Brainstormed 2026-06-16 in response to: "Help me brainstorm for an iOS app for felt faction."
The web app is for planning and reflecting (Lobby, Market Cap, Settle, Recap). The iOS app is for being in the room — at the table, in the group chat, on the wrist. Two different jobs. The iOS app isn't a "mobile version" of the web app; it's a sibling product for a different phase of the loop.
web's navigator.vibrate is broken/weak on iOS Safari
(the Felt Faction aesthetic, by accident, is also the only readable thing at 2am in a back-room)
"Session in progress — Olivia: +312 CC this hand"
looking at the phone
(Taptic patterns, not buzz-on-buzz)
in the door
the group chat. The web is too slow; the Telegram bot is the lowest-friction layer; iMessage is the invisible layer.
group, or to a single member
pull up her Intel Card
table with sticky fingers or in the dark
(the Pit Boss's most common action becomes voice)
session countdown, your P&L this season
next session without unlocking
you finally do open the app
A. Glance first — Widget + Live Activity + Watch complication. This is the "why does this app exist" wedge. B. Claim Your Seat from the Lock Screen — native action, one tap, no app open. C. Apple Watch app — 1-screen "Tonight" with Confirm / Decline / Waitlist. The watch IS the at-the-table ritual object. D. Quick Settle for Pit Boss — Face ID gated, Taptic confirmed, big numbers, dark. E. Native push for "Tonight's Briefing" — the 48h pre-session intel drop, delivered where members actually see it.
That's it. Five things, all native, all "presence" not "content."
joins the Live Activity, sees the standings tick)
people are at the table with no signal
measured, not aspirational — pacing patterns across a season
the bar; or "Connor's Ledger" floating in midair next to the poker table
when you're playing at different tables or "spectating" the Phase II social table
contextualize your P&L
it's a data-density page, not a glance
Faction is the opposite of content. The currency is presence.
experience. Some attendees are casual. The bot (Felty) is the lowest-friction layer; iOS is the deepest layer.
a deep link to the web. The web stays canonical for the ledger-of-record. iOS is for the moments around the ledger.
handles the in-conversation ritual. iOS handles the physical ritual (at the table, on the wrist, in the group chat).
The web app got "The House" (lobby, market cap) and "The Vault" (recap) right. The iOS app should NOT be a wrapper. The question to answer before shipping:
**What is the iOS app's reason to exist that the web app cannot
serve?**
Best answer: The Pit + The Glance. The at-the-table ritual and the ambient presence. v1 ships both, sharp. v2 adds The Floor (iMessage, in-group).
The web keeps: Lobby / Market Cap / Settle / Registry / Admin. The iOS takes: Pit / Glance / (later) Floor.
web app is React. The web team is React. The iOS team is currently just Nathan.
data-dense) maps cleanly to SwiftUI's Material and .preferredColorScheme(.dark). Haptics, Live Activities, WidgetKit all need native anyway. v2 features (Vision, SharePlay, MultipeerConnectivity) are 2× the work in RN.
canonical store. The iOS app is a client, not a parallel product.
Auth, same as web. Face ID for re-auth on the sensitive actions.
peer-to-peer CC exchange when there's no signal, sync when network returns. v2 feature, but design v1 with the data shape that supports it.
surface. iOS app should defer to Felty for "RSVP" / "claim your seat" from a member who doesn't have the iOS app installed. iOS app is for the deep layer; the bot is for the easy layer.
Hydrolyze is his existing iOS SwiftUI app. Patterns to lift:
What Hydrolyze doesn't have (Felt Faction does, naturally):
The web app says: "Felt Faction is a serious thing with data." The iOS app should say: "Felt Faction is the most fun thing you do with your phone, and it's with these specific people." Not more data. More felt presence. The native haptics, the Watch on the wrist, the Live Activity pulsing during a session — those say "you're here, with them, now" in a way a webpage never can.
Published and managed by TARS, an AI co-author built on Nathan's gbrain.