Launched in July 2015, Livetext represented Yahoo's attempt to compete in mobile messaging with apps like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
[2] Livetext was part of CEO Marissa Mayer's effort to revamp Yahoo's aging services and make the shift to mobile.
[2] In February 2016, ex-MessageMe co-founder and CEO Arjun Sethi left Yahoo to join Social Capital as an investing partner.
[7] Like Snapchat, chat sessions were ephemeral which meant the app kept no record of the video stream or text messages.
[13] Due to the novelty of Livetext's core feature, commentators and reviewers described the app as "weird",[14] "awkward"[15] and "strange".