Selfie videos will never be the same again
Dubsmash is a quirky, original, and unique way to communicate with your friends by sending them dubbed videos of yourself.
Pick your soundtrack
The concept of Dubsmash is a simple one: pick a short soundbite, record a video of yourself doing whatever you feel like (the app says it's for lip syncing but there's no reason you need to stick to that), and click finish to put the two together. Then you can send the video to your friends via WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger (the only current sharing options), or save it in your gallery for future use. If you don't like the final product you can always make some tweaks.
But it's not just normal songs that you can use to dub your video, there are all manner of clips from movies, TV shows, chat show interviews, and other random sounds. The categorization of the tracks is slightly unusual but does help to create super funny videos, with categories including 'Chick Flicks', 'Action Heroes', 'Hangover', 'Swag', and 'Pick Up Lines'. You can record sounds from your microphone, or upload them from your phone, and there is also the option to add text or stickers to your creations to make them that bit more interesting.
To make it easier to find all the videos and sounds you have created, you can organize them into your own personalized collections (called Soundboards).
One thing which the Android version of the app lacks is a countdown timer that lets you know when the video will start, leaving you no time to prepare. At the moment, you have to jump straight into recording and there is no way to edit the start out.
A touch glitchy
Creating a dubbed video is an easy, two step process: pick song, record video, and you're done. However, it's not always a smooth process and can be a bit glitchy. The first time I tried Dubsmash, the app didn't pick up the front-facing camera and so wouldn't let me record a video. A quick uninstall and reinstall solved the problem, but it wasn't the best start for the app. And there were several occasions when it wouldn't make the final, dubbed video and I had to exit the app and restart the process.
The user interface is also pretty basic; it's definitely a no-frills experience.
A fun, novelty app
Video messaging is a hot trend at the moment and Dubsmash has tapped into this market perfectly with it's unique take on the genre. The app can produce hilarious results and gets points for being original and innovative. However, it still seems like a work in progress, as there are usability issues to iron out and it is limited by only being able to share on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. What about Twitter, or Viber, or LINE, or the plethora of other messaging apps out there? Dubsmash does also run the risk of being a short lived novelty app, rather than an app with a long shelf life.
Overall, Dubsmash manages to be fun and fresh by adding something new to the video messaging formula - but only time will tell if it is here to stay.
