Mastodawn

After 10 days of App Store rejections I'm so excited to say, Short Circuit is finally in the App Store! 28 days ago I started built a prototype of Siri powered by ChatGPT, and was immediately drawn to the idea of a premium-feeling iOS, iPad, and Mac app for ChatGPT. This amazing technology deserves a good user experience, and we gave it one.

Partnering with @Soroush to make that happen has been a dream, and I'm so excited to share Short Circuit with you.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/short-circuit-ai-chatbot/id1638522784?ct=social

‎Short Circuit: AI Chatbot

‎Ask AI anything with Short Circuit. As an AI-powered chatbot, Shorty is here to revolutionize the way we communicate with our devices. Shorty can provide intelligent, sophisticated, and even funny responses to your every question, powered by the latest OpenAI models ChatGPT, and soon GPT-4. But tha…

App Store

We're only getting started too. We already have a true native Mac app in private beta, we're adding GPT-4 support, syncing all your conversations across devices, and so much more.

That's not to undersell the app today, it can already do so much and has been doing so much in our lives. You should try the app to find out for yourself, everyone gets 10 free messages to try it out. If you like the app we'd truly appreciate App Store ratings and reviews, they're the lifeblood of any indie app.

Next week I'll be publishing a post covering a large set of big questions about AI we have to answer as a society, but we've also been using AI as we've been building Short Circuit.

This week Short Circuit helped with meal prep, it made up stories for the little kids in my life, and it even helped build Short Circuit. It helped me write Short Circuit's app description, found good ASO keywords, and it even wrote the in app purchase code for me because I was too lazy to read RevenueCat's docs.

Before we go one last surprise. Our back and forth with app review was about providing users with a lifetime unlock option. Hopefully in the next day or two that will be approved and available in the app, but in the mean time you can purchase a lifetime unlock to use your own OpenAI token on Stripe. https://redpanda.club/short-circuit-lifetime-unlock

We truly hope you love Short Circuit, as much as you'll surely love our lil mascot Shorty. If you like 'em share 'em with your friends. (Hint, hint, the boost button. 🐘)

Stripe Checkout

I'm very happy to say that Apple has finally approved our lifetime unlock in app purchase, so now you can upgrade from within the app. We've also fixed up the bugs that were stopping some users from sending messages, which is, you know, the entire point of the app. 😅

Roman Lefebvre Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort shorty is truly the cutest! 🥰

@Rlfb 🥺🥺🥺

Jared Manfredi Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort does the secret key tie to a GPT-4 sub or is a sub through them completely unrelated?

@jared The lifetime unlock is unrelated, we just want to provide people who have subscription fatigue an option that better works for them. We probably will be able to get GPT-4 support out to lifetime users quicker though, but no promises. 🤞🏻

@mergesort I did this too! Is there something that I need to do or will it just work out-of-the-box, in terms of binding my license to my account? Thank you.

@nathan Hey Nathan, I’m really sorry, I know this isn’t a good first experience with the app. On Wednesday we submitted a bug fix to Apple (version 1.0.3 rather than 1.0.2 that you’re using) which solves the issue you’re running into, it’s specific to people who bought the lifetime unlock. We’re still waiting for Apple to approve the update, but since the app update is ready can we add you to a beta TestFlight build for the updated app we sent to Apple which should solve your problem?

Just another rakyat 🇲🇾Apr 18, 2023

@mergesort Is the lifetime unlock for all three platforms, or will it be separate purchases?

@rakyat You get all three platforms with one purchase, no nickel and diming here. 🙂

Just another rakyat 🇲🇾Apr 18, 2023

@mergesort Nice! ❤️

Thickey Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort I didn’t get any free messages🙃

@thickey So sorry about that, we're looking into it right now. Did you happen to be on the beta?

Thickey Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort nope, totally fresh to it. I’m not mad, launching something new is hard work!

@thickey Thank you for understanding. 🙇🏻‍♂️

Thickey Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort oh, I gotta tap the white suggestions. I get it now.

