Toronto's Wattpad launches app for steamy romances

Toronto's Wattpad launched After Dark today, an app that lets you read all kinds of smutty romances. Regardless of what gets you hot and heavy, from Fanfiction to LGBTQ themed tales, this app promises to have a story that will turn you on.

After Dark, gets rid of the search, by giving you a handy choice of channels that curate your reading list. You can pick from themes such as Dangerous bad Boys, Paranormal Romance, or Panty Droppers to name a few.

The release is timed to bank off the hype from the Fifty Shades of Grey film release.

"Interest in mature stories has spiked," says Melissa Shapiro, Wattpad's head of global marketing, "Last year, mature stories had over 3.5 billion reads on Wattpad. Romance is one of our most popular categories with 23 million uploads shared."

The idea for After Dark actually started during one of Wattpad's monthly hack-a-thon events. "With Romance being one of the most popular categories on Wattpad, a few members of our team wanted to explore what it might look like to offer an app with hand-picked story recommendations for romance readers," says Shapiro.

By reading with After Dark you can also interact with some of the writers and readers, and comment and vote on stories just like on Wattpad. The main difference between the two apps is that After Dark is designed as a reading-only app and has no writing features.

This interactive features are what has led to Wattpad's popularity with more than 40 million people using the app each month.

Wattpad has attracted many writers as well, with more than 100 million pieces being shared on Wattpad. This is likely due to the loyal community of readers on the app, people who spend about 11 billion minutes on Wattpad each month.

With so much traffic, more than 24 hours of reading material posted to Wattpad every minute, it's easy for a reader to get lost. Making an app like After Dark a useful addition for those interested in a more curated reading experience.

Currently the company has no plans to introduce additional apps catering to other literary genres. "We'll evaluate After Dark to determine if it makes sense to offer curated experiences in other categories," says Shapiro.

Wattpad is a Toronto success story. "We're proud to have built a global community of readers and writers right here, from the city we call home. From concept to launch After Dark was a two-week passion product at Wattpad. I think it underscores the world-class tech and startup community that's growing in Toronto," says Shapiro.

After Dark, only available for iOS devices, is free.

Have you tried Wattpad's After Dark? Let us know about your experience with the app in the comments.

Follow Sima Sahar Zerehi on Twitter @SimaSaharZerehi.