Gauge

Gauge turns hot takes into lively debates: scroll, swipe, & argue with friends over the internet’s most pressing questions. With daily debates, real-time interactions, and games, you'll never be bored

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Inspiration

We’ve all been in group chats where a single take — like “cereal is soup” — sends the convo spiraling. These everyday debates aren’t just entertainment, they’re how we bond. But no app really captured that feeling. That safe space for friendly chaos.

So we built Gauge — where takes ignite talk. Whether it’s debating the best fast food chain or challenging a controversial opinion, Gauge turns opinions into conversations and friends into co-debaters.

What it does

Post Takes

Posting is fast and intuitive: just type your question, pick a post type, and let our AI suggest categories. Gauge takes care of the rest — putting your take in front of the people most likely to respond or engage with your post.

TakeTime

Every day, at a surprise time, Gauge pushes out the same hot takes to everyone. Think BeReal, but for opinions. You respond, then see how your friends answered in their stories. This can help you spark friendly debates with each others opinions!

Profile & Friends

Every profile tells a story — not just your bio, but your take history. You can check out friends’ takes, votes, comments, favorites, and daily TakeTime responses — all designed to spark more conversations. You can also view fun statistics and earn badges on your profile thru more activity on the app!

TakeMaster

TakeMaster is Gauge’s built-in party game, made for real-life hangouts with the same energy as your group chat debates. Each player creates a take-style question about themselves and secretly submits their real answer. When it’s their turn, everyone else tries to guess what that person would say, while the TakeMaster adds a fake answer to throw them off.

It’s funny, surprising, and a little revealing — perfect for getting to know your friends better (or realizing you don’t know them at all). Since it runs on Multipeer Connectivity, you can play completely offline with people nearby, no Wi-Fi needed.

How we built it

Frontend

The UI is built using SwiftUI, with animations and gesture-driven interactions for swiping between takes and navigating the app.

Backend

We used Firebase to authenticate manage users, posts, votes, comments, and friend relationships in real-time. Firestore powers the feed live and keeps post data synced across users.

Search

  1. Category Search:Dive into specific topics like food, sports, or tech by tapping on a category. Your most-engaged categories are automatically ranked to the top, so you’re always one click away from the hottest takes in your favorite spaces.
  2. Semantic Vector Search: Looking for something more nuanced? Our vector search — powered by Firebase Vector Search — finds posts that mean what you’re looking for, not just ones that match exact keywords. It’s built to understand context, so you can type “gaming culture” and still find posts about esports, console wars, and Twitch streamers.

Recommendation

Gauge’s feed is powered by a custom AI-driven recommendation system that adapts in real time to your behavior across the app. It takes into account a wide range of signals, including:

  • Post recency and popularity
  • Your friendships and profile visits
  • Categories and topics you’ve shown interest in
  • Al-ranked categories and topics from your activity
  • Your favorited posts and past responses
  • Posts you’ve commented on
  • User searches and post searches
  • Engagement trends across the community

All of this ensures that your feed is highly personalized — always relevant, always fresh, and always you.

Games

Gauge includes social games designed to spark in-person connection and laughs. All our multiplayer features — including TakeMaster — are powered by Multipeer Connectivity, allowing users to connect and play seamlessly without the internet. As long as you’re in the same area, you can jump into a game together instantly, making it perfect for hangouts, events, and road trips.

What's next for Gauge

We’re aiming to launch Gauge on the App Store, and roll out full onboarding, TakeTime notifications, and refined friend suggestion features

Here are some features we had in mind

  1. Smart Friend Suggestions: Find new connections based on mutual friends and aligned opinions — whether you vote alike or clash on every take, we’ll help you grow your network.
  2. New Social Games: TakeMaster is just the beginning. We’re prototyping new interactive games that are just as chaotic, opinionated, and fun.
  3. More Post Types: Go beyond binary and slider — we’re working on post formats like ranked lists, polls with multiple options, and “This or That” series to make your feed more dynamic and expressive.
  4. Notifications & Widgets: Get notified when it’s time for TakeTime or when friends respond to your takes. We’re also building home screen widgets to keep you plugged into the hottest takes all day long.
  5. Positive Social Space & Moderation Tools: We’re committed to making Gauge a safe, inclusive, and respectful community. With built-in reporting, moderation systems, and AI-powered filters, we’re building a space where everyone can speak up without fear of hate or harassment.
  6. Performance & Backend Upgrades: Gauge is being optimized to perform like any top-tier social app — fast load times, seamless data sync, and minimal latency.

Built With

  • chatgpt
  • firebase
  • firebase-vector-search
  • multipeer-connectivity
  • swift
  • swiftui
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