Social audio group conversations for iOS, Android and web
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Chris Messina

Angle Audio - Social audio group conversations for iOS, Android and web

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Angle Audio is a free cross-platform social audio app for authentic group conversations. Join existing topics or start one yourself and enjoy features such as screen-sharing, text-chat and live-celebrations to connect with other users in audio conversations.

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Matthias Strodtkoetter
Maker
Hi! Matu from Angle Audio here 👋. First off: Thanks @chrismessina for hunting us! Last week, we officially launched our social audio platform for group conversations on iOS, Android and web. Angle is a bit like Clubhouse, but different 😉: We are cross-platform, focusing on more intimate and intentional conversations and we added some distinctive features to reinforce inclusiveness, authenticity and intimacy by design. Backstory: The story of Angle starts in Tokyo, where I was longing for a way to easily connect and talk to experienced physicists during my research in quantum information theory. After another similar experience a bit later on, I was wondering, there must be an easier way to connect the curious with the wizards, right? So I sat down with Valerius and Matthias K. and we started working on Angle in early 2020 to build a platform that connects people in audio conversations. Because we believe that the right conversation and the right time changes everything. This is our second launch on Product Hunt and since our beta launch, not only have we rebranded but we’ve updated and improved many core Angle features: The new Angle: 🤗 Open to everyone on iOS, Android and web 💬 Text-chat & screen-sharing ✅ End-to-end encrypted 🤖 Audio-chat-bots (try “/play ph” in the chat on web) 🔁 Recurring conversations 🎊 Live-celebrate others during a conversation ⏳ Time-capped conversations 👯‍♀️ Make friends, not followers 🔜 Further down the road: Creator donations, private conversations, co-hosting and more ➡️ We have a great line-up of conversations in English and German today and will make sure to open some ad-hoc AMA conversations, where you can talk to us directly. We would love to hear your feedback and first impression on what we've built so far! Our entire team will be here all day to answer your questions. Find us @ angleaudio on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram Download Angle for iOS or Android *Ps. 🥚Join a conversation, navigate to the text chat on our web version and use the command /play ph for a little surprise for product hunters 🐣 Head over to our Instagram to find the full list of commands...
Eugene Hauptmann
@chrismessina @matthias_strodtkoetter +1 on the quantum topic 🔬 But seriously, how do you plan to compete with ClubHouse?
Matthias Strodtkoetter
Maker
@chrismessina @eugenehp thanks for your question! We think Clubhouse is great and more power to them. Having a great conversation is a deeply human and amazing experience that comes in many ways, shapes or forms. That's why we believe social audio will be huge and just like in real life, we will have different conversations in different environments. With Angle, we focus on reinforcing experiences that are more inclusive, authentic and intimate. If these are conversations that people enjoy and we achieve making Angle the best place for them, then we'll have a place in the future of social Audio. Oh, and then we have Android, web, end-to-end-encryption, screen-sharing, text-chat, audio-chat-bots, in-call celebrations etc. :)
Eugene Hauptmann
@chrismessina @matthias_strodtkoetter nice. Thanks for the detailed answer! What do you use for E2E encryption?
Raphael Voellmy
Maker
@chrismessina @matthias_strodtkoetter @eugenehp The audio streams are XTS-AES encrypted (256 bit). We did not implement the encryption ourselves, end-to-end encryption is a feature provided by our CPaaS provider. We strictly follow Bruce Schneier's advice "Don't Roll Your Own Cryptography" 😊
Aleks Bochkov
@chrismessina @matthias_strodtkoetter Looks awesome and solid! Congrats on the launch
Vas
?makers - congrats on the launch! Please do clarify the 'but different' part a bit - its not like 'we are cross-platform, focusing on more intimate and intentional conversations and we added some distinctive features to reinforce inclusiveness, authenticity and intimacy by design' is easy to understand :)
Matthias Strodtkoetter
Maker
@vasgo hey Vas 👋 and thank you for the great question! So one thing we do is we don't distinguish between a "stage" and an "audience", and we don't have "followers" but "friends". These differences already promote a more inclusive experience that is less about listening to few, famous people, but more about actually being part of conversations and making meaningful connections. And then there are the things I listed above: 🤗 Open to everyone on iOS, Android and web 💬 Text-chat & screen-sharing ✅ End-to-end encrypted 🤖 Audio-chat-bots (try “/play ph” in the chat on web) 🔁 Recurring conversations 🎊 Live-celebrate others during a conversation ⏳ Time-capped conversations 👯‍♀️ Make friends, not followers
Vas
@matthias_strodtkoetter cool! curious, has anyone tried implementing real time translation in audio chats yet. Seems like current tech enables that, at least to some extent?
Raphael Voellmy
Maker
@matthias_strodtkoetter @vasgo That's a cool idea! We haven't thought of that yet, but there are so many cool ideas worth exploring in the social audio space and I'm thrilled to explore what can be done on a technical level with social audio. That is one of the reasons why I joined this endeavor.
Suki Fuller
Team Angle, know how much I love this platform. I'm even doing a review and that doesn't happen often! Been using it for a few months and find the UX/UI a better and more friendly experience than other similar platforms (and I test them all). The team is great, open and accessible especially @matthias_strodtkoetter @sarahxjo @Matthias_Karg during my early days (sorry for all the messages!), the conversations are informative, fun, and you don't feel like you are in some hierarchy. Genuine, respectful interaction occurs with the ability to provide feedback from everyone in real-time...and screen-sharing! I don't consider this a competitor (and I work in the Competitive Intelligence sector) to CH but a welcome alternative to those wanting to participate in a conversation and not an online broadcasting audio network. Different for different folks! Good job Team Angle Audio and yes we are going to host our Fellows CI chat soon!
