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No. 01

Luney.

Finally, a space that feels like home.

Year
2026
Role
Founder · Builder
Subject
a social sanctuary for LGBTQ+ folk

We’re tired of the bots, the chasers, and the unmanaged chaos of big tech. That’s why I built Luney, a social sanctuary designed specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, by the community.

Whether you’re looking for a Quiet Zone to reflect or a high-energy hub to find your next gaming squad, Luney adapts to your headspace. No noise, no pressure. Just us.

Features

Changelog

  1. Match your system theme, smoother sign-up, and stronger group controls

    Luney can now follow your phone's light and dark setting, your theme choices finally stick across restarts, sign-up recovers gracefully from a mistyped email, and groups gained ownership transfer, temporary bans, and tighter invite controls.

    • Match system theme: opt in and Luney flips between Midnight and your favourite light palette (Prism, Sunrise, or Ocean) whenever your phone switches between light and dark.
    • Your theme, Pride Mode, and Soft Mode choices now survive an app restart instead of resetting to Midnight.
    • Every password field has a show/hide eye icon, and the keyboard never learns your password even while it's revealed.
    • Mistyped your email at sign-up? A new Wrong email? Change it link on the verify screen lets you correct the address and resend, keeping everything you already typed.
    • The resend-confirmation timer now starts counting the moment the verify screen appears, so your first tap never bounces off a rate-limit error.
    • Group owners can hand their group to another member: you offer, they accept or decline. And an owner can no longer accidentally abandon a group; transfer it or delete it first.
    • Invite links are now something a group grants deliberately: members can't create them by default, and owners can re-enable inviting through a custom role or a per-member permission.
    • Temporary group bans: pick 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, a custom end date, or permanent. A lapsed ban lifts on its own. Also fixed: a banned member could previously get back in through an invite link.
    • Choose who can send you friend requests: everyone, friends of friends, or nobody. The Add Friend button simply hides where a request wouldn't be accepted.
    • Content removed by moderation now shows a clear Removed by Luney moderation notice on profiles instead of lingering or silently vanishing, and removed photos never appear in the Photos grid.
    • Deleting a reel now removes it from your grid instantly instead of waiting for a refresh.
    • Group photos on a profile open with the full like, comment, save, and share rail from every entry point, plus a new button that jumps to the group they were posted in.
    • VIP: the perks page now lists everything that's actually included, such as private friend nicknames and 80 custom emoji slots with animated emojis in groups you own. And if you're not VIP, locked customization controls are hidden rather than dangled.
    • After a support ticket wraps up, you might be invited to rate how we did. It's optional, quick, and never affects the outcome of your ticket.
    • A haptics consistency pass: likes, sends, deletes, confirmations, and pull-to-refresh now give the same physical feedback everywhere in the app.
  2. Live DMs, notification replies fixed, and threaded feedback

    Your DM inbox now updates in real time, replying straight from a notification works reliably again on iOS and Android, and feedback threads gained proper reply lines, timestamps, and team responses that land where they belong.

    • The DM inbox is fully live: new messages appear the moment they arrive and presence dots flip within moments of a friend coming online, no pull-to-refresh needed.
    • Replying to a DM straight from its notification works reliably again on iOS and Android, including the newest Android versions.
    • Feedback threads draw indent lines you can tap to jump to the parent comment, every comment shows when it was posted, and replies from the Luney team now appear under the comment they answer instead of at the top of the thread.
    • Pull down to refresh on any profile, yours or anyone else's.
    • Your own Active now line updates live instead of freezing at whatever it said when you opened the tab.
    • Profile banners display at their full shape without clipping, and the avatar no longer gets cut off by the section below it.
    • Sharing a profile opens Luney's own share sheet, and shared profile links now unfurl with a proper preview card.
  3. A warmer welcome, presence on your profile, and settings that follow you

    New accounts get a smoother start, your online status now lives on your profile, Panic Mode and your preferences sync across devices, and a wide round of polish: sharper GIFs, friendlier empty screens, and update notes that greet you after each release.

