ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A student entrepreneur has launched an app that allows washroom users to chat via text with other people on the loo.

The creator of Pooductive claims that the app will allow people to discuss their toilet habits with strangers from the safety of their toilet.

Developer Ricardo Gruber has released the app for free and is self-funding it following a failed Kickstarter campaign that raised less than two per cent of its target.

"Pooductive lets you chat with local and global friends or strangers who are on the toilet anywhere in the world at the same time as you," according to Gruber.

"Like the shower, the toilet is an incubator for creativity and the app allows people to anonymously message each other. It is more than a messaging app - it's a community made up of people who are all in the same position as you...pardon the pun."

Gruber hopes to connect with leading charities in order to focus on clean water and sanitation issues in developing countries.

"The hype around our app came very quickly and unexpectedly which means that the 'charitable' aspect of Pooductive has not yet been launched," he said. "We're working as fast as we can to realise our mission and get the charities we have already connected with on board."

In a study of mobile phone habits, around 75 per cent of people questioned admitted to surfing the web, using apps, emailng and texting while in the toilet. And one in five admit to having participated in conference calls in the loo.