Show HN: Whenish – Plan Group Events in iMessages
50 comments
·May 22, 2025isodev
Does it work on Android? We have to be realistic, 2/3 of the group is not on iOS or using iMessage :)
bruceb
App size: 990.2 KB I don't think I have seen an iOS app under 1mb ever. Wow!
ekglimmer
I like this execution! I created something similar, www.pigeon.ooo, with the intent of eventually adding some scheduling functionality but alas, my own schedule has filled up so have not had a chance yet.
cAtte_
beautiful domain name
Benlights
Just use polls in Whatsapp
andrewfromx
how does it look on someone's phone who doesn't have the app installed yet?
devgoth
heyo! so it will show the Whenish thumbnail in the chat when it is sent. when the user without Whenish clicks on it they will be routed to the app store to download Whenish.
awill
I get it, but that's a hurdle for a lot of people. If someone is using this just once, they don't want to download an app. This feels like it will take convincing.
andrewfromx
oic. maybe add an ascii poll display until it's installed?
AnonC
What is the planned business model here? I see that this is published by an LLC and also that it doesn’t collect any data (the latter is great to know).
On the app itself, I don’t understand why it allows selecting past dates in the current month (e.g., Why al I allowed to select May 1st?) I can understand allowing a day or so to account for time zone differences, but usually people across large time zones differences wouldn’t be the audience for this app since it doesn’t allow for availability by time of the day.
devgoth
im toying with the idea of maybe releasing more features in a premium upsell (one time $0.99 purchase or something like that). still ironing that out.
i release ios apps under an LLC in hopes that one day an app will make money and i would rather that be associated with an LLC.
good question on past dates! i will fix that :)
tmpz22
Looks compelling from the app store page! Because I might use it I have to ask - how do permission work around messages? I'd assume something like this:
* Install App
* App cannot passively READ messages
* When I need to use the app, like in a group chat where we are spontaneously planning an event, I can invite it into the chat so that the group can input their preferences
* Other group members (who may also need to install the app) can interact with the widget to submit their planning prefferences
* Widget then WRITES results back to the chat
Does it ever read my messages? Does it ever write messages to the chat? Does my entire group chat need to install it?
Great work. Seems well targeted and that it could help a lot of folks.
devgoth
this app never reads any messages. the iMessage framework is very strict around privacy...so much so that you are unable to get user information of. This is why you will see Participate 1, 2, 3 instead of the person's name. There is no way to get this information of who the sender is! Kudos to apple for this.
The only message that is written to the chat is when you hit submit. There is no external service as all information is stored as metadata on the message itself. I did not want to have an external server (which has its own challenges, see in another message around collisions).
Your entire group can see the message but in order to interact with the poll they will need to download the app. They will be redirected to the app store if they do not have the app after clicking.
frizlab
Hey this looks interesting! Too bad I can’t download it. Why prevent France from downloading?
devgoth
let me take a look! iirc there was some compliance related documents Apple may have needed that freaked me out a bit? ill dig into it. apologies for this!
dylan604
from a non-app developer, that's something I'd never even contemplated. I've only ever released websites, and I don't give a damn about compliance anything. I've spent time making something on my own, and now making it available for anyone else that comes across it to view. If the viewer lives in a country that has rules I'm never going to read, that's the viewer's problem. Luckily for the viewer, anything I make does not include any of the shit that has been attempted to be regulated. But if I did something offends those regulations, don't care.
These related documents you speak really makes me not want to app. I'm glad there are braver people than me. The only thing I can offer is "fly low and avoid the radar"
dcrazy
You might have missed the hubbub about websites shutting down or banning UK visitors due to concerns about complying with the Online Safety Act.
devgoth
should be available in 24 hours...
if anyone knows about this (i remember i saw a warning by Apple) please let me know!
dimitry12
> Whenish is an iMessage app
Where can I read more about using iMessage as a medium for generic multi-player collaboration? Or if you can just share the right keywords, I will appreciate that!
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GuinansEyebrows
oh, this is cool. crossing my fingers apple buys you out for a fat payday (if that's something you want) cause this seems like a natural feature for imessage/ical!
mikehotel
Congrats on publishing!
It seems like a very polished and better integrated version of https://www.when2meet.com/.
You say you do not collect info. Are you saving the meeting details and availability in a database?
devgoth
there is no external server! all meeting information is stored as metadata on the message.
this leads to some issues with potential collisions like if two people click the Whenish message at the same time and submit their message, there is no way to merge both that data. while this is an issue, i wanted to err on the side of privacy as much as possible and not rely on a server at all.
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aagha
What happens to your friends on Android?
devgoth
alas this is focused on iOS and i do not have plans to port to Android for the moment :(
kaladin-jasnah
You should be aware of the social impact this makes. iMessage is already partitioning Android and iPhone users socially. These products just make it worse and will exclude people from social groupa even more. There's also that lower income individuals who can't afford an iPhone and use Android devices for cost related reasons would lose out on event planning.
dmitrygr
Given the amount of SMS spam and the lack of such on iMessage, I am, at this point, ready for iMessage-only life. The few friends I had who were not iPhone users, I gifted them iPhones. So far none switched back, and I get to ignore all non-iMessage incoming messages (and thus 100% of SMS spam)
dylan604
friends don't let friends android??
null
hey everyone! i built Whenish because it was always so difficult to figure out what date worked best with a bunch of friends in a group chat.
Whenish is an iMessage app that allows individuals to select multiple dates that work for them for an event attempting to be planned for.
i have more ideas for new features but wanted to get something out there that was usable. so far ive had good reception in my friend group chats of Whenish.
download it, give it a go, let me know what you think! this is my first app i felt ~good~ about releasing.