SOCIAL/ NEWS MEDIA
How I got news readers to try the half of the app they were ignoring
Context
InPress is a mobile app that spent its first two years as a gamified factual news/ dating/ social app. Confused? So were the users!
Problem
Some users were put off from engaging in the social aspects of the app (or the app altogether) because of the dating layer.
We had a small dedicated group of users reading and rating articles, but they were ignoring the social side of the app. New users explored the app but never created a profile.
What I did
I removed dating from the app and created a way for users to connect socially based on articles they had read and rated.
As the only designer on the team, it was important to me that I designed the app to meet accessibility standards as well as developed a component library that could scale.
Impact
Version 2.0 shipped May 21, 2026 on iOS and Android. It was the first release where the social side was produced by the news side rather than sitting beside it.
Acquisition is still growing slowly, but has a chance to unlock a $2m pre-seed funding round by Flybridge Capital.
The original mobile app home and profile screens before the redesign
The new Discover screen showing a list of the user's interests based on their reading
My role
Year
Duration
Senior UX/ UI Designer
Jan. - May 2026
4 months
From the beginning, the social aspect was broken
InPress launched in 2024 in Washington, D.C. as a news-based dating app. By late 2024, the CTO said one of the most popular segments turned out to be women seeking platonic friendships.
The CEO showed that the userbase, while small, was actively engaged. 13,000 users spent 8.5-minute sessions. 12.6 articles read and rated per day. 43% day-30 retention.
The social half was not. Reading produced ratings. Ratings were supposed to produce connections, as they saw others with similar interest.
The dating layer had been a reason to create a profile, be social, and grow the user base. Deciding to remove it left a social layer with no entry point.
The product's growth, and a potential $2m pre-seed by Flybridge Capital, were depending on user acquisition improving.
Why users weren’t engaging with the social over 2 years
The app asked people to work, and they did it. Users were reading, and rating articles based on emotion, importance, and interest.
That’s not casual reading: that’s an engaged audience that continued to use it.
The payoff for all that rating was supposed to be other people. Underneath, the ratings drive a model that maps your shifting interests and places you near people who share them.
But the social aspect was just being ignored, over the course of two years. One five-star reviewer in November 2025 praised the feed at length, then noted they hadn't really used the social side but would probably get to it eventually.
Original screen for a friends match, too dating coded
How I designed to increase motivation
I made the reading integrate with the social layer instead of sitting beside it.
I took profile creation out of onboarding
Onboarding was reduced to a birthday and e-mail or Apple/ Google sign-in. The CEO wanted the profile built out there, but without understanding the value of it, it was just preventing users from onboarding.
The redesigned onboarding welcome screen
I centered help around context-sensitive areas
No big opening walkthrough. You learn about rating an article and how it earns you points and connection requests when you need it.
The first time a user reads an article, they see a tool tip
I put other people's reactions on the article itself
When you read a story, you don’t just read in isolation. You’re able to see how others reacted, and tap to explore more.
The article screen and the top reactions
I made sharing an article unlock the social layer
The first share unlocks the social layer. After that, it earns a connection request, which makes the social side something that integrates with reading rather than another tab.
The home screen with the Daily Goals expanded
I built discovery on inferred interests, not chosen ones
The app tells you your interests, based on reading. Then, it shows you people who share your interests.
The user can search for connections with shared interests
Result: InPress went live with an integrated user flow
InPress 2.0 went live May 21, 2026 on iOS and Android. It is the first version where the social layer is built out of what people read.
What's in it?
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Simplified onboarding with profile creation moved into the app.
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A first-time experience that explains features where you meet them.
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Reactions from other readers visible on each article, and a sheet showing who picked which one.
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Discovery by inferred interest.
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Reworked profile, connections, and chat.
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A rebuilt layout across the app.
What was it built on?
There was no component library when I arrived. Some color variables, some type, article cards, and everything else living on screens. I built the library underneath the release, double-checking that everything met accessibility standards, so every new surface in 2.0 came out of it.
No numbers yet. Acquisition is growing slowly. Releases since May have been bug fixes and point updates. There is nothing here I can attribute to engagement, and there won't be for a while.
