22 September 2026

Slow social

A good app gives you your time back.

Most social apps are built to keep you on them. The longer you scroll, the more they make, so the feed never ends, the notifications keep coming, and the next post is always picked to hold you a bit longer.

Present is built the other way. It's there to show you what your mates are up to, then encourage you to put the phone down.

The feed ends. When you've seen what your mates posted, Present tells you and stops.

Notifications come once a day by default, and only when something actually happened.

Video is six seconds. Long enough to tell a story, short enough to keep it interesting.

There's nothing to discover. No suggested posts, no strangers, no trending tab.

And every post is taken live, with the camera, so Present works best when you're out doing things.

Five minutes catching up with your mates, then back to your day. That's the whole idea.

We're not the only ones building this way. Roost sends your messages by pigeon, snail or turtle, so they take real time to arrive. Different app, same idea: tech should be worth opening, then get out of the way.

BrianFounder, Present