I built this app to solve problem I had, and perhaps others too. I have been finding tough stay in touch with friends. Other than occasional hi/hellos, there is lack of meaningful interactions ongoing basis. Tosynch helps with connecting with existing friends, without calendar setup. It does one thing only and focuses on that. There is no hidden agenda of selling personal data for ads, nor any scheme around increasing likes. There is no discovery mechanism, and no public profiles. If we want to reduce our usage of phones and devices, we don't need another app to helps us constrained. We want to create more opportunities to meet people we already know. Tosynch helps increase those opportunities. It nudges after a chosen period, to reconnect and meet.
Feedback appreciated.
Show HN: Tosynch – reconnect with your friends and meet often | Dark Hacker News
Even though the idea is noble, and the cause is sound, I don't really see, from a technical standpoint, how would this help? After witnessing the rise of cyberspace from the very beginning, it is clear by now that it can never foster healthy human relationships. That's a failed experiment. Real people around you are the real treasure in your life, and only spending time with your friends can bring something meaningful to your life. But, most people rely on their phones to keep them organized nowadays. Hence, a simple website is not enough. Not even a PWA. To have people really reminded you need native apps, in order to be able to send notifications. That brings the costs up significantly, unless you can piggy back on top of NTFY or Pushover or similar. On the other hand, all modern messaging apps like, for example, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, already support the necessary features, like: organize a group, invite people to join, set a topic, set a custom notification sound, and finally schedule a message/reminder for the group. I'm not saying that there is no room for something like ToSynch, but given how hard it is to get everyone to start using a new app, it looks to me like it needs more work, more features, more platforms, more apps.
Appreciate your thoughtful response. Your point on technology having failed to foster human relationships so far has lot of truth in it. But if we don't do anything, it is about get even worse. Hence primary design of the app is not to keep you hooked in the app. More features are in the works. One about group meetings, I have got several requests for. What you laid out is a tough challenge. Most people are so taken up by the constant dopamine hit of getting something from phone every few minutes that anything less than a native app is not even a starter. Yet, here I am. I don't want perfect to be enemy of good. Do what I can. I have been using it, and few of other friends, and it is has definitely facilitated meetings which would not have happened otherwise.
Good. Keep pushing forward, of course. I read everything published on the site and I'm still not sure how does this work. The site sends emails with icl files attached?
Correct. It sends email reminders, with Add to calendar link(ics can be downloaded and added to favorite calendar on phone/device). The thing about Whatsapp etc having the ability - none of these make recurring reminder easy. Focus of these apps is either in monetization or selling ads. Of course a calendar app can be used but then calendar does not initiate nudges. The friction is in the initiation. Each party thinks other should initiate.
Hmm, I'm not sure I would be able to persuade + educate all of my friends to open the email and consume the calendar event each and every time. Consider NTFY or Pushover or similar, those are at least set once - reuse indefinitely. Plus, they would enable users to set a unique notification sound which would then always be something special in their life.
Noted. Definitely worth considering. Also as chats have taken over the world, people don't open email for long time, and so much junk in email. I did have that at the back on the mind. I just did not want to the app to become too noisy, with text/SMS pings. Will look into NTFY/Pushover. Thanks for the feedback.