"A feature called 'thumbkissing' shows your partners thumbprints whenever they’re touching the screen, and both phones will vibrate if your thumbs are on the same place."
This is clearly the best YC startup ever. Hurry up on the Android app for those of us in mixed relationships!
We're working furiously fast to have Android ready ASAP. It's only a few weeks behind and is almost done. This is right now our #1 request, cross-platform relationships are in these days!
It was definitely not meant to be sarcastic :) we actually do have Android very close to being done and soon Pair will be cross platform! Sorry for any confusion :)
How did you get sarcasm from that post? Kalvin clearly seemed to enjoy the idea, particularly because he/she is currently in a relationship. I am in a long-distance relationship currently and I think "thumb-kissing" and the whole app in general is really brilliant. I'd use it, but unfortunately she's got a Blackberry.
I'm curious: are you in a relationship? That's not meant to be a jab; I just think that there's a pretty big gap in "getting" this idea between those in relationships and those who aren't.
Tl;dr: the sexting app. I met one of the cofounders at the Stripe CTF meetup. They're a Waterloo U. Team, seemed like a sharp group. Pair was their pivot. Initially they had a 3D mouse based on the iPhone accelerometers.
Call me old school but I'd rather find someone who lives in the same city than try to maintain a relationship through an app. If you absolutely need to stay in touch with someone every minute of everyday it's probably better to just move.
The solution to working too much to be in touch with the partner you really care about is not an app, it's telling your boss to shove the job up his ass. That said, I doubt there will be any shortage of suckers who prefer to spend time at the office than with their partner.
I'm currently living in California. My girlfriend lives in Ontario. Sometimes "just moving" isn't really an option.
Besides, I don't think this is /exclusively/ for long distance relationships. I'm sure there are some couples not in a long distance situation that would enjoy this.
>The solution to working too much to be in touch with the partner you really care about is not an app, it's telling your boss to shove the job up his ass.
Agreed, but then there are those of us who formed solid, committed relationships before we had to or have to move and want to keep them alive. Even being on the other side of the same state from your fiancee is painful, man!
> "Call me old school but I'd rather find someone who lives in the same city"
When my wife and I first met and started dating online (in 1998, before it was common) we worried that her grandparents wouldn't approve. It turns out, grandma and grandpa thought it was a cute reminder of their own youth; they had courted through letters. "Old school" indeed...
Sometimes, despite all your plans and desires, you fall in love with someone who circumstances don't permit you to spend as much time with as you'd like. Maybe you're finishing college, deployed to a combat zone, or tending to an ailing/dying relative. Or maybe you're just busy because you're either caring for your 4 kids, or making sure they have food on the plate.
Life is like that, and has been since long before you were born. Making it easier to connect to your loved ones is a good thing.
I've currently spent 3 months away from my partner, and have one month to go. This is not the first time we've spent more than a month away from each other, and due to circumstances beyond our control, it likely won't be the last. Being half way across the globe from each other, sometimes we can only talk for 5 minutes in a day, when one of us wakes us and the other is staving off sleep. Technology is exactly what has helped us bridge that gap, those quick WhatsApp "Thinking of You"s and the like.
There are times when short term sacrifices are needed. Technology helps make that sacrifice a little easier.
Well, sometimes a two-sigma smarter/hotter/funner partner is an hour or two away. It's usually worth it, if it works out, you end up moving in together somewhere in the middle. If they're farther, then someone does a job hunt. If you're in software, you've got a decently liquid market for that.
Sounds like exactly the same thing as the South Korean produced 'Between' app, which is already cross platform. Not to say that they couldn't execute better, but it's not a novel idea.
The biggest problem I find with long distance relationships, especially across time zones, is the real time nature of it. It's blocking. Especially for two busy people.
I would rather record a small video (rather than video chat), write an actual email (rather than IM back and forth), draw a silly picture (than send smiley faces back and forth). If you could change it from feeling like a status report to a message in a bottle, it really does change the dynamics of a long distance relationship.
Funny enough I recently stopped dating someone because of the distance factor. Maybe Pair could have solved that "problem".
This is disgustingly cute, but that's the point. I could definitely imagine people using this (it would eliminate a lot of one-word "hi" type SMSes...)
I wonder how they're going to handle migration between relationships.
The point is to send a "unit of thinking about you" that's simple but unique enough that it's not mechanical (like a "poke" would be). Pair seems like it could bring this little habit to more relationships, or at least displace text and email for those who do this.
How about a service that you could enter all these things in the morning and it would send them throughout the day? Like a Buffer for "unit of thinking of you".
Scheduled spontaneity is a great term! I love it :)
You can use http://www.ohdontforget.com (this is not my startup) for scheduled spontaneity - it is like Buffer and it's free (in the US at least)!
My wife and I just tried it out and loved it. We were giggling like little kids playing around with the app's features.
On a more serious note, the shared todo list is great! No doubt a lot of other apps have this but with chat, photo sharing, Facetime, and thumbkisses, this makes Pair an awesome app. I would've easily bought this for $2-4/user.
Speaking of shared todo-lists, I'd love to see an app for roommates that handle all the todos of a household and break them down by common tasks:
(1) Food in the pantry - what do we have and what's finished
(2) Bill paying (link into a service like WePay)
(3) Major/large household purchases
(4) Group chat for the household (allow linking of chat to the todo-lists and vice versa)
Bonus points if the app allows you to "connect" to neighbors you know well to know what things you are willing to share with one another like tools.
