GatherUp-Your People Connected

The easiest way invite your people to catch up IRL. Whether it's right now or later - photo, place, RSVP, and chat. No public feed. No strangers. Just time spent with the people you know.

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Inspiration

One day my wife and I were heading out for a casual lunch at a local. We wanted to invite some friends, but we didn't want to pressure them — and we didn't want them agonising over how to reply if they couldn't make it.

Then you're just waiting for a reply, wondering if they got it, if they will come, can come, want to come… then you start thinking, “Maybe I should follow up and let them know they don't have to come, but they can if they want to…”

Argghhh. It's too hard.

Imagine if there was an app to do that. The idea evolved from there.

What it does

GatherUp is a private invitation app for people you already know. No public feed. No strangers.

You pick Right now or Plan ahead, add a photo or video to capture the vibe, choose a friend or a group, add times and a location, make it pretty if you want — and send.

Your people get the invite and can make a low-pressure decision. They can reply or not (RSVPs are optional), turn up or not, and everyone is happier.

If you're planning something less spontaneous, you can add RSVPs, guest lists, bring lists, and — with GatherUp Plus — special effects to pretty it up.

How we built it

I am the project manager. GPT, Gemini, and Cursor are the staff.

Together we refined the product, explored what was possible, iterated (and reiterated), and built a solid backend with Supabase and RevenueCat.

The iPhone app is native Swift. Android is native Kotlin, built to the same standard.

Challenges we ran into

The little things.

Getting UI and UX just right. Making sure the visual elements look good. Getting rid of the saccharine tackiness that AI insists on adding everywhere.

Then the back and forth: a new feature would break a previously stable one. We made rules to prevent it… and then found another way to break it.

Sometimes it took hours to get one detail or visual element right without breaking something else.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

It works.

A small seed of an idea from years ago is now a working product. Even if it is just me, my family, and my friends who use it — at least I get to say “I did that!” And it fills a need I actually had.

What we learned

Language models can be amazing. Sometimes it is like magic.

But you still need to steer the ship, be the designer, and care about the details. If you want humans to use it, a human still needs to design it.

The robots are excellent tools that get you there. You are the driver.

What's next for GatherUp

Finish the Android version so it is properly cross-platform — same standard, fully featured.

Then work out how to get in front of the world.

After that: keep refining, make it more compelling, and give more people a reason to want to use it.

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