The World's Online Festival (WOLF) (formerly Palringo) is a British messaging and gaming platform with apps for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

. Users can create groups where they can send text, image, and short audio messages. Groups feature a Stage which provides five live microphone slots for users to chat. The app features a store where users can purchase in-app credits that can be used to buy additional features, utility

chatbots A chatbot (originally chatterbot) is a software application or web interface designed to have textual or spoken conversations. Modern chatbots are typically online and use generative artificial intelligence systems that are capable of main ...

and games, and to send in-app gifts to other users. Users have a reputation level that increases from actions such as playing chat games or purchasing credits. WOLF is headquartered in London with branch office locations in Newcastle and London, UK, and Amman, Jordan. Palringo offers a technology (Palringo Local) that allows users to establish and view the location of their peers by means of their manual position,

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

, triangulation or estimation on the internet network used at that moment. It uses the Google API Maps to show peer locations and also offers a "nearby" section in friends and group lists to show users who are nearby. WOLF has around 35 million registered users, and around 350,000 groups. When WOLF was still Palringo, it got a new CEO, Tim Rea. Rea made several acquisitions, and shifted the strategy of the company.

History

Palringo was developed by Martin Rosinski in 2006. In August 2006, Northstar Ventures invested £650,000. * In 2010, Palringo launched an enterprise version of the app, offering companies private group communication networks. * In August 2012, Palringo began a shift towards the consumer market. The current business model involves selling virtual products such as premium accounts, decorative profile stickers (called Charms), chat bots, and functional utilities. * In May 2014, Palringo acquired Swedish games developer Free Lunch Design (FLD). * In May 2015, Palringo acquired Finnish chat games developer Tribe Studios. * In late 2019, Palringo introduced Stages, which allows up to five users to broadcast live audio within their chat group. * In February 2020, Palringo officially re-branded to The World's Online Festival (WOLF).

Charity

In 2013, the company launched a charitable initiative aimed at their users in the Gulf region during the month of Ramadan, which enabled users to donate Palringo credits through a special charity Bot. Palringo users raised over US$230,000 for Charity Right and

Islamic Relief Islamic Relief Worldwide is an international NGO founded in the United Kingdom in 1984. It has international headquarters in Birmingham and a network of national offices, affiliated partners, registered branches and country offices spread over ...

. During Ramadan in 2015, Palringo raised more than $300,000 to be split between Action Against Hunger and Islamic Relief Worldwide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World's Online Festival Android (operating system) software IOS software Symbian software Instant messaging clients 2006 software