I'm not sure how well an app would work outside dense urban areas, but in any place where unrelated people live with one another and coordinate with one another, such an app would be useful.
Are they planning to introduce a pro version of the application? Some multitenant upgrade? It could apply advanced machine learning techniques to identify which of your girlfriends/spouses is using the phone and hide all the other communication. Not that I would need it, but it could significantly lower the divorce rates :)
Add a security feature with optional passcode and store the images in a way that hides them from prying eyes, and you're guaranteed a million billion horny college students as users.
Ben the Bodyguard[1] meets SMS/MMS for relationships.
Maybe we'll see fewer celebrity photos leak after this[2].
I've been waiting for something like this.
Can you allow users to select photos, videos from the library during the on boarding process? Also, would be great if it could automatically pull in my instagram photos. :)
(I'm actually being serious here. I could see this working, but probably not in the US where the concept of the nuclear family is much weaker. In Latin America or some European markets this could work quite well. There's probably an Asian equivalent to Path for extended families as well)
Minor point: there is already pair.com. Maybe only people on HN would be at all "confused" by this, everyone else being unaware of that category of business, much less a specific one. But pair.com might take it a little more seriously.
81 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 160 ms ] thread"A feature called 'thumbkissing' shows your partners thumbprints whenever they’re touching the screen, and both phones will vibrate if your thumbs are on the same place."
This is clearly the best YC startup ever. Hurry up on the Android app for those of us in mixed relationships!
I'm curious: are you in a relationship? That's not meant to be a jab; I just think that there's a pretty big gap in "getting" this idea between those in relationships and those who aren't.
Someone should compile a list of initial ideas vs pivots. It would be interesting to see how many groups had pivots this drastic.
The solution to working too much to be in touch with the partner you really care about is not an app, it's telling your boss to shove the job up his ass. That said, I doubt there will be any shortage of suckers who prefer to spend time at the office than with their partner.
Besides, I don't think this is /exclusively/ for long distance relationships. I'm sure there are some couples not in a long distance situation that would enjoy this.
http://www.ci.ontario.ca.us/
This app, or one like it, will be huge.
Agreed, but then there are those of us who formed solid, committed relationships before we had to or have to move and want to keep them alive. Even being on the other side of the same state from your fiancee is painful, man!
When my wife and I first met and started dating online (in 1998, before it was common) we worried that her grandparents wouldn't approve. It turns out, grandma and grandpa thought it was a cute reminder of their own youth; they had courted through letters. "Old school" indeed...
Sometimes, despite all your plans and desires, you fall in love with someone who circumstances don't permit you to spend as much time with as you'd like. Maybe you're finishing college, deployed to a combat zone, or tending to an ailing/dying relative. Or maybe you're just busy because you're either caring for your 4 kids, or making sure they have food on the plate.
Life is like that, and has been since long before you were born. Making it easier to connect to your loved ones is a good thing.
Yep.
There are times when short term sacrifices are needed. Technology helps make that sacrifice a little easier.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kr.co.vcnc.and...
http://itunes.apple.com/app/id458035189?mt=8
I would rather record a small video (rather than video chat), write an actual email (rather than IM back and forth), draw a silly picture (than send smiley faces back and forth). If you could change it from feeling like a status report to a message in a bottle, it really does change the dynamics of a long distance relationship.
Funny enough I recently stopped dating someone because of the distance factor. Maybe Pair could have solved that "problem".
I wonder how they're going to handle migration between relationships.
But my cofounder Sri and I downloaded it and started playing together. Few minutes in we were giggling like children and I now see the value in Pair.
It's perfect for those serious couples with useful features like task lists, built-in Facetime, ability to show "where you are" etc.
Good job!
- Text her a random emoji
- Email her an image I've found (usually using our app Prism http://www.steamclocksw.com/prism/)
- Send her a Draw Something drawing
The point is to send a "unit of thinking about you" that's simple but unique enough that it's not mechanical (like a "poke" would be). Pair seems like it could bring this little habit to more relationships, or at least displace text and email for those who do this.
I'm only half joking
Scheduled spontaneity.
[1]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0559091/
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rHyUeD5UrA
On a more serious note, the shared todo list is great! No doubt a lot of other apps have this but with chat, photo sharing, Facetime, and thumbkisses, this makes Pair an awesome app. I would've easily bought this for $2-4/user.
(1) Food in the pantry - what do we have and what's finished (2) Bill paying (link into a service like WePay) (3) Major/large household purchases (4) Group chat for the household (allow linking of chat to the todo-lists and vice versa)
Bonus points if the app allows you to "connect" to neighbors you know well to know what things you are willing to share with one another like tools.
I'm not sure how well an app would work outside dense urban areas, but in any place where unrelated people live with one another and coordinate with one another, such an app would be useful.
Ben the Bodyguard[1] meets SMS/MMS for relationships.
Maybe we'll see fewer celebrity photos leak after this[2].
[1]: http://benthebodyguard.com
[2]: This is a good thing.
(I'm actually being serious here. I could see this working, but probably not in the US where the concept of the nuclear family is much weaker. In Latin America or some European markets this could work quite well. There's probably an Asian equivalent to Path for extended families as well)
http://db.tt/l1PKD0hd
Notably There != Their.