It had started out as an urban legend. An app that allowed body swapping. If you downloaded it, you simply type in the parameters you were looking for, and if you walked within range of someone who matched, it would let you know. From there you could message the person and schedule a meeting to swap.
While in the other person's body, the new inhabitant had that person's sexuality and could speak whatever language they knew. Other skills seemed to be acquired, but it was usually with things that were apart of muscle memory. You could gain the ability to ski or knit, but not code a computer.
Of course as the rumors spread, so did interests, and with an increase if clients the illusive developers began creating additional features. While the identity if the creator, (Høpp3r) was never discovered and theytechnology couldn't be explained, the app itself received high approval.
The first update made it a bit more like social media, though all accounts were marked private and could only be seen by accepted friends. The developer oddly focused on privacy despite the nature of social media typically trying to reach as many people as possible.
The social media aspect also tracked what body each person was in. It would automatically switch the user's profile pictures until they swapped back, and people could even save their favorite swaps to make it easier to send requests for subsequent swaps.
The second was remote swapping. Previously, people had to be in the same room using headphones synced with the phone to swap. Again, how normal headphones and airports could be used to switch bodies with normal phones was beyond what anyone could understand.
The remote swaps allowed people to swap long distance, and without any additional devices. Travel agencies started helping connect people in different countries who wanted to visit without paying travel costs.
With the favorite swap feature, they could even set up conditions from swaps. The standard was someone had to send a request and it be accepted. Others included setting a specific time to swap, an auto accept, or even, all swap request while both parties are sleeping. Very rarely did someone put in a condition the app couldn't accommodate and usually it would add the feature within a week.
Being able to send request and control also led to a rise of people renting out their bodies for various reasons. Old people who wanted to be young again. People who were curious about the opposite sex, or living as a different race. There were even people who would rent out bodies to have a specific look for cosplays or for parts in movies. The credits in movies became hard to track when a big named actor was using a body of someone who looked more like a character than they did.
There were also those who hired people to train their bodies. Personal trainers were able to get much better results when they had direct control. Some went as far as living in a body for an extended period of time to control their clients diet.
The developers also created time limits for remote swaps so people would automatically switch back after a period of time. The downside of this was it seemed to lock them out of their original bodies for the duration, but there were those who liked that feature and would specifically set time limits to be locked out of their bodies.
Other programs started using the app. Exchange students could get a more authentic experience as an actual member of their chosen nation. Some schools even had classes designated to swapping students around so they could better empathize with each other.
One of the biggest changes was the emergence of "clusters". While some people were satisfied with simply touring other countries, or briefly experiencing life as someone else, others wanted a more extensive experience. The typical cluster would usually be made up of several people around the world. They agreed to "share" their bodies and lives with one another. This meant they gave up sole ownership of their body to the cluster, and they would all switch around living each other's lives. This of course came with the expectation that the cluster would not mess up their life. Of one member of the cluster was in a relationship, the body was dating that person regardless who inhibited it. However, they couldn't break up without the clusters approval. The clusters usually wanted to live a variety of lives and would all have very different careers, but they typically wanted all of their lives to be happy.
While remote swapping made it unnecessary to meet in person, there were those who still preferred to only swap with people they met personally. Some people set up swap meets so they could meet new people. Some swap meets would have themes and resemble comic conventions or a sporting event. The apps were usually set to send everyone bacl to their original bodies at the end of the event, regardless how many times they swapped while there. Others set up permanent locations called swap clubs.
There were the occasional court cases, though the app tracking bodies did usually make it easy to tell who was in what body at the time of the crime. It also could identify a body's original inhabitant to prevent theft.