Ivy

Hey Hunters, I’d like to introduce you to Ivy for iOS. It’s an easy way to connect with friends and talk to people around you about what’s happening right now. We built it because we found it surprisingly difficult to communicate with people in our neighborhoods and communities about what is going on. Sometimes there are seriously important events that happen nearby like fires, crime, protests, etc and being able to communicate and coordinate with our community is vital. Other times we want to share simple experiences like a concert, a sporting event, or even the weather. Ivy is the perfect way to do both. You can post interesting pics, share thoughts, ask questions, and report breaking news with the people in your area. It also comes with DM / group messaging built in if you want to talk privately and securely -- everything is encrypted. Since it’s early, we’re still building up our communities. So if you download the app, check out what it's like at UC Berkeley or in San Francisco to get a feel for where we’re headed. Take a look and let us know what you think. Thanks!

I was invited to use the beta version of Ivy, and it's become part of my daily routine to keep up with friends across the country who have long given up on logging into Facebook and use Twitter for their job, but not their personal life. Ryan, could you tell us more about the Discover screen? Allowing the user to dive in by location is great and you can imagine some cool features there.

I've been using Ivy for a few days now and am really enjoying it. It's got the right mix of location sharing and communication features and will become more and more useful as people's networks build out.