About yap
Yap is the ask-a-friend app. You send someone a question, they talk for a few minutes, and you get a page in their words at the same link. For anyone who'd rather get an answer from a human than a chatbot.
- You ask. Type it or say it. Send the link however you already talk to them.
- They yap. No app, no signup. They hit record and ramble (or type, if that's their thing).
- A page shows up. Their take, cleaned up, illustrated and crosslinked to Wikipedia and search engines to get you up to speed.
The long version, for the curious.
What yap does
Ask anyone with a link
Type your question or say it out loud. Yap makes a link; send it by text, email, or DM. Whoever opens it answers without installing anything or making an account.
Answer by voice, by text, or with a video you already made
Most people talk: hit record and ramble for a few minutes. You can also type, or paste a link to a video (or upload one) and yap treats it like a recording.
