Try Mine (Beta)

Why Mine

Mine is a place to capture something that you have discovered that you find really cool — a hike, a restaurant, an Airbnb, a movie, a song, a book, a contractor, a recipe, a gadget. You endorse your discovery and share it with your friends using the app. They, in turn, try it and if they like it they endorse your discovery and propagate it further. If you fancy your curating skills the app provides you a direct indicator of how many people you have influenced for each of your discoveries. But the app is much more than that.

We all have limited time and money to try things out. It's great when we do try something new, that we have the satisfaction of time and money well spent. It encourages us to be more adventurous with our choices. Today, we often make choices based on reviews that are either gamed or populated by folks who have different tastes from ours, resulting in meh experiences. Friends and family are fairly reliable for their take on something (you know who in your friend network can be trusted to point you to a great hike, whom you vibe with when it comes to TV shows, and who to reach out to for a practical killer weeknight dinner recipe). Based on their opinion you either dive in or steer clear. But it is a nuisance to have recommendations dispersed across chats and email messages. Even when we want to try something out — say a movie — we have separate lists on each platform, which makes settling on one a tad tedious. Mine consolidates all of this in one single place. You can easily review pending recommendations from friends, or stuff you have earmarked to try out. When the time is right you review this list, make your choice, and if you like it endorse it so others can give it a try. If you have made a discovery that is too precious to share broadly, the app allows you to distribute it only to a few select friends, or not at all, and you can ensure that the discovery not be further propagated by any of your friends if you so choose.

If you need a recommendation for something, the app allows you to reach out to your friend network and let them know what you are looking for and by when. Friends, in turn, can propagate this request to their friends, or point you to something they have endorsed. The app organizes and facilitates requesting and receiving recommendations from your friend network in a timely manner.

Finally, our tastes evolve over time. The app allows you to see all the things you have endorsed over a period of years. See how your tastes evolved, interests and preoccupations changed over time, or stayed the same. Your endorsements are your body of work, yours to peruse in one consolidated app rather than frittered away in reviews owned by multiple third-party sites and applications. Unlike social media apps where content is ephemeral, the content on Mine is sticky — your endorsements, stuff that friends have recommended months back that you at some point will get around to trying. It is all organized, at your fingertips and ready for you when you need it.

Installing Mine

Mine is in invite-only Beta via Apple's TestFlight. Here's how to get it on your phone:

1. Tap Install Mine (Beta) here. This opens an Apple page that has its own Step 1 and Step 2.
   Install Mine (Beta)
2. On Apple's page, do its Step 1: Get TestFlight — install TestFlight from the App Store. Just install it — do not open TestFlight from your home screen. (If you do, you'll see a Redeem screen — ignore it and go back to the Apple page in Safari.)
3. Back on Apple's page, do its Step 2 — this installs Mine on your phone. TestFlight will open with the Mine invitation; tap Accept, then Install.
4. Open Mine, sign in with your phone number (including country code), e-mail address, or your Apple or Google account.
5. When asked for an invite code, leave it blank and tap Skip.
6. Allow Mine access to your contacts when it asks. This is the single most useful thing you can do at this point — it's how Mine finds people you already know who already have the app.
7. Tap the gear icon at the bottom right of the screen (labelled Adjust) to open Settings, then tap Friends. Under your friends list you'll see Potential Friends — folks from your contacts who already have Mine. Swipe right on any of them to send a friend request and bootstrap your network.

Using Mine

A few principles that make Mine more useful, the longer you live in it.

Your feedback

Mine is currently in a testing phase that is expected to last through the end of September. During this phase the app is only available on iPhone — an Android version will follow once the iPhone testing settles. Your input is key to establishing how much further this app progresses. Let us know if you see yourself using the app moving forward, whether it addresses an important issue for you, whether it's easy to use, and any issues or suggestions you have on how the technology or the app can be improved before it reaches a broader audience.

There's a feedback icon at the top right of the Settings screen. Tap the icon at the bottom right of the screen to reach Settings, then tap the feedback icon and send a note straight to me — it'll arrive without you having to leave the app.