How does it work?
Step 0.
Do I want to use this?
If you want high-security messaging with a few select people, then for the love of all that is holy, use Signal.
If you need to fill a void in your soul by seeking mindless approval from strangers, then use Twitter.
If you like to use social media passively by doomscrolling, stay on TikTok.
If you want to casually keep in touch with friends, relatives, and acquaintances, then Handbill might be for you. Connect with a few people, or a few dozen people.
If you actually like posting on social media but are afraid to do it any more, then Handbill might be for you. You will be able to post things that you wouldn’t necessarily want to put on commercial platforms… things that are more personal.
Step 1.
Connect with friends over existing email
Before your first post reaches someone, Handbill sends an invitation to their normal email address. They can opt-in to seeing your social content, and can filter different topics from you.
Every message after that carries the same quiet controls: stop one topic, slow things down to once a day, or silence you altogether. Nobody is subscribed by accident and nobody has to install anything to leave.
Handbill App (Clark Kent)
Email Client (Bruce Wayne)
Step 2.
You post from the app.
They read it in their inbox.
On your phone, Handbill looks like a normal social feed. When you post, your friends who don’t have the app will see an ordinary, readable email from you: the photo at the top, your words, a Like button at the bottom. For them, there is no account, no app, nothing to install. (These messages won’t be encrypted).
They will receive updates at a civilized pace. Handbill gathers comments from your friends and includes them the next time you post something.
No torture of constant “reply all” notifications. And they can silence the conversation at any time, right from their email client.
Email Client (Bruce Wayne)
Handbill Client (Clark Kent)
Step 3.
They reply from their inbox.
You see a conversation.
A friend hits Reply in email, or taps Comment, and their words show up as a comment under your post, in a thread, the way you would expect.
Other users will see the comment sent out in update digests. Since the messages all go through you, there is no storm of reply-alls. They can click “Like” and then send for a quick thumbs-up.
Email Client (Bruce Wayne)
Handbill App (Clark Kent)
Step 4.
If your friends install the app too.
If both of you run Handbill, you will both see your conversations in a familiar social networking feed. These posts and replies are all signed and encrypted, end to end.
Handbill App, with encryption
(Clark Kent)
Handbill App, with encryption
(Bruce Wayne)