If this is what I think it is—at first I thought it was a messaging solution like Layer or Jiver but just marketed at beta apps (which didn't jazz me up that much), then discovered it's really more of a feedback and issue tracking solution for beta apps—then this is much needed.
That said, Intercom and others are jumping into this territory quickly too. How do you stay differentiated from them?
@thetylerhayes Messaging apps are great, but they're only a small piece of the puzzle. Backchannel's goal is to give you all the tools you need to run an effective beta. Features like screenshot detection (and in the future, crash detection) will let your users report the bugs they find more effectively.
We also have longer-term goals. For us, messaging and discussion is just the start; there are other interesting problems to solve in this field (for one, beta tester acquisition).
I’ve been privately testing Backchannel for a while and I can’t wait to see what you all think of it. Seems like it solves a really important problem, really well.
Very interesting! Will look into and report back. Thanks for the share!
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Looks cool. We currently use UserVoice for this, which feels pretty clunky. Really wish the Backchannel site had a video or more screenshots of what it's like to use in an app. For example, what's the experience like for users reporting issues, how do they identify themselves and what steps do they go through, how customizable is the UI to make it feel like part of the app and not a third-party thing?
@cpickslay We designed Backchannel to be very neutral, so it can fit in lots of apps, and it respects tint color of the app it's in. In the future, we'd also love to provide hooks so that the hosting app can supply Backchannel with the identity of the testers, so they won't have to log in.
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@khanlou thanks. What I meant is more that a little bit of marketing would go a long way toward making it feel worthwhile to put the effort into integrating and testing it out. UserVoice also supports tintColor, which is nice, but still very limited.
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Sounds like Backchannel could solve a gap that my app clients encounter. Need a lot more info before I would want to install it. If we've working on uat or ux v. qa, for example, the controls and their placement are critical as is the language used in the dialogues. A video of Backchannel being used in-app would super helpful. Even better, build a quick mobile game (tick tac toe in Swift!) and set it up in TestFlight to demo.
Where can I find an iPhone 7?
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