> Eat my butt, Apple. Eat my butt, Google. Just let me publish my frickin app, you already emptied my pockets.<p>I feel this. A few years ago, I made a joke app[1] which got a bit famous on campus back when I was in school, and the process of getting it on the Play store was literally harder than writing the darn thing. Nowadays, it even got removed from the Play store for some reason. I couldn't imagine running an app for a living where you have to deal with absentee/abusive parents like Google and Apple just to put bread on the table.<p>Cool app and congrats on the users! 400 ain't nothin' to scoff at :)<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0nn8d6katk" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0nn8d6katk</a>
I made a "feeding tracker" app because my wife wanted to wean our infant off breast milk. There are mobile apps that do this, but the problem was that we didn't want to wake up our child due to the phone screen at night. So, I hooked up an IoT button to Lambda + Dynamo, created a UI and everything -- my wife only needed to press the button. Turns out my wife was generally too sleepy and forgot to press the button. Also turns out that she liked to breast feed anyway, so the app went totally unused. User requirements are hard!
Given the annoyance the author expresses at the difficultly in getting the app into the Google and Apple app stores, I'm surprised they didn't just make a webapp instead. Since they were already using React, that would seem pretty natural. This app doesn't use any mobile-specific features, so it seems like doing a webapp would fit well.
Why does an app like this need to have a sign-up process with email, username and password? It’s enough for me to not try the app because of the mental overhead and risks involved, but it also seems like a bunch of additional development for no (or maybe negative) benefit.
My immediate thought: the algorithm is wrong! Deciding which film to watch together isn't a matter of both parties saying which films they are willing to watch and then picking one from the intersection of those two sets. It's a negotiation, and it could be like negotiating Brexit.<p>Take just a simple example: suppose P1 and P2 are both willing to watch films F1 and F2, but P1 would prefer to watch F1 and P2 would prefer to watch F2. But suppose P1 knows, because of an unguarded remark that P2 made, that P2 is willing to watch F1, but P1 has managed to keep quiet about their willingness to watch F2. Then P1 can "win" the negotiation by claiming that they are only willing to watch F1.<p>So this app needs to be upgraded to act as an agent on behalf of each user. Each user tells the app which films they are willing to watch and what their preferences are, and also what information they have managed to obtain about the preferences of the adversary (significant other). The two AI-powered agents then negotiate on behalf of the users, complete with bogus deadlines, threats to walk out and so on.<p>A premium version of the app could take account of other household duties, long-standing grievances and so on and use them as additional "bargaining chips".
> Last weekend, my partner had her friends stay with us over the weekend. We needed to find a movie to watch. This was my chance! I was so excited!<p>> "Let's use WeWatch!"<p>> "No, it would take too long. Let's just watch Space Jam."<p>I watch a lot of movies and honestly the swipe-approach would take way too long. My preferred way is to just scroll through a long list of movies (alphabetically) and pick one I want to watch. Or some of the movies in the list will remind me of a different movie I want to watch. Just movie titles, no images or anything else.<p>One thing you realize is that a lot of movies start with "The".
This could / should have been a Show HN: with an App name behind it. But I think this story telling is so much better than Show HN and the story is great and funny. I guess other people will have to take notes with their product launch.
I feel like we need a add-on to the old quote 'Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.'<p>'Some people, when confronted with a interpersonal relationship problem, think "I know, I'll use software". Now they have two problems.'<p>This is cute, but it's trying to solve a people problem with software.
ToS and Privacy Policy links don't work for me in the App on iOS. Big no no since it's one of these Apps where I don't really want to sign up and reveal my information in the first place. The sign up process kind of ruins the simplicity of the idea for me.
Oh man, I've made so much software for my wife and family. She never uses my stuff!<p>First, wouldn't use my math apps for kids (Math Planet, Math Pop, Numbaland) bc she was against screen time. Then, for her, I made a math app that specifically doesn't involve screentime (adaptive practice where parents read out math problems) — and she still didn't use it. My kids like it, in any case: Factflow.io
I used to work on recommendations for Google TV (Google search "what to watch") and I always wanted the team to implement a feature like this.<p>One thing to be aware of since you're trying to monetize, don't be surprised if you see a cease and desist soon from the major studios and services for using their artwork. Netflix in particular is really strict here.<p>Best of luck, I love the project!
My wife and I are going to use this. Great idea, considered it myself, thanks for doing it!<p>It would nice to swipe on the descriptions.<p>It would be nice to see ratings from different site(IMDb, rotten tomatoes)<p>It'd be great to employ a magic link in email to sign in rather than needing a password and email confirmation. That'd help me get my non-techy friends using it quickly.
The complaints about having to have enough screenshots and information seems really ... dumb? The website has a bunch of screenshots and info, and users will not download the app without it. Google and Apple are doing you a favor by requiring that you provide enough information.<p>I think Apple's $100/yr is crazy, but I don't think Google's $25 is bad. If you plan to make any money at all on it, that's nothing.<p>Scrolling through the site, it feels like the site is constantly hiding information from me, and then spoon-feeding me bits that I don't care about. The text doesn't even show up until it's halfway up my screen, and then it's just a scroll or 2 from disappearing. Scroll too fast and it's really hard to read. Maybe you should animate the information leaving, instead of appearing. You definitely should provide more information in a readable form.
