If you grew up with a Nintendo DS in your hands, you probably remember PictoChat, that little built-in messaging service that let you chat locally and draw absurd things with a stylus. Twenty years later, that vibe is back... on iPhone. Thanks to an iMessage app called PicoChat for iMessage, designed by Idrees Hassan, you can once again write illegible messages and draw schoolboy drawings, just like in 2005.
The 2000s are back with a swipe of a finger
The basic idea is simple: bring back that special feeling of scribbling conversations on the train, at recess, or in the back of a school bus. And honestly, it works. The interface incorporates everything that made PictoChat so charming (or chaotic): a compact keyboard, small boxes for writing, pixelated emojis, and the ability to send your drawings in the blink of an eye.
And yes, all of this in iMessage. No need for your friends to install the app: each message is sent as an image. Which allows you, incidentally, to spoil their conversation thread with questionable sketches.
Okay, let's be clear: this is not an app designed for serious discussions. The text field is tiny, the keyboard takes up half the screen, and in landscape mode, instead of enlarging the area, the app displays a menu to find your favorite drawings. Practical? No. Fun? Yes! Even more so if you're on an iPad with an Apple Pencil: then you almost rediscover the old-fashioned feel.
This is not designed for exchanging urgent plans or a sweet word. But for sending a pixelated unicorn or a poorly drawn stick figure with a "lol," it's perfect.
PicoChat for iMessage is open source, free, and most importantly, not affiliated with Nintendo—which means Big N could swoop in at any moment and kill the app. But in the meantime, it's a guilty pleasure, a throwback to a time when drawing a willy on a local network was enough to make you howl with laughter (it still does today). So, if you want to go back to your middle school days for five minutes, you know what to do.
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