright future ahead of u all fellas dont stop neva stop just be careful and always move in interest of the public privacie before implimenting changes, its the only important thing kleft to fight for and so forth doing it digitally can result in greatness
peace
U c the boys are being creative messing around with pc and some of all u being negative. If they were on road volehing and doing drugs all u would say something else.
lol these comments have me dying cant believe ppl would think an app like that can be “created” in 3 days smh well at least now a few more ppl know bout ‘Telegram’ good job young ones
SO PROUD THESE GUYS GO TO SCHOOL WIT MI
Shame on the reporter
Great effort on the part of these youngsters
i would love to work with these young brilliant minds of Dominica
They can reach out to me via :
http://www.globalmedmedia.com/
Well I have been using this app(Telegram) since it was launched, followed every update, tried inviting my friends to join which was a bit difficult even though it was encrypted and loaded with alot of features, now thanks to this guys and the whole medium in Dominica I have seen a lot of my friends joined telegram over the past three days.
Even though you guys just modified the Telegram API I’m still very impressed that you are able to be that far advanced at just 12 years. Keep on learning more and one day I know you guys will do something great.
I’m proud.
Same way I feel. I’m proud of them. Most likely they are self taught in java programming so if they continue they will be great.
I think these boys should tell the truth about the app. It obviously looks a lot like telegram. Next time they should try and make an app of their own and not copy an app and change it around.
it is Telegram.. Hope the owners dont sue
They won’t sue. The GNU license of telegram promote modifications. It’s a way of spreading the app (Telegram) around. I just hope Dominicans continue to use this rather than WhatsApp. Never know what Facebook is keeping in their servers.
Personally I don’t trust whatsapp.
The owners cannot / wouldnt sue. because it is free. It is on the internet everyone is allowed to make their own chat app using it. What you CANNOT do, is offer to sell it or pass it off as your work. Both of which occurred. However they are just kids…they don’t know better. I think the adults in the life or somebody should have caught it before there was a headline of two 12 year old publishing their own app. Because that is not the case.
Its not wrong to modify telegram, Its actually what the GNU general public license about.
nope, 100% legal, 100% to try to sell it or claim it to be your own
they are inspired to do great things our school teaches us well
Well it’s known that the children used the api of already created ‘ Telegram ‘ app. But the good thing is that they have us using a more secure messenger. Good job guys. But it would be good to call the app a telegram mod rather than an app u created.
They also shouldnt / cannot attempt to sell it
They can, In that sense of paying for the download, eg. on play store. They can’t sell the code however since it’s not theirs.
I not sure who to blame…
the writer of this article for not doing any research what so ever…
or
the boys who downloading something and trying to pass it off as something they created
https://telegram.org/
I think blame has to go both ways. This post is very misleading and should be corrected ASAP. Nobody can build a well encrypted and privacy messaging app in that short space of time. It takes months and complex algorithms.
People wake up, the kids did not create any app. it’s like buying nice shiny Rims for you car and painting the car from white to red, you did not build a car by doing that.
But still it is nice of them doing something positive with their spare time.
I was really concerned about using Whatsapp and some inquisitive person picking up my phone. After use I erase all my conversations. That sounds exciting. Great Work Youngsters.
Great job , dont know you but still VERY PROUD of you guys ,all is not lost, there are still some great young people out there , lets give them our full support
DA will soon have two billionaires ……….
As a programmer, I think this is misleading. You didnt build an app for sale, you just used telegram https://telegram.org/ framework and customized it.
but god job
Binfer messaging app does not store your message on external servers. It is completely free. http://www.binfer.com
Proud of you guys. At twelve years you are miles ahead…Can’t imagine when you are grown up!!!
Lol download Telegram people.. Its the same app, these kids just changed the name… It’s pretty cool
Congratulations to these young bright minds. I my “ignorance” of how the technology operates, I rejoice with the Dominican youngsters. I would really like to see another Dominican take these youngsters under their care and to keep the technology locally driven – that is keeping the ownership of Apps local and working with the youngsters here to further develop what they have so rightly developed. Congrats again!
