Show HN: Nod – Anonymous proximity messenger | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Nod – Anonymous proximity messenger

yougotthenod.com

53 pointsfo0x51 comments

The 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.

No Android version?

we are going to test iOS first and then decide

Last 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.

But 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?

Yep. 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.

Second the Android request.

Just curious where you got the 10 million number?

Press said Secret had 10-15 millions of active users

After 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?

Well, if u're not sarcastic here we sure will. Follow nod on Twitter - @yougotthenod

Oh, my bad. I should not put bug reporting and compliments in the same post. Looking forward to updates on your twitter account!

There'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/

Jodel looks like a clone of Yik Yak.

Indeed, they were founded at the same time though and it was previously known as TellM.

If 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.

> This is the missing piece of digital communication. Let's change the rules for texting!

What makes it the missing piece of digital communication?

Cool 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.

The perfect messenger app to be featured in a future horror movie or thriller.

The background animation is beautiful though I'm not a fan of scroll hijacking.

I 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?

How 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.

As we don't have pictures sharing (at lest for now) there sure will be less nudity and offensive content overall

  - 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.

We 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.

Please learn from Secret. There are some things you should choose not to build. This is one.

Secret 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.

My 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.

Seems kind of disingenuous to make an app that has similar functionality to a few others, including Secret which in some countries was legally barred due to bullying problems, and then just say it is "up to the users to not bully".

You have to take some responsibility for the things you put out in the world.

How do you ensure the users are anonymous? Tor, Gnunet or some similar network? Or did you make your own mixing network?

there are no authorisation, phone number verification or fb login - only user's device ID

That 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.

thanks. 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.

Cool 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?

I believe FireChat[1] is right up your alley. Was covered a lot during the Hong Kong protests.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireChat

I gave up FireChat when it has a sign up process and asks for email.

So exactly like Yik Yak?

Yik Yak is more a board, Nod is messenger with all the instant pushes and everything else.

sounds fun obviously great potential for misuse and in the world today almost guaranteed but either way sounds fun I would use it... for android

How are you passing messages between people?

We use APNS

What 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?

We 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.

How do you access the users location? Wifi? The app doesn't ask for this permission and there's no such permission in the settings tab.

You probably haven't finished tutorial mode. After the tutorial Nod will ask to turn on geolocation access.

Let's all use it, very interesting idea!

So, like Salut except less anonymous because it sends your physical location to a central server?

Please 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.

Christ, 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.

thanks

awesome!

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