I've been building an app called nook. and I'm curious to hear what people outside my own circle think about it.
The idea is to make messaging feel a little less like an endless list of messages and a little more like a shared space. Not by replacing chat, but by giving conversations somewhere else to live, too.
Every space in nook. has a selector between Canvas and Chat.
Chat works like you'd expect. You can message, reply, react, share photos and GIFs, send voice notes, draw, see when someone is typing, and check whether your messages have been sent, delivered or read.
The canvas is a shared wall where you can leave things for everyone in the space. You can pin a message from chat onto the wall or create something directly on it. Add stickers, notes, photos, drawings, GIFs and checklists, then move things around and arrange them however you like.
The idea is that not everything has to disappear into chat history. Some things can stay visible, become part of the space, and be revisited later.
I can imagine it being useful for friends planning a trip, couples sharing little moments, or families keeping track of everyday things. But I'm interested in whether other people see the same potential, or whether the canvas is more appealing as an idea than something they'd actually use.
What else is in nook.?
There's quite a bit more to it than the canvas:
Chat: One-to-one conversations and group spaces, with replies, reactions, photos, GIFs, voice notes, drawings, stickers and checklists.
Message interactions: Long-press messages to access additional actions, including pinning messages to the canvas.
Real-time features: Typing indicators, online presence, live message updates, and sent, delivered and read receipts.
Spaces: Create a space, invite people with a code, or start a direct conversation. Users can also connect through their own @handle.
Canvas: A shared, endless wall where you can add, move, resize and arrange notes, photos, stickers, GIFs, drawings and checklists.
Stickers: Around 400 stickers, quick replies and the ability to create your own stickers or turn images into them.
Customisation: Personalise your profile and chat appearance, with colour choices reflected throughout the app.
Dark mode: A complete alternative look, switching from the warm, paper-inspired light theme to a more restrained monochrome aesthetic.
Voice notes and calls: Record voice messages directly in chat or make calls through the in-app interface, with native incoming-call integration.
Media manager: Find shared media without digging through old conversations.
Privacy controls: Manage online and last-seen visibility, notification previews and other account settings.
Temporary conversations: Burner spaces for conversations that aren't meant to last forever.
Offline support: Messages can queue and retry when connectivity drops, with improved recovery when you're back online.
Everything has been built from scratch from the UI and animations to the interaction logic and systems behind each feature. I've spent a lot of time testing, fixing things and working through details that you don't necessarily notice when everything works as it should, especially with real-time features and interactions across the app.
It's been a much bigger project than I initially expected. I've put a lot of work into making sure the features actually work together properly, rather than just making the app look good in screenshots. At this point, I genuinely feel nook. is a solid app, not just an interesting concept or a prototype. Of course, it's not perfect, and there's still plenty to improve. I expect there'll be things I haven't considered until more people start using it, and I'm also thinking about how to make sure it can grow properly as more people join.
The app is built for both iOS and Android. iOS is my primary device, so that's where I've spent more time polishing the experience, but Android is part of the project too.
That's also why I'd like to share nook. with people outside my own circle. I want to hear how other people experience it, what makes sense to them, what doesn't, and what I might be missing. It's easy to get used to your own ideas when you've spent so long working on them, so getting an outside perspective would genuinely help.
nook. is currently in TestFlight, and I'm happy to share access with anyone who wants to give it a try.
Thanks for reading!
