

Show HN: iPhone app that gives out Visa Gift Cards for not texting while driving - mrsamaki
http://www.Samaki.com

======
mrsamaki
App developer here. My app, Samaki Rewards, gamifies safe-driving. You get
points for driving safe. You can then use these points to get discounts and/or
Visa Gift Cards.

I partnered with GiftCards.com, who has offered to give out gift cards to safe
drivers. I'm also working with TireBuyer.com, JewelMint, and HowAboutWe to
give discounts on their sites as well. All deals will be available on Friday.

This is my first iPhone app. I learned Objective C just to complete this
project. There are a few more features that I would like to have included, but
I promised GiftCards.com and TechStars NYC that I would have it up by week's
end. And we all know how long it takes to get an app approved.

I'd love to hear feedback, advice and comments. Drive with the app around
town, and see how it goes. <http://www.Samaki.com>

------
niggler
"We do not allow phone conversations while driving. Yup, that includes hands-
free accessories. "

Any particular reason for banning hands-free devices, especially given that
most cars nowadays have them and that many are controlled on the steering
wheel directly?

~~~
mrsamaki
It's really just based upon the new studies showing that "hands-free talking"
isn't any less distracting. In short, it doesn't make driving safer.

------
spartango
Fun little app, for a good cause too! Nicely done.

Quick question, what all do you do with the location data...I'd love just a
bit of transparency on what else you might use the data for. What data leaves
my device?

Anyway, I'll be trying this out.

~~~
mrsamaki
Your GPS data stays locally. I might, in the future, implement a "past route"
feature, so you can see how you performed, but that's in a future version.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try to make it more clear how I'm using the
data.

------
shanelja
Quick question.. What is to stop me and all my friends using this on my bus to
farm gift cards? I travel for 3 hours per day, I'm sure between the 6 of us we
could be a real pain in the ass.

~~~
mrsamaki
\--You get a huge "point bonus" for using a car charger, which is a real cheap
way to ensure that you're in a car, versus just standing in a bus. Also
prevents us from murdering your iPhone battery.

\--Given the way most busses operate (rough start/stops, crazy fast speeds,
rush rush rush), you'd probably throw off the algorithm, which would flag you
as "unsafe driving", and give you a shitty amount of points.

\--At least for our test group, we couldn't find that many people willing to
put down their iPhone when they didn't have to...Especially sitting on a bus
for 3+ hours. Lots of folks said that they would do that, but boredom always
got the best of them.

~~~
shanelja
Ahhh I see, that makes a lot of sense, thanks for clarifying and I agree, not
using my phone for that period of time would be difficult, that's why I keep
my laptop on my for use on the bus ( _yeah, I'm one of those weird bus laptop
people_ ) - I might install this and see how much I can screw around with it
(all in the name of improvement of course) for instance, can I sandbox this so
it doesn't know when I use my phone, etc.

One major issue I have is this - internet coverage isn't perfect (I don't know
about the US but it sure sucks in the UK when you're in the country!) so
surely disconnecting for a few minute while you go over a hill, etc, would be
detrimental to your points. Personally, if I cared enough about this
application not to use my phone, I would probably check it out of paranoia to
see if the loss of internet in rural areas lost me points and it wold actually
be a negative impact, so with this in mind, how do you handle lag /
disconnection / poor coverage?

 _Of course_ , these are edge cases, but important ones which could lose you
custom in the long term.

~~~
mrsamaki
It doesn't need the internet to work. Once you log in, we keep you logged in
(unless you reboot your iPhone). So even if you reach a dead zone, you're
fine. Just make sure you have internet when you try to save your points :-)

~~~
shanelja
Oh I see, so the points are stored locally then uploaded to your server?

Definitely going to download this and see what I can mess around with then,
would love to see if I can inject a ridiculously long route and have it run
24/7 to trick it in to thinking I'm simply the most amazing driver and rack up
points then upload the route and drop you an email when I'm worth a few
thousand dollars worth of gift cards. :)

