Feeling Thankful

Do you remember the last time you received a handwritten Thank You note? It’s something that brings a uniquely wonderful feeling that tends to linger. Maybe you even keep a few favoites. Saying “thank you” is a simple and powerful way to spread joy to others.

Starting today, you can thank others right inside of Happyfeed 😄

We’ve always wanted to build a way to send thanks in our app. Wellness blogs and positive psychologists often mention gratitude and thanking as two of the best practices for fostering happiness. We wanted to branch out and try another important practice. Happyfeed is a place to find more happiness, not just a gratitude journal app. Thanking is the first time we’ve stepped out of our gratitude-only comfort zone!

Note: We are launching in the US only, but we plan to expand soon. This is due to the technical difficulty of sending messages outside of the US. The UK, Canada, and Australia are next up!

How Does It Work?

We made thanking as simple as possible, but there are still a few steps you'll need to follow. Here are the step-by-step details on how Happyfeed will let you “thank” a friend:

Sending Thanks

1. Navigate to the new Thanks tab and select the send button
2. Connect to your contacts after a prompt
3. Select a friend by searching through the list
4. Optionally add a reason, like: “For driving me to the airport ✈️”

Receiving Thanks

1. Friend receives an SMS from our HappyBot number
2. Friend replies with an emoji
3. We thank them for their thoughtful reply
4. You receive their reply as a notification in the app

We even built a system that allows you to save your phone number to your account. This allows you to receive thanks as push notifications and reply right in the app - so you can better track thankfulness and skip the text messaging with our “HappyBot.”

You’ll also see any thanks you received before adding your number! (We tried to cover all the bases.)

Why texting?

We thought about tagging friends in posts, sending out emails, and even mailing out postcards for you to forward along. After years of conversations and pondering, we decided the easiest solution would be to send them via SMS. Mailing seemed like too much work to start, and email felt too spammy and stressful. Plus, texting is one of the main things we use our phones for. It felt right.

Much More Than A Text

• 😛 Emoji reactions - We love emojis because they are (1) easy to send and (2) convey a lot of meaning. A random 🐢 emoji may trigger fond memories years later.
• ⏰ Time-based - Each thank is attached to the day it was sent. We plan to explore ways to show thanks on other pages, like the calendar or memories.
• 👭 Connections - Each thank is associated with a phone number and grouped together. This gives you a private history of your gratitude and relationships.

We can’t wait to see how you use thanking in Happyfeed. If it proves useful, we have a few ideas we are excited to pursue - things to evolve the nature of how to associate friends with gratitude. For example, someday you might be able to optionally trigger a thank in the future by tagging a friend on a moment.

Final Note: Privacy

One of the things we love most about Happyfeed is that it’s 100% private. You can happily post moments that feel special to you without worrying about the opinion of others. Thanking is “semi-social” in that it does connect you with others, but your journal will always be private and personal. We were careful to create a system that maintains full privacy - part of why we use phone numbers to send and receive thanks.

Your journal will always be private.

No matter how happy you can be on your own, you can always be happier with others. Thanking is a reminder that mental wellness is a shared journey.

Enjoy the holidays and THANK YOU for hanging around and trying our app! 😊