This is one area where I'll actively discourage fragmentation of the existing ecosystem. Currently in the U.S. it's:
1) PawBoost
2) Facebook Groups (which PawBoost usually posts to as well)
3) NextDoor
Past that, the animal needs to be captured and checked for a chip. Having 10+ different apps to report lost animals essentially means there's zero point to posting to one in the first place, unless there is some distributed system they all would agree to operate on top of (maybe ATProto? idk).
Somewhat tangentially related, yet several posters mention other apps in a similar category.
Is there a way to browse / search the app store from a desktop? Every link just seems to go to an advertisement splash page, and search for "stray" does not even return the linked app.
Found Lifestyle Apps [1] from StraySync's own "Lifestyle" category, yet only the top free apps to number 100 on desktop. Does not appear to show "PawBoost" or some of the other mentions.
I like the idea. Plenty of people everywhere keep an eye out for strays, and having an app to connect them would be valuable. The main issue is how to let them know that the app exists.
Where I live, a slightly similar app (intended to connect lost pets with their owners) has found widespread local adoption. It is promoted by a local non-profit, so maybe partnerships with non-profits would allow you to find the audience that will appreciate something like this.
Also, this needs an Android app. You need every user you can get to make it successful.
Huh, didn't know there were enough people to perpetuate a model like that just for lost pets. I had thought of this a while back and figured that would be a no-go
I was thinking it might help if they opened up the premise a bit, just made it about collecting pictures of animals, maybe tagging them as being a stray or having a collar but being alone, that it might increase the engagement for something like this.
I see strays from time to time and I do often wonder if they belong to someone. Is the idea that I'd be able to report the stray on the app and hope that the owner has the app too and sees my report?
The first is getting mass adoption of your app, and tell people what makes it so much better than what we already have (facebook/twitter/nextdoor/instagram/etc).
Also lost pets are common, but they might rarely happen to you. That might lead to the second issue which is notification fatigue and uninstall the app. Or people will forget, and simply uninstall the app since they never use it.
I think a better solution is putting an airtag (or an rfid tag) on your pet, along with a telephone number on the collar to call.
This is why I liked the orange collar idea so much. For some reason the movement never gained traction. But the idea is simple - if you see a cat with an orange collar, it’s an indoor only cat that has escaped.
Orange was chosen to be bright and align with prisoner garb. It’s such a good simple idea and the complete negativity of the internet pretty much killed it.
Neat idea! If you can, someone figure out how to get Nextdoor animal-posters to join and participate, this would be really useful. Last time I saw a dog on the street, I pulled over to catch the dog, re-installed Nextdoor, made a post, and brought the dog to the local shelter. It's hard to beat not only the neighborhood aspect of Nextdoor, but also just the volume and mental "this is where it goes" vibe. What's not hard to beat about Nextdoor is the NIMBY and triggering comments so you're halfway there, hah!
Ah, well you don’t need a special app for that, just a phone. People searching for their lost pet put their contact info out as widely as they can so it’s very easy to find all over the place on social media.
This scam is unfortunately very common in real life, though it’s not set up as a mugging. They’ll demand a reward (they wont have the animal of course, though they may have a sorta similar picture to send you, or a fuzzy one.)
This is really cute, however I have a hard time seeing a route to widespread adoption as a marketplace of source. I was going to suggest adding adoption and rescues, however there seem to be a number of highly rated apps in that space already.
I would imagine the most useful function if a pet is lost or found would be to allow posting to places like NextDoor, printing posters, a contacting shelters, etc. and offering other support to people.
Yeah its cute but where are the opportunities for scaling, platformization and in-app purchases?
For something like this to work out we would need to incentivize users - how about a Pokémon Go style model for growth?
Actually, maybe animal rescue might not hold business model promise after all. How about a bounty driven model - I hear there is great business in ivory. Perhaps a pivot towards poaching rare and exotic animals? Any chance we could build in market place functionality?
There is only so much one can make by taking a cut off of finding stray pets. Not much of a runway there and few cases of repeat usage.
There is a much more promising market in finding and slaughtering rare and endangered species of animals that this would make a great use for. That’s where the ROI on each identified animal would provide a higher yield with success rate.
Finding grandma’s cat? Who cares. Finding the last rhino or final tiger in jungle? Now that’s some open-source poaching that we could platformize and scale.
Do you use google maps or openstreetmap?
How are you dealing with data costs?
Do you cache data once every day/week or do you have a real-time call for both the cats/dogs and the proximity to the phone/mob user?
I have rescued 2 stray (lost really) animals. A dog I took to the vet. And a bird I was about to take to the vet. Heard the person down the street calling for them. But yeah. Vets! Microchips! Unless you are scared of the animal then fair enough use an app.
tbh, i wanted to see if this kind of app is needed in the first place so I made it free for now, if people will find a value in it, then I might put some minimal price
This is one area where I'll actively discourage fragmentation of the existing ecosystem. Currently in the U.S. it's:
1) PawBoost 2) Facebook Groups (which PawBoost usually posts to as well) 3) NextDoor
Past that, the animal needs to be captured and checked for a chip. Having 10+ different apps to report lost animals essentially means there's zero point to posting to one in the first place, unless there is some distributed system they all would agree to operate on top of (maybe ATProto? idk).
Somewhat tangentially related, yet several posters mention other apps in a similar category.
Is there a way to browse / search the app store from a desktop? Every link just seems to go to an advertisement splash page, and search for "stray" does not even return the linked app.