Sarah Jordi
Maker
@sukifuller, wow, reading this just put a big smile on my face. Thank you for your continuous support and advice and the trust you are putting in us. We are aiming to build a product that makes many people feel what you describe so beautifully in your comment. I'm looking forward to many more audio conversations with you on Angle! 😊🙏
Matthias Strodtkoetter
Maker
@sarahxjo @matthias_karg @sukifuller 🥺🙏 Suki, thank you for this review!
Emily Hawkins
5/5 would recommend Angle 😍 Have especially loved so far the product peeps community & listening into conversations about new-for-me topics (like 3D printed steaks). Keep up the good work @angle! 👏
Matthias Karg
Maker
Thanks @emily_hawkins 🙌
Vas
?makers And where do you see Angle in couple of years, if I may ask? - quite a few audio apps were introduced to the market recently, not all of them will survive. How many do we really need?
Matthias Karg
Maker
@vasgo thanks for the question. It's something we discuss all the time. Our guiding principle is great conversations that add value to people, both in terms of human connection and the feeling of having gained insight. One area we find interesting are micro-communities, they are great on many levels, let's see if that's also Angle's future 🔮 It's true, the landscape around social audio is getting more competitive. We can see many scenarios, one thing that we're confident about that in the end it won't be a one-player-takes-it-all market. With our focus on "giving people a feeling of time well spent" we think we can build a platform that people come back to because it adds value to their lives.
Vas
@matthias_karg It seems like there are only so many boxes one can tick (security & encryption, design, speed etc.) - and then it's all going to be about crowd effect - 'who is already on the platform?’ and ‘where are my friends at?’. Not to mention WhatsApp and/or Telegram with their solutions & seamless integration with the messengers etc. I wonder how it’s going to play out. Best of luck!
Matthias Karg
Maker
@vasgo we're wondering about this, too. In the end we don't want to compete on a feature-level, but rather on the experience 🤞 thanks for the support!
Raph Grieco
That's my fave social audio app ! Not only because it is a Swiss startup ;) but mainly because of its inclusive-by-design strategy (iOs + Android) and its really awesome UX/UI ! Go @matthias_strodtkoetter & Team Angle !
Sarah Jordi
Maker
@matthias_strodtkoetter @rphgrc Thank you!! Inclusiveness is a big one for us and we will focus even more on that in the future to make Angle a great place for everyone who enjoys good audio conversations.
Sarah Jordi
Maker
Hi everyone! I'm Sarah and responsible for all things marketing and comms at Angle. 🚩 If you want to try Angle today to test some of our features and find our Product Hunt easter egg 😉, here you can find our program for today for some conversations in English & German. ➡️ Ps. All times are in CET timezone, which is 1h ahead of London, 6h ahead of New York and 9h ahead of San Francisco. We're also happy to open a conversation for a founder AMA anytime if any of you would like to talk to our founders directly and in (audio) person! :) 🔛 Quick question for everyone: What type of conversations/content do you enjoy the most on social audio apps?
Anthony Pham
Congrats on coming out of beta! From a design perspective, how did you balance users' familiarity with Clubhouse's UI with making the product feel unique to Angle?
Matthias Karg
Maker
@anthonypham thanks! It's a great question. Our initial starting point was different, and that's affecting our design decisions until today. We want to create great conversations, a UI that feels inclusive and invites people to participate is key. This means for example not having a stage, and offering ways beyond talking are important. We prioritize product and UI decisions with our vision in mind 🔮. Will this allow people to have the best conversations possible? Many of our users are on CH and expect certain UI patterns and functionalities. Here we're trying to find some kind of middle-ground. Social audio hasn't matured yet, but there are certain patterns that seem to become the norm. Like when you tap on a user profile during a conversation. I'm curious, from your perspective, what's a must-have by now for a social audio product? 🤔
Anthony Pham
@matthias_karg Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I bet it's an exciting time to be in the social audio space since it's still very early and you can play a big part in shaping the future UI direction. You're on point with prioritizing inclusivity. One thing I wish Clubhouse was better at is curation of the main screen that shows upcoming/active rooms. Now that I follow a lot of people, almost all of the listed rooms are ones I'm not interested in, so I've stopped browsing the app and only open it when someone posts about a room on other social media. So I'd say user discoverability of relevant conversations in-app would be a great differentiator in any new social audio products coming out today. 👍
Matthias Karg
Maker
@anthonypham yes, showing relevant conversations is definitely important. And something we're currently exploring in the design-stage. I agree, if the actual audio-part is going to be similar on most audio apps, then the experience around the actual conversations could be the differentiator.
Christian
Can't recommend it enough! 🤩 It's amazing how much stuff I've learned these past few weeks! The conversations are suuuper interesting and being able to actually participate is a game changer! I just wish I could attend all the calls 😅 Keep up the amazing work guys!
Sarah Jordi
Maker
@kiko96 Wow, thank you for the kind words, Christian! That is so motivating to hear and I'm happy you're enjoying Angle so far! We will work hard to keep it up 💪
Raphael Voellmy
Maker
@kiko96 Thanks for the kind words! I always love to see engineers on Angle, fingers crossed for some awesome engineering topics on Angle in the near future 🤞
Nick Ryde
I co-hosted a session in Angle Audio and it felt like much more initmate, curated, premium content and people were present compared to alternatives like Clubhouse
Matthias Karg
Maker
@nick_ryde thanks 🙏 I remember the conversation, let's have another one soon!
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