@thickey Ah yes, you can start sending messages after the onboarding is complete. We should find a way to make that clearer, sorry about that!

Olivier Halligon Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort @thickey I got the same and also thought I hit a bug. Then saw that toot so went thru the onboarding white buttons… except for the first "Configure Siri Shortcut" one, bc I didn't yet know if I wanted to configure the Siri shortcut before trying the app first, to know if I liked it and would use it. Alas, you're forced to configure Siri right away to unblock you — rather than trying the app first and configure Siri later. I think many will be tripped by that NUX!

@aligatr @thickey You don't need to configure Siri to start!

Soroush and I just figured out the original bug, it's annoyingly a race condition that has nothing to do with the onboarding process. The bug happens because we sometimes try to query your subscription status (which includes the 10 free messages) before you have an anonymous user ID, so it returns 0 messages. If you force quit the app the user ID will be there, and will fetch your correct subscription status the with 10 free messages.

CJ Gaspari Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort it’s asking me to upgrade before even getting to use my 10 free messages. I went thru the intro, but then wouldn’t let me ask any of my own.

@whatthecj It seems that we shipped a bug where it doesn't update free message count correctly. We're working on a fix, but would you mind force quitting the app to try again. I believe that should let you try it out, could you let us know if that works?

CJ Gaspari Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort that solved it!! Thank ya

mako Apr 18, 2023

@mergesort digging the app! Any plans for Apple Watch support?

@mako Thank you! If you mean a native Apple Watch app I’d love to understand more about what you’d like because we don’t have plans for that, but the good news is that the Ask Shorty Siri command should already work on your watch.

mako Apr 18, 2023

@mergesort yeah, native watch app (similar to Petey). I’ll play with the shortcut, but often on walks don’t even have the phone, just useful to be able to ask questions. It’s a far better Siri. :)

@mako Ahh, I don't ever go anywhere without my phone so I wouldn't have even considered this. We have a few important features like the native Mac app, conversation sync, and conversation features like new models or custom prompts enqueued but I'll put the watch app on my backlog to reconsider at a later date. Thank you for the idea!

mako Apr 19, 2023

@mergesort I get it; I’ve been trying to leave my phone home and survive on the watch. I know, it’s crazy.

@mako Haha, more like I wish I could be as sane as you. 🙂

mako Apr 18, 2023

@mergesort and… already bought lifetime! Thanks for a fun app!

@mako Thank you for purchasing a lifetime unlock, and thank you for the kind words! 🙂

Sarah Perez 💙Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush can you send me some info? Curious about the Siri integration— contact info on my profile

@Sarahp @Soroush Absolutely will do, thank you Sarah!

Tyler Hillsman Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Congrats! 🎉

@thillsman @Soroush Thank you very much Tyler! ❤️

Eytan Schulman Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Huge congrats on the launch! And that icon 😍

Kris Venden Mar 29, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Congrats. It’s a nice looking app. Where’s the 1 time purchase option mentioned to restore from? This was only offered in the beta or? (Sorry, jumped right to the app after first toot about it. Now see my answer in one of your newer toots :P )

@kvenden @Soroush Unfortunately we're still waiting for Apple to approve our lifetime purchase option, but we're hoping it'll be in the app in the next day or two. In the mean time you can purchase a lifetime unlock to use your own OpenAI token on Stripe, which would let you have it today, and would mean Apple fees for us. https://redpanda.club/short-circuit-lifetime-unlock

Stripe Checkout

Kris Venden Mar 31, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Hi, when you say mac app, is this only available on M1/M2 macs? It says not compatible with my 2020 Intel MacBook Air. Just wanted to confirm before I purchase the life license.. Thanks.

@kvenden @Soroush Hey Kris, great question. Yes, it's currently available on M1/M2 MacBooks but we've already started on a native Mac app (which will require macOS 13). I expect it to take a couple of weeks, the app already builds but I'd like to make sure it's a great experience. So we do have plans in case you want to purchase a lifetime license, or I can let you know when it’s out if you'd prefer that.

