Homing: Carrier Pigeon Mail

Homing is a messaging app where you cannot send a message instantly. You write a letter, a carrier pigeon takes it, and then it has to actually get there. Across a real map. At the real speed of a bird. Over the real distance between you and the person you are writing to. Across town is minutes. Across an ocean is a day or more. Sometimes the bird gets blown off course and turns up late with an excuse. Rarely, one does not arrive at all. The waiting is not a loading screen. The journey is the point. HOW IT WORKS Write a letter. Choose which bird carries it. Release it, and watch it cross the map in real time. You can follow the whole flight: where your pigeon is right now, how far it still has to go, how long it has been flying, and when it should land. Pinch and zoom the map and follow it over oceans and mountains. When it arrives, the person you wrote to can finally read it. Not before. FOUR BIRDS, FOUR TRADE-OFFS Sky is the fastest and the most likely to lose your letter. Storm is slower and almost never does. Luna is the middle of everything. Sunny takes her time and gets distracted. You are told each bird's real odds before you send. Choosing who carries an important letter is the one decision that matters, and there is nothing to buy - birds are earned by sending letters. REAL DISTANCE Homing uses the actual distance between you and your friend to work out how long the flight takes. A letter to the next town lands in minutes. A letter across the world takes more than a day. That is why it feels different. Distance stops being a number and becomes time you have to wait through. LETTERS CAN BE LOST A pigeon can go astray. It happens rarely, and the letter goes with it. That is not a bug. Knowing a letter might not arrive is what makes it mean something when it does. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No phone number. No email. No password. No address book access. You choose a short code, share it with people you know, and that is the entire social graph. Your letters are sealed until they land - not even we can read them early. Your friends see the city you are in, never your exact position. WHO IT IS FOR Long distance couples counting the hours. Friends in different countries. Anyone who misses letters, pen pals, snail mail, or the feeling of a message in a bottle. Anyone tired of instant everything. If you have ever wanted the internet to slow down for a moment, this is that. FREE Homing is free. There is nothing to subscribe to and nothing to buy. You can watch a short ad to give a bird a tailwind if you want one to arrive sooner, and you never have to. Homing is a small app made by one person. If something is broken or you have an idea, write to us - by email, which is faster.