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Show HN: Nod – Anonymous proximity messenger
- fo0x 11y agoThe app started as a simple prototype in our office of small startup studio. We discovered super fun nature of anonymous ephemeral messaging, so decided to give it a try. We got about 10K organic installs in 1 week. So people sure miss something in anonymous messaging field. Actually we aim to acquire as more as possible Secret`s ex-users - we believe that there are at least 10M of people looking for a new tool to enjoy anonymous conversations with others in close proximity.
- pavel_lishin 11y agoNo Android version?
- fo0x 11y agowe are going to test iOS first and then decide
- Cyberdelic 11y agoLast time I checked, iOS has about 14% market share, while Android has 79%... Especially for something meant to be by proximity only, you'd want the highest chance of it being on the phones of people nearby... heh. Instead, this gets released on iOS only. Good luck with that.
- pavel_lishin 11y agoBut aren't iOS users most likely to spend money? Thus making them the perfect users to target if you're eventually going to show ads, or rent their information, or monetize in any way?
- Cyberdelic 11y agoYep. iOS users tend to spend more, in general. Think of this in the context of the specific application, though. This is a proximity-based messaging. Without people nearby with the app, you have no one to talk to. At that point, ads or renting of information are meaningless... because it won't be used. For a proximity-based application like this, purposely excluding the majority of smartphone users seems like it will be a limiting factor in its adoption. But, who knows, maybe this is all intentional. I'll optimistically assume they are beta testing with iOS users until the kinks at worked out and can release to Android.
- 51Cards 11y agoSecond the Android request.
- jakejake 11y agoJust curious where you got the 10 million number?
- fo0x 11y agoPress said Secret had 10-15 millions of active users
- lming 11y agoAfter installation I swipe down and the app reboots my iPhone 6+ :) It's impressive that you can get 10K organic installs in 1 week! Are there any trick/hack that other app makers can learn from it?
- markhall 11y agoHow do you prevent the same downfall that Secret faced? It seems that part of it resulted from negativity, bullying, etc. That said, I like the design and concept though.
- fo0x 11y agoAs we don't have pictures sharing (at lest for now) there sure will be less nudity and offensive content overall
- MichaelSelsky 11y agoHow are you passing messages between people?
- fo0x 11y agoWe use APNS
- sneak 11y agoWhat do you do with the users' location history on the server side? (Obviously you see it to be able to know who to send push notifications to...) Is it stored? Logged inadvertently? Intentionally archived? Intentionally purged?
- fo0x 11y agoWe don’t store users location history. User's device only sends its geolocation and we use it simultaneously under messaging. All geolocations are erased by newer ones.
- protomyth 11y agoThe perfect messenger app to be featured in a future horror movie or thriller.
- flistwo 11y agoawesome!
- mobiuscog 11y ago- We are not responsible for the information you can receive or send via Nod App. Our users are free to share any kind of messages. We ask you to stay polite and don’t be offensive or do harm to anybody. Really ? Anonymous texting with no limits on message content and you (a) expect people to stay polite, and (b) want to denounce all responsibility ? Sure (b) is achievable (possibly) legally by having a huge disclaimer on usage of the app, but I think it's being somewhat disingenuous to think this won't be abused. Edit: Will there at least be the ability for a user to block / report other messages ? I assume as you have the device ID this could be achieved technically.
- fo0x 11y agoWe understand all the challenges, it's up to users to bully or not. But still this can be a lot of fun. There already is opportunity to "mute" or "report" a message.
- anseljh 11y agoPlease learn from Secret. There are some things you should choose not to build. This is one.
- fo0x 11y agoSecret was an awesome app, it has not only inappropriate content but a lot of cool jokes, stories, news etc. It was closed not because people haven't used it but because it went not the way founders wanted. We don't have over expectations in the field.
- anseljh 11y agoMy point is that the Secret founders, who thought long and hard about this, concluded that the social cost (harassment, etc.) outweighed the benefits ("cool jokes", etc.). I am imploring you to learn that lesson instead of repeating the same mistakes--and harming others.
- comrh 11y ago
- anc84 11y agoHow do you ensure the users are anonymous? Tor, Gnunet or some similar network? Or did you make your own mixing network?
- fo0x 11y agothere are no authorisation, phone number verification or fb login - only user's device ID
- aw3c2 11y agoThat does not sound anonymous at all, if you know the device ID, you are totally trackable. Maybe change your pitch to "pseudonymous"? Anonymity is important and this is not actual anonymity.
- fo0x 11y agothanks. we'll consider that. just for information apps with phone verification use "anonymous" in description too. we are way more anonymous than secret and many other out there.
- omginternets 11y agoChrist, the pedantry in the comments section... No this is not anonymous in the cryptographic sense. It's anonymous insofar a you don't advertise your identity. "Anonymous" is the rule of the game, not a comment on network security features.
- fo0x 11y agothanks
- dewey 11y agoThere's a similar app [0] that's so incredibly popular at universities here in Germany right now that even mainstream media wrote about it already. I'm actually surprised how good the moderation works there, messages that gather more than 5 downvotes are immediately removed so the self-moderation works quite well. How are you dealing with that (I don't see any up/downvote/report buttons)? [0] https://jodel-app.com/ https://jodel-app.com/
- tricolon 11y agoJodel looks like a clone of Yik Yak.
- dewey 11y agoIndeed, they were founded at the same time though and it was previously known as TellM.
- fo0x 11y agoIf you swipe left on the message in the list you get "mute" option. Then you can mute it not to get notifications on the updates or report the message. For now when reported message is reviewed by our team.
- LukeB_UK 11y ago> This is the missing piece of digital communication. Let's change the rules for texting! What makes it the missing piece of digital communication?
- thoughtpalette 11y agoThe background animation is beautiful though I'm not a fan of scroll hijacking.
- bshimmin 11y agoI didn't even realise you were supposed to scroll until I eventually saw the tiny vertically-aligned text saying "Scroll down to see more" - when will they learn?
- EvilPopsicleDog 11y agoSo exactly like Yik Yak?
- fo0x 11y agoYik Yak is more a board, Nod is messenger with all the instant pushes and everything else.
- burger_moon 11y agoCool app. It might just be me but I found the landing page a little aggravating in that the bottom of the phone was cut off and I couldn't scroll down to put it entirely in view. I'm probably just a weird edge case though. The color scheme looks great.
- thescriptkiddie 11y agoSo, like Salut except less anonymous because it sends your physical location to a central server?
- dang 11y agoPlease don't post comments that are dismissive of new work in this way. It's fine to ask a genuine question, but not to make a dismissive swipe in the form of a question.
- stasmatv 11y agoLet's all use it, very interesting idea!
- w0und 11y agosounds fun obviously great potential for misuse and in the world today almost guaranteed but either way sounds fun I would use it... for android
- freewizard 11y agoCool UI/UX. However, I'm wondering, instead of connecting to a central server, is there apps do pure peer to peer sharing, possibly by relaying thru bluetooth when internet is down?
- comrh 11y agoI believe FireChat[1] is right up your alley. Was covered a lot during the Hong Kong protests. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireChat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireChat
- freewizard 11y agoI gave up FireChat when it has a sign up process and asks for email.