Hinterland
Hinterland is a social app that connects people through their interests.
Our goal is to be the one place you go to to get the latest news, opinions, and discussion about what matters to you.
With Hinterland you can find and follow both interesting people and communities talking about the things you’re interested in. You can express yourself freely, talking about whatever’s on your mind, about whatever topic. Or you can simply share a cool link or video you found, it’s entirely up to you.
You can use Hinterland to:
Your feed is filled with posts you might like. It consists of posts from people you follow, great posts in communities you follow, as well as just generally great posts we think you’d like!
We hope that you feed can be a single place to catch up with the most important things people are saying about the things you care bout.
Your feed consists of posts you might like and is comprised of posts from people and communities you follow, as well as generally good and relevant posts.
When you signed up, hopefully you told us what you’re interested in, and then chose to follow some communities and people talking about those topics. This is a great way to get us to start understanding what you like.
From this start, you can the follow other people you find interesting, or new communities you want to keep up to date with. We’ll ensure you see the best posts in your feed, ensuring you keep up to date.
If you haven’t chosen your interests yet, you can do that now by going into your Settings. You can find these by tapping your user icon in the right most option in the tab bar. This will open up your Profile.
From here, click the gear icon in the top right of the page too open your Settings. Scroll down to, and then tap, My Interests.
Here you can select the topics you’re interested in. We’ll then suggest some communities you should follow based on these interests.
If you want to find interesting people to follow, go back to your profile, and this time in the top left corner tap the Discover People icon - it’s the one that looks like a user with a + by it.
This will help you find your friends and suggest some interesting people to follow. Click the purple box to add new people to follow.
In general, if you see an interesting community or user that you want to follow, just tap Follow, either at the top of the community, or on that user’s profile.
Communities are a place to gather and talk about a particular topic. They’re a great way to go in depth about something you’re interested in,
Communities are great ways to reach an audience of likeminded people. Anyone can follow, post to, or create communities. Whatever the interest, there’s a community for you.
Open the editor and create your post. When you’re done, hit Next (in the top right hand corner) to open up the Publish menu.
From here, tap Add to Community. This will bring up the community selector menu. From here, you can choose the community to post to.
Creating a community is straight forward.
First, open the Editor by tapping the [+] button in the middle of the tab bar of the app. Then create your post.
When you’re ready to publish it, hit Next (in the top right hand corner of the editor) to open the publish menu. Tap Add to Community to open the community selector menu.
First, search for the community you’d like to post to. If the community exists, you’ll see it in the search results and you can select to post to it there. If it doesn’t exist, we’ll let you know we couldn’t find a community of that name.
To then create a community, tap Create a new community. This will then let you name the new community to create. Then tap Go in the keyboard to create a community with that name.
You’ll then be taken by back to the Publish menu, and form there you can publish your post to the new community.
You can find communities - and other users - to follow by tapping the second icon in the tar bar of the app, the one that looks like four boxes. This brings up the discovery page.
From here, you can browse communities you already follow, as well as new ones that we’ll suggest you might like. You can also search for communities by using the search bar at the top of the page.
If you find a community you want to follow, just tap the Follow button to follow it.
Creating a post is easy. Just tap the [+] button in the middle of the tab bar at the bottom of the app. This will bring up the Hinterland editor.
From here, give your post a title and start creating. Use the elements bar at the bottom of the editor to add media to your post.
You can post text, images, videos (such as a YouTube video), embedded media (like a Soundcloud link), or links to another site.
You can even post content for free distribution or for sale, such as a song, video, or ebook you made.
(Please note - you must have the appropriate copyright permissions to post content for distribution/sale.)
When you’re done, hit Next in the top right corner to bring up the Publish menu.
From here you can add your post to a community, add some tags, share turn on auto-sharing to Facebook and Twitter, and select your monetisation options.
When you’re ready to publish, hit Post.
You can post anything, short or long. You can make quick, short posts, perhaps a quick opinion, a link to something cool you found, or a comment for discussion. You can make long posts, a quality article or a considered opinion. Whatever it is you want to say, we've got you covered.
Yes, you can. We know that some posts take a little longer to conceive or are just easier to create with a proper keyboard. That's why if you go to our website - hinterland.xyz[link] - you can log in with your account and use our editor on the web to create just as you would on your phone.
There are loads of ways you can engage with other users’s posts.
You can like their post and perhaps follow the author to hear more from them.
You can comment on the post and join the discussion.
You can share the post and spread it to your friends and followers via Facebook, Twitter, Email, or with your favourite messaging app like WhatsApp/
You might come across a locked post. This means the author has chosen for the post to be monetised, probably because they spent a really long time on it and would like to get something back for their time and effort.
You can unlock a post in two ways, either by watching an advert or by spending 10 coins, it’s up to you.
