Hi DEV! I'm Manish Saini, a solo developer from India. I'm sharing a project I recently released: MΛNIX Social (MANIX Social), a free social app for Android and the web.
Why I made it
A lot of people around me use cheap Android phones with limited storage and patchy mobile data. The big social apps are huge downloads and heavy to run. I wanted something small that still does the everyday things: post photos, watch short videos and chat with friends.
What it does
- Feed: post photos, videos and carousels (up to 10 at once). Following and For You tabs.
- Reels: short vertical videos with likes, comments and sharing.
- Stories: photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.
- Messages: private one-to-one chat with text, photos and shared posts.
- Camera and filters: in-app camera, 7 filters, skin smoothing, brightness/contrast/warmth, crop and rotate, and drafts saved on the phone.
- Explore: search for people, posts and #hashtags.
- Privacy controls: private account, who can message or comment, block and report.
How it's built (short version)
MANIX is a web app first, so it works in any browser. The Android app is a small wrapper around the same web app, which keeps the APK at about 5 MB and lets updates reach everyone without a new install. Minimum Android version is 7.0.
Honest notes
- It's free. There is one small banner ad in the app, which is how I keep it free. No in-app purchases.
- It's not on Google Play yet. You install the APK from the official website, so Android will show the usual "install unknown apps" prompt.
- It's early: the community is small, so you'll see mostly new accounts.
- For ages 13 and up.
Try it
- Website / web app: https://manix-social.sites.tab.bot
- Android APK: https://manix-social.sites.tab.bot/download
- Privacy policy: https://manix-social.sites.tab.bot/privacy
I'd really like feedback, especially on speed on low-end phones and anything that feels confusing during signup. Thanks for reading!
Top comments (0)