Update to Secret brings chat and better anonymity

I have a Secret to tell you. I’m sorry, that wasn’t funny, nor is the big update to the Secret app for Android a secret. With an overhaul of look and feel, the new Secret also offers communities, chat and better control of what friend info is displayed on your account.

Secret is a free app in the Google Play Store that has been allowing users to anonymously share their indiscretions and favorite tidbits of humor and suggestions to anyone that is willing to listen. Posting short anecdotes about their experiences, embarrassing or other, in all manor of unfiltered categories.

The new communities feature is a great way to narrow down your Secret relationships to like minded folk, or even to the same city, community, workplace or school. This remains separate to your friends’ posts, allowing you to, well, make new friends.

Chat is a great addition to the service, taking things from generally all public, to a more private experience. I don’t know the internal logistics myself, but I imagine that this could be a great tool for sharing secret messages between all the James Bonds of the world. And you too, of course.

The new look brings with it a better streamlined flow, this means that things should look better and work much faster.

Finally, you now have greater control over your anonymity. Tying into your Facebook account has resulted in a potential exposure of your identity, with Secret showing off whether you not you have a relationship with another user. For what it is worth, this is what I find wrong with Secret, I use Google+ a lot, but have only an intimate relationship with my FB friends. If we show as connected, there is a good chance you can figure out who I am.

For this ‘flaw’ alone, the updated Secret is your new friend, allowing you to not only choose if your Facebook links will show on your profile, but also giving you control within each post to decide whether or not it should go to friends only, or to public without even your friends knowing it was you.

The update is rolling out now, but go ahead and grab a fresh and free copy of Secret from the Google Play Store.

Have any of these updated features overcome a barrier for you to use Secret?