If you tap Watch Ad, we’ll then display a video advert for you to watch. Once this has finished the post will be unlocked, ready for you.
If you tap 10 coins, then we’ll unlock the post for you and take 10 coins from your coin total.
When you spend coins unlocking a post, we then give gift points to the author in a 1:1 ratio. The author can then cash out these gift points for real money.
If you tapped Watch Ad, we’ll also give the revenue to the author.
Of course, if you make a great post then other people can thank you too, thus earning you money for making great posts too.
If you really like the post, you can also thank the author for making it by using our Thanks feature.
Think of this like giving the author a gift for making a great post that, literally, puts money in their pocket. It’s a great way to reward someone for making a great post.
You can thank the author in a few ways.
Firstly, when viewing the post tap the gift icon in the social bar at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up the thanks menu and you can buy your thanks gift of choice from there.
Alternatively, scroll to the end of the post (just before the comments) and thank the Thanks gift icon there. Just as above, this will bring up the thanks menu and you can choose your gift from there.
Thanks a bought with coins. For more on coins, see the Coins section below.
When you spend coins on an author’s post, we then give gift points to the author in a 1:1 ratio. The author can then cash out these gift points for real money.
Of course, if you make a great post then other people can thank you too, thus earning you money for making great posts too.
Thoughts are a fun, no-pressure way to share some words, a video, or a link. You can even customise them with a fun background, either one of ours or your own.
Thoughts can be seen by your followers, and automatically delete after 24 hours, perfect for whatever’s on your mind right now. You can even post anonymously.
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You can create a thought in two ways
To add a background, tap the image icon just above the text thought icon, the A at the bottom of the screen, this will bring up the background menu.
From here, tab to look at the various backgrounds on offer. If you don’t like any of the ones we’ve made for you, then you can upload your own by tapping the image icon again. This will open your Camera Roll, and let you upload an image from one of your photos.
When you’ve created your thought, tap the tick in the top right of the screen, this will post your thought.
If you want to cancel, tap the cross in the top left of the screen.
You can easily delete a thought once posted. There are two ways to do this
1 - On your feed, tap your thoughts card, the one with your name and picture. This will bring up your thoughts.
Find the thought you want to delete, then tap the Trash Can icon to delete the thought.
We’ll ask you to confirm, and if you say yes, then the thought will be deleted.
2 - Tap your user icon on the tab bar, this is the bottom selector bar in the app. This will load your profile.
Then, tap the gear icon to load your Settings. From here, tap the Thoughts settings option. This will show you the thoughts you have posted.
You can see some stats about them, such as how many people have seen your thought and how long it has left until it expires.
If you want to delete a thought, tap the trash can icon to delete it. We’ll ask you to confirm this.
Yes certainly, you can see how many people have seen your thoughts and how long until your thought expires.
To see these, tap your user icon on the tab bar, this is the bottom selector bar in the app. This will load your profile.
Then, tap the gear icon to load your Settings. From here, tap the Thoughts settings option. This will show you the thoughts you have posted.
From here you can see stats about your thoughts.
The idea behind thoughts is that they’re quick and spontaneous expressions of how you’re feeling or what you’re interested in right now. For this reason, you cannot edit a thought once posted.
However, if you’d like, you could delete the thought and re-post it with the changes you’d like to make.
Coins are a virtual currency within Hinterland, and can be used to do a number of things.
They can be used to unlock posts, unlock content, and they can be used to buy virtual gifts to thank you for making great posts.
There’s two ways you can get more coins. Firstly, we give out coins from time to time when you come back to the app. It’s our little way of saying thank you for returning!
Secondly, you can buy coins to use in the app. To do this, first load the feed, then click the coins icon in the top right hand corner, this brings up the Add Coins page.
From here you can choose the number of coins you want to buy by tapping the corresponding price box. You’ll be asked to confirm, say yes and the coins will be yours!
Coins are bought using standard Apple in-app payments. This is the same system as when you buy an app or some music or something. It’s all managed by Apple and is a secure process.
You can also access the Add Coins page by tapping your user icon in the tab menu bar - that’s the right most option that (hopefully!) looks like you. This will load your profile.
From here, tap the gear icon in the top right of your profile age to load your Settings. You’ll see the coins icon in the top right of your settings page, tap this to again go to your Add Coins page.
Gift Points are the currency you earn in.
When users spend coins on your posts, you earn Gift Points in a 1:1 ratio.
You can cash out gift points you earn for real money.
This means you can earn real money for making great posts.
You earn gift points whenever another user spends their coins on your posts. They can do this in a number of ways.
They might be spending coins to unlock a post of yours, or alternatively unlocking some content you posted. They might also use their coins to buy a gift to thank you for one of your posts.
Whenever someone spends their coins on one of your posts, you earn Gift Points in a 1:1 ratio.
