What Is Up App

As the co-creator and co-developer of What Is Up App, I led the development of a real-time, location-based mobile platform designed to help users share and discover what was happening around them. Built on the premise of ambient social awareness, the app allowed users to post spontaneous updates—questions, observations, meetups, and events—tied to specific locations without requiring friend lists or follower counts.

Developed during a time when hyperlocal social discovery was still emerging, What Is Up App prioritized anonymity, immediacy, and serendipity. It served as a dynamic community bulletin board, where people could find out what was happening nearby in real time. By fusing geolocation, social posting, and ephemeral content, the app offered a lightweight, open alternative to traditional event discovery platforms.

Using your iPhone’s camera, What Is Up’s augmented reality feature allowed users to discover nearby venues and see their popularity dynamically shift from “hot” to “cold” in real time. Users could check in and add their photos to make places feel more vibrant and engaging. Created by myself, Christopher Guess, Nick Ihm, and Emily ! Duong for Photo Hack Day 2012 in New York City, the app won second place and integrated APIs from Foursquare, Twitter, and Jux to deliver a rich, location-aware social experience.