

Rate my startup: Zwapp, a unique social view of the App Store - vanelsas
http://www.zwapp.com

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Gimpson
Thank you so much for only requesting the permissions you need when looking
for friends via Facebook. I'm so frustrated by the number of apps that request
permission to post just so I can find friends. (And I'll never grant that
permission.)

Edit: Though it looks like you're asking permission to update Twitter, and
that's making me hesitant.

~~~
vanelsas
There is only one point in the app where we ask (politely) if you are willing
to tweet about Zwapp.

That is in the autoshare section of Settings. You remain in control at all
times about posts. You can turn sharing to social networks on/off but
everything defaults to off.

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anupam_tulsyan
Nice idea. Apps are one niche it can be extended to other things utilizing
social networks to get real time recommendations from friends.

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bradhe
Cool idea, but I wouldn't give you any money for this. How do you see this
growing in to a startup?

~~~
vanelsas
Its a three month project that we did. The app is free and will remain free.
It is born out of a frustration that finding apps is becoming more difficult
and that browsing the App Store just isn't working. In real life, the first
thing we do is compare apps on our phones, so why not do that on your phone
too.

~~~
KingOfB
Might want to consider getting some app review people on board and feature
their accounts as accounts to follow.

~~~
vanelsas
We have thought about things like that but to be honest, we want to keep the
experience focussed on your friends. There are already enough top app lists
around. What makes Zwapp different imo is that it gives you direct access to
the apps and reviews of your friends instead of strangers.

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gavingmiller
I'm interested in what you've done to make money off of this? Is it via
affiliate links?

~~~
vanelsas
We have affiliate links set up which will provide some revenue.

The site is still very clean, almost Instagr.am -ish, but we are also working
on a web view where you can see and share each others app profiles (see
<http://www.zwapp.com/users/237> for a work in progress example).

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tled
How do you get the apps list on other people's phone

~~~
vanelsas
Just connect with your friends (using Facebook, Twitter, or your contact list)
and you can then browse your friends apps. Zwapp detects apps automatically on
your device with a few clever tricks.

Also the real-time feed shows you the apps your friends are downloading now,
reviews, likes etc.

~~~
KingOfB
By Clever, do you mean a private API? I'd be interested in how if not!

~~~
vanelsas
we do two things: 1) We check on custom schemes (btw: watch that space as we
will open source our work on that shortly!) 2) We check processes on iOS4
devices and match those as well.

The algorithm learns and will detect better and more with increased usage.

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anupam_tulsyan
why not allow login directly using facebook or twitter account?

~~~
vanelsas
because not every user wants that, and tbh we're a bit unhappy with the
reliability of both FB and Twitter.

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start123
The site is down!

~~~
vanelsas
Where are you accessing it from? Seems to work fine here, although we are
getting a spike in traffic now

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arnodenhond
isn't iphone almost out of business? what about an android version?

~~~
vanelsas
We really want to do an Android version, it is a great platform too. We are
working on Android already.

We want to strengthen our Android team so if you know any good Android devs
they can contact us for a job!