When you’ve earned enough gift points, you can cash these out for real money. There are two ways to do this.
Firstly, go to your feed (the first option in the menu bar) and tap the coins icon in the top right to open the Add Coins page.
Once this has loaded, you’ll notice the gift points icon in the top right of the page, tap this to open the Earnings page.
Alternatively, go to your Profile (the right most option in the menu bar), then tap the gear in the top right corner to open your Settings. From here, scroll to Earnings. Tap this to open the Earnings page.
Once you’ve loaded the Earnings page, you can see the number of gift points you have. You’ll notice it’s split between Gift Points Balance and Gift Points Available.
Gift Points Balance are gift points that you have earned from other users engaging with your posts
Gift Points Available are the number of gift points you can cash out right now.
The reason these might be different is because of Apple. As Hinterland is an iOS app, this means that Apple requires we use their in-app payment when people want to buy coins.
As such, we have to wait for Apple to pay us the money they take in, which can take a little while. This is why there’s often a different between what you’ve earned and what you can cash out today.
Please rest assured, as soon as Apple pay us we’ll make the funds available to you to cash out.
Once you’re ready to cash out, load the Earnings page and then tap the Cash Out button to load the cash out webpage.
We payout via PayPal, and so you need to have a valid PayPal account in order to receive payments.
When you first load the Cash Out page, you’ll notice we don’t have your PayPal details yet, so we’ll need to get them from you.
At the top of the Cash Out page you’ll see your Gift Points. Underneath, you’ll notice PayPal Details.
Tap the words Not Yet Entered and the entry form will open in which you can enter your PayPal email address.
You need to have a valid PayPal account in order to receive payment, so please ensure you have one of these first.
When you have entered your PayPal account details correct, tap Submit to store your PayPal registered email address.
Note - Please double check your details are correct to ensure we’ll paying the correct account.
Once you’ve entered your PayPal address, scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Cash Out.
From here, we’ll present you with the Withdrawal Agreement. This outlines the terms for cashing out your gift points. To accept this agreement, scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Accept.
If you haven’t entered your PayPal details we’ll prompt you to do so here.
The Cash Out page will then load. You have a range of options to choose from in order to cash out your gift points.
Tap the option/amount you’d prefer, and, as long as you have enough gift points available, you can then confirm you want to cash out.
Once we’ve received your cash out request, please allow us some time to process your request and transfer the funds to your account.
As mentioned above, we often have to wait for Apple to pay us before we can make gift points available to you to cash out. This isn’t ideal, but please rest assured as soon as Apple pay us we’ll make the funds available to you.
If you have a problem, please email giftpoints@hinterland.xyz and we’ll endeavour to help you as soon as we can.
Typically, 1 gift point is worth around half of a penny/cent.
The value is open to fluctuation according to general global currency fluctuations, however we do publish up to date valuations on the cash out page.
For any money received, you keep 75% of the money and Hinterland takes 25% of the money. This is our ‘cut’ for providing the service to you.
You can see your notifications by tapping the fourth option, that looks a bit like a chat box, in the tab menu bar of the app.
You’ll also occasionally get notifications pop up on your phone, this will let you know when people are engaging with your posts.
You can turn on or off notifications, as well as customise them, by going into your Settings and selecting Notifications Settings.
You can customise the notifications you see by tapping Notification Settings in your Settings menu.
To get here, first tap on your user icon, which is the right most option on the main tab bar menu for the app.
From here, tap the gear icon in the top right, this will take you to your Settings.
Scroll down and find Notifications Settings. From here, you can customise the notifications you receive, choosing whether to receive from at all, and choosing whether you receive them from everyone or just from people you follow.
Your profile is your space for whatever, fill it with posts about the things you’re interested in, and give it the look that matches your vib
Users can follow your profile and be notified when you make posts, and your posts will appear in their feed.
You can customise quite a lot about your profile.
Firstly, tap your user icon, the last icon in the tab bar menu, this will load your profile. From here, tap the Edit Profile box to edit your profile.
Here, you can change your user image, upload a banner image, as well as change your name. You can also choose a theme, this is the colour that will show in the top bar of your profile.
You can also upload a signature. This is an image that goes in the menu bar and badges your profile to your look.
From here, you can also change your bio, and add your social accounts so other people can find your all over the web.
Of course, anyone can create an account and anyone can follow you. We believe that everyone has something to say, whether interesting, useful or funny. You can talk about whatever it is you care about, and follow other people talking about the stuff you want to hear about.
You can share your profile by going into your Settings, that’s the gear icon in the top right corner of your profile page.
From here, scroll down to Share Profile. Tap this and we’ll present you with some options to share your profile.
We're currently focusing on refining the iOS version, but we'll be building the Android version straight after so watch this space. If you'd like to keep in the loop on when it'll be out, join or mailing list here.