Jelly Toast

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Hey, I'm Rob. I lead product on Jelly Toast at Synchronoss — the app for sharing celebration photos without the group-chat chaos. This account is my notebook: what we're shipping, what we're learning, and the occasional strong opinion about photo sharing. Let's go!

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

One of our newest templates is Chhath Puja. It doesn’t get the national attention Diwali does, but for many families from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh it’s one of the biggest festivals of the year. Building for India means building for all of it.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Diwali is more than one night. Dhanteras opens the week and Bhai Dooj closes it, and both are worth remembering. Jelly Toast has a template for each, so the whole week’s photos don’t end up buried under the big night.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

3/ Next we’ll test a few versions of that screen against each other and keep the winner. The goal isn’t a prettier welcome. It’s more people getting to their first event.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

1/ Our welcome screen used to offer three choices. PostHog showed almost half of new users tapped none of them. They opened the app, saw three doors, and left.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

2/ So we cut it to one button: Get Started. Fewer options can feel like less control. But on the very first screen, every extra choice is just another reason to stop.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

A small behind-the-scenes moment: our template catalog called one of the new Diwali designs ‘Diwali at Home.’ The app shipped it as ‘Happy Diwali.’ We changed the catalog to match, not the app. People see the app, not our spreadsheet. :-)

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Weekend plans: a gully cricket match or a society tournament? Make it a Jelly Toast event. Every catch, wicket and argument over the umpire’s call ends up in one place, not scattered across everyone’s phones and a WhatsApp group.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Hosting a Ravan Dahan or a Ramlila in your colony this Dussehra? Make it a public Jelly Toast event. No guest list needed, so everyone who turns up can add their photos to the same place.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

A decision we’re working through on Jelly Toast: your first event is free. The hard part isn’t the offer. It’s telling people about it without making the app feel cheap or naggy.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Jelly Toast tip for your office Diwali party: create the event before the party and drop the link in your team chat. Everyone’s photos land in one album, instead of the best ones living on one person’s phone until next Diwali.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Diwali isn’t one party. There’s the one at home, the one your housing society throws, the one at the office, and the rangoli you spend all afternoon on. So Jelly Toast has a template for each: Happy Diwali, Society Diwali, Office Diwali, Rangoli & Lights.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Behind the scenes: we’ve reordered Jelly Toast’s templates for festival season. Navratri, Garba Night and Dandiya Night move to the front. Ganesh Chaturthi and Onam step back until next year. Small job, but the first screen should feel like this week.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

In India, a wedding isn't one event. It's several: the sangeet, the wedding eve, the day itself. Jelly Toast has a template for each, so every function can get its own event and its own album, instead of one giant photo dump nobody scrolls through.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

3/ Now we're grappling with how far to take it. How much of Jelly Toast should work with no download at all? Viewing the photos? Adding your own? Every step we open up means less friction for guests, and one less reason to install. Still working through it.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

1/ A deliberate call on Jelly Toast: guests can RSVP without downloading the app. Every growth playbook says the opposite: make them install, because installs are the metric. We went the other way on purpose.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

2/ The host chose Jelly Toast. The guests didn't. If every guest has to install an app before they can say yes, the host is back to chasing people in the WhatsApp group, and the invite dies there.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

The saddest shared album is one full of new photos that nobody knew had arrived. Thinking hard about how Jelly Toast tells you something new landed, without becoming one more app that pings you too much.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Found during a review of our event templates: Jelly Toast had six Christmas templates and one for Diwali. For an app used almost entirely in India. Diwali Party is now at the top, and more Diwali templates are coming. The catalog should match our users' calendar.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

People ask about the name. Jelly Toast: toast as in raising a glass, the moment every phone comes out at once. We're keeping it. Our job is to make the first screen explain the rest, and that's the work on my desk right now.

[Jelly Toast @JellyToastRob]

Jelly Toast tip for wedding season: make your sangeet a private event. Guests RSVP, and everyone's photos and videos land in one place instead of scattered across a WhatsApp group and a dozen camera rolls.