Dear visitor,

Write and cherish letters again

Email almost destroyed the art of letter writing — but never replaced it.

Then email ate itself. It was so efficient at moving words it became a black hole of spam. We've been battling our inboxes ever since.

Spam isn't the only problem. Email works best when we avoid adding form to the content. But form was central to the art of letters. The feeling of holding a delicate object in your hand; the weight of the paper; the choice of ink; the amount of whitespace — these cues could carry as much meaning as the words.

And what about the spaces where we once read our letters? The chair by the window; the familiar writing desk, the stationary just as you left it. Instead, email asks us to read our most valued correspondence in a sterile virtual office, alongside a stack of ads and Re: URGENT work demands. Oh, and the man who lends you the office reads everything over your shoulder.

Back to the future

Tidings offers a more attentive way to write to the people you care about — a focused place to think about what you want to say, a calm space to read the replies, and a shoebox to keep these exchanges safe.

Everything written on tidings is private. We can't read your letters even if we wanted to; the keys to decrypt them never leave your browser.

You can add a personal touch to your letters, choosing the paper, the typeface, and the ink. You can also add lo-fi images: not high enough quality to turn this into another photo sharing app, but just enough to bring some colour to your words.

Fair and honestly priced

To send a tidings letter, all you need to do is affix a virtual storage stamp. These stamps guarantee that we’ll keep your letters secure for five years at a time. They’re sold in books of 100 for $10. Unused stamps never expire, and we’ll never keep your data hostage: you can download the letters at any time to keep on your computer. The only thing better than writing a good letter is getting a heartfelt reply; affix one of your storage stamps to your outgoing letters to give the recipient a one-click reply button.

Have a play with tidings with five shorter storage stamps, no payment or personal details required.

Slowly earning trust

Never take a company's word for it with your privacy. You need to see the code. Ours is open source for anybody to audit or self host.

Some people envision a zero-trust future, but our aim is more human: to earn your trust as the safest place to store your most personal thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

We're an Irish company on EU infrastructure, so we have some of the best legal protections in the world for your data.

Click "Reply" below with any thoughts or ideas, we'd love to hear from you.

Happy writing,

Tom