A new building block for sharing.
Not chat. Not social media.Private spaces for sharing with specific people.
Pools is built on Bonafide, a new decentralized and distributed protocol, so others can use this new building block. We made the first app, but it won’t be the only one – and you won’t be stuck with us.
What’s a Pool?
A private space where you decide:
what it’s for, who’s invited, and who can post.
In one Pool, you might be the only one posting while others just view and reply. In another, two of you might post together. In another, a small group might all contribute.
A Pool has boundaries.
Different Pools for different people/reasons.
Sharing doesn’t interrupt.
Asynchronous by design. No reply pressure.
Threaded conversations.
Replies stay attached to posts.
Why this exists.
Most sharing gets forced into two modes:
fast conversation or broadcasting.
Chat is for immediacy. Social media is for exposure.
Neither is built for sharing that’s quiet, contextual, and meant to last.
We didn’t try to fix chat or improve social media.
We made a different building block instead. The Pool.
Want the walkthrough?
Why it’s open.
Bonafide makes Pools interoperable by default.
Like email runs on the open SMTP protocol, Pools runs on the open Bonafide protocol.
Others will be able to use this building block to build their own apps.
You’ll be able to switch between them while owning your data and connections.
Apps compete without locking in users. We don’t own this primitive. No walled gardens.
It’s more than just Pools.
Learn about BonafideTry it early.
Start with one person.
Make one Pool. Share something small.
You’ll figure out the rest as you go.
If what we’re doing resonates, use it and help make it real.
Let us know what you think. I’d genuinely like to hear from you:
tyler@bonafide.technology
We’re opinionated about this stuff.
Click on the bubbles.
We care about both sides.
The intimacy of a group chat, but calmer, more focused, and built for depth.
No likes, follower counts, or pressure to perform. Just genuine interaction.
Different Pools for different people and purposes—like unlimited finstas.
Use separate profiles for different people. You're a person, not a brand.
Overshare courteously. Pools was built for lots of sharing without the cringe.
No spam, phishing, unwanted messages, or connection requests. It’s impossible by design.
Safe for families, intuitive for grandparents, fun with friends. It’s your private network.
No algorithm curating your view. You’re in control.
No influencers, ads, or suggested content. Just your people.
Pay for your storage. You're the customer, not the product. Pools is for you, not advertisers or anyone else.
Pools is just the beginning. The future is more Bonafide apps, built by us and other developers.
Pools is the first app using Bonafide, a new privacy-first protocol for apps.
Bonafide will be open source. We’re on the way.
You own your data and social graph. We see a future of interoperable Bonafide apps.
Bonafide is distributed and decentralized. Each person has their own database.
We host for now. Later, pick your own host—or self-host.
No central IDs, handles or usernames. No surveillance business models.
“Pools” and “Messages” will be namespaces, so you can build with them.
Bonafide can power more than social. Any app can be reimagined and improved.
No usernames to sit on or fight over. No such thing as scarce usernames in Bonafide’s architecture.
No metadata. At all.
Backed by these leading VCs
None.
We’re building this to exist and stay open, not to be captured.