How I send customers iMessages

balto, an API for iMessages, was born out of a problem I had running a texting service (Caffeinator).

I didn't know how often my messages were read, I couldn't send large images, and I wanted the potential to play with other parts of iMessage, potentially to build something out with Apple Pay.

~85% of all users on Caffeinator are Apple users, which was higher than I initially expected, so I felt like it made sense to focus on them. In the case that it's an Android recipient, I fall back to Twilio. balto makes the most sense for low-volume, high-touch engagement.

Would love your feedback on the MVP! And for those of you curious, I'm writing a technical blog post on how it all works and looking forward to sharing :)

rolstenhouse

posted to

Ideas and Validation

on April 7, 2020

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Great idea! I've tried sending an iMessage to my number, but haven't received it :( My number ends with with 353 in case you have a log

Also, you should add a favicon :)

tonixx

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4 years ago
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  Great suggestion, I'll add a favicon.
  
  I'm surprised you didn't get a message. I'll take a look at the logs :(
  
  rolstenhouse
  
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  4 years ago
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Hey - great idea! I A few pieces of feedback for the site itself:
- if I was a potential user, when I look on your site there's not enough information compelling me to sign up, especially in the FAQ. E.g. the Apple Business Chat question - what limitations does Apple Business have, and how does balto solve those?
- The "how does this work" part of the FAQ should be expanded upon and moved above the documentation part. What happens when they get the API key? How do they actually use this to talk to their customers? Is it via a website, through their own phone, etc? Convince me to use it, then show me everything else!
- Do you have a gif / video of this in action ? Maybe you can even compare using twilio, apple business vs using balto
- Just my opinion, but I'm not sure if you need the "...under the hood..." piece. If you're Wizard of Ozing this - they don't need to know that ;)
- Also, since this only services iphones, that's going to be a big question from potential users - why should I use this if it only works with a % of my customers? It'll be a pain if they need to use two services, so you need to reassure them and re-convince them about why your service is better
aligrim

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4 years ago
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  This is all really good feedback. Definitely need to add a much better comparison and do a more thorough job of explaining the product.
  
  Adding a gif/video and walkthrough (or even having a sample project in code) could be a great way to make it more clear to developers how to work with balto/integrate it.
  
  In regards to the iPhone, I think the reason I wanted it for myself was a high number of recipients used an iPhone and I wanted to take advantage. I agree, using two services would be headache when the job to be done is to "contact my customer". I'll see if I can make that abstraction more clear!
  
  rolstenhouse
  
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  4 years ago
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