Yahoo unveils Livetext messaging app with video, no audio

Yahoo on Wednesday unveiled a new live messaging app, signifying the tech giant’s willingness to compete in mobile against Facebook and Apple.

The app, Yahoo Livetext, allows people to send text messages and view the reactions of their friends without audio. Adam Cahan, Yahoo’s senior vice president of video, design and emerging products, said he believes fewer people are using video chat because it makes noise.

“Audio is that sensory input that actually makes everything public,” Cahan said in a press conference Wednesday in New York. “All of us hear what you are saying and listening to in that context. It’s frankly what inhibits that conversation.