Sam Altman’s blockchain venture, World Network, is breaking into the messaging game with its newest feature: World Chat.
The new feature, a “mini app” accessible via the World App wallet, will offer special features to holders of World Network’s digital passport, which lets users scan their iris in exchange for an account that verifies their “proof-of-personhood.”
World Chat is the latest iteration of World’s ongoing quest to help people discern bots from humans in the age of AI. “By connecting to World ID, World Chat allows you to know when you’re chatting with a verified human,” World developer Tools for Humanity said in a statement to CoinDesk.
Those who haven’t peered into World’s iris-scanning Orb will still have access to the new chat feature. The new messaging app takes design cues from Apple’s iMessage, which uses blue chat bubbles for iPhone users and green bubbles for everyone else. “Conversations with verified World ID holders feature a blue chat bubble as well as a unique World ID gem in the upper right corner,” Tools for Humanity explained. “Conversations with non-verified accounts feature a grey chat bubble and no such gem.”
Mini Apps were launched back in October 2024, and there were more than 250 million Mini App opens in the first two months of 2025, according to Tools for Humanity.
“The World App has grown so much over the past year, we’ve continuously heard requests for a DMs layer. And we think that for some actions like sending money, that is just way more natural and fun than going to a wallet, and sending a transaction,” Tiago Sada, the head of product at Tools for Humanity, told CoinDesk. “People have been asking for the chat product specifically.”
World Chat will be available on the World App for Android and iPhone iOS users starting Thursday.
In addition to World Chat, World and social protocol Friends With Benefits, are teaming up with Alchemy, Bain Crypto Capital, Blockchain Capital and Variant Fund to launch an incubator program called World Build. The program includes hackathons, building retreats, and a demo day and is meant to encourage developers to build “Mini Apps.”
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