# Big Updates This Week | Sircles

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/feed/173221
- Entity ID: wefunder:feed_item:173221
- Published at: 2024-05-02 16:55:23 UTC
- Updated at: 2025-07-10 07:17:53 UTC

## Author
John Worthington

## Subject
Sircles

## Content
Big updates this week: ·      You can now listen to podcasts directly from the app ·      You can add/remove users from you group chats·      You can add/change the name of your group chats·      You can message users directly from their profile·      We added the blue checkmark for verified users·      Photos tab on user’s profiles will show the photos they’ve added to Trust Tips·      You can send photos, videos, website links via messaging·      The bug on leaderboard and streak countdown clock is fixed (that bug wasn’t our fault, but more on that later…)·      Notifications for messages are now grouped separately from other notifications·      Notifications for messages are also distinguished by avatars for the senders ·      MAJOR BUG FIX on Android. Yes, a library we were using was leading to the majority of Android issues (more on that now…)Let’s get technical for a minute (skip ahead if you get bored):We use a fairly common “tech stack” consisting of React Native (developed by Facebook) for our front-end and then several other frameworks, packages and 3rd party libraries all the way down the tech stack which comprise the Sircles architecture. For this lesson I’ll be focusing on our front-end architecture. React Native has pros and cons:Pros – you code your app with one front-end and it’s meant to be “cross-platform,” that is to say, it should work perfectly on both iPhones and Android devices.-           React native has been around for a long time and has worldwide community supportCons – well….. that “pro” (above) about coding it once and getting the function on both device types isn’t really the case in practice. Many, many aspects of your codebase will not behave as expected on both device types—often it’s something subtle but can lead to ripple effects-           Because you’re using a framework that sits on top of the device’s native operating system you can’t quite get the full, smooth crispness of an app that is coded in the native coding language for the hardware (however, it can still get very close to the native feel if you work really hard at it)The most highly performing way to code an app is using the native codebase designed for the phone. In Apple’s case, for example, that’s called Swift. However, to do that you would need two separate teams creating two completely different projects. This can be cost prohibitive for startups and also lead to major divergences of user experience.Not to worry, many super high quality apps have been developed using React Native on the front-end like the WalMart app, for instance. It’s highly rated and very well made. Then again, it is WalMart Inc., so money isn’t an object for them. They also have the luxury of creating components from scratch if they want to versus the majority of the community who rely on 3rd party libraries to shortcut development of certain features. The challenge is that all of these 3rd party libraries are prone to errors, deprecation and maintenance relies on the author of the library. If you adopt a particular library, you have access to all the original source code but not very good documentation in most cases. Thus, you don’t know the “why” authors made certain decisions (took certain approaches to their solution). So, if you decide to modify the code you will deviate from the community supported library and will no longer have the benefit of the maintainers keeping it up-to-date.Keeping all the code, frameworks and libraries up-to-date is a never-ending task. Newly updated frameworks (especially major updates) are typically very buggy, so no one wants to be the first to implement them. Most projects tend to stay a version behind for a while, giving the maintainers and community time to work out the kinks. When it comes to our countdown clock on the leaderboard, for example, the authors made a backend change that broke the clock in real time. This required us to update their library and push a new build to the app store. This is very rare. We use older versions of many libraries and, typically, are not forced to update them. However, sometimes a change to a library we depend on requires us to update and then release a new build, which means everyone must update their app or the clock will break on all previous versions. Fun, right? If you skipped ahead, now’s a good time to jump back in:Let’s put this in perspective now.. We use dozens of 3rd party libraries, SDK’s, API’s and various packages all woven together in a delicate tapestry. An Andorid SDK we use had a bug in it and was causing mayhem for many devices. We identified it, fixed it and have been testing with it for the last few days. Android should be a much more pleasant experience for users now. Please, if you’ve been patient this long, update from the Google Play Store and give it a test drive. And, if you’re feeling extra generous, change your 1 star review to something higher. We see a tremendous improvement.Our team is top notch and could fit in at any company, on any project. It’s still a relatively small team, however, so it’s not easy to keep up with the constantly shifting sands—the many things which can cause bugs—many not related to our efforts. One more silly example—there’s a known bug with React Native. If you type a message with only one character and try to hit send, it may not work unless you type a space or a second letter. The known bug has been addressed by the framework maintainers, but our project would need to update to the latest React Native version and that will predictably cause many other defects to the app. So, we constantly weigh risk v reward when it comes to these decisions. In this case, the gain from updating React Native hasn’t outweighed the time we’d need to spend on it.. not yet anyway.As we’ve said before, we plan to move as quickly as possible, take feedback from our users, leave certain aspects under construction so you can see where things are heading and accept additional feedback as we develop the app together—with your help. With that said, we have the following “under construction” features in testing as of now:·      The Favorites button on user’s profile will be working as intended soon·      Adding Unlisted Services is complete and in testing·      Mute notifications per user is in testing·      Ability to block a user is in testing ·      Map markers will be updating much better when you move the map·      Overall optimization, decreased loading times, smoother transitions, etc..We’ve cut some costs and streamlined operations through May while we optimize and polish things up. Starting in June, the plan is to reignite marketing/promotion efforts but not go overboard. We also need to run some experiments and use our data/analytics to fine tune the onboarding process and initial user journey. We have tons of feedback and will be modifying the first impression users get when entering Sircles. The greatest challenge for any app is to overcome the “cold start” problem. We have excellent engagement from our most loyal userbase and investors, partners, etc. Where we need to see better metrics is the second tier relationships. Friends of friends who join the app. They are much harder to push past the cold start and, consequently, we see far too much drop off in their activity. Now that Sircles has proven stable, scalable and feature rich, the plan ahead is to address this cold start problem and choose from about 100 ways we can attempt this—only a handful will actually achieve the magic mix of ingredients that turn new users into long term devotees.  Meanwhile, we hired two new front end developers who did not require a cold start. One had been on our team a couple years ago, and the other was a former coworker to an existing team member. So, both guys have hit the ground running and are a big reason we were able to make so much progress the last couple weeks.Strategic Growth and Our Path ForwardTo better understand our user engagement and optimize growth, we conduct a User Lifecycle Analysis. This process categorizes users into cohorts—newly activated, retained, resurrected, dormant, and churned—based on their interactions over time. Our recent analysis shows a promising trend: the number of our engaged users (newly activated, retained, and resurrected) consistently surpasses the number of users who disengage (churned). This positive balance is a strong indicator of an active, growing user base and a solid foundation for future scalability.These insights are crucial as they confirm that Sircles is equipped to support growth, especially in solving the "cold start" problem among second-tier users. With a robust and engaging platform, we are now focusing on strategic initiatives to boost user interaction, aiming to transform casual users into loyal, active community members.By leveraging our engaged user base and refining our outreach, we are setting the stage for significant growth. This not only improves our core metrics but also fosters a more vibrant and interconnected community, enhancing the overall appeal of Sircles.Moving forward, your support as investors remains vital. Together, we can navigate these opportunities to enhance user acquisition and retention, turning potential into substantial growth. Thank you for your commitment to our journey. Let’s continue to build on this momentum and fully realize the potential of Sircles.John Worthington ~ Co-Founder CEO