Gist Mobile has today launched a new mobile calling and messaging app for the African diaspora and anyone that regularly calls Africa or other international destinations. The new app provides users with multiple numbers, cheaper international calls and even free calls and messages to other Gist users.
Founded by two telecoms experts from Nigeria, Gist Mobile has been established specifically with the African population of the UK, Europe and North America in mind.
As the UK gets used to staying indoors and keeping a physical distance from friends and family, it’s more important than ever to stay in touch. Using the new Gist Mobile app, which can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store or Google Play, calls and messages are free to other Gist Mobile users, while additional numbers on the same handset mean that you can easily set up a ‘Gist’ for all the different elements of your life – from business, to calling ‘home’, or even international numbers so that you can provide a ‘local’ number to friends and family that might call from abroad.
Even before we had to stay at home, the old-fashioned system for mobile phones didn’t fit for our lifestyles and especially that of the African community. We are launching an alternative that is perfect for the stay at home reality we are facing right now, but will also be a much better fit for the new normal of our lives when all of this is over.
Aramide Adebanjo, Co-founder of Gist Mobile
“We all lead busy, intricate lives and the African community is no different. Now those lives are crashing into each other as we’re having to live them all from home. Now more than ever, people need to create a ‘Gist’ for all the different aspects of their lives – business, friends, family back ‘home’ or even dating. Creating a ‘Gist’ for each of them allows you to manage your life better.”
The Gist app is easy to set up and as it is an app on your existing phone, you can keep your existing number and contract – so no hassles with changing provider.
Once you have downloaded the app, you can set up your ‘Gist’ – this is your new number and it can be used for any element of your life. You can set up multiple new numbers, so you could have a ‘Business Gist’, a ‘Friends Gist’, a ‘Family Gist’ and if you have contacts abroad you could even set up an ‘American Gist’ for example.
Each of your Gists is controllable by you – you can set them up your way, switch between them and even turn them on or off if you want to be quiet in that element of your life.
Calls from one Gist app to another are free – which is great for making or receiving calls from friends and family abroad. But the person you are calling or messaging doesn’t need to be a Gist user – you can call them as normal from your app.
“We all have multiple email addresses or social media profiles. Finally, your mobile is catching up to this and you can have different Gist numbers to talk to the different people in your life – at home or abroad,” said Ola Ikotun, Co-founder of Gist Mobile. “And keeping in touch with people is very important as we are all staying home to stay safe.”