@rrhoover heh, yeah, we call them pips. Our next release (coming this month) will include two new general pips ("ETA?" and "I'm on my way!") as well as some fun ones for the holidays. After that? Well, you tell me, what do you all want from Pip? Oh, and API. We're not totally sure yet, but it's definitely something we've considered. We'll see kind of interest there is!

@ryan @rrhoover an API for this could be VERY interesting! :)

@ryan taking inspiration from @jw's Goji, perhaps a "Let's grab coffee/drinks/food" pip that suggests a recommended location in-between the sender and receiver. Even (selfishly) better, what if you could Pip friends rad products you find on Product Hunt? :)

@jw @rrhoover we've definitely talked about that meeting / location! I think it's a real possibility. Product Hunt pip? Will see if I can pull some strings!

@ryan your API key is only a few clicks away :) http://www.producthunt.com/v1/oa...

@kevinrose much love, buddy :)

@rizzledizzle GAH that was supposed to be fixed. Thanks!

@rizzledizzle okay, it's fixed now. Basically, we lost the Lightning cable that charges the screenshots in the web server, but we got it worked out.

@rizzledizzle haha love this. It's all in the details!

@rizzledizzle @PieterPaul this made for a hilarious discussion yesterday because I noticed the 22% in some other images, and asked our design team to make sure we always had fully charged screenshots. I guess a few slipped through!

@PieterPaul no idea what this means

@PieterPaul we're working on it! Not sure yet when it will be done but it's our top issue right now.

@ryan work harder plz ;)

@OurielOhayon it's a companion app to whatever you already use to send messages. Pip just makes it easier to send some common messages, as well as making it a better experience for the recipient to receive them via Pip.

@OurielOhayon @ryan From a user perspective, wouldn't the more effective solution be a keyboard extension where I could choose whatever common phrases I want to be there at my fingertips? Wouldn't be able to build a platform, and the integration with other info might not be as tight (maps, weather)...?

@ryan @JeremyZ123 i second that. i don t see the point of another app to send just this type of messages. i understand why it is a little more usable but i don t understand why it needs to become a replacement, not to mention a starting point of my homescreen which is already busy. What could be useful though is if you could build a bridge to other messenging app from PIP. i start by asking a simple question in PIP but then through deep link start the conversation in whatsapp/viber or whatever...

@thejulielogan thanks! We really wanted to boil the experience down as much as possible, and provide something that made it not only much easier to send common kinds of messages, but also to make those messages even more useful to receive via pip than if it was sent via traditional text message. (That said, if your friends aren't on Pip yet, we'll still send the best possible version of each pip message via SMS.)

@thejulielogan @ryan that's an interesting bit, that you send SMS to friends who aren't on the app yet. curious about the decision making behind that.

@thejulielogan @sammybauch well, came from two things. First, Pip is about making messaging easier, and we kind of miss out on that goal if EVERYONE you know has to be on Pip in order to make use of it. That isn't really easy, right? We wanted to provide some value to everyone sending and receiving messages, not punish users for not having their friends on Pip yet. Second, we think the most common means of encouraging users to share apps and services with their friends are kind of lame. Instead of asking you to spam your friends, just use the app as you please. Pip will do what it does best -- send your friends your messages -- and if it's via SMS, we'll subtlely let them know that the message was sent with Pip.

@ryan yeah makes a great deal of sense. I do think that requiring the recipient to have the app reduces immediate utility, but your way potentially reduces growth. It's just one of those fine lines to tread in mobile (messaging especially) products and it's always interesting to hear the reasoning behind the decision. Any concern about blowback from users who receive your SMSs? I assume the SMS is sent from the user's device rather than your servers via Twilio or something? And then I guess users without the app are sent a link to a page that has the information like sender's location (where necessary)?

@sammybauch well, growth is certainly important, but I'd rather err on the side of maximum usefulness. The SMS is sent from our servers, not from the user's phone, to maximize ease of sending (i.e. fewer taps). We're def careful to watch and see whether the SMS recipients won't be into it, but we also include instructions on how to immediately stop receiving any SMSs from us ("reply back with STOP" or something to that effect).

@ryan hi! got an email? or ping me at kia at venturebeat dot com -- would love to chat

@imkialikethecar firstname at firstnamelastname

@iamjoshuascott thank you! Pip was really fun to build. Appreciate your early input, too!

@sleinadsanoj great question. Because we built this shortly before tools like Digits was out, we had some early limitations on where we were sign up users via SMS. We hope to get it out into more countries and localized as soon as possible -- provided folks enjoy using Pip!

@ryan sounds good! Is there any ways of getting notified when it's available in my location? (As far as I remember apple doesn't provide a notification for that kind of thing...)

@sleinadsanoj unfortunately not yet, sorry!

@shibendusaha sorry, we only support US numbers right now. Hopefully that'll change in the near future!

@riz I don't see the point of this comment. Not every product needs someone commenting like this. I don't recall a pain point in this existing conversation that this comment improves. Just a thought!

@johncolucci honestly we never considered this as a tool brands would use, since it's a private, personal messaging app. But good to know!