Welcome to the Metaverse: What Is This New App Our Friends Are Hanging Out In?

If you’re active on any social media platform chances are you’ve seen your friends share 3D-animated avatars that seemingly look like their ‘digital twin’ with a QR code inviting their friends and followers to add them on an app called Bondee. But what is this app really about?

Bondee is a new social networking app developed by Singapore-based tech company Metadream calling it a “next-gen social media app” that launched on January 17. Bondee enables its users to customize their avatars from their appearance to how they dress, giving each person free rein to ‘redefine themselves’. Through the virtual space of the app, Bondee users are able to chat, hang out with their friends and participate in different activities and share new experiences together like camping and sailing.

One of the features users seem to be loving is the ability to design their own room. From the range of furniture, decorations, and other interior design elements each user is able to build the home of their dreams and share it with their friends. Some have showcased their creativity through their interiors by creating unique rooms like businesses and even spaces that resemble real-life places.

One user made his room look like a coffee shop.

While another took inspiration from a courier service and went as far as adding posters and permits on the wall through Bondee’s personalized frames which lets users add and photo from their library and hang it on their wall.

Some brands have used the App as a marketing tool, creating spaces for their customers to come and virtually visit.

@shairaluna.tiktok It’s the soda for mee 😂 #bondee ♬ original sound – Shaira Luna

Photographer Shira Luna also jumped on the Bondee bandwagon and shared a Tiktok video of herself recreating four different outfits worn by her avatar and let’s just say the resemblance is uncanny!

However, what many don’t know is that Bondee includes NFT and blockchain elements. While the NFT feature hasn’t been launched yet the app’s privacy policy states that Bondee users can “create a blockchain-based wallet on the public blockchain within the platform.

There have also been reports of users having hesitations about continuing the use of the app after reports of credit card misuse where a user incurred a charge from the company without her disclosing any credit card information on the app. Bondee addressed and released a statement on their Instagram saying “We would like to assure our users that such rumors are false and untrue, as Metadream does not currently collect users’ credit card information or any other financial information. We have also undertaken a precautionary review of our systems and wish to assure our users that our systems and our users’ personal data remain safe and secure.”

Bondee is available in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and other countries in the region and is downloadable through the App Store (for iPhone and iPad users) or the Google Play Store (for Android users).