Onkery

↗ Live, phone only

Onkery is a phone-only social app with no profiles. You film when asked. Then you watch a reel of strangers who were asked the same thing.

I built this because every feed I used was a performance for everyone and no one. Onkery does one thing: put your clip next to people who pointed at the same kind of thing. Names, likes, and typing stay out. Live at onkery.vercel.app. Phone only.

Context
Social app, phone only
Stack
Vite, Redis, Blob
Role
Design & build
Date
Aug 2026

Why

Feeds are huge and the contact is zero. You scroll past thousands of people and brush against none of them. I wanted the opposite, briefly, then you put the phone down.

Film only

I tried typing first. "What were they carrying?" On the phone it read as a random quote. People will film a pan. They will not type a wound into a prototype.

Not a scavenger hunt

"Show me your hands" is a scavenger hunt. "Show me something you keep meaning to take care of. Do not touch it" is a relationship to a thing. A kept plant and a neglected plant look the same in a photo. The prompt is what changes.

It has to happen now

If you don't see other people in this visit, there is no product. I also built it on a laptop for too long. Landscape chrome pretended to be a pocket. It lives on a phone.

Out
  • profiles
  • likes
  • followers
  • live chat
  • keyboard
In
  • short clips
  • same prompt
  • a reel, right away
  • no names
  • camera only

Two verbs. Film, then watch.

How people meet

You don't follow anyone. You get the same prompt as a stranger. Both clips go in the same reel. One of them is yours. Nothing says which.

Your clip is in here. So is theirs. Nobody is labeled.

A visit

One loop on a phone. Inside goes A, B, C. Outside goes D, E, F. After three, you pick inside or outside again. Welcome and camera permission only happen once.

First time
Each loop
This is Onkery. You film small things from where you are.

Tap a row for the line on screen. Record is tap, auto-stop, keep / redo / skip.

The prompts

Four kinds, in a circle. A kept thing and a neglected thing look identical in frame. Only the prompt tells you which. A loop only borrows from the kind next to it. Keeping never fills in for justdone. Those pictures fight.

delay

Something you keep meaning to take care of. Next to keeping and residue. The plant lives here.

keeping → delay → residue → justdone, then around. Tap a word.

Six loops

A to F walks the circle, inside first, then outside. Each loop asks two things, then shows you other people who were asked the same. Show me anything is always the same line. Show me yours is always the second prompt.

A
B
C
D
E
F

Inside · keeping → delay

Ask A Show me what sits next to where you sit.
Ask B Show me something you keep meaning to take care of. Do not touch it.
Plant clip. I'll get to it.

Inside · residue → delay

Ask A Show me the last thing you used and did not put away.
Ask B Show me something you keep meaning to take care of. Do not touch it.
Same plant. Same line.

Inside · residue → justdone

Ask A Show me a mess you made.
Ask B Show me what you were just doing. Do not set it up.
Live camera standing in. First loop with a body in it.

Outdoors · justdone → keeping

Ask A Show me the weather you have been under.
Ask B Show me something you brought with you.
Live camera. Outside always stands in.

Outdoors · keeping → delay

Ask A Show me something out here that is not yours.
Ask B Show me something out here that has been left.
Live camera. Same pair as A, different room.

Outdoors · delay → residue

Ask A Show me something that looks like it is waiting.
Ask B Show me something someone left.
Live camera. Things left in public.

A and B both end on delay, so the plant shows up twice inside.

What's live

The loop works. I got the moment your clip sits in a reel of strangers. I did not get people you recognize twice. Most "someone else" slots are still your own live camera. The pile needs other people in it. I stopped there.

Works

  • Record, keep / redo / skip
  • Six prompt pairs
  • A reel after each ask
  • Phone only
  • One real plant clip on A and B

Doesn't yet

  • Most "someone else" clips are your live camera
  • Nobody you meet twice
  • The pile is still mostly me
  • Eleven prompts never used
  • Desktop is gated on purpose

The pile will only be a pile if strangers use it.