Why Heartstrings exists

Heartstrings started with a search for the best app for couples, and with not finding it.

Looking for the right app

I wanted something that would help my partner and me feel closer, so I went looking for the best couples app out there. I tried a lot of them.

Each one had something I liked. One asked good daily questions. Another had a shared calendar. Another was a nice place to keep photos. But none of them was the whole thing. We'd have needed three or four apps to get everything we wanted, and even then none of them felt like ours.

So I made one

I built Heartstrings for us first: to make our relationship better, to stay close through busy weeks, and to learn things about each other we hadn't thought to ask.

Most of all, I wanted one shared hub for the two of us. A place for the dates we're planning and the ones we've been on, the photos and memories from them, the little notes and lists, and the questions that start real conversations.

Why the red string

There's an old East Asian legend, more than a thousand years old, about a red string of fate. It says an invisible red thread ties together two people who are meant to find each other. The thread can stretch across any distance and get tangled along the way, but it never breaks.

In the Chinese telling, an old matchmaker god called Yue Lao, the old man under the moon, ties the thread around their ankles. In Japan and Korea it's tied around the little finger, which is why it's often called the red thread of fate.

I loved the idea, and it shaped the whole app. Heartstrings is that thread for the two of you: every date you go on, every memory you save, every question you answer and every little note is another knot in it. Over time it becomes a string of everything you've shared.

What I care about

• Made for two. Everything in Heartstrings is built around the two of you, not a feed or a crowd.
• Private. Your shared space is only for you and your partner. No ads, and your information is never sold. Read the privacy policy.
• Actually used. We use Heartstrings every day ourselves, so it keeps getting better at the things couples really do.

Say hello

If you have an idea, something isn't working, or Heartstrings helped the two of you in some small way, I'd love to hear about it. Every message gets read.