Have you ever had extremely long email threads that you actually want to just transfer the conversation into a chat room? (but maybe your office doesn't allow chat and messaging apps as well) This new app will let you move email conversations into an IM-like platform, complete with the capability to share files, group email, smart notifications, and an easier way to respond to real-time communications.
You don't need to sign up for a new email address to use Hop. You can connect your existing ones with Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, AOL, etc. It will add both your old and new messages to start a conversation. You will now have real-time messaging, the ability to exchange files and photos, location-sharing, audio message capabilities, and even taking pictures and videos to send in real time. This means you don't need to open any other app just to be able to have these multi-media interactions.
In terms of notifications, Hop is "smart" as you will not be flooded by constant buzzing, since you can set up different kinds of custom alerts depending on the kind of message or who it is coming from. This means you will just get the notifications that matter. You can also doodle your messages if what you're talking about needs visualizations. And just like in chat apps, you can see when somebody is typing messages in real time, to avoid "overlapping" conversations.
Of course the other people you need to converse with need to be on the app as well. You can download Hop from the Google Play Store for free.