Opera adds new features to Hype, its own mobile chat service 




Opera is adding new features to Hype, its new and fast-growing chat service built into the Opera Mini web browser. Hype users in Kenya can now use the built-in meme creator, link previews and GIF support to make chatting with their friends even more personal and fun.

With the introduction of Hype, which premiered in Kenya as a pilot market in February 2021, Opera is reshaping the concept of mobile browsers, providing users with a personalized, engaging browsing and chatting experience – without compromising speed or driving increased data consumption.

“When we first released Hype, we raised the bar by redefining the feature set a browser should have. With Opera Mini and a Hype account, users can enjoy a browsing and chatting ecosystem tailored to their needs,” said Jørgen Arnesen, the Executive VP of Mobile Browsers Business Unit. “Today we are raising the bar even further by adding new engaging features such as unique built-in meme creator, GIF support and link previews to make chatting even more fun.”

The built-in meme creator

Memes are an essential part of internet culture. People not only use existing memes as a form of expression, but also wish to create and spread their own. Until now, creating memes has been a difficult process as the user had to switch apps, download and upload files, and take many additional steps.

That is no longer the case. With the latest Hype update, Opera is introducing the first meme creator built directly into a browser’s messenger. Users can choose memes directly in chat in Hype. Once chosen, users can edit them by changing the text and experimenting with fonts, colours and placement – more easily than ever. This comes in handy as users no longer need to copy links from websites and switch between apps to share the memes they want. Additionally, beyond making their own memes quickly and easily in chat, users can simply edit and resend the memes they receive from friends.

GIF support in chat

The way people communicate is constantly evolving. New generations rely on formats like memes and GIFs to express themselves, often relating to pop culture references and the internet content they find. To make this easier and more fun, Opera has brought GIF support to Hype chat. Making the right choice of GIF is now much simpler with Hype’s search capabilities and scrollable GIF grid. To help users choose the one they want, a GIF preview and full screen view are also available.

Link previews

It is always good to know what’s hiding behind a link we’ve sent or received. The newest Hype update comes with a link preview feature. Snapshot, website header and description will automatically appear in chat. This function is also available in encrypted chats and on metered networks.

Stickers by local artists and WebSnap

Hype was initially released with a bunch of creative features that suit the needs of Kenyan users, offering a series of unique stickers that reflect their everyday expressions. The sticker collections were created by Kenyan artists Brian Omolo and Lulu Kitololo, making Opera the first major browser to integrate African pop culture into its products.

Moreover, Hype comes with WebSnap, a feature that is well-known from the Opera desktop browser, which allows users to take snapshots from the web. Once a websnap is captured, users can edit it by adding colors, text, and emojis to make it fun and entertaining before sharing it with others. WebSnap also allows users to smoothly share the link of the original website from which they took their snapshots.

Hype is the first African-inspired chat service built into a mobile browser allowing users to easily set up their account and start chatting with secure end-to-end encryption. Hype was launched in 2021 in Kenya as a pilot market, however it is already showing impressive results with more than 250,000 of activations, more than 150k open chats and more than 10,000 of invites to join Hype per day. This launch was one facet of Opera’s emphasis on investing and growing its digital ecosystem in Africa, with the goal of bringing more people online.

Launched in 2006, Opera Mini is a small, fast and powerful browser. It comes with unique features such as Data Compression, Offline File Sharing, and a built-in Ad-blocker. Opera Mini also enables access to free ebooks through the Worldreader speed dial, and the music catalogue of the Kenyan music-streaming service, Mdundo, allowing users to stream or download music through the Opera Mini browser.

Currently, Opera Mini is used by more than 219 million average MAUs who chose it over the pre-installed browsers on Android mobile devices. Opera Mini has a 4.3 star rating on Google Play and has been reviewed by more than seven million people worldwide.

Opera is a global web innovator with an engaged and growing base of hundreds of millions monthly active users. Building on over 25 years of innovation starting with our browser products, Opera is increasingly leveraging our brand as well as our massive and highly active user base in order to expand our offerings and our business. Today, we offer users around the world a range of products and services that include our PC and mobile browsers, our AI-powered news reader Opera News, and our recently launched fintech and classifieds apps. Opera is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (OPRA).

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