Hereby
The map is the app. See what people around you are talking about, right now — and join in.
Why GPS-based chat?
Most chat apps connect you to people you already know. Hereby connects you to whoever’s actually near you, right now — for exactly as long as it matters. Once the moment passes, so does the chat; nothing lingers as a group you have to leave later.
Better information, faster
The people standing in the same delay, the same traffic, the same crowd usually know what’s happening before any app, airline, or venue staff does — because they’re living it with you.
No group to manage
Chats are tied to a place and fade on their own once activity dies down. There’s nothing to mute, leave, or clean up later.
Anonymous by default
You show up as a pseudonym and a level, not a name or a face — useful, low-stakes participation without becoming discoverable.
Real situations, real chats
A few examples of exactly when this is useful.
Stuck in traffic
Three lanes just stopped moving and nobody knows why. Check the corridor chat instead of guessing — someone a quarter mile ahead already posted what’s going on, and whether a detour’s worth it.
Delayed at the gate
The board just says “Delayed,” no explanation. The people actually at your gate usually know first — which agent has real answers, who already got rebooked, or if it just became a cancellation. Narrow question? Branch it into its own thread instead of scrolling everyone else’s.
Lost at a venue
Thousands of people, one lost item, no staff in sight. Ask the venue chat where lost and found actually is, or if anyone saw a dropped phone near where you were standing.
What it looks like
Screenshots from the iOS Simulator, running the current build.
How it works
From opening the app to posting in a chat.
Verify your email
Sign-up is gated behind a real one-time code sent to your email (Supabase Auth) — no bots spinning up throwaway accounts.
Pick a username — not your name
A username is required before you can do anything else, and it’s checked against your email and common identifying patterns (no addresses, no phone-number-shaped strings). A safe, anonymous suggestion is generated for you by default.
See what’s nearby
Only chats your current location is actually inside of are visible — no browsing chats you haven’t arrived at yet. Zoom in to reveal more specific ones (a gate, a table) nested inside broader ones (a whole terminal).
Join, post, and vote
Reply to a specific message, upvote or downvote to signal what’s helpful, and branch off a focused thread within a chat without starting a whole new conversation.
Level up by being useful
Voting shapes reputation, not the feed. There’s no algorithm ranking messages — an upvote doesn’t move anything to the top. What it does do is quietly build the author’s level, shown right next to their name on every message they post. A brand-new account and a longtime, consistently helpful one are both readable at a glance, without either sharing a real name.
Built for temporary, local conversation
A few of the design decisions that shape the app.
Location, generalized
Raw GPS coordinates are never stored — every chat’s location is snapped to a coarse grid before it’s saved.
Activity-driven lifecycle
Chats score themselves on participants and recent messages, then move through new → active → cooling down → archived on their own.
Reputation, not real identity
Helpfulness is tracked through a level system fed by voting — never through a real name, photo, or contact info.