    • Onboarding now includes picking your avatar, a welcome card when you first land on Home, and a gentle heads-up before the system asks about notifications.
    • After an update, a What's New sheet shows you what changed, so new features stop hiding in Settings.
    • Your own profile shows your status dot and an Active now / Last seen line. Tap your avatar to change status: Away clears itself when you come back, while Do Not Disturb and Invisible stay until you say otherwise.
    • Panic Mode, chat preferences, and language now sync across your devices and survive signing out and back in, so your safety setup is always in place when you need it.
    • Opt-in profile share links: turn on link sharing and your profile gets its own luneyapp.com/u/yourhandle page. Off by default, so nobody can find you through a link unless you choose to be found.
    • GIFs now look the way you sent them: fixed a compression issue that added grainy dots, and chat photos keep their original quality.
    • More screens open with shimmer placeholders instead of spinners, and empty screens for notifications, friend requests, and blocked users now point you to a next step.
    • A quiet invitation to rate Luney appears only after things have gone well for a while, plus a Rate Luney button in Settings, then About, for whenever you feel like it.
    • Fixed: the avatar-crop screen no longer hides its controls behind the Android navigation bar.
  4. Instant-feel everywhere, pinned messages, mute chats, and DM privacy hardening

    Sending, posting, commenting, joining, and friending now feel instant: your action lands in the UI the moment you tap, while the server catches up. Plus pin messages and DM threads, mute chats for set durations, edit your last message with one tap, swipe-to-reply, calibrated haptics, and a round of privacy hardening for DM photos and unsent drafts.

    • DM photos you view and unsent message drafts now live in encrypted, short-lifespan device storage instead of long-term plaintext cache, plus a round of behind-the-scenes server-side hardening.
    • Mute push notifications per DM or group for 1 hour, 8 hours, or until you turn them back on. The notification still arrives in your inbox; only the push, banner, and sound are suppressed.
    • Live unread badges on group cards and a Groups tab badge that sums them, capped at 99+ per group, dropping to zero the moment you open the chat.
    • A New messages divider line now appears in DMs and group chat right above the first unread message, with the view scrolling to land on it.
    • A slim Connecting pill sits at the top of a chat when the realtime channel drops, distinct from the red offline banner that means your device has no network.
    • New Preferences screen in Settings, Appearance, Preferences, for non-account UI toggles. First one in there: show edit-last-message button.
    • Edit your last message with one tap: a small up-arrow inside an empty composer pops your most recent message into edit mode. Hardware-keyboard backspace does the same thing.
    • Mark a DM thread as unread to come back to it later. Long-press a read conversation in your inbox and tap Mark as unread.
    • Pin messages and photos in DMs and group chat, with a pin tray you open from the chat header or a sticky pinned strip at the top of group chat. Cap of 25 per chat, admin-only in groups.
    • Pin DM conversations to the top of your inbox, syncing across your devices and surviving reinstalls.
    • DM threads in your inbox now show Draft: ... when you've typed something but haven't sent yet, disappearing the moment you tap send.
    • The New message picker now lists only your friends, not every account in the app. Discovery of new people still happens through profile sheets, posts, mentions, and mutuals.
    • Deleting a message, post, or comment now shows a 5-second UNDO toast instead of a confirm prompt. Group admins moderating someone else's message still see the confirm.
    • Calibrated haptic feedback on primary actions: send a message, like a post, pick an RSVP, accept a friend, join a group, publish a post. Respects your OS system-haptics setting.
    • Swipe a chat bubble sideways to reply, the same iMessage and WhatsApp gesture. Long-press, then Reply still works.
    • Empty screens now point you somewhere instead of just saying nothing here yet. Empty comments focus the composer; your empty profile feed taps to create a post; your empty friends list taps to review pending requests.
    • Red You're offline banner pins to the top when your device has no network, so you know to expect a stuck send before you tap.
    • Switching tabs now keeps your scroll position, filter pills, search text, and expanded sections instead of rebuilding the tab from scratch. Tab switches are instant.
    • Loading screens now show shimmer skeletons that match the upcoming layout, instead of a centered spinner.
    • Tap the tab you're already on to scroll back to the top. On the Home tab the re-tap also pulls a refresh.
    • Joining a group, blocking, and unblocking are instant: the UI flips the moment you tap and rolls back with an error sheet if the save fails.
    • Composer drafts now autosave on DMs, group chats, and comments too, not just feed posts. Each conversation has its own slot; saves clear the moment you tap send.
    • Friend buttons and event RSVP chips feel instant: the label flips immediately while the change saves in the background.
    • Home-card composers (Weekly Prompt, Icebreakers, Confessions) feel instant: the input clears and the responses gallery expands the moment you tap share, with your pending row settling once the server confirms.
    • Reel upload progress now lives on your rail tile (slim ring around your avatar) and the cross-published post card instead of the top-of-app banner.
    • Posting to the feed is instant: tap Post and your card lands in your feeds immediately while the upload finishes in the background, with Tap to retry on failure.
    • Post comments, reel comments, and replies appear the instant you tap send, dimmed while syncing, settling to full brightness once confirmed, with Tap to retry on failure.
    • DMs and group chat show your message the instant you tap send, photos included, with Tap to retry on failure.
    • Chat messages now fade and slide in over 240ms instead of popping into place. Opening a chat or scrolling through history still snaps to position with no animation cascade.
    • The home reels rail now shows just the last 24 hours and one reel per friend. Older reels still live on the poster's profile forever.
  5. More privacy controls and profile anniversaries

