Hi there, I’m Vatana, the solo developer behind Long Distance. Today I’m sharing what I’ve been building and trying to make it as transparent as possible, so you can decide whether it’s worth a spot on your Home Screen.  
  
**Answer**

Texting all day and still feeling far apart is a weird kind of lonely. Most couple apps end up being another inbox you have to keep up with. I wanted the opposite: something that sits on the Home Screen and just reminds you someone's thinking about you.

Long Distance is for two people. No feed, no followers, nobody else in it.

* Send a snap, or draw on top of one. Drawings save as strokes, so they can hit play and watch it appear line by line instead of just seeing the finished thing.
* Animated widgets. The last thing you sent, plus a mascot each for how you're both feeling. 42 of them across 3 characters, things like commuting, gym, cooking, movie night, missing you.
* Countdowns for the next time you're in the same place, anniversaries, birthdays, whatever you want.
* A globe showing how far apart you are and what time it is on their side.
* A canvas you can both draw on at the same time (beta).

**Better**

Most couple widgets are a static photo that swaps out. Ours move. You pick an animated mascot for what you're doing or how you're feeling, commuting, gym, cooking, missing them, and it plays on their Home Screen without either of you opening anything. 42 of them so far. Getting animation to actually run inside a Home Screen widget took a while, because widgets aren't built for it, and I haven't found another couple app doing it.

Drawings replay too. They save as strokes, not flattened images, so watching one appear in someone's real handwriting lands differently than getting a finished picture.

The rest is me trying to make this the one place for the two of you instead of a single gimmick. Snaps, drawings, countdowns to the next time you're together, a globe with their local time, a canvas you can both draw on at once. One app for the relationship instead of five.

And one subscription covers both people. Most apps in this space charge each of you separately.

**Cost**

Free to download, and free covers the main loop: 3 snaps or drawings a day, your last 5 in the gallery, 5 saved drafts, all the widgets. Free has ads.

Premium is $6.99/month or $49.99/year, and it covers both of you on one purchase, so $3.50 each per month. It unlocks unlimited sends, full history, all mascots, photo backgrounds, HD uploads, no ads, no watermarks. No lifetime option right now.

Download at [https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6757593531?pt=122660795&ct=Reddit-Aug&mt=8](https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6757593531?pt=122660795&ct=Reddit-Aug&mt=8)

If you're doing distance right now, what would actually help you feel closer that no app does yet? Genuinely asking, that's how the countdown and the globe got built.

  
In addition Trust Factor Links: [https://trylongdistance.com/](https://trylongdistance.com/)  
Social: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/long-distance-app](https://www.linkedin.com/company/long-distance-app)

I built an app to get couples closer together. Animated widgets, drawing, photos, countdown, and more.