twine

Inspiration

Twine was born out of something deeply personal: the pain of distance and disconnection in a long-distance relationship. Existing platforms like WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Instagram are optimised for communication, but not for intimacy. We wanted to create something that doesn’t just let couples talk, but helps them feel close, reminding them their relationship is growing, alive, and worth nurturing every day.

What it does

Twine gives long-distance couples a shared “vine of memories.” It weaves together daily rituals, shared reflections, and visual proof of their growth, like watering a plant that blooms with their moments. Instead of just sending messages, couples cultivate a living, evolving record of their bond. It transforms distance into something tangible, intimate, and beautiful.

How we built it

We built our prototype using Figma to rapidly design and test the core experience. This allowed us to focus on the emotional design, visual metaphors, and flow of intimacy rituals without being slowed down by full-scale development. The prototype captures the essence of Twine: simplicity, warmth, and growth. Looking ahead, we plan to build out the full product using React Native for cross-platform development and Firebase for real-time syncing, so couples can experience the vine of memories coming to life together.

Challenges we ran into

Balancing simplicity with depth: Couples want meaningful rituals, but we had to avoid overwhelming them with features.

Designing intimacy digitally: How do you make something feel emotionally close when it’s just pixels on a screen?

Sync reliability: Ensuring real-time updates worked seamlessly across different devices and time zones was a technical hurdle.

Emotional testing: Our app isn’t just utility, it’s emotional. Getting feedback from real couples was sometimes raw and vulnerable.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Turning a painful personal story into something hopeful and useful for others.

Creating a metaphor (the vine of memories) that couples immediately resonated with.

Building a functional prototype that not only works, but also feels beautiful.

Receiving feedback from test couples who said, “This makes me feel closer to my partner.”

What we learned

That intimacy isn’t just about words, it’s about shared rituals and a sense of growth.

The importance of testing emotional products with real people, not just assuming what works.

How design and technology together can transform abstract emotions like “distance” into tangible, comforting experiences.

That even small, consistent shared actions mean more to relationships than grand gestures.

What's next for Twine

Expanding rituals beyond text, adding voice notes, and prompts tied to shared memories.

Fundraising and growth — seek seed funding/accelerator programs to scale development, marketing, and community growth.

Full product launch — release Twine publicly as a platform designed to transform long-distance relationships into living, growing experiences.

Built With

• canva
• figma