Show HN: Millow – Stay connected with your inner circle
millow.app
millow.app
Essentially you are asking me to volunteer relationships that are usually in a somewhat fragile state (i.e. valued but undermaintained) to some impersonal external system that's going to send growth-hack-like e-mails to them and ask them to download apps.
How about something more akin to a personal CRM app where I could unilaterally enter some of my friends and it could help me maintain engagement through reminders or scheduling assistance (or say, location awareness?). I would have downloaded that in a second, and I would posit that a lot of others would as well since most people strongly identify with the "people I wish I had kept in touch more" message.
Monetization might later come in from the business angle to the same idea (maintain engagement with valuable contacts, using only an app).
a) We are not going to send any emails or texts to anyone from your contacts. Apps like Gather / IRL spam people for growth, and we would rather earn your trust and grow slowly.
b) You can use Millow without ever inviting anyone else on. It can be used in a 100% single-player mode, where it will do exactly what you said. You can set reminders for your close friends, and Millow will send you a push notification once a week (Sunday afternoon in your device's time zone) to remind you about the friends that you're set to meet this week (it won't send a push reminder if there are none).
c) Monetization isn't something we're particularly concerned with in the immediate future (we are a team of two, and have sufficient savings from the acquisition of my previous startup Screenhero by Slack), and we are doing this mainly because we believe in the social impact of what we're doing. We do have plans for future monetization (e.g. if we help you make a plan to meet up with a friend at a local restaurant, the restaurant pays us similarly to OpenTable).
Happy to chat more, here or via email (support@millow.app). We're a two person team, and are eager for learning more and improving.
Brett and Kate McKay at ArtOfManliness.com have talked about these 'relationships that don't scale' [0] for a while now. CRM software is perfect for those kinds of friendships, but it always costs too much (~$1/day typically). You app is PERFECT for what I have been looking for! Thank you!
[0]https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-build-unscale...
There is an open source software called Monica[1] that does what you are asking if my interpretation is correct. I have no affiliation with said software, it appeared in [Show HN] some time ago (I think) and while reading your comment I remembered it.
I've never used it though, maybe I should actually try it out.
1) Single-player: set reminders for when to meet friends, and log when you do
2) Multi-player: share your availability with friends you add, and see theirs (if they add you), so you can find times to meet. Especially helpful when time-zones are involved (we show you their availability overlaid on your time zone.
Other apps do a lot more, but in our opinion, are a lot more complicated. We wanted to create a much simpler alternative and iterate based on feedback — so we'd love to hear what you think, especially since you're interested in trying one or more of these apps out.
I use it and have found it really useful.
Exactly this. That's precisely what I was assuming/hoping it would be when I clicked the link. I don't want another social media site or app. I already am basically a ghost on most of the web and don't use any social media sites. HN is the only exception and for a while now it has been the only site I post anything on. I like it that way and don't want something where I have to "connect" to people on and invite them to also use for it to be useful.
EDIT: I just saw some comments below and it appears my assumptions and understanding of the product based on the site were incorrect. It apparently does have "single-player mode" where I can do what I hoped for. Will give it a shot. Note to the developer - this ability is definitely not clear based on the app's website.
So I agree there's a real problem here that needs solving (help me nurture the relationships that really matter, protect me from attempts to distract me while I do this). But I wouldn't install an app for it under any circumstances, my engagement with the brand ends immediately when I realize that has to happen. The industry has simply betrayed our trust too many times. It doesn't help that most people already have too many apps on their phone and are trying to cut those down a bit. This is a challenge for newcomers I know but it's real.
Maybe do a web version and make it feel more like a personal productivity tool than a social network. I don't mean make it about being productive, but social media has such a stink at this point and is so synonymous with "creep garbage into my life after hitting critical mass" that I would try a different positioning.
At a high level, we want to be a tool that you use for a few minutes at the most, perhaps not even daily. But as long as we're able to help you get out into the real world and meet / call your friends, we will have achieved our objective.
We aren't a social network — we have no feed, and employ no growth hacks (we would love for you to invite your friends because you want to). We don't consider ourselves social media either. We're a tool closer to your calendar app than to your Facebook/Instagram.
