Harry Rosehill

This App Wants To Get People Talking On The Tube

Photo: Shutterstock

Let's get this out of the way. We're sceptical.

There's a new app that wants people to talk to each other on the tube — thereby breaking one of London's holiest commandments. The app, called TubeChat, allows Londoners to chat, flirt and play games on the Underground.

The app works without the need for mobile signal or WiFi, instead running via bluetooth capabilities, which can connect with other devices within 30 metres.

TubeChat founder, Nina Tumanishvili, says:

I was on the tube one day and realised that people were buried in their phones, lost in a closed world of their own. Technology had isolated them. I wanted to change that. I wanted to use technology to connect people and bring them closer.

Using technology to bring people closer together is a swell idea, but we're unconvinced people want to be any closer on the tube — rush hour already sardine squishes everyone in enough. Also, seeing as 'not talking on the Underground' is such a thing for Londoners, it might take more than one app to change people's mindset.

However, we're always happy to be proven wrong, and if this is of interest you can download the app for iOS now — an Android release is expected "soon".