I remember pitching my SO 'Where is my wife, app', and she jokingly refused by saying that I know where she she is: "Target". I found that amusing given that she shares her location with all the other apps she uses.
I’ll give this a try with my wife. We struggle with this.<p>The requirement to log in is a huge deterrent though - why not just use a UUID or something based on the phone?<p>Also, I don’t know if you can scrape a small synopsis and include it, along with the genre, underneath the film? I had no idea what the first 30-40 films that came up for me were.
Is it free software so it can be added to the f-droid repo? They have not nearly as insane requirements as the other distribution channels and encourage donations. I can't find a source link anywhere so I guess its proprietary?<p>Edit: While trying to sign in, the service required me to add a special character to my 32 character long alphanumeric password. Requiring the user to use x different kind of character types just annoys people and doesn't make your service more secure.
Tip on App Store fud: set up fastlane to automate your deployment. I have mine down to a single command to publish to both app stores, or to both Google Play Internal track and TestFlight. It’s a bit of a pain to set up, but saves me tons of time now. You can even automate screenshots, App Store metadata etc.<p><a href="https://fastlane.tools/" rel="nofollow">https://fastlane.tools/</a>
> Eat my butt, Apple. Eat my butt, Google. Just let me publish my frickin app, you already emptied my pockets.<p>If you are tired of the duopoly, consider supporting GNU/Linux phones. They are not perfect yet, but for the HN audience can already be daily drivers.
Looks like a great idea. I'd have probably just made a webapp though, and skipped all the walled garden hurdles you mention. I did see the "web version coming soon" blurb.<p>Is there something about this that works significantly better as native?
We used a similar app for baby names- it’s a great idea for all sorts of consensus. I actually think there’s a large opportunity to apply this in all sorts of ways: baby names and movies are both great ideas, but anytime multiple people want to create intersecting sets. Another one we thought of was pictures: 5 people take 2-3 pictures of the same group photo, you have 10-15 pictures that Becky wants to post, with everyone wanting to pick the one where they “look best”, how do you decide which one to use?
Great concept, not ready for prime time.<p>I download the app. OK.<p>I enter email, a user name, have LastPass generate a password, paste that in, click on send verification email, click on the link in the email....<p>So I can sign in again, right? Nope. Somewhere in that process, the clipboard was voided, so I have lost that password...<p>...and there is no password recovery button on the sign-in page.<p>Sure, there is a resend validation email link, but as soon as I enter my email, it disappears under my keyboard, and I cannot access it - but it's not what I want, I want password reset.<p>True, I am irked beyond all reasonable belief because I was trying to do something quickly to find a movie for my GF and me, but to miss such a key point? No password reset on the main screen?<p>If you are going to send a verification email anyway, just skip setting the password until the person has verified their email, and INCLUDE A PASSWORD RESET LINK.<p>No contact us, nothing.<p>Nice idea, really bad execution so far.
In my mind this is an example of solving a problem that does not exist.
Why just not simply say "we watching 2 movies a week, once you choose and I'll choose next, and so on..."?<p>p.s. Credits and kudos for learning new things !
I wouldn’t use it either, for the same reason. Choosing a movie now takes 1 second for each card since they’re displayed one at a time and I have to do something to say NO.<p>How about you just show me a list where I can mark what I like and then get a list at the end. Then just switch phones and see each other’s list. Instead of an exact match, you limit each other’s choice to 10 movies you just picked.
> I Made A Mobile App for my Significant Other (And She Won't Use It)<p>There’s an app you can get to solve this problem. It’s quite similar to your app.
I wish the title more accurately reflected that the article is about an app and that the significant other appears only in that anecdote. At the moment it's a bit disappointing for people who were hoping there's more to this story.
Instead of working with user accounts, why not give the user the ability to create a link with a unique code? You can send that link to your SO who opens is and can start swiping. Makes the onboarding easier and it can be just a web app.
A little more granularity than yes/no would be nice. There are a lot more movies that I'm willing to watch if my partner is super into it at the moment compared to ones I'd really want to watch outside of how they feel.
Made a login on iOS but it won’t accept it. The password generated by 1password was 24 characters and it was accepted during the creation process, but login fails. It blows me away how often this happens. Uninstalling....
Hmm...
Such a strong password requirement for a casual app. No google signup integration. <i>clicks on the user and see the submission</i> "Check username availability ..." ookay. Thx.
Love this! I'm happy to see this having actually been brought to life - congrats! Would love to have the ability to look at what you've swiped right on somehow.
> I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it<p>Then you did not make it for her. You made it for you. Sounds like this can be fixed.
> <i>Eat my butt, Apple. Eat my butt, Google. Just let me publish my frickin app, you already emptied my pockets.</i><p>Said the guy whole stole the data that he couldn't have made the app without.
Maybe you were "solving" something that wasn't a problem.<p>Perhaps the process of talking about what you are going to watch together is a valuable and fun part of your relationship in of itself.
> Last weekend, my partner had her friends stay with us over the weekend. We needed to find a movie to watch. This was my chance! I was so excited!<p>> "Let's use WeWatch!"<p>> "No, it would take too long. Let's just watch Space Jam."<p>The guy did a not-insignificant amount of work on an app and his... "partner"... didn't even entertain the idea of using it; if not for mere exposure to their friends, at least for an actual "good" suggestion.<p>Guy, you might wanna re-evaluate your "partnership".<p>But hey, at least now I'm inspired to download it and try it out.