Facebook Messenger. WhatsApp. Viber. Skype. There are already plenty of mobile-messaging systems you can use to keep in touch with family and friends. But soon you might be getting familiar with another, especially if you live in Asia: WeChat.

Developed by China’s largest listed Internet company Tencent, WeChat — known as Weixin in China — has all the basic features of a mobile-messaging app, with users chatting by text or voice and making video calls. But uniquely, there are functions that allow you to speak to a group of friends (turning your phone into a walkie-talkie) and to chat one-on-one using quick audio snippets instead of text — extremely useful when you’re too distracted to concentrate on writing an SMS, or if you’re writing in Chinese characters, which takes longer using a standard alphabet. Read more..