Kris Venden Mar 31, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Great to know, thanks for the lightning fast response. :)

@kvenden @Soroush Pride myself on good customer support, and good red panda gifs.

Nick Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush just subscribed! Nice stuff. 2 suggestions if you're open.
1. Have history of Siri convos in app
2. To piggyback off that, have a button so that after you use Siri to ask something, open the app to keep the convo going

@nickchuckwalter @Soroush

1. The Siri convo history idea is a great one! I’ve written it down. 😄
2. Is that something you can do with Siri? I'm genuinely not familiar but would be happy to add that.

Nick Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush 1. Awesome! 2. I was trying to remember if there was a way when I realized "this is what the robot is for" 😆

royrod Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush awesome, congrats- subscribed already :) However, I asked it a standard finance question that I had recently asked GPT and it (literally) just said "Yes." I tried again in a Side Chat and it said yes and like 3 more words just repeating my question. Whereas GPT gave 1-2 paragraphs. Is there some setting to get it to behave "normally" (like watchGPT does too) instead of hyper-terse? I don't see any such settings.

Soroush Mar 30, 2023

@royrod @mergesort We've prompted the assistant to be concise, since space is at a premium in the mobile context and short messages render faster, but yours is one of the tersest responses we've seen! We'll be tweaking the prompt as we learn more, but we do think short messages are good.

Daniel 🏳️‍🌈 Jilg

@mergesort @Soroush this is really cool, congrats on the launch!

Chris Wu 🪐Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush I love the Easter egg with the robot in the onboarding! That app icon is the cutest.

Mostly Harmless (Cam Johnson)Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Hey this looks great! FYI having some trouble with the Siri integration, shorty asked for more information but won’t accept more, seems like it’s stuck in a loop or something.

Said
“ask shorty”
“How far is it to bike from state 1 to state 2”
Shorty asked for the cities, and now says stuff like:

@mostlyharmlessz @Soroush Oh dang, that's not good!

assume you weren't sending a link, can I ask what led to that message about sending a link?

I just tried asking two questions, like this.

Ask Shorty: How long does it take to bike from Ohio to Florida?
[Got a correct response]

Ask Shorty: How long would it take if we added a stop in Texas?
[Got a response that knew we were going from Ohio to Texas to Florida]

Is this what your flow was like or were your questions phrased in another manner?

Mostly Harmless (Cam Johnson)Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Is there a way to see the chat log? I asked a few things but it’s tough to know what went to siri and what got funneled to shortcut. But I asked how long does it take to bike from Chicago IL to Arkansas, it said I need to know the cities, and then it wouldn’t accept additional information. Now whenever I ask anything it just gives that link error 🤔

Mostly Harmless (Cam Johnson)Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Ok got it unstuck by running the shortcut manually, not sure what happened

@mostlyharmlessz @Soroush There isn't currently a way to do that, but that's a great idea. I'm planning on creating a new chat for Siri & Shortcuts, but I’ll see if I can find a way to split that out into two separate conversations (one for Siri and one for Shortcuts).

I’m debugging the link error and I'll follow up privately to ensure that we don't post any private data publicly.

Mostly Harmless (Cam Johnson)Mar 30, 2023

@mergesort @Soroush Sounds good, thanks for looking! Can’t believe Apple hasn’t integrated an LLM into Siri themselves

@mostlyharmlessz @Soroush Hey Cam, just wanted to let you know that I shipped this feature today in version 1.2. Thank you for the suggestion! 😄 https://indieapps.space/@redpandaclub/110160520682588706

🪩 The Red Panda Club 🪩 (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Happy (and Good) Friday! We spent the day doing a little work and released a new feature, a special conversation for all of your Siri & Shortcuts requests. This was the most requested feature, people wanted a separate conversation they could reference for all of the Short Circuit requests they make with iOS integrations, and I'm happy to say we delivered just that. Version 1.2 is rolling out and available everywhere you find your favorite apps, the App Store. 📱 https://shortcircuit.chat.app

Indie Apps