When we spoke with our initial users (friends and family), we found that there were two main reasons why people didn't stay in touch with others as much as they'd like:
1) They weren't sure if the other person (typically a dormant friend) was interested in staying in touch 2) They weren't sure when the other person was free (especially if time zones were an issue)
This is why we added the ability to share your availability with your close friends — our first 'multi-player' feature. Everything else can be used standalone ('single-player') — in fact, you could even manually add contacts without even putting in their phone number if you so choose.
I'm curious to hear how you feel about the app if you were to try it and use it. Please do reach out to us (support@millow.app) if you're up for it — we're a two person team and are eager to engage with our users (and potential ones), and are especially interested in critical feedback!
On Win 10 Chrome the font is Times New Roman which makes the site look a little cheap, but the graphics are cute.
It's written in Ionic (so we could iterate quickly on iOS/Android, and potentially have a web version up without too much additional effort).
2. Will it be available in F-Droid?
2. No plans at the moment!
Millow looks great, I'll try the web version instead, thanks for answering!
There seem to be a number of things you could reply to.
Cool idea.
Which are the differences with Monica [1]?
So does that mean I can be sure that none of my "social graph" or personal information is ever used for any purpose such as advertising?
On the specifics of your question, there are two ways to use the app:
1) Single-player mode: you add a contact (either imported from your contact list, or typed in manually by you) and set reminders for when to meet, and log when you do
(You could do this via manually adding contacts and be sure that none of your social graph / personal information is put out there at all, other than your phone number for account verification)
2) Multi-player mode: share your availability with your inner circle. You need to use real phone numbers for this, so we can verify your friends if/when they join (note: we won't contact them to join, that's on you) so we ensure we're only sharing your availability info with verified friends you've added.
I hope that helps!
1) Single-player mode: let you add friends in manually, set reminders and log when you do meet or call
2) Multi-player mode: let you share availability with your inner circle (and vice versa) so you can more easily find times to meet or call (especially useful across time zones)
We want Millow to be simple and focused on a very short list of use cases, rather than trying to do too much.
How do you think you will be different from path? https://hn.algolia.com/?query=path&sort=byPopularity&prefix&...
(Just to identify which path) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3563016
If you were asking about our specific practices w.r.t. contacts, we only import 1 contact at a time when you pick one from your list, and if you prefer to not give access to your contact list, you can manually type in your contacts too.
1. It sets a frontier between your “true” friends and others. What if I don’t like someone anymore but don’t want to offend by removing them from my Millow? What if someone wants to add me but I don’t think of them as close enough to be on mine?
2. I personally do this on Line and WhatsApp. So I really don’t feel like adding yet another social app
3. The reminder part is weird, if they really are close friends, I don’t need a reminder to call them. So this feels more a “remember to call grandma”.
1. You can use Millow (in "single-player" mode) without anyone ever seeing you've added them. You can set reminders for a friend, and log when you meet. This is all private, and won't ever be visible to anyone other than you.
The only feature in the app that currently changes if you've added someone is the "availability" feature. So if you add your availability, and you add someone as a friend, and they add you as a friend, and they see your availability, and then you remove them as a friend, they will cease to be able to see your availability. However, this experience is also identical to the act of deleting your account. So your friend may just think you deleted your account. But yes, your point is still valid, and we don't have a great answer for this. At the end of the day, we want you to only add friends that really matter, and if someone ceases to matter, there's really no easy way for our product to help with the difficult conversation you may have to have.
2. Fair enough! We designed the app for those that need help, so we're happy for you that you're doing this already :)
3. The research (which we mentioned in our learn more section) talks about dormant friends that you would want to reconnect with, but aren't actively in your life. I grew up in Pakistan, and many of my best friends still live there, but now that I'm in California, I don't get a chance to reconnect with them anywhere as often as I'd like. And I also don't know when they're free. Also, even for friends that are local, sometimes life just happens and a lot of time goes by before people meet up. If you don't have friends of this sort, that's great, but this is an issue that many people face, and they're the app's target audience.
Why is this relevant to your question? For two reasons:
1) Financially, we (we're a husband & wife team) have a very long runway. We own 100% of the company, and have no plans to take on venture capital. Our financial situation means we're also under no pressure to monetize, and we are doing what we're doing because we believe in the mission of our company and product. We want to have stronger connections to our friends and family, and we want that for society at large. Of the 10,000 other things we could have chosen to do, we chose this, because we believe it is the most important thing for us to do.
