Lingo_Text Message Re-imagined

Lingo is a concept for Apple's iOS.

With billions and billions of messages sent every day, text messaging is an important part of our daily lives. It's become a key method of communication, and sharing of information for people all over the world. However, fundamentally text messaging has not changed in the twenty plus years since it was first invented. Replying to a message still requires typing your response and pressing send.

What if:

• There was a smart list of responses to choose from — in your own words — so you wouldn’t have to type?

• You could reply to a text with a single tap?

• This wasn’t another texting app, but actually integrated with your iPhone’s operating system?

Replying to a text message can sometimes take a few too many steps than what it's worth. Especially if you're in a hurry, or in a situation that requires your attention. Currently the steps to replying to a text message from your lock screen are:

1. Slide to reply to a message

2. Transition to the lock screen

3. Enter your passcode

4. Transition to your messenger app

5. Type your response

6. Hit send

Opportunity: Design a smarter, more efficient experience for common responses to text messages

Lingo is integrated into iOS making replying to a text message simple, and it all happens from the lock screen. Just slide the message up to respond to the message.

Using a more sophisticated type of machine learning than the current version of Siri, Lingo parses through past conversations, and ranks suggestions based on the likeliness of your response. This makes it possible to have unique and quick responses tailored to each of your contacts.

With Lingo you only see one incoming message at a time. To access the full conversation, tap the original message to access your lock screen in order to enter your passcode, and view the conversation in your messenger app.

Privacy is always a major concern, and to ensure your phone stays locked and safe, your phone's security code is required to access the entire conversation. 

Shown above is a paper prototype of the original Lingo design. Originally, the concept was an application that would be accessed once the phone was unlocked, and by tapping twice anywhere on the body of the iPhone. We quickly realized that this method wasn't saving much time, and could be seen as a clunky experience.