
Die With Me – A chat app you can only use when you have less than 5% battery - driesdep
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/die-with-me/id1317265106
======
eckesicle
There was a great iOS game back in the day called "One Single Life" or some
such. The game had you jump between buildings, and if you ever fell to your
death, well then the app stopped working completely. Back then the device id
was accessible so you couldn't even reinstall it iirc. It was a great
experience to play a game where failure had a real consequence.

~~~
MrMember
There was an Android "game" with leaderboards that had you throw your phone as
high as you could into the air. I don't think it lasted long.

~~~
pavedwalden
It was called "Send Me to Heaven" [https://www.wired.com/2013/09/send-me-to-
heaven-app/](https://www.wired.com/2013/09/send-me-to-heaven-app/)

------
surds
Who remembers the 'Yo!' app?

I had facepalmed when I learnt it got funding -
[https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/18/yo-raises-1-5m-in-
funding-...](https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/18/yo-raises-1-5m-in-funding-
at-a-10m-valuation-investors-include-betaworks-and-pete-cashmore/)

and I just checked - it is still live on the App Store! :)

~~~
lucb1e
A few years ago I (jokingly) argued that the way to make a killer app today is
to take something good and make it bad.

Take YouTube and allow people to only upload videos of a few seconds: Vine

Create a blogging platform where people can write only 2-3 sentences per blog
post: Twitter

The "Yo!" and "Die With Me" apps seem to fit right in.

~~~
perl4ever
Wasn't there something where people were saying Uber or Lyft was increasing
rates according to how little battery remained on your phone? Clearly what is
needed is a new app to get a ride when your phone is about to die.

~~~
Scoundreller
I think people were more likely to accept any surge premium when faced with
low battery.

Makes sense, they can’t wait it out, but could also be a proxy for poor
planners or compulsions.

They didn’t say they raised prices based on battery life, but I could see why
they could.

~~~
ge96
random unrelated thought:

What if your phone clocked itself down super low when it was about to
die/killing all apps except one. Then it used this simple UI that has cached
app processes/requests so it would just make that network request instead of
going into the app/starting it...

Ehh nvm makes no difference right? Probably barely any performance gains. Was
thinking of that buy now button idea of Amazon. App-less apps

Also expired tokens and what not

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quickthrower2
In app purchase to chat with less than 15% instead of less than 5%.

Love it, you are paying extra to slightly undo the crippling that’s the USP of
this MVP.

~~~
Scoundreller
Since it shows percentages, I plan on using my last electrons to hatemail the
> 5% crowd relentlessly.

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compscistd
Thinking about the origins of apps like this always feel like a chicken and
egg situation. Did someone look at the battery level indicator API and ask
what they could do with this? Or did they have the app idea first and wondered
if there was a device API to make it work?

~~~
floatingatoll
You may enjoy
[https://www.blackboxpuzzles.com/](https://www.blackboxpuzzles.com/) :)

------
conroy
Reminds me of my favorite chat app with artificial constraints:
WhatsApplebee's ([http://whatsapplebees.com/](http://whatsapplebees.com/))

"Using our iPhone app, you can have anonymous conversations with other
Applebee's patrons and brand advocates."

"WhatsApplebee's uses iPhone location services to limit access to those
currently inside an Applebee's. We enforce this strictly, unlike other chain
restaurant-based messaging services such as T.G.I. Friendster or Olive
Grindr."

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Scoundreller
Chat systems with artificial constraints seem to be all the rage: Must include
picture, self-destructing after 5 seconds, 140, errrr, 280 characters.

And now fatalistic battery level requirements.

I can only wonder what the next iterations will include!

edit: This is the third app I've ever bought (others: Purify and PocketCity).
I appreciate the creativity and simplicity.

~~~
ohyes
I'm hoping for one that you can only use if you're sitting next to the other
person.

~~~
smt88
They had apps like this during the early 2010s and they bombed hard.

~~~
ohyes
The timing has to be right, a lot more young people have been raised where
communicating through an app is the default way of communication and actually
talking to someone is really weird.

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Scoundreller
I guess this is one app that won't get away with running a crypto miner in the
background.

~~~
gpvos
If it ran the crypto miner while the battery > 5%, you'd be able to chat
sooner. I'd call it a premium feature and (pun intended) charge for it.

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zazagura
A chat app that only allows you to send a single message ever to any contact.

~~~
staffordrj
A chat app that randomly drops messages with no indication they are delivered.
Call it General Chat.

~~~
Zhenya
Iirc that already exists....hangouts.

~~~
Queue29
Gonna need some Google Allo for that sick burn

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toyg
I would actually pay for an app that will broadcast my “low-battery death”
automatically to the few chats i use all the time.

~~~
dewey
Maybe you should pay for a power bar instead ;)

~~~
amelius
Yes, and switch to the power bar with low-power when he's chatting with the
boss.

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Liron
I've had this idea before and I would have named it "LastBreath" or "Low
Chattery". But their name is good too.

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SubiculumCode
A chat app that can have no more than 5 contacts. The.Rage.

~~~
omosubi
There are people with more than 5 friends?!

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edvinasbartkus
Does this address that once I am at 1% I charge it up to 5% in order to stay
on the chat all the time?

~~~
thedrake
maybe have a chat app that only works when the phone is being charged up...
Live with me

~~~
encoderer
Call it landline.

~~~
Avamander
And we have a startup, guys (and gals)! Huzzah

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jrockway
Is battery life still a thing? I listen to music all day on my phone and still
have some large amount of battery left at the end of the day. I know other
people are heavier users of their phone, but I feel like the paranoia about
battery life kind of went away several years ago.

~~~
snailmailman
As someone still rocking an iPhone 6s, I’ve had the battery replaced last year
but still usually have to plug it in and charge at some point in the
afternoon/evening. Will be almost dead by lunch some days.

Depends what I use my phone for each day.

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YesThatTom2
I’m hoping some jerk complains about this new trend so I can point out that
haiku was invented in the 1600s.

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DanBC
JennaMarbles and Julien Solomita covered this app, and the "Alive with me"
(only chat if you have 95%+ battery life) and they seemed to enjoy it.

[https://youtu.be/id2engoWMv8?t=554](https://youtu.be/id2engoWMv8?t=554)

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
I actually watched that for the first time over the weekend. They liked Die
with Me, but Alive with me was "dead"

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lcnmrn
Chat app that lets you post only one message at a time per channel at
dubfi.com :)

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yyhhsj0521
How is this whole thread turning into Reddit.

~~~
DonHopkins
Because sometimes people don't follow the guidelines.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

>Please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a
semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.