2) Acquisition is neither a goal nor an option for us. We want to stay independent, build what we want to build, with our users being our only North Star. If Facebook did acquire us, we would a) no longer be independent, b) no longer own the destiny of our product, c) be slightly more financially well off, but (c) is not worth (a) and (b) to us. After a certain point, money ceases to add value to one's life — it's in the study we quoted in our "learn more" section! We're building Millow because we believe in the mission, not because we wanted to make $$$ (if we did, I'd have done another SaaS B2B company like Screenhero).
Also, Millow is in many ways the antithesis of Facebook. Facebook believes connecting people is inherently a good thing — and the more connections, the better. We disagree! Too many low-value connections make it harder for us to focus on those that really matter. This fundamental mismatch in vision makes us believe that the only way for us to get the impact we want is to stay independent forever.
Happy to chat more. This is a topic I have strong opinions on :)
Thanks to my previous company's acquisition, we are financially set. More money at this point won't mean much to us. Instead, being able to have a positive impact on the world is what really drives us. Hopefully, this is visible from what we've written, and what we've built (there are no growth-hack-y, spam-your-friends "features" in our app). And in the coming months, we'll continue to expand on this vision in our product. We hope you'll use the product so you can see this for yourself.
>Millow is not a social network. There is no feed, and no advertising. We designed Millow to be used no more than a few minutes each week. We eventually hope to sustain our business by helping you make reservations at local restaurants and businesses, and making a sliver of revenue from such transactions. This is in support of our goal to stay independent as a company, so we can continue to provide this product for perpetuity, and maintain our focus on our mission of helping you stay connected to your inner circle.
If you're developing on OSX, it hides scrollbars by default. Best to turn them on to detect issues like this.
I alos love the name, assuming it's from the Hindi word for "meet"?
Given LinkedIn screw us with permissions to access contacts, I always cringe when an app requires access to contacts.
When you add a friend to Millow, it lets us know you trust this person and are open to sharing your availability with them (availability is a feature in Millow). If someone you didn't add as a friend adds you to their Millow account, they are not able to see your availability because you did not add them as a friend on your account. We also do not let people know if they have been added to your Millow account, as we feel this is private information.
You can always opt to not share your availability as well, but we have found it helps people break down barriers for communication in different time-zones.
Given the strong preference for desktop/web access here on HN, we will likely be prioritizing this feature earlier than we were before!
Happy to discuss more at support@millow.app and thanks again for the feedback!
Here's a similar app that is less of a "platform". It just gives you reminders every day/week/month to keep in touch with someone.
iOS only right now.
The point is, I don't need another social network for that. Social networks always grow to include everyone you don't care about.
If one really cares - they may just do the same on FB or just add closest people to the group designed for.. closest people.
Most people active on socials likes to see their counters grow. Likes, friends, subscriptions.
Just another social network to register and install the app isn't going to fix that.
If you have some people in your life that you wish you were more in touch with, but aren't either because you feel you're too busy, or because of distance, that's where Millow can help.
Does anyone have recommendations for something open source on Android?
Without a direct APK download I'll give it a miss, thanks. But it's a great concept. I supplied my phone number (why?) to try out the web version but it's clearly designed for touch-screens, not mice.
I did discover Monica from elsewhere in this thread, which looks like a good fit.
Why is that a necessity to sign up?
Genuine question, maybe I'm living in my own bubble where privacy is (at last) becoming more a necessity.
There's only one feature you'll miss in this case. You just won't be able to share availability with someone unless they log in with the same phone number as what you've got stored in your contacts. This is to ensure that only friends you add are able to see your availability.
Yet an app like Zero (which is fantastically designed) is still incredibly useful, and has 54k+ reviews, and an average of 5 stars on the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zero-fasting-tracker/id11683...
Apps designed for specific purposes often trump general purpose apps that don't focus. We feel this is a similar space where a specific kind of solution is better than a general purpose one.
According to the CSS the font is supposed to be "Helvetica Neue", but the user may not have it installed. For me I get the Firefox default "Times New Roman" instead.
You need to include Sans-Serif in your CSS - so the default sans serif font is picked for non Apple devices. Or be more specific and list Arial, Segoe UI, Calibri etc
There are still tons of Windows users out there, so worth checking on non Apple devices.