Information is powerful stuff…especially info that\’s put online. It\’s a little crazy when some high schooler puts really nasty stuff on Facebook for the world to see. There are some times when you want a little privacy and online texting is no different. Bring in the The Zipper. A really sweet function of the Zipper app for both Iphone and Droid smart phones is the ability to have private texting and message boards available on the go. Let\’s take a look at how it works and why it\’s different than just regular texting.

It\’s pretty simple. From the Channel\’s drop down, you can quickly create a private channel. This channel is password (alpha-numeric to make it easy) protected. You simply give out the passcode to anyone you want to have access to the text and message board. The ZIpper app is free so they just need to download it, enter the passcode under the Channel drop down and voila, you (how ever many people you want to give the passcode to) have access to that messaging board and texting. You can have multiple channels and narrowcast as much as you want. One private channel can be for a best friend, one for a boy friend, one for a group of friends. The High School or College channel essentially works like a private channel but for a school. So why do this instead of just using the normal text function of a cell phone.

Quick question. Let\’s say you have information or a running message that you don\’t want anyone to find. It could be gossip. It could be about an ex and an ex-friend (so typical). Texting on a phone is easy although it\’s not cheap but it\’s also the first place anyone goes to look to see what you\’ve been up to. This may be your parents (trust us…they\’re checking on your Facebook and texting). It might be that ex snooping around when you\’re upstairs. It might be someone at a party who\’s nosey and decides to check out your phone only to find embarrassing stuff in your text. Sure you can password texting but how many do. Also, we\’re in and out of the phones all day long so it\’s not that tough to see our phone text messages getting intercepted by parents, siblings, rivals, frenemies. The Zipper is protection from that. First, no one\’s going to think to look there for secret texts and messages. Secondly, you can\’t actually see a history of the text or the channel itself. It\’s all driven by entering in a passcode. It\’s not like you see a channel called \”secret messages about my big crush\”. You just see a cursor waiting for a passcode to be entered. There\’s no incriminating evidence, your honor. When you want to access the message, you simply enter the alpha-numeric passcode and the board pops up. The Zipper keeps track of which channels are tied to your phone on a local basis. You can also delete a channel if you created it for further protection.

Look, we know there\’s good and bad to this level of privacy online but we also have to trust that people have situations where they need their privacy and can act both responsibly and legally. If people want to show very incriminating behavior on their Facebook page, that\’s there problem. For the rest of us, the Zipper app gives us a free way to protect our conversations and messages with private texting boards. You can also use these for a simple way to communicate with groups of people as well. So go ahead and Zip It! Privately.

Author Bio: Dennis Jarvis writes extensively about local news and local gossip smart phone apps.