VibMe — an AI social app you can actually feel

The idea

Dating and social apps all look the same: a grid of photos and a swipe. We wanted to test whether something more sensory and playful could work — an experience where you don't just see and hear the other person, but feel them. That became VibMe: an app where interactions travel through phone vibrations, guided by an AI companion named Vibi.

What we built

• AI companion (Vibi) — suggests who nearby matches your interests and helps you start the conversation,
• Social map — people ready to connect around you, with real-time statuses,
• Video calls with vibrations — during a call you send haptic effects (breeze, cyclone, massage) that the other person feels on their phone,
• Vibration duels — 1v1 games like Vibration Duel and Speed Tapping, with points and rankings,
• Gamification — points, levels and streaks that keep people engaged.

Technical challenges

VibMe is the most technically interesting product we've built. Three problems we had to solve:

1. Haptics over the network — vibration patterns designed in the iPhone haptic engine have to reach the other phone and play in sync with the call's video and audio,
2. Real-time everything — the map, statuses, games and video all require stable low-latency live communication,
3. AI that doesn't get in the way — Vibi is there to help people meet, not to replace the conversation; a lot of product iteration went into balancing her role.

The result

VibMe is live in the App Store. For clients, this project is proof we can build things that aren't in any textbook: AI integrations, real-time communication and custom sensory experiences — from idea to release.