Dumbstruck was initially released on iOS in December 2013 by Peter Allegretti and Michael Tanski. Dumbstruck defines itself as not only an app, but an entertainment platform that captures and shares reactions to photo and video messages.
Dumbstruck lets users take a photo or shoot a video, add a caption using text, stickers or filters. Once messages are received by friends, a video of the friend’s reaction to the message is automatically recorded and sent back to the user.
The app’s founders met while in the PhD program at the University of Albany. Soon after, they dropped out to start Doctored Apps, a mobile app ideas lab. One weekend, while discussing another app and joking about selfies, the Dumbstruck concept was born and a month later it was in the app store. The entire process took about two months.
Dumbstruck added the ability to download pictures and send them to friends in June 2014, and at the same time the app for Android launched a beta channel.