I want the reading public to take my comment seriously. I applaud the effort by the two young boys who show a great interest in app development and venturing to an app driven world as we see today but upon investigating the app, I came to find out that the app they have is an open source version of “Telegram”. Telegram is open source meaning that anyone can download and modify it but they cannot claim its theirs. The app is popular in other parts of the world for its security features to surpass the mass surveillance of government agencies. It also has the log out feature as well. Here is the source code – https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram
Get to know the license that govern the software before doing anything that could lead to violation of the license but once again good to see young minds having energy towards mobile apps. https://telegram.org/apps https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
Thank you, I thought no one else noticed that but me
he is right all the way the hole thing is fake
he is right all the way
DONT TAKE CREDIT FOR WHAT’S NOT YOURS
It’s my duty to inform the public that the app they “created” is a slightly modified/ripped off version of a pre-existing app called “Telegram”. Telegram’s source code is freely available online, meaning that virtually any of us here can very easily download and modify the code to make our own knock-off app. Telegram features the “Log out” feature, & looks EXACTLY IDENTICAL the app that these boys created. This unfortunately means that the young man lied when he stated that he came up with the log out feature because his friend was caught messaging his gf.
The boys are just passing off a modified version of Telegram as their own app and fooling the public & should not “sell” Telegram to a company because they may be sued for stealing Telegram’s code & publishing it as their own without the consent of the creators. If you don’t believe that they merely downloaded the code (all the hard work), just visit this link: https://core…
https://core.telegram.org/schema
I know that there are other turnkey app makers like appsgeyser.com and others
I am soooooo proud of these two Dominican youth. They’ve made us very proud indeed. I strongly believe that they should receive an Award from the Government! As pioneers of this invention. Young people are very often criticised therefore we must give praises and recognition where it’s due. It will be an incentive for others. God bless you Sons of The Soil. Well done. I’m sure there’s more to come from you!!! Keep it up!!!
Slow your role mate, the boys didnt create a messaging app as the article makes you think. They basically downloaded it and change the name. something that anyone can do. the code is free for anyone to download. but you cannot sell it as it does not belong to you.
Lol, here is the smartest kid in the world, at only the age of 12 he designed an app from scratch *cough* that can compete with facebook and is better than watsapp! His next endeavor should be to solve world hunger
boy doh sell it
I’m happy for these young men who do someting constructive. To those who create an app from scratch know that its nearly impossible to make an application that can compete with WhatsApp in 3 days. Also modifying an already created application and calling yours is wrong. Good thing is that the application which was modified is an open source application called telegram. They can’t sell it. But they can continue modifying the api and personalize it. As to them owning the app? No, its not theirs.
Great initiative. Well done. The more you search out ideas, the more innovative you will become.
Congratulations and all the best in future endeavours.
Hey, great jobs guys! I really want to see the app when it’s out.
woww, proud of u all, dont allow negative comments to discourage u both,turn the negativity into positivity, and what GOD starts he finishes, go for it when sellin ensure u all hv a percentage in profits
Well done well done
I am will to purchase the app, how can I get in contact with you al
if what this young has done as he have claim then i hereby nominate him for a national award at the national youth rally during the independence season.
great job guys! keep it up
Way to go, Jaheim! We have not met and you probably have not heard any of my presentations on ICT innovation, but you have brought one of my long-cherished dreams closer to fulfillment. I have long encouraged and supported young entrepreneurs in their quest to reverse the trend of us being “consumers” of the technology and instead making ourselves the “producers” of the technology. I therefore rejoice with you and the many other young entrepreneurs who are making positive strides in that direction. I wish you every success, and may God (whomever you perceive Him to be) continue to guide and inspire you, and I implore you to stay focused and continue influencing the world around you for the better.
It won’t be fair if the app is being sold on the play store cause the API code is derived from the Telegram messaging App platform from which a number of spin off apps are developed from because of its security. Great work guys but don’t sell the app, cause Telegram messaging app is free.
He didn’t say the app wouldn’t be free he said he would sell it to a company. READ and understand.
He can’t sell it to any company either… Too dumb to get the concept of what?
A company still cannot buy it from them, the app was build on telegram which is free. you cannot take telegram(something that is free) change the color of it…and sell it.
to those that say they are not seeing it is right here dont even need to download 1 mobile here is the link http://www.1mobile.com/indago-chat-2712887.html
I am so proud of Jaheim n terrick ( NICE )
Great stuff guys. Keep it going
what?? only 12! congrats guys i hope u make mad money
Amazing!!! Congrats to those talented young kids. I also love the idea and the UI is beautiful. I live in Palo Alto, CA, the heart of Silicon Valley, with lots of great tech opportunities here. If these young kids were here, the process would be so much easier and the publicity would be tenfold. I will certainly put fillers out there to see how I can help. YCombinator just concluded their registration for their summer incubator program. They may stand a great chance with 500 Startups. My immediate recommendation is to register their business on AngelList.co, make sure they get all the information well written presented and edited by a professional writer, so that they will be taken seriously. Quite a few angel investors, Venture Capitalists, those hoping to buy businesses and others in the industry frequent these sites daily.
