Us: Couples Widget

Us is a widget for two people. Not a group, not a network, not everyone you have ever met — one other person.

Write them a note of a hundred characters and press send. It appears on their home screen. There is no app for them to open and no notification to clear. The note simply sits on their widget until you replace it with the next one.

That is the whole idea, and it is the reason Us stays quiet. Most apps are built to pull somebody back in. This one is built so neither of you has to come back at all.

SETTING IT UP TAKES ABOUT A MINUTE

• Type your name. That is the entire sign-up — no email, no password, nothing to confirm.
• One of you gets a six-character code. The other types it in.
• Add the Us widget to your home screen.

You are paired. From then on, opening Us is optional.

WHAT YOU CAN SEND

• A note — a hundred characters, in any of 20 fonts and 20 inks
• A photo — taken there and then, or one picture from your library
• A drawing — pen, eraser, line, rectangle and ellipse, any colour at any opacity, undone mark by mark
• A sticker — fast asleep, on my way, thank you, good luck, stay hydrated, missing you, and more
• A note set for later — write it tonight, let it reach their home screen in the morning

EVERY DAY, ONE QUESTION

The same question goes to both of you. Neither sees the other's answer until both have answered. It takes a few seconds and it is the closest thing Us has to a conversation.

SMALL GAMES, BOTH PHONES AT ONCE

Dots and Boxes, tic-tac-toe, and a memory game. Two people, one board, live. A reason to open the app on a Tuesday.

A WIDGET BUILT FOR A COUPLE

The widget is the app. Put it on your home screen at whatever size fits, and your person's last note sits there in their handwriting and their colour. No tapping through to read it. No badge counting up. For a couple living apart, it is the difference between checking a chat and simply seeing them there.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Couples living apart and couples living together. Long distance across timezones. A parent and a kid at university. Two friends who do not need a feed to stay in touch. Anyone for whom a home screen widget is a kinder place to be reached than a lock screen full of notifications.

WHAT US DOES NOT DO

• No feed, no likes, no follower count, no streaks to keep alive
• No group chats. The pair is the product
• No email or phone number at sign-up
• No ads, ever

FREE, AND US+

Free covers the whole shape of it: notes in three fonts and three inks, ten photos or drawings, stickers, the daily question, the games, and the widget.

Us+ opens the rest — all 20 fonts and 20 inks, photos and drawings without a limit, every sticker set, saving a photo or drawing to your phone, notes scheduled for later every day, and your full history back to the first note. One subscription covers both of you. Whoever buys it, you both have it.

Us is for one person. Pick them.

Recent changes:
Connect Four. That makes four games.

Say something at a board - a line to them without leaving the game.

How to play, for anyone who has not met Dots and Boxes before.

Every question you have both answered is kept, and opens from the question itself.

Tap a photo or a drawing to see it whole, and save it to your phone.