
Show HN: Waffle – Split-screen picture conversations with friends - Finbarr
https://wafflechat.com
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Finbarr
My first iPhone app created in collaboration with Karen X. Cheng. Took about 3
weeks to build, and 3 weeks to get approved. You can hit us up in the app by
adding us (finbarr and karen respectively). Any feedback appreciated!

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revx
Hi Finbarr - looks awesome, but the "find out when" link for Android is broken
for me (Chrome 37 on OSX)

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karenxcheng
Ah yeah my bad, I designed that. Thanks for the feedback.

Another thing that is confusing design-wise in the app is how to add friends.
Right now you have to take a picture first and then add friends. We need an
add button on the home screen.

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fidlefodl
Looks cool, can't wait till Android is working so i can try it out!

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ljf
Likewise, got my wife on iOS to sign up, but shame I can't use it on Android
yet. Hoping you can launch it there too soon, I really think this could be
fun! Great take on picture messaging.

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debt
I'm a fan of this. Although I would say to anyone reading this that quality is
preferred over speed. The length of time it took to make something doesn't add
any value to the product overall; that is, just focus on making a kickass
product no matter how long it takes.

I really think most of are going to look back and remember the times when
people would brag how short a time frame it took to build apps. Like, that use
to be a bragging point.

Regardless, tangent aside, I think it's cool that we're "hacking" new ways to
communicate. Waffle is another example of that. People complain that we're
just building more photo-sharing apps, but I think it's important to build new
ways to communicate with each other; particular for young people.

It use to be phone or face-to-face. Now there's a plethora of interesting
options(Snapchat, Secret, Email, SMS, Group SMS, Chatroulette, etc.). Hack the
way we communicate with eachother.

Seems like they're also adding some interesting ways in the new iPhone watch
as well.

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Finbarr
Definitely agree on the quality. Thanks for checking it out and glad you like
it. I only added that info as I frequently wonder how long apps/products took
to build.

Most of the build time of Waffle was tweaks. There are a bunch of subtle
details in the way it works that aren't immediately obvious.

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thedangler
Cool app, hate giving out my phone number though. Its funny how apple can be
hard on people asking for email addresses to use an app but getting a phone
number is totally okay.

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karenxcheng
Understandable. If it's any consolation, people in the app won't be able to
see your phone number (it's used so waffle users who have you in your phone
book will see you in their waffle contacts list), and we only ever SMS your
number one-time to send you the confirmation code.

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gcb0
yeah, you see, i also do not like giving out my whole address book either.

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joyeuse6701
That would be the normal way to do it at scale for this feature. Though with a
small amount of users, I suppose they could just send the app a list of all
the numbers they have and compare to your phone book...

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iriche
What about - no ;P That's the worst idea I have ever heard ;)

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cbhl
Minor nits:

The "notify me when Android is ready" flow appears to not actually list my
email address: [http://imgur.com/NJU8QkZ](http://imgur.com/NJU8QkZ)

If I enter an invalid phone number, try again and use a valid one, then click
try again, the "ERROR" messages don't go away.
[http://imgur.com/EHF4Es5](http://imgur.com/EHF4Es5) In fact, they build up:
[http://imgur.com/opkxW4G](http://imgur.com/opkxW4G)

You might also want to move the App Store icon up a little bit; it doesn't
quite fit on my 13" Macbook Air in Chrome:
[http://imgur.com/mz6Jkma](http://imgur.com/mz6Jkma)

Edit: Also, /try seems to notice when I visit it from my Android phone that I
should just be asked for my email address. It would be great if the / page did
it too so that I don't have to give you my phone number.

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kyro
This is such a clever idea. I can seriously see this getting some huge
mainstream attention. Nice work!

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karenxcheng
Oh thanks! Enjoyed your YC redesigns from a while back - I definitely learned
from them.

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kyro
Ah wow, thanks, really appreciate it.

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cleverbaker
Woa, I dig the remixing feature for replies. It's like communicating with
emojis except with real-life photo thumbnails. This is more of a communication
app than it is a gallery. Neat. I can see this catching on.

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enraged_camel
I like the concept a lot. I'm definitely going to give it a whirl.

To go meta for a bit, it's sort of interesting that this is getting such a
positive reaction from a crowd that typically sneers at CRUD software. I'm
actually genuinely surprised because I was expecting lots of elitist and
condescending comments from people, along the lines of, "gosh, we don't need
another picture sharing app, we should be curing cancer instead!" Instead I
see lots of props and encouragement, which means that there may be hope for HN
after all.

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karenxcheng
I'm actually really surprised from the feedback from HN as well. With stuff
I've posted in the past, I'm used to a lot more criticism and like you was
expecting 'not another photo sharing app' comments. Everything on here so far
has been constructive / positive. Have been enjoying HN being a more positive
place in general.

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ZenoArrow
Feedback from HN can be unpredictable, but in this case I knew what the
comments would be like because it's a great concept for an app.

What I like most about it is that encourages creativity. To extend this, do
you think you'd extend the app to support drawing in the tiles? Also perhaps
there could be a hidden tiles mode where all tiles are only revealed after the
last one is in place.

I also agree with another commenter that it's important to know when a tile
has been seen, but it looks like you have an idea on how to implement that.

Also, on the website homepage there doesn't seem to be any pictures of the
app, I needed to go to the iTunes page before I saw how it looked, I'd say the
homepage itself should be all you need to see to understand how the app will
work.

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jypepin
I love it. I installed it yesterday when finbarr told me it was finally
released, been having friends install the app, and we haven't stopped since
then!

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publicfig
Very cool, what a neat concept! I haven't found another friend to install it
yet, but one thing I would like to see (if it isn't already there) is a way to
see whether or not your friend has looked at any of the squares yet. I'm not
quite sure how that would be accomplished though or what it would look like. I
could see this being a lot of fun though!

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karenxcheng
Thanks! Send one to us! Hit the "plus" button once you've taken a waffle and
add username karen or finbarr

Yeah we haven't implemented "seen" receipts but that's a good idea. We show
you which waffles you've opened but now which ones your friends have - we
could probably use that same UI element (a dot next to the waffle)

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mymex1
Cool, simple, and creative. Bravo! I even love your app store icon. It's cute
and eye catching.

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mfkp
Reminds me a lot of one of my apps -
[https://frameparty.com/](https://frameparty.com/)

Nice job though, looks great!

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stephengoodwin
Congrats on the launch!

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mrwizrd
Very nice, I'll be checking it out :)

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who_are_you
really awesome. love the invite friends mms that gets whipped up.

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vqc
What a cool concept.

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TheMagicHorsey
Very cool!