    You can now choose exactly who is allowed to DM you, see mutual friends and groups on profiles, get celebratory banners for your account and group anniversaries, and manage every device signed in to your account.

    • Choose who can DM you: everyone, friends of friends, friends only, people you already talk to, or nobody. Setting it to nobody fully turns DMs off, both sending and receiving.
    • Profiles now show the mutual friends and mutual groups you share with that person, with privacy settings to hide your own.
    • Anniversary banners celebrate your Luney birthday, the day you joined each group, and your first DM with a friend.
    • A new Active sessions screen lists every device signed in to your account and lets you sign any of them out.
    • Hashtag chips on a group are tappable, and hashtag pages now have a Groups tab next to Posts and Reels.
    • The Privacy Policy and Terms of Service are now readable inside the app under Settings, then About.
    • Weekly Prompt rotates automatically every Monday from a staff-managed backlog, with room for special prompts during Pride and other moments.
    • Fixed: a new friend's reels show up on the Home rail within seconds instead of requiring an app restart.
    • Fixed: the can't-DM sheet no longer wrongly implies a block when the real reason is someone's DM settings.
    • Fixed: in-app heads-up banners now fire reliably for every notification type.
  6. Read receipts and better chat

    Direct messages now have read receipts you can switch off, you can react to any message with any emoji, and shared posts and reels show a full preview card instead of a plain link.

    • Read receipts in DMs: see when your message was read, with a setting to turn it off both ways.
    • Shared posts and reels now show a full preview card wherever they are linked, instead of a bare URL. Tap a shared post to open it in place; tap a shared reel to play it full-screen.
    • React to any direct message with any emoji, with the ones you use most shown first.
    • Custom emoji render as the actual picture on the DMs list and on the in-app notification banner.
    • The emoji picker now has a search box so you can filter by name or keyword.
    • Get a notification when someone reacts to a comment you wrote, with toggles in Settings to silence them per-surface.
    • Long-press a Weekly Prompt response for React, Reply, Copy, Forward, or Report, the same menu the thread sheet has.
    • Report individual replies on a Weekly Prompt response, not just the response itself.
    • Mute Weekly Prompt reply notifications independently in Settings.
    • Tapping a Weekly Prompt reply notification jumps straight to the thread.
    • Bottom menus and sheets now sit flush with the screen edge.
    • More push notifications now show their proper wording instead of a generic Someone did something message.
  7. Weekly Prompt threads, custom emoji, and comment controls

    Weekly Prompt responses became full threads with replies and reactions, you can now control who comments on your posts, feedback threads gained replies and team responses, and custom emoji work when writing posts and comments.

