Path Talk review: Great for messaging businesses and chatting with friends

Path Talk (iOS|Android) is a companion app for the Path social network, which lets you chat and share your whereabouts with fellow Path Talk users. But a new Places feature in the app -- available "first" in the US and Canada, according to the company -- might be the thing to put this underused chat client back on the map.

7.8

Path Talk

The Good

Path Talk has a clean and intuitive interface. The app's new Places feature doubles as a personal concierge.

The Bad

If you take the Places feature away, there's not much that sets Path Talk apart from competing apps.

The Bottom Line

Though there's not much to distinguish Path Talk from competing chat clients, the Places feature is reason enough to download the app.

Path has had some success with its social platform, but its usage has declined lately, with it currently hosting 5 million daily users. When you compare that number with WhatsApp Messenger 's 600 million users, it seems safe to say you might have a hard time finding friends who use the app on a regular basis.

However, a recent update has added a new feature that has the potential to put Path Talk on nearly all must-have app lists for both iOS and Android users alike. The feature is called Places, and lets you send a message to nearby businesses to ask a question, make a reservation or even place an order all through the app -- free of charge.

Path Talk lets you chat up local businesses (pictures)

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Setup and adding friends

Setup requires a Path account. For those who currently have the Path app installed and are logged in to it, you're automatically signed in to Path Talk upon first launch. Former Path users who've abandoned the platform can sign in using an existing account, while new users will need to provide an email address and phone number and create a password to begin using the app.

Friends you've already added in the Path app will show up in the People section of the Path Talk app. You also can let Path Talk scan your address book to find and add contacts who've signed up for Path Talk. Alternatively, you can send a message to any user using a username or phone number and he or she will be added.

The initial appeal of Path was that it took a smaller, more personal approach to what a social-networking service should be. The app initially limited your friend count to 50, but after user feedback the limit was later raised to 150. It's nice to see Path do away with friend count limitations for Path Talk, making it possible to chat with as many people as you'd like. And adding contacts to Path Talk does not automatically add them to your Path account, where you're likely to want to still have a smaller social circle.

Short message life

With the success Snapchat has seen due to its ephemeral approach to messaging, it makes sense for other apps to adopt a similar approach. With Path Talk, any messages in your conversations to friends are deleted from the conversation as well as Path's servers after 24 hours.

The shortened shelf life is meant to help you feel as though your conversations are private, but it doesn't stop others from taking screenshots to save the conversation (taking screenshots actually recommended on Path's FAQ site as a way to keep conversations).

Places

With Path Talk's waning userbase, however, the breakout feature in the latest update is Places. It's so useful that it's worth having the app on your home screen just for Places.

Using Places you can send a message to local businesses, asking a routine question such as, "What time do you close?" or a more specific question such as if a particular item is in stock or not.

There are two key details worth pointing out about the service.

First, the business you are messaging doesn't have to sign up or opt in to take part in the service. Meaning, you won't have the frustration of opening the app only to find a business you want to contact hasn't signed up for the service yet.

When you send a message it's actually read by a member of Path's team, who then calls the business on your behalf. He or she gathers your requested information, and sends you a message back with the results.

Second, the service is completely free. Yes, you read that right. There's no introductory period, no in-app purchase to add a package of Places messages to your account. Use it as often as you like, free of charge.

I sent several messages to local businesses asking questions ranging from, "What's the special tonight?" to, "Do you have any Kindle Paperwhites in stock?"

Most of my messages resulted in an answer within 5 minutes (the promised turnaround time from Path), but one took several hours for the Path team to get back to me. In fact, according to the Path agent I talked to, the unanswered message I sent was never received by the service, even though the Read indicator was displayed after I sent the message. Upon resending my request I had an answer to my question within a few minutes.

With most of my messages answered as advertised, it seems like the one hiccup I did experience was an anomaly rather than something you should expect with the service.

Conclusion

Path Talk started off as a companion app to Path, offering messaging features to both Path and non-Path users alike. Unfortunately I found that my friends list was nearly vacant, with most users having abandoned the platform long ago.

But with the new Places features, Path Talk may yet become a necessary app on your home screen.

With this free service, it eliminates the need to hunt down a website or phone number for a business. Having Path Talk Places, you can just launch the app, type a message, and tap on send to receive an answer (most of the time) in about 5 minutes. For those outside the US and Canada, it sounds like the feature may be on the way, and it's worth checking for.