Social Messaging App Time Will Tell
iOS app development that locks photo or video messages into time capsules and sends them to the future to be opened at the appointed date.
About Time Will Tell
Our team of engineers successfully delivered a mobile app for a client based in the Netherlands. The project encompassed several critical stages: Discovery, Product Development, Maintenance, and Quality Assurance.
Our Expertise
Mobile App Development
Scope
Discovery phase
Product development
Maintenance
Quality Assurance
Vertical
Social Network
Key results
- 900 development hours
- Tech stack: PHP 5.5.9; Yii2; WordPress; MySQL 5.6; Swift 2.3; Alamofire; Crashlytics; PBJVideoPlayer; Fabric
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01
The Challenge
The Client envisioned the social messaging mobile app that would send messages but keep them locked until the appointed date and looked for a reliable partner to bring this idea to life. Once he specified the requirements, we recalled time capsules and felt we couldn’t miss the opportunity to bring this idea to life.
The application also has a second, more unobvious purpose.
It derives from the name – Time Will Tell. The app allows you to seal the most notable moments in the time capsule and give them a fresh look on the appointed date. Some events require additional effort to be accepted, and we often need time to sort things out.
Fortunately, bad memories fade away while happy ones prevail over time. That’s why we were exceptionally proud to create the app with the power of time on its side. The app that cures all wounds and carries happy moments through time and space.
02
The Solution
Use cases
Message capsulation
This is the main function of the app. It allows users to create a custom photo or video message, set the activation time, seal it, and send to contacts you want. When the time comes, the message will be unsealed so the recipient can read the letter.
Create message
The first screen is split in half. From here, you can either create a text message with a photo or supplement your text message with a short video. You can choose to upload content from your gallery or capture it with the camera.
Add people
Now, you can simply pick people you want to send the time capsule from your contact book. Time Will Tell allows sending capsulated messages via email. We also enabled the ability to send capsules via iMessage if the user doesn’t know the email address.
Message delivery
The app will generate a unique link for the capsulated message upon its creation. This link will be sent to contacts you choose via email or iMessage. If your contacts have the app installed, they will simply open it. Otherwise, they will be redirected to the application page in the App Store.
Monetization
Once the message is sent, it can’t be changed either by the user or the recipient. But sometimes, we desperately want to add something on top of what’s written, or we may want to delete the capsule before it will be unlocked.
In such cases, you’ll be required to make an in-app purchase. The payment will be required if you want to send two messages to one recipient. Because, well… everyone should pay the price to influence the course of time.
Push notification
We thought it would be a shame if your greetings came late. That’s why we enabled push notifications to make sure that users will read their messages on the appointed day.
There are three cases that trigger notifications:
When the message is activated, the recipient of the message gets a notification.
When the message was sent. In this case, if the user has the app, the notification will appear.
When the message becomes active. The user that has sent the message gets a notification.
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Wireframes
We built the app around one main function – message encapsulation. That’s why we kept it as minimalistic as possible. Time Will Tell features only three tabs:
Capsulate message: The first and foremost screen that is displayed after login.
Profile: Contains basic info about the user: Username, Phone Number, Email, etc.
- Messages: Contains all messages sent and accepted by the user.
03
The Result
Design
Logo
By the time we got to the logo, the client already had a vision of how it should look like. He provided us with a rough sketch of what he was thinking about. Basically, the concept played around the abbreviation of the app’s name – Time Will Tell – TWT.
We suggested several examples of how these letters could be incorporated into a logo.
Eventually, we decided to take the alarm clock as the main character for the logo. Our client really liked how it followed the application’s main purpose. In addition, the alarm clock fits perfectly with the letters inside.
General style
Icons of the tab bar
The client asked us to adhere to flat design principles. He also provided us with design references, so we found common ground right from the start. In particular, we have created linear-styled icons according to the client’s preferences.
Colour palette
In order to design a color scheme, our team thought about the feeling people usually experience while reading greetings from their loved ones. We realised that our app should convey the exact same emotions. Therefore, we chose a “happy” gradient from yellow to orange as a color scheme for Time Will Tell.
Technologies
Technologies
- Photo and video attachments
- iMessage integration
- Delayed message activation
- Contract book integration
