In an age of instant messaging and vanishing attention spans, Slowly takes a deliberate step back. The app, launched in 2018 by a Hong Kong–based team, is built on a deceptively simple idea: to mimic the motions of traditional letter writing in a digital world.
Instead of instant delivery, each message takes hours or even days to reach its recipient, depending on the geographical distance between them. A note sent from Kochi to Copenhagen, for instance, might take 15 hours to arrive.
This delay is by design. In fact, it is the whole point of the app.
Additionally, Slowly pairs users from across the globe based on shared interests, language, and topics they choose to write about. Once connected, they exchange messages that feel closer to letters than texts.
This throwback to the pen pal era has cultivated for Slowly a quiet, global community of writers, thinkers and strangers who take the time to know one another. Some find lifelong friends. Others find a space to write more honestly.
Also, unlike your regular messaging app, there are no typing indicators, read receipts or quick reactions. Just words. But that’s not to mean that it’s not fun. Users can also collect virtual stamps from different countries, adding a small ritualistic pleasure to the exchange. Readers might find this experience akin to posting a letter adorned with a rare stamp.
When communication platforms of today chase immediacy and rewards it, Slowly, by contrast, reclaims slowness as a virtue. It reminds us that connection doesn’t always have to be constant to be meaningful. Sometimes, it just needs time to travel.
The app is available on App Store and Google Play.