inlieu (of social media) is a personal experiment & research project exploring alternative ways to connect with loved ones digitally. It was sparked by my dissatisfaction with the current social media landscape and desire to build a better solution for keeping in touch my friends & family. As part of the project so far I've explored 3 novel concepts, iterating and pivoting based on user feedback & discoveries.

inlieu (v3)  — the current version  —  is an extended messenger app that allows you to send time-limited prompts to your friend groups, replacing boring "How are you?" texts with fun shared moments.

Get creative and customize your prompts with different media - choose between photo or drawing for now, with more options coming soon.

Prompts are live for 24h. Submissions are revealed when everyone has posted or when the timer is up.

All your past check-ins are stored in group chats.

Ultimately, I want to build to best tool for connecting you with the people you truly care about, an app that makes you feel cared for without overwhelming you with infinite feeds, constant notifications and stressful metrics.

inlieu has become my preferred method for keeping in touch with friends and I want to make this experience available to everyone, which is why I'm working towards a public release of the app by the end of 2025. If you are interested in the project please reach out!