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Lettre.app
p/lettre-appSlow post in the age of instant messaging
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Lettre.app - Handwritten letters, digital stamps and penpals for the iPad

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Lettre.app — a handwritten messaging app for iPad now has PenPals! Lettre delivers your heartfelt messages to a PenPal on a continent of your choice -- to a potential friend or maybe even…a romantic interest?

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Maker
📌
Hello everyone, It has been a little over seven months since our debut on PH and though this marks only our second launch here, our app is already rolling out its 11th update — our most comprehensive yet! Initially, our focus was on deepening connections with people you already knew — while our first few updates addressed that part of the experience, this latest update adds a whole new avenue for meeting, connecting and building relationships with new people! As it has been a while, let me reintroduce Lettre.app; a handwriting-based messaging app built for the iPad and Apple Pencil. With Lettre.app, you can send hand-written digital correspondence to anyone, collect and exchange digital stamps created by independent artists and make pen pals across the world! A "Pen Pal" is a friend you make by exchanging letters, often to explore new cultures and languages. Our PenPals feature is a new way to connect with people globally through handwritten letters on the iPad, reviving the charming tradition of pen friendship in our hyper-connected age. What’s new in this update: - Make PenPals across the world : If you don’t have someone in mind to send your lettre to, you can opt into PenPals and select a continent after you’re done writing your letter. Your letter can be read by someone from that continent who can also write back to you, making it easier to meet new people! You can also visit the “PenPals” tab to read handwritten lettres sent by others from around the world and if you like a lettre, you can write back to them! - Unparalleled writing / doodling experience : The writing experience is better than ever thanks to all the upgrades we made during the last 6 months. This includes additional stationery, better quality papers, saving lettres as photos, better security / privacy and of course, being able to attach images and even draw on them! - Better immersion : With every lettre, now you also get an envelope (just like the real world). You can preview and customize these envelopes, adding a new dimension to making each lettre your own! With our new PenPals feature, collecting stamps from other parts of the world is easier than ever — just connect with a PenPal from your desired continent! Among other subtle tweaks to the handwriting and postal experience, we added sound effects and sprinkled some fun stuff across the board that we want you to find ;) - The Post Office : We have our own retail stamp store selling digital stamps now! You can directly support up-and-coming independent artists by purchasing stamps from the Post Office. The latest stamp packs are by BotAgainstHumanity and Natishitoshno — along with a supporters pack! Check out the page dedicated to our digital stamps for more! - Getting started : New users will find the “Tips” tab extremely helpful in getting started smoothly. For anything else, just write to us (yes, now you can write directly to us from the app). Since our initial launch, we've been honored with a startup scholarship fund from Mixpanel for our outstanding use of data and insights and featured on a few lists of top iPad apps. We actually made it to a bunch of top spots on ProductHunt’s own lists, including being named one of the best dating apps of 2024! There’s still a long way for us to go but with your love and support, it will be a nice journey. With all that said, if you have read this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have the gratitude of the entire Lettre.app team! PS: try the app and let us know what you think if you haven’t already
Stefans Keiss
This app beautifully merges traditional penmanship with modern tech, creating a unique cultural exchange platform. How do you ensure privacy and security for users exchanging letters?
Maker
@memphys_sk Hi Stefans, Thank you so much for your kind words. To protect our users and their privacy, we adhere to security frameworks that meet Apple's standards and the best practices in the software development community. Additionally, we have never sold data to any third parties and never will—this also applies to advertisements and third-party integrations. As custodians of information, we consider it our fiduciary duty to safeguard the data our patrons generate to the best of our ability.
Alex Dulub
Hello Atik, What a delightful journey has had! It's fantastic to see such dedication to improving and expanding the app's features. The PenPals feature sounds like a wonderful way to make new connections and breathe life into the art of letter writing. The addition of digital stamps and the support for independent artists is a nice touch. I'm curious, how do you match PenPals from different continents? Is it random, or are there preferences that users can set? Wishing you continued success and many more heartfelt exchanges through !
Maker
@alex_dulub Thank you so much for your kind words and support! We're thrilled that you find our new features exciting. The PenPals feature is something we're particularly proud of as it brings a fresh and personal touch to the art of letter writing. Initially, our PenPals feature matched users one-on-one based on their region and a few other factors. However, this approach had a lower turnover rate since we're still a growing community. To improve accessibility and engagement, we now have a dedicated section for PenPals where users can post their letters. People from all around the world can see these letters and respond to them, making it easier for everyone to connect globally. We're continually working on enhancing this feature, and your curiosity and feedback are greatly appreciated.
Maker
@alex_dulub Hi Alex, thank you so much for your kind words. Adding to what @iftikhar_mahmud said -- we are continuously working on making our features more engaging and will be implementing a more robust matching algorithm down the line. As of now, we just starting mapping interests and we are looking forward to making more interesting features with what we have as we go forward. Thank you for staying with us <3
Priyanka Saini
amazing app! so unique and beautiful 😍 love it. Gives the vintage feel. 🙌🏽📝
Maker
@priyanka27 Thank you so much! Appreciate it Best of luck with your launch as well!
Dennis Babych
💡 Bright idea
Amazing design and amazing pigeon! I think some integration with the printer would be useful if the user would like to print and send real mail ;)
Shaer Reaz
Maker
@dennisbabych we've actually studied this integration, would be a lovely disruption of the postal system worldwide, but then it's also a dying industry :'( Feels like it would go against the purpose of our app, which is to re-romanticise letter writing! If there was a way to work with post offices worldwide and get the letter delivered...would be perfect
Dennis Babych
@shaer_reaz The thing is that I would personally use your app as the cool tool to generate a letter, then print it, and then send a real mail. Maybe I'm one of those guys who is using products not as the founder think users will use it ;)
Shaer Reaz
Maker
@dennisbabych absolutely! And feedback like yours gives us fresh perspectives all the time, thank you!