Found Lifestyle Apps [1] from StraySync's own "Lifestyle" category, yet only the top free apps to number 100 on desktop. Does not appear to show "PawBoost" or some of the other mentions.
[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/charts/iphone/lifestyle-apps/6012?...
I like the idea. Plenty of people everywhere keep an eye out for strays, and having an app to connect them would be valuable. The main issue is how to let them know that the app exists.
Where I live, a slightly similar app (intended to connect lost pets with their owners) has found widespread local adoption. It is promoted by a local non-profit, so maybe partnerships with non-profits would allow you to find the audience that will appreciate something like this.
Also, this needs an Android app. You need every user you can get to make it successful.
Huh, didn't know there were enough people to perpetuate a model like that just for lost pets. I had thought of this a while back and figured that would be a no-go
I was thinking it might help if they opened up the premise a bit, just made it about collecting pictures of animals, maybe tagging them as being a stray or having a collar but being alone, that it might increase the engagement for something like this.
Also +1 on the android point
Hmmm.. i like the idea of tagging, thanks for feedback
hmm.. connecting with non-profits might be a good idea.and agree i am working on android version. thanks for feedback.
I see strays from time to time and I do often wonder if they belong to someone. Is the idea that I'd be able to report the stray on the app and hope that the owner has the app too and sees my report?
Well, I see two issues.
The first is getting mass adoption of your app, and tell people what makes it so much better than what we already have (facebook/twitter/nextdoor/instagram/etc).
Also lost pets are common, but they might rarely happen to you. That might lead to the second issue which is notification fatigue and uninstall the app. Or people will forget, and simply uninstall the app since they never use it.
I think a better solution is putting an airtag (or an rfid tag) on your pet, along with a telephone number on the collar to call.
This is why I liked the orange collar idea so much. For some reason the movement never gained traction. But the idea is simple - if you see a cat with an orange collar, it’s an indoor only cat that has escaped.
Orange was chosen to be bright and align with prisoner garb. It’s such a good simple idea and the complete negativity of the internet pretty much killed it.
Impressive work! It's great to see tech being used for a good cause. I've had a couple strays in my neighborhood, this could be a lifesaver.
thank you
Neat idea! If you can, someone figure out how to get Nextdoor animal-posters to join and participate, this would be really useful. Last time I saw a dog on the street, I pulled over to catch the dog, re-installed Nextdoor, made a post, and brought the dog to the local shelter. It's hard to beat not only the neighborhood aspect of Nextdoor, but also just the volume and mental "this is where it goes" vibe. What's not hard to beat about Nextdoor is the NIMBY and triggering comments so you're halfway there, hah!
Impressive! that could really help with animal safety
Thank you.
How do you prevent it being used to bait people down a dark alley?
What's the scenario you're worried about?
A variation on "order a pizza, mug the delivery guy"?
I found your cat please meet me in seedy dark alley 3am or I'll release her back into the streets
Ah, well you don’t need a special app for that, just a phone. People searching for their lost pet put their contact info out as widely as they can so it’s very easy to find all over the place on social media.
This scam is unfortunately very common in real life, though it’s not set up as a mugging. They’ll demand a reward (they wont have the animal of course, though they may have a sorta similar picture to send you, or a fuzzy one.)
This is really cute, however I have a hard time seeing a route to widespread adoption as a marketplace of source. I was going to suggest adding adoption and rescues, however there seem to be a number of highly rated apps in that space already.
I would imagine the most useful function if a pet is lost or found would be to allow posting to places like NextDoor, printing posters, a contacting shelters, etc. and offering other support to people.
Yeah its cute but where are the opportunities for scaling, platformization and in-app purchases?
For something like this to work out we would need to incentivize users - how about a Pokémon Go style model for growth?
Actually, maybe animal rescue might not hold business model promise after all. How about a bounty driven model - I hear there is great business in ivory. Perhaps a pivot towards poaching rare and exotic animals? Any chance we could build in market place functionality?
hmm.. interesting ideas. but wdym by bounty driven model. can you explain a bit more?
Absolutely.
There is only so much one can make by taking a cut off of finding stray pets. Not much of a runway there and few cases of repeat usage.
There is a much more promising market in finding and slaughtering rare and endangered species of animals that this would make a great use for. That’s where the ROI on each identified animal would provide a higher yield with success rate.
Finding grandma’s cat? Who cares. Finding the last rhino or final tiger in jungle? Now that’s some open-source poaching that we could platformize and scale.
live-action Pokemon Go
Would you be open to Android? I love the idea
Yes, thinking about it, just wanted to see if ppl would be interested in the first place
I know that US iOS is the dominant system, but shouldn't it be just a website with PWA??
have not thought about it, you might be right
Do you use google maps or openstreetmap? How are you dealing with data costs? Do you cache data once every day/week or do you have a real-time call for both the cats/dogs and the proximity to the phone/mob user?
I have rescued 2 stray (lost really) animals. A dog I took to the vet. And a bird I was about to take to the vet. Heard the person down the street calling for them. But yeah. Vets! Microchips! Unless you are scared of the animal then fair enough use an app.
This has to require some central server. If the app is free, how are hosting fees payed?
tbh, i wanted to see if this kind of app is needed in the first place so I made it free for now, if people will find a value in it, then I might put some minimal price
Just tried emailing you and your contact form doesn't work.
Working on fix. Thanks for feedback
Just wanted to say that i love your app's icon.
haha, thanks.
Nice work! Really great idea.
Thank you!
wow love the idea!
I hope this app isn’t available on the planet Melmac.
map won't load.
Hmm.. strange. Will look into it.
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