Against the feed.
Every design decision we make starts with a question: does this deepen connection or dilute it?
The problem isn't social media. It's the business model.
When you don't pay for a product, you become the product. Every major social platform makes money by selling your attention to advertisers. This creates a fundamental conflict: their profit depends on maximizing time spent, not connection quality.
So they build infinite scrolls, engagement bait, notification systems designed to trigger anxiety. They show you what gets reactions, not what matters. They optimize for breadth (more friends, more followers) because broader networks generate more data and more ad impressions.
We think this is fundamentally broken for close friendships. Your inner circle doesn't need reach. It needs depth.
Privacy as architecture, not policy.
Most apps promise privacy through policy. “We won't sell your data.” “We respect your privacy.” Then they get acquired, or the policy changes, or there's a breach.
We took a different approach: we made it so we can't read your content. End-to-end encryption means your posts, messages, and notes are encrypted before they leave your device. We store ciphertext — mathematical noise without the key.
Even if someone broke into our servers, they'd get nothing readable. Even if we wanted to read your conversations, we couldn't. This isn't trust — it's math.
The only way to build a sanctuary is to make surveillance impossible.
Depth requires friction.
Every social platform optimizes for reducing friction. One-tap reactions. Infinite scroll. Autoplay. The goal is to keep you moving, consuming, engaging.
We think some friction is valuable. Writing a real response takes effort — that's what makes it meaningful. Planning to meet up requires commitment — that's what makes it happen. Reading someone's long-form thoughts demands attention — that's what creates understanding.
We're not trying to minimize time-to-engagement. We're trying to maximize meaning-per-interaction.
Small by design.
The average Socii user has 8-12 connections. Some have 5. Some have 20. Nobody has 500.
This is intentional. Research shows you can only maintain about 15 close relationships — people whose lives you actually know, whose problems you carry, who would show up at 2am.
We built Socii for those 15, not for your LinkedIn network. No follower counts. No suggestions to connect with strangers. No algorithmic “people you may know.”
Your inner circle should feel like your inner circle, not a public square.
Intelligence without AI theater.
We use machine learning in specific, useful ways: suggesting when you might want to reach out to a friend you haven't talked to in a while. Helping coordinate schedules for gatherings. Surfacing questions that might spark interesting conversations.
We don't brand these as “AI features.” No chatbots. No “AI-powered insights.” The app should feel thoughtful, like a well-designed tool — not like you're being managed by a robot.
Technology should be invisible. Connection should be the point.
What we'll never do
- ×Sell ads. Our revenue comes from subscriptions. You're the customer, not the product.
- ×Sell your data. We can't even read it. We definitely can't sell it.
- ×Add viral mechanics. No share-to-unlock, no referral bonuses, no growth hacks that compromise privacy.
- ×Create anxiety. No streaks, no FOMO notifications, no guilt for taking breaks.
- ×Optimize for engagement. We optimize for connection quality, even if it means less time in-app.
This probably isn't for everyone.
If you want to broadcast to followers, use Instagram. If you want to network professionally, use LinkedIn. If you want endless entertainment, TikTok is optimized for exactly that.
Socii is for people who have friendships worth maintaining — people they'd do anything for, who they haven't talked to properly in too long. People who want depth, not reach.
If that's you, you're exactly who we built this for.