Drop a bubble.
See what's around you.
PinBubbles lets you pin short messages to real-world locations. Discover what people are saying near you — bubbles auto-expire from 30 minutes to a month, so the feed always feels alive.
Why PinBubbles
A new kind of feed — built around where you are
Not chronological. Not algorithmic. Geographic, ephemeral, and human.
Real-time, not scrolled-time
Every bubble is something happening near you right now — not a six-month-old post resurfaced by an algorithm.
Hyper-local by design
1 km default radius (up to 10 km on Pro). You'll never see noise from another continent — only what matters where you are.
Auto-expires, no manual cleanup
Bubbles last from 30 minutes to one month, then disappear on their own. No graveyard of stale posts.
How it works
From thought to bubble in seconds
Four steps. No account creation needed past your first sign-in.
Step 1
Drop a bubble
Tap the + button, type a short message, pick a duration. Add up to 4 photos if you're on Pro.
Step 2
Pin to a location
Your current GPS by default. Business tier can drop bubbles within 5 km of their position for verified storefronts.
Step 3
Discover what's near
Open the map, scroll a list, or hold your phone up for AR view to see bubbles floating through your camera within 100 m.
Step 4
It vanishes on its own
When the duration runs out, the bubble is hard-deleted from the server. No graveyard, no algorithm resurfacing it next year.
Features
Built for the way places work
Five signature features that go beyond a simple map pin.
Live messages from where things actually happen
Traffic backups before Google Maps catches up. The café two blocks over with a fresh croissant batch. A car parked across the driveway. A heads-up about flooding on the next soi. A pop-up sale in the building next door. PinBubbles turns every phone into a hyper-local broadcaster — drop a bubble at the spot, and anyone in range sees it instantly. No followers required, no algorithm in the way.
A parking complaint reaches the right car owner in seconds — no honking, no notes on the windshield.
AR nearby view
Hold your phone up — bubbles within 100 m float in real 3D space through your camera. ARKit-powered on iOS, with image support across all tiers. See up to 10 bubbles on Free, 20 on Pro and Business.
Live road alerts float as bubbles ahead of you — accidents, debris, slow traffic, police.
Crosshair — browse anywhere
Stuck on the couch? Drop the crosshair on any spot on the map — Tokyo, your friend's neighborhood, the conference venue you're flying to next week — and see live bubbles from that exact area.
Drop the crosshair anywhere on the map to peek inside that exact spot.
Karma keeps it kind
Earn karma for upvotes, valid reports, and first messages. Hit higher tiers (Pathfinder, Signal Keeper, Bubble Guardian) to unlock community moderation privileges. Bad actors lose points and posting privileges — the community polices itself.
Karma is the single score that measures how much you contribute to the community. Climb four tiers — Wanderer → Pathfinder → Signal Keeper → Bubble Guardian — and unlock more moderation power along the way.
Business bubbles + verified badge
Run a café, salon, or event space? Business tier unlocks longer-lasting bubbles, 8-image carousels, a verified badge, and Call / Visit / Map CTAs inside every bubble. Drop pins within 5 km of your registered location.
Unlike regular bubbles, Business bubbles carry your shop's essentials right inside — phone number, website, and map directions — so customers can call, visit, or navigate without ever leaving the message.
Use cases
What people drop bubbles for
Live traffic + safety alerts
Construction. Floods. Accidents on the road ahead. Local-first warnings that expire in hours, not years.
Nudge the EV driver who forgot to move
Their car has been sitting on the fast charger long after the session ended, and the next driver in line is stuck. Drop a bubble at the charger — the right owner gets a polite ping without anyone leaving a note on the windshield.
Silent SOS when shouting isn't safe
Someone's following you home. A child wanders off in a crowded market. You spot something off in the next aisle. Tapping a bubble is quieter than yelling — and still reaches every phone in range instantly.
Fresh restaurant reviews from people eating right now
Skip the 5-year-old Google ratings. Travelers and locals leave bubbles while the dish is still on the table — so you can pick tonight's spot from what someone tasted an hour ago.
Pop-up events + meetups
Drop a bubble at the location, set it for 4 hours, watch friends nearby see it in their feed.
Business announcements (Business tier)
Today's special. New stock just arrived. Closing early. Reach the 5 km around you, not algorithm-throttled followers.
Asking the locals
What's good around here? Anyone know if the post office is open today? Hyper-local Q&A.
Notes to your future self
Drop a bubble at the parking spot. At the trailhead. At the place you want to come back to.
Community
Karma turns good actors into moderators
Every upvote, valid report, and helpful comment moves you up the karma ladder. Higher tiers unlock community moderation tools — so the platform doesn't depend on a hidden algorithm to stay healthy.
Pricing
Free forever for casual use. Pro pays for itself in a coffee.
All paid tiers come with a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime in your App Store / Play Store settings.
Free
For curious explorers
- 1 km discovery radius
- 10 messages per day
- 30-minute bubble duration
- 1 image per bubble (300 KB)
- AR view — up to 10 bubbles
- Comments, reactions, reports
Pro
For people who live in their neighborhood
- Up to 10 km radius
- Unlimited messages
- 30 min to 1 month duration
- 4 images per bubble (2 MB each)
- AR view — up to 20 bubbles
- Crosshair — browse anywhere
- Everything in Free
Business
For shops, cafés, salons, event spaces
- Business message type
- Verified badge on every bubble
- 8 images per bubble (4 MB each)
- Drop pins within 5 km of your GPS
- Call / Visit / Map CTAs in AR
- Custom business profile
- Everything in Pro
FAQ
Questions, answered
No. Location is only read when you actively open the app — to show nearby bubbles and to anchor any bubble you post. We never request background location permission.
They're hard-deleted from the database, along with any images on S3. Reported messages are archived for 30 days for moderation review, then permanently purged.
Yes — Profile → Settings → Delete Account. Re-authentication required (within 5 minutes), then everything is gone in seconds. See the data deletion page for the full retention table.
Forever. The Free tier covers a 1 km radius, 10 messages per day, 30-minute durations, and the full AR + community features. Pro mainly extends the radius, duration, and image count.
Yes — Pro and Business auto-renew unless you cancel through your App Store or Play Store settings at least 24 hours before the period ends. We can't issue refunds directly; Apple and Google handle their own refund policies.
Three layers: AI moderation at submit (AWS Comprehend + Rekognition), community reporting with 2/3/5-vote thresholds, and a karma system where high-karma users have moderation privileges and low-karma users lose posting rights.
Yes — the app works anywhere with GPS coverage. Backend runs in AWS Singapore for low Asia-Pacific latency, but bubbles work globally.
TestFlight (iOS) and Play Internal (Android) testing is live. The public App Store and Play Store launch is in final review — sign up at /beta for early access.
Ready to see what's around you?
Free to start. No credit card. No algorithm.