A messenger app that transcribes voice messages and speaks out loud text messages offering an option for both, sender and receiver, to choose the best format.
Why: I had a friend who liked sending voice messages but I prefer to text (in most cases). We realized that there wasn’t an app offering an option to choose the best format to consume messages no matter what the sender used.
Tools: React Native (iOS/Android app using JavaScript), Firebase (database), Python (backend), Swift (iMessenger plugin)
Reason to quit: The improvement wasn’t big enough to get users to ask their contacts to move to a new communication app. The network effect was too strong in other messaging apps. I made an iMessage plugin but it did not take off either. For a non-native speaker, transcriptions weren’t always perfect which made it really annoying to use even if it missed a few words per message.
What I learned: I underestimated the difficulty of creating something novel in established markets. It is extremely hard to create 10x better products when thousands of people have tried the same for years and there are one or more big players. A completely new device might open an opportunity to do something new to an established market.