Good luck!
Hope you guys read this.
OK all you who have commented on this how many of you tried the App I for on cant even find it to down load so lets start there if any of u have the link pls post
That’s great man good job guys and don’t give up keep moving foward
Very good job my youts..
What an inspiration! Follow your dreams young man. I can see enormous things coming your way, in Jesus name! What a blessings. Reach for the stars young man. I am extremely proud of you!
An app which is heavily encripted, better than whatsapp, for both android and iphone, all done in 3 days?
I think something is missing
They used a template to make the app. There are literally dozens of apps made from the platform tbh
why not catfish?? If he was from some other country and did it in 1 day ,that would be ok. But seeing that he is just a little DOMINICA BOY you find it impossible in 3 days? Think positive man. However it would be best for him to get some legal advice before selling.
I say it cannot be done in three days because I am a programmer and you cannot write out that amount of code for an app to be “heavily encripted” and so on and so on in three days. what happened upon my investigation is, they downloaded the code from the internet, changed the name and the color, and put it back up. that is not writing an app in three days. Telegram as many people in the comments pointing out wrote their app
Nothing is missing, the source code for the app is derived from the Telegram messaging App platform from which a number of messaging apps are made including the log out feature, anyone can make their own messaging app with this code
While im happy 12 year olds are doing something positive. Im not sure an app that can compete with facebook and whatsapp can be completed in “3 days”. As a developer myself…id be curious to know how that was done myself
Also there is a difference in an app…and compliling code and putting it on the play store.
but keep up the good work
U just sound jealous
@VIP a template was used for the creation of the app itself.
WOW! Seriously. Typical crab in the barrel mentality……. There’s a name for people like you naysayers…….
https://telegram.org/
Dude same thing I was thinking. But is just a simple color modification to the telegram api.
To the people trying to bring these young men down you all are idiots.. If they say their app is better than whats-app so be it cause they thought about what the whats-app developers didn’t (PRIVACY). You all are talking but their idea may workout in they end and we may end up using it instead of they other messaging app and y’all wonder why we Dominicans never make it far in life cause its because of small minded people like you trying to ring us down. If they where on DNO for a drug related matter or a killing y’all would be saying something different.. Stop hating and lets congratulate them on their achievement because they may just end up being the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerburg..
All you just too slow in the life… They didn’t come up with it… The original app called ‘Telegram’ has been around for awhile now.. Apparently they just changed the name of the app because people have been installing it and I’ve been getting notifications sayin “*insert name* has joined Telegram”… Still a smart thing to do cause it well hold you. I almost fell for it myself.. Wanna be talking about hating SMH
Really wish these comments were to congratulate these guys efforts rather than reading some of the nonsense some people are posting. Young innovators.. Congrats guys, keep up the good work.
Great job guys stay courageous and keep pushing.am proud to read this!!.
OH wow congrats to you young man. Keep up the good work. You see there are still young boys/men out there with good heads on their bodies.
let me just explain this. Congrats first of all secondly i don’t see that comparing with whats app unless you pumped millions into it. For those of u who understand that technological part of it knows what im talking about. Its not just about putting an app on the play store which i have done myself for free its the whole maintenance part of it thats the issue. So directly competing with whats app NO.
Which is why he is selling it. So that some other company can maintain it.
Congratulations…………………. St. Joe power…………… There’s still good and intelligent people from our community……. can’t wait for it to be available on google play…. i’ll be rocking it
Something don’t add up, 3 days ? As a developer, I’m very curious. I find this very peculiar.
They used a template and did a couple alterations to it.
Way to go! Keep up the good work kids, its gonna pay off some day.
if he messaging is gf, who he got caught by? hahahaha
apparently the young man made up a story, but too young to ‘lie’ effectively lol
His parents you numb skull.
I am proud of both young boys. Keep focused on the positive and your commitment to school is quite impressive. All the best.
Wow, congrats young men. Will definitely support as soon as app is available. Keep up the innovative thinking
Moda!!!! Who say our young people doh have skilz!!! Come again?!!
Get job guys keep pushing.. Great things are in your future!!
Waw..im so proud of my Dominican boys..cant wait to download this app..im impressed
I am proud of these young innovators. CONGRATULATIONS!! More importantly, make it work to your advantage as you grow. Innovation and entrepreneurship in ICT is indeed a fantastic platform for the new Digital Natives.