Maker
@dennisbabych Hi Dennis, thank you so much for your suggestion. This is probably one of our most asked-for features lolol :P You never know, might be coming sooner than later
Mashfique Anwar
Maker
@dennisbabych If you want to use your printer at home, you can always export your lettre as PDF and then print it. You can also use the in-built iOS Activity View to print directly from the app.
Fahad ⚡️
Great design, standout copy, and a legendary mascot. Congrats on the traction guys 🔥
Maker
@amdfad I thank you from the bottom of my heart <3
Anastasiia Stepko
This is so sweet! I have a friend who likes sending real letters to different unknown people, I'll tell her about digital alternative :)
Shaer Reaz
Maker
@anastasiia_stepko thank you so much, that would be amazing 🙏🏽
Andreas Sohns
The new update sounds fantastic! I love the new stamp store to support artists.
Maker
@andreas_sohns Thank you Andreas for the support <3
qiufeng
Congrats on the exciting update to Lettre.app! Adding PenPals to your handwritten messaging app for iPad is a wonderful feature. This not only enhances the personal touch of sending heartfelt messages but also opens up the opportunity to connect with new friends or perhaps even a romantic interest across continents.
Maker
@qiufeng Yessir! That is what we are hoping for
Gregory Karfo
Congratulations to the Lettre.app team on the exciting new update! 🎉 The PenPals feature sounds like a fantastic way to connect with people globally through handwritten letters. The new writing and doodling enhancements, customizable envelopes, and digital stamps add a delightful touch. Looking forward to seeing how this charming app continues to grow! 🚀
Maker
@copyfrog thank you for the support <3 Appreciate it
Gabriel
This is a realy funny and nice idea.. but in my case is this someting I will maybe try it, write 1 or 2 letters and forget that this application does exist. I think it would be nice if you can generate over AI entire letters and share it with friends for example if somone have bday
Shaer Reaz
Maker
@sgroiga our Mixpanel data shows a pretty high rate of returning users who spend 30-40 minutes on the app per session, seems like people love the idea! There is also a drafts mode which can be used for note taking and doodling, so that helps too. Not to mention the digital stamp collectors.
Maker
@sgroiga Hi Gabriel, thank you for your suggestion but the whole point of handwriting lettres is the authenticity and the fact that someone spent time and effort into crafting it. We are trying to bring back the character and personality that our communication lost due to text and instant messaging -- add "ai" to it and now I won't even know who wrote my birthday card. A real friend would write a lettre
Mashfique Anwar
Maker
@sgroiga In the age of AI, we're asking people to write with their hands. 😉 This is also why we don't support typing on the keyboard yet. We are however working on implementing AI to improve people's handwriting!
Azra Memisevic
Absolutely love the video and the whole vibe! Awesome job, guys. Wishing you all the best!
Shaer Reaz
Maker
@azra_memisevic we're all about the vibes when it comes to our UX 😬
Maker
@azra_memisevic Thank youuuu! Best of luck with your launch too
Evgeny Kotelevskiy
looks awesome, guys! good luck!
Maker
@evgeny_kotelevskiy Thanks for supporting us <3
Jourzes Akanda
Kudos on the launch! I'm super excited to see how it might affect my truly terrible handwriting. XD
Maker
@jourzes_akanda We're on the same boat brother :P Good news is, I have seen visible difference in the last couple of months of writing lettres. Before, only I could read my handwriting (sometimes), now i see at least two more people who can read my handwriting. That's progress to me!
Richard Cheng
💡 Bright idea
Hey team, Congrats on the launch! 🎉 This update sounds incredible, especially the PenPals feature — it's a brilliant way to bring back the joy of handwritten letters in our digital age. Quick question: with the new PenPals feature, is there a way to filter or search for pen pals with specific interests or languages? It would be awesome to connect with people who share similar hobbies or are fluent in a language I'm learning.
Shaer Reaz
Maker
@richard_cheng_tw coming next! For now the PenPals tab is a sort of open for all Post Office - you can browse through letters sent by other users, pick one, and respond to it. We will showcase the tags below the letter, but filter and search and topic wise follows will be coming next. Thank you for recognizing the language writing potential of this, it's been on our minds for a while. Apps like Duolingo make it very seamless learning how to speak a language, but barely any apps go to the extent of teaching a language script to someone based on handwriting. With our canvas you can write in Mandarin or Kanji or Arabic and it's quite an experience!
Maker
@richard_cheng_tw Thank you so much for your support and that brilliant suggestion! As @shaer_reaz already mentioned, we are working on a filtering system to make the reading and matching experience better. What you described is actually an ideal use-case of what we are building :P
Eileen Lim
Perfect for reviving the charm of old-school pen friendships. Congrats on the launch!
Maker
@eileen_lim Thank you for your support and kind words
Harish Marimuthu
Great idea!! Hope this brings back the lost art of penmanship :)
Manish Modha
Hey there! This latest update seems like a game-changer, especially with the new PenPals feature. The idea of connecting with people globally through handwritten letters is charming and unique. I'm also excited about the enhanced writing experience and the addition of the Post Office for purchasing digital stamps. Can't wait to explore these new features and continue supporting the Lettre.app team on their journey! Cheers, Manish Modha
Maker
@manish_modha Thank you for your support and kind words
Namrata Arya
Congratulations on the launch guys! Love the idea
Maker
@namrata_arya Thank you!!! Best of luck with your launch as well!
Hiya Mukherjee
Very nice app
Maker
@hiya_mukherjee1 Thank you for your support and kind words