Introducing TogetherLoop

Now's as good of a time as any to start letting people in (slowly) to my next project, TogetherLoop. It's a social app, only the way it used to be. Just friends, newest posts first, no algorithms. My intent in the long run is to sell it for some nominal amount (I'm thinking $18/six months). I'm betting that some people value privacy and not being the product. In any case, the people who get in early will have it free for life, and even when I decide to charge, I'll allow read-only access for free.

I'm gradually onboarding, but go here to sign up: https://togetherloop.com/

This is a web-based app, but you can install it to be very "app like" by choosing "add to home screen" on Android and iOS. It feels very native like that. Search for me and add me as a friend, and I'll approve it (for now). I can't make anyone do it, but it's ideal if you use your real name because then friends can find you.

I've been poking around this a lot. I like it.

Feature suggestion – any chance you could accept .HEIC for image uploads? Photos from Apple devices default to that these days, and there's no way to change without doing a manual conversion.

Of course Apple would do something non-standard. Unfortunately that's a "standard" that requires patent licensing for commercial use, and in the spirit of not wanting to add to the en****ification of the Internet, I wouldn't want to pay for that. I suppose I just have to ask people to use jpegs.

On the one hand, the last thing I need is another social media account. On the other hand, I one billion percent support the idea of a fee-supported, algorithm-free site. So I'm in.

On the wait list!

Thank goodness. I forgot my MySpace password.

As much as I love talking to Jeff and Walt, it's only a matter of time before we start in-fighting.

Jeff:

Of course Apple would do something non-standard. Unfortunately that's a "standard" that requires patent licensing for commercial use, and in the spirit of not wanting to add to the en****ification of the Internet, I wouldn't want to pay for that. I suppose I just have to ask people to use jpegs.

I'm not sure I'd classify HEIC as that rather delightful neologism.

It is a definite step forward over JPEG/etc, getting much better quality in less space, and while it's not universal yet it's definitely becoming more common on modern devices. Android 10+ supports it.

I wonder if there's something you can do in HTTP headers that will force the automatic conversion of HEIC on device before it ever gets to you? Whether you like Apple or not, iPhones are pretty common place so if people can't upload directly you will inevitably limit your potential user base.

Apple's market share is 31% world-wide, but that's not really the point. They resisted USB-C and RCS texting for years even though the rest of the world was there. Now they're trying to push a non-open standard when we had one that has been working perfectly fine for decades. I don't think that's innovation, it's arrogance. That said, I found the setting, and it almost reads like it's for video only, so that's confusing. "Most compatible" it says. Settings in iOS are a train wreck, like the Windows 95 control panel.

I'll look for solutions, but having to compensate for stuff like this drives me nuts. You wouldn't believe the hacky stuff I had to do to make this forum work in Safari.

EDIT: OK, turns out the AI already figured this out for me. The browser already does the conversion before upload.

Jeff:

Now they're trying to push a non-open standard when we had one that has been working perfectly fine for decades.

I'd argue that they've migrated to something that's materially better than what came before it.

Apple's history points to them doing that. USB of any kind wasn't a big deal until Apple went all in with it on the iMac – and hell, we might all still have floppy drives if they hadn't removed them.

And yes, changing to a new format breaks things, but when the vast majority of your users are all-in on your eco system the actual impact of doing that is (relatively) limited.

As regards USB-C and RCS, on those I agree with you. Fortunately the European Union does too.

Connectivity is what replaced floppies. But requiring licensing to manipulate images is not better. I mean, this whole site runs on open source, and it wouldn't be possible without it. I'm just fundamentally opposed to gatekeeping in software, and Apple is among the worst offenders. (Just don't tell anyone most is this code was written on a Mac.)

If you put your email in the form, you should have an invite by now. Please let me know if you haven't seen it, and I'll resend.

Note to others: The invite might be in your spam folder (it was in mine).

I suspected that might be the case. It's a pretty non-descript email with a link.

Apparently I'm too stupid to use this platform. Is there a way to sign up other than adding my email address to the waitlist?

A problem of mine in this initial state is that I have to search for anyone I know, and those from this particular site who don't use their real names are hard to find.

I know that this is an old-school FB style suggestion, but could you search by high school/college/location instead of just proper name?

Vater: You should have your invite. Sorry for the roadblock, for now I'm just trying to limit signups. I'll drop it very soon.

My thinking, in the interest of privacy, is that you can search by name, which is fuzzy matching (i.e., "Geoff Puts" would still return me), and if you know your friend's email, it'll match those exactly. I'm also planning an "invite a friend," which will send them an invite that automatically friends you. Once you're on and you see comments and stuff, you can also find folks peripherally.

Is that too restrictive?

If anyone wants to add me on the site, just take my username and search for it. I kept it the same for simplicity

Thanks Jeff, I assumed the email was auto-generated. BTW, can I suggest when using a PC, allowing the Enter key to emulate clicking the Search (and other) button(s)? It's a minor peeve of mine to have to grab the mouse after filling in a text field.

Good suggestion. Not everything is touch.