On social media, your best friend announces their excitement to be starting a new job—but at dinner, they tell you they’re nervous. Your mom posts a picture of the family at Christmas, but what she doesn’t share is the story that made everyone cry tears of joy at the table (too personal). Your brother posts links to triggering political news articles because “more trolls = more engagement,” even though he doesn’t even like politics. And your sister posts pictures of a life she isn’t actually living—all in the name of “more likes.”
Somewhere along the way, social media went seriously wrong.
As it turns out, treating people and relationships as “media” has massive ramifications.
It has turned social media into digital malls.
Where you hoped to find your friends, instead you found ads, bots, likes, filters, influencers, followers, misinformation, and more. Where you hoped to have meaningful conversations, instead you found yourself falling down the rabbit hole of blinking red notifications and an algorithmic feed of meaningless content. Where you hoped for a safe space to keep in touch with your siblings, family members, neighbors, and friends from college, you found content from people you’ve never met before—the whole thing feeling invasive, even creepy.
Social media has become the 21st century cigarette. The more we inhale, the sicker we get.
So where do you go when you want to share something with the people who mean the most to you, online?
Where do you have real conversations with real people, digitally?
To have private conversations with the people closest to you, your only option has been through 1:1 direct messaging platforms. In most cases, these direct messages lived on social media networks that were still “listening.” Mention cameras or going fishing and suddenly the ads in your feed would change. And while you chat back and forth, other sections of your screen light up and flicker like lottery machines, tempting you to click back into ad land and scroll just a few more times. In a best-case scenario, the platform might be a stand-alone messaging app, but would be owned by a larger social network using it to mine user data.
Social media, as it stands today, makes sharing real moments with real friends impossible.
We believe this is a massive problem—and it’s time to get real.
The first Real-Relationship Network: HalloApp.
Imagine your friends online were your real friends.
Imagine your feed wasn’t filled with people and posts you didn’t care about.
Imagine scrolling through meaningful moments and seeing what you wanted you to see—not what the algorithm wanted you to see.
Imagine not being treated like a product.
HalloApp is the first Real-Relationship Network.
No ads. No bots. No likes. No trolls. No followers. No algorithms. No influencers. No photo filters. No “feed fatigue.” No misinformation spreading like wildfire.
Unlike legacy social networks, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. HalloApp uses your phone address book to connect you with the real relationships in your life, and that’s it. Beyond that, we never collect, store, or use any personal information (we have no idea where you live, what you do for work, or how likely you are to consume a certain type of content). More importantly, we will never show you ads. Ever. Instead, we plan to eventually offer additional features at a small cost.
All of your chats are end-to-end encrypted, and no one outside of your chats can read them.
Not even us.
Our vision at HalloApp is to build a simple, safe, private place for people to connect and share what matters—with the people who matter most.
Engagement metrics are irrelevant.
Algorithms don’t exist.
Just your real relationships in complete privacy.
On HalloApp, you’re free to be yourself online.