Welcome Flatchat, forget brokers

Being someone who changed the city of residence twice within two years, I have gone through enough difficulties to find a comfortable accommodation, let alone good roommates. Even if you find the best accommodation you can think of, a non-compatible roommate can spoil the whole party. The first thing that comes to your mind during such a situation is the "Flat and Flatmates" page of the respective city on Facebook. No, I am not a fan of it, simply because often it does not produce the desired responses and is time-consuming. I had always wished if there could be a genie that could help me get the best possible options for accommodation in a city and without me fretting much over it.

To my relief, I found the genie in Flatchat, an app developed by Flat.to, a website started in 2013 to help students and singles find an accommodation in major cities. Typically, Flatchat is an extension of Flat.to, but the fact that the former is a mobile application makes it much more useful and saves a lot of time.

The app can be downloaded for free and is available both on Android and iOS handsets. A couple of log-in steps that essentially require you to share your personal details and preferences and your account is ready. Next, you will be put through a real-time Flatchat assistant, who connects with you and will get you the various choices available according to your needs. If you are in search of a flatmate, the app gives you a list of people with similar requirements. Once you choose your option, the Flatchat assistant puts you through the owner or the desired flatmate.

The best part of the app is that all these services are absolutely free. Thus, it saves you from the broker's tyranny. It also saves a lot of time. Even when you are in office busy meeting your targets or deadlines, you can be relieved that somebody is out there looking to provide you the best flat or to connect you with the best future roommate. The speed at which you get responses is really appreciative. No wonder it has got a 4.5 rating in the Google Play Store.

One area where the app could improve is extending the services to more number of cities. Currently, it is available only in a few cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. Also, it will be more appealing if there are pictures of the flats as in the Housing.com app.