KnokkCouple photo widget

Built to be opened as little as possible

Every other couple widget hands you the photo and then sends you into an app to answer it. Knokk keeps both halves of the exchange on the home screen. A photo arrives on the widget; a tap on the widget answers it. That one difference is the entire product, and it is why the app has no chat screen, no caption box, and no message history to scroll through during the day.

Setup is two things. You both install Knokk, and one of you sends the other an invite code. Each person pairs with exactly one other, and from then on there is nothing left to open.

Three buttons instead of a keyboard

A reply in Knokk is a single button, and the sender decides which one. The three choices are So lovely, Just ate, and Good night. Sending a plate of food with Just ate turns the reply into a yes-or-no about whether they have eaten. Sending a bedside photo with Good night makes the tap a good night back. Because the button is chosen in advance, the reply never needs words, and there is no caption field to fill in on either side.

A Miss you that cannot become nagging

The knock button is called Miss you. Press it and a notification is on their phone, nothing to explain. Knokk is deliberately stingy with it, because a button you can hammer all morning stops meaning anything by noon. Ten minutes have to pass before the next knock, and ten knocks is the daily ceiling.

The server keeps that count, not the app, and the twenty-four hours it counts are always the twenty-four sitting right behind you. Midnight hands nothing back, so there is no reset to wait for.

The day count rides next to today's photo

Set the day you got together and that day itself is Day 1. The running count sits on the widget beside the photo. Then add the dates you are actually waiting on, the anniversary of your first date, a birthday, Valentine's Day, and the widget counts down the days left to each one. If your connection drops, the last photo simply stays on the widget, and across time zones every glance at your home screen still has their day on it.

Inside the app, a timeline holds the photos you have exchanged, just the two of you.

Two people and nobody else

Only the two connected people can see a photo. The server strips location data, the EXIF tags, out of every upload, and deleting your account deletes the photos you sent with it. Your partner is never told when you opened a photo; there are no read receipts, so nobody is answering against a clock. There is no feed, no followers, no likes, and no ads, and every feature is free.

Frequently asked questions