I work with the UN specialized Agency for ICT (ITU) and there is an APP competition with 7th May 2015 as the deadline for submissions: http://telecomworld.itu.int/2015-event/young-innovators/
The Young Innovators Competition is an annual ITU Telecom Initiative, aimed at talented young social entrepreneurs using technology creatively to meet a range of real-life developmental challenges.Our 2015 competition will once again seek the most exciting ideas or start-ups in response to four developmental challenges running one after the other in the months between now and ITU Telecom World 2015 in Budapest, Hungary.
Selected winners will join us at the event in Budapest for a four-day accelerator programme of pitching sessions, workshops and mentoring –
Selected winners will join us at the event in Budapest for a four-day accelerator programme of pitching sessions, workshops and mentoring – as well as the opportunity to win seed funding.
I hope all the Youth take advantage of this. I hope the ICT Line Ministry had mad this information available to GIS and the public.
How can we contact u
Your suggestion may not even work for them. They are not being side-tracked by the glitter, continuing with their studies is vital. They have the imagination but not the finance. thus making them wanting to sell. That is a smart move, develop get the money and run.
Nice job guys. Keep up the good work. I will write up a story on you guys. Wish i could get in contact with you to get an interview.
Interesting and a Good Initiative …..12year old developing APP.
I have not looked at the functionality but this maybe an opportunity for the Minister of Telecom to look as this as an opportunity allocate some capital to develop a platform for APP development on island.
The Focus can be on developing APPs that can used locally to optimized service and enhance delivery services /products for the different growth sectors which would impact revenues/productivity….
I would certainly like to understand more on the competence of these developers.
This is the future of the young generation and the people in power really need to take note. Just imagine, a 12 year old is more innovative than the nation’s leaders. Excellent work young men and I would expect you guys on go on and be great entrepreneurs who might one day change the landscape of your country
Keep aiming higher boys ……..humble beginning which could lead to a greater success .
Good job… I cant seem to get the app
OMG respect!! This is only the beginning my boys. Congrats!
Its obviously a cheap rip off WhatsApp… go design your own App kid before you get sued….
Stupes you ignorant fool, all apps are similar so how exactly is it a rip off…support young innovation. Kuddos to this young man.
Congrats to that Kid, but Herpa may have a point… especially if he starts making inroads.
Do these kids know what it takes to create a real app to compete with whatsapp or rather any company? These kids must have just used a shell, put their names on it and now they talking about competing with whatsapp. Worse is that more ignorant Dominicans are cheering them along. Oh how ignorance in this place stinks.
come on man they’re 12. Let them have their day at least it’s a good start
You sound more ignorant beating down to two kids like that. Of course Dominca will cheer them on, why not? I am cheering them on and so is everyone else. Don’t try to kill a dream of a young child
Don’t be so harsh and ignorant. They’re only 12 years old. Instead of trynna break them down, encourage them. Who knows they may become much more successful than you’ll ever be. I wud like to see u try something better.
Great Jobs guys
Great initiative. Young Caribbean Thinkers. Keep it up
Hats off to those kiddos! I am totally flabbergasted by their genius and confidence. Am also flabbergasted ’cause as I post, there are only two (2) comments on the news article! Shame on us Domnitjen! We only savour mepwi, commesse and dirty politics!
Great job guys! Reach for the stars!
Dominican in Antigua
I was eager to know where these boys were from. I thought that DNO just shared a link. Then i see that they are from Dominica. Oh i couldnt be any more proud than i am. that’s very good guys and at your age oh my oh my
WOW Can’t wait to Download it. Seems cool. Great work guys….
those boys are so intelligent u guys will not belive
lol den he was too young to have girlfriend .. but good job!
Great job young man and keep it up because this is the job of the future but I have one question, how will you get msgs if you’re logged out? You mean you have to log in and out for the app each time ?
similar to your email account when you log out from your account don’t you get up to date messages when you log back in. the concept is pretty much the same. Great initiative- for those of us who criticizing should know that most of them apps, face book, twitter were started of by young people experimenting with programming – so there is space for innovation since IT is still developing. Garcon boys go for it – the sky is not the limit beyond the blue sky there we see is a whole universe waiting to be discovered.
Great! Keep up the positive vibes. Good to see and hear these stories coming from our young people.
“He was messaging his girlfriend and he got caught”.. lol
if he messaging is gf, who he got caught by? hahahaha