To Myself

Would you ever go back in time and talk to your past self? Imagine if you could send messages to future you. One message can change your whole day. Learn about yourself in a different way with our app

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Inspiration

Our project is inspired by the idea of time capsules, specifically when people write letters to be read long into the future. While other programs to send scheduled messages exist, we wanted to experiment by creating an app with additional features and a different purpose overall. To Myself encourages users to engage in more of a regular discourse with their self rather than burying a message for years. We made it with the intention of providing another method for self-care (since sometimes you're your own best friend). We hope that it helps people feel strangely connected to who they are/were.

What it does

The program will ask the user how far into the future they would like to send the message in minutes. Then it's going to ask what message they would like to send. It will ask if you want to add optional replies for more interactivity. If user says yes, then it will ask for two different options. However, if the user says no then it will just say "ok."

How we built it

Twilio rest API, Python, Figma

Challenges we ran into

Integrating the API, port issues, lack of experience The biggest issue was trying to learn how to put the twilio.rest API into our code. There were some limitations with how far into the future you can schedule the message. The user would only be able to schedule it an hour away from the current time or seven days in advance. This made it impossible to achieve our goal of having as much flexibility as possible with scheduling messages. We also started with Swift and had trouble finding updated guides on how to implement the message functions. We switched to Python because of that.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were proud of integrating an API for the first time successfully. We also used flask for the first time and create a port for the first. We also spent a lot of time learning how to use Figma's tools to prototype our project.

What we learned

We learned about the about web hook permissions. We also learned how to use flask and open a port through MacOS ngrok. We also began to learn how to code in swift.

What's next for To Myself

The front and back end of To Myself still needs to be properly integrated. We were only able to test some basic features, such as receiving and sending texts through the web server. Ideally, we want the message data to be stored locally and securely on the user's device when the app is fully realized. We also want to spend time refining the features, figuring out what's necessary and would support the app's purpose.

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