We’ve been making apps for decades and have acquired the skills to build all sorts of great things. But even talented teams can be challenged, and our latest product has been the hardest yet.
I’m talking about Tapestry.
It’s taken ten months since 3,369 folks agreed that the idea of putting all the things you follow online in one place was a good idea and funded our Kickstarter.
But that’s only part of the story. The idea for a new type of social media app began soon after a service we all loved began to implode. Before the Kickstarter, we spent ten months to prototype, refine the idea of a universal timeline, and figure out how to market such an original concept.
Today we finally made it and we’re all proud of what’s been accomplished.
A New Web
The web has always been in a state of flux, but the rate of change around how people connect has accelerated over the past few years. Centralized systems have shown their weakness and siloed content has as much a chance of surviving as “You’ve got mail!”.
Tapestry was built with this change in mind. Your content comes from a lot of different places, and how that data is retrieved from a feed is entirely customizable. Our goal was to put RSS, social media, podcasts, and more into a flexible and easy-to-read timeline. Tapestry syncs this variety of feeds across devices in a way that is seamless, secure, and easy to understand.
Despite huge engineering and design hurdles, achieving Tapestry’s vision has had some wonderful side effects.
A Better Way
First, there is no shortage of stuff on the Internet we do not want to see. Whether it’s spoilers or idiots, some things are better left unseen. Tapestry’s muffling and muting filters are much more effective than other apps because they work simultaneously with everything in your timeline. One rule to rule them all.
Assembling this timeline from various feeds is also extremely private. There’s no single server tracking what you’re loading, no third-parties are watching as you scroll or search through content, and no one sees what you find interesting. Even the ads we show in the free version come from our own ad network that only registers impressions and taps. Tapestry is designed to stay this way.
The app also makes it easy to customize how you digest content from across the internet. Whether you are working, researching, or just goofing off, Tapestry makes it simple and fun to craft custom timelines to fit every need.
And, of course, we’ve done a lot of work to make your content look as good as it can. Customizable fonts, colors, and layout let you get the timeline looking just right!
It Will Only Get Better
Like the web itself, Tapestry is extensible. At the core of the product are connectors created with web standards. This collection of text files can describe feeds and provide instructions on how to load them. They gather the data so Tapestry can display it in your timeline.
All of the connectors in Tapestry are open source: if you’ve done some JavaScript development, you’ll be able to figure out what’s going on. Our Github repository has everything you need.
If you’re not a developer, don’t worry, it’s super easy to install a connector written by someone else. As we move forward, we want to have a library of connectors that makes it easier for everyone.
The Future Is Bright
As we enter another ten month phase, there’s a lot to look forward to.
Thanks to support from Tumblr and our other sponsors, we will be working on some of the stretch goals that we didn’t meet during the Kickstarter campaign. That includes a native version of the app for macOS, a better experience when viewing and creating replies, and content overviews.
We’re also expecting that Tapestry users will see many excellent third-party connectors become available in the coming months!
But for now, we invite you to download Tapestry and give it a try. It’s free to use with an optional in-app purchase for premium features, so be sure to check it out today!
