This brings back memories. In 2017 I had launched a similar 'chat-app network' platform[1] for privacy focused dating using Bot API of the respective platforms allowing communication between,
Messenger <-> Telegram <-> Viber <-> LINE
It was quickly selected for acceleration by one of those platforms. The features included half-duplex messaging(user had to wait for reply to send a message to prevent harassment), optional location, near-far dates switch etc.
Adoption was quick, the first major issue I ran into was that in SE Asian countries many used their children photographs for profile picture in chat apps, which obviously was a no go for dating, so I had to implement Amazon Rekognition to detect age and make those users change their profile picture and their profiles weren't displayed until it was changed. At peak it processed 200,000 images/month.
Obviously bridge approach as in Beeper(Matrix) is a more reliable approach than using Bot API, especially due to UI/UX limitations and even platform stability issues(Some bot API were nascent).
In about a year it even crossed the Trough of Sorrow with ~2,40,000 users on Messenger alone.[2] But had to let go of it as I fell sick(was told I could become quadriplegic[3]) and as single founder bus factor hit my startup.
I received several offers to buy the platform, but I didn't sell it as I was not sure whether the buyers would stick to the privacy promises. So I just nuked the platform.
Even if I had continued, I'm not sure whether I could have monetized successfully as selling digital content was explicitly prohibited by these platforms because of Apple Tax/Google Tax(it would mean that the chat apps function as app store).
This brings back memories. In 2017 I had launched a similar 'chat-app network' platform[1] for privacy focused dating using Bot API of the respective platforms allowing communication between,
Messenger <-> Telegram <-> Viber <-> LINE
It was quickly selected for acceleration by one of those platforms. The features included half-duplex messaging(user had to wait for reply to send a message to prevent harassment), optional location, near-far dates switch etc.
Adoption was quick, the first major issue I ran into was that in SE Asian countries many used their children photographs for profile picture in chat apps, which obviously was a no go for dating, so I had to implement Amazon Rekognition to detect age and make those users change their profile picture and their profiles weren't displayed until it was changed. At peak it processed 200,000 images/month.
Obviously bridge approach as in Beeper(Matrix) is a more reliable approach than using Bot API, especially due to UI/UX limitations and even platform stability issues(Some bot API were nascent).
In about a year it even crossed the Trough of Sorrow with ~2,40,000 users on Messenger alone.[2] But had to let go of it as I fell sick(was told I could become quadriplegic[3]) and as single founder bus factor hit my startup.
I received several offers to buy the platform, but I didn't sell it as I was not sure whether the buyers would stick to the privacy promises. So I just nuked the platform.
Even if I had continued, I'm not sure whether I could have monetized successfully as selling digital content was explicitly prohibited by these platforms because of Apple Tax/Google Tax(it would mean that the chat apps function as app store).
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuL8_Qinhs
[2]https://web.archive.org/web/20181203031208/https://finddate....
[3]https://abishekmuthian.com/i-was-told-i-would-become-quadrip...