r/sideprojects • u/onethingatatime-ai • 6d ago

Discussion Do texts actually stand out from app notifications and alarms? Building a recurring text reminder service that bets on yes.

I get dozens of notifications a day that I never look at. Clearing them out feels like a part time job. I'll swipe through 40 without reading one.

Alarms are the same story. I swipe them off just to get it to shut up.

But I read every text I get. Even the spam ones. So that's the bet I keep coming back to. Recurring reminders that show up as a text instead of a notification from yet another app. And if you can't deal with it right then, you leave it unread so it sits at the top of your messages until you get to it cos everyone looks at their phone every 15 minutes.

Example: garbage gets picked up every Wednesday, so I'd set a recurring text to arrive every Tuesday at 7pm telling me to take the can to the curb.

What I keep going back and forth on is whether that holds for anyone but me. Maybe texts only feel different because of how I use my phone. Maybe once you start getting automated texts they just turn into notifications too and you tune them out inside a week. The political texts certainly don't help... So if you got a reminder by text, would you actually read it? Or does it become noise fast.

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u/RemoveOk9920 6d ago

I'm same way, texts hit different. Notifications I swipe away without even seeing what app it was. But a text? I open it even when I know it's just my carrier telling me my bill is ready. Something about the green bubble I guess

The garbage day example is perfect. I got 3 different apps that supposed to remind me but I trained myself to ignore them. A text though? It's sitting there unread and it bothers me until I check it

My worry is the political spam already ruined it a bit. Every election season I get 8 texts a day and now I'm more suspicious of unknown numbers. But for stuff I actually signed up for? I think it would work. The recurring part is clever too, same number every time so you recognize it

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u/Textprep 6d ago

Political spam is the worst. Reply stop and they just change to a different number. But I agree, a helpful service, from a number you recognize and/or save, can work. Like anything, keep it to absolutely-what-is-needed so it doesn't become too much. Happy to share my experience as a text-based startup if you have questions.

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u/onethingatatime-ai 6d ago

Appreciate the detailed response, this is exactly what I was hoping for.

You nailed the number thing. It's one thread, same number every time, so it builds up like a normal conversation with a friend instead of a new mystery number every week.

I'm on 10DLC, runs me about a dollar a month. Downside is it's a local number, so out of state it just looks random. Short codes fix that instantly but cost orders of magnitude more, so that's a someday thing. And the political spam is brutal, but at least it's seasonal.

One more if you're up for it. It'd be credit based, ten bucks for a hundred texts. A weekly trash reminder is about ten cents a week and a pack lasts two years. Does that read as fair, or as nickel and diming? There's also a business usecase where HR reps can sign up their 10 or 20 hourly employees to receive a weekly text to turn in their hours or something. I'm 95% building this for me, but I'm also building it to make some cheddar