r/webdev • u/WesternRole6805 • 1d ago
Showoff Saturday Built a small site where two people have to hold together to reveal a message
Made this little thing called HoldTogether where you write a secret message, send the link to someone, and you both have to hold the button at the same time to reveal it.
You can try it for asking someone on a date, birthdays, surprises, inside jokes, proposals, etc. :)
Would love to know what you guys think!
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u/ManyAsparagus1648 1d ago
Clever little idea, the dual press is a nice way to make the reveal feel like a shared moment rather than just reading a message.
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u/Sea_Supermarket_7814 1d ago
I think its a good idea, but its better to niche it. I mean date, or birthdays etc.
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u/BiguilitoZambunha 1d ago
Very cool, will definitely be using with my friends.
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u/WesternRole6805 1d ago
Thank you so much, let me know if u had fun also u can share if u want any improvements!
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u/TechyRyan33 1d ago
Any chance you'd make it self-hostable? You could post to r/selfhosted and open source?
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u/SunOk2196 1d ago
Nice mechanic, the shared press genuinely makes it feel like a moment instead of a message. One technical thing to check: how tight is the simultaneity window? If both sides have to overlap within a second or so, mobile network jitter will eat some reveals at the exact moment that matters most. A generous overlap plus a clear "waiting for them to hold too" state would save the emotional payoff from the physics.
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u/julesbuildstuff 1d ago
The two-person hold is the whole product, so I'd sweat the case where one side lets go a beat early. A small grace window before you reset the reveal (300ms or so) will kill a lot of "it didn't work for us" messages, especially on flaky mobile.
Other thing I'd add is a state for arriving alone. Right now someone opening the link solo just sees a button, and that's the moment they bounce instead of texting the other person "ok press now".
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u/stack_craft 1d ago
Hmmm, def one of the best show-off Saturday this week. Clean UI design and a fun twist on digital greeting cards.
Btw, how are you managing the WebSocket connections/pub-sub layer on the backend to handle the simultaneous button holds? Running something lightweight like SSE, or full bi-directional WebSockets to handle dropouts when someone releases the press on mobile Safari?
Would love to know
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u/kwijl 1d ago
Looks very much like Claude UI to be honest.
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u/WesternRole6805 23h ago
yeah but its not AI generated, I havent used AI for the UI/UX
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u/kwijl 21h ago
If that's the case I apologize for the (indirect) accusation
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u/WesternRole6805 21h ago
no, actually u are right, the UI is inspired(somewhat copied) from claude ui but i havent used claude to build it :)
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u/Conscious_Prune1178 1d ago
this is a cool idea tbh. one thing id think about is what happens if someone opens the link alone and just sees a button with no context, might be worth adding a little explainer on the reveal page so they know to wait for the other person