    • Weekly Prompt responses are now full threads: reply, reply to replies, and react with emoji.
    • Choose who can comment on your posts: everyone, friends, friends of friends, or no one, with a per-post Allow comments switch too.
    • Feedback threads gained replies, ♥ likes on comments, and official responses from the Luney team.
    • Tapping a someone replied notification jumps you straight to that comment with the reply highlighted.
    • Long threads tuck older replies behind a Show more tap so the page stays scannable.
    • Custom emoji can be used when writing posts and comments, not just in chat.
    • Anyone can join an existing custom-emoji reaction even without VIP.
    • See the replies and reactions on your own Icebreaker answers from the Mine tab.
    • Simpler post sharing: one privacy setting controls whether your posts can be shared off Luney, with no more per-post picker.
    • Fixed: a failed DM no longer looks sent, your message stays in the box so you can retry.
    • Fixed: leaving a Live Lobby no longer flashes the host removed you.
    • Fixed: the keyboard now dismisses on the home cards when you tap away.
    • Fixed: Confessions always shows so you can post the first one, and community cards show a tap to retry tile instead of silently vanishing.
  8. Live Lobbies keep playing in the background

    You can now leave a Live Lobby's screen, switch apps, or lock your phone and keep talking and listening, alongside a round of notification fixes.

    • Live Lobbies keep playing audio when you leave the lobby screen, switch apps, or lock your phone. A notification shows while you're connected so you can jump back in.
    • Fixed: replying from a notification no longer gets stuck on a spinner.
    • Fixed: a stuck unread badge with nothing to open is gone.
    • Fixed: safety alerts (Trusted Circle, Panic Mode, crisis check-ins), group ownership changes, and screenshot alerts now show their proper wording instead of a generic Someone did something.
  9. Screenshot protection and group management

    Screenshots and screen recording are now blocked across the app, group owners can rename or delete their group, and you can reply to or clear notifications without opening Luney.

    • Screenshots and screen recording are blocked across the app on Android; on iOS a privacy panel covers the app the moment a recording starts.
    • Open chats are notified the moment a screen recording begins, the same way they already were for screenshots.
    • Every group's Details page shows whether screenshot warnings are on or off in that group, visible before you join.
    • Group owners can delete their group from Group Settings, with a 7-day window to email Support for a reversal.
    • Group admins can rename their group from Group Settings, with reserved names rejected with a reason.
    • Reply to DMs and mark them as read straight from the notification, without opening the app. Works from the lock screen too.
    • Stay signed in reliably, with sign-in stored in the device's secure keystore and a Remember me checkbox.
    • New About screen in Settings with version info, release notes, and our Child Safety Standards.
  10. Luney's first release

    Luney launched: a queer community app with reels, live audio rooms, events, public and private groups, and a safety toolkit built around real risks, including Panic Mode, Trusted Circle, and Meetup Check-ins.

    • Reels with on-video text, stickers, and a music layer on a multi-track timeline with per-track trim and fade.
    • Live Lobbies: Clubhouse-style audio rooms with raised hands and floating reactions.
    • Events with RSVPs and an attendee grid. Public events drop a card on the feed; group events stay private to members.
    • Public and private groups with their own posts, chat, members, custom emojis, and a Details tab with admin-managed rules.
    • Slash commands in group chat: /rules, /help, /kick, /ban, /mute, /unban, /unmute, with required reasons on every mod action.
    • Luney VIP: animated avatars and banners, display-name styling, per-group identity, cross-group custom emoji, larger uploads, and unlimited GIF favourites.
    • Themes (Prism, Midnight, Sunrise, Ocean) plus Pride Mode and Soft Mode.
    • Safety toolkit: Panic Mode (Luney becomes a working calculator on a tap pattern), Trusted Circle, Meetup Check-in, crisis support resources, Stealth Mode, Closet Mode, and Fuzzy Location.
    • Screenshot warnings and reel-viewer leak protection.
    • Per-feature bans (silence one action without nuking the account) and a 30-day restore window on staff content removals.
    • Account reviews and an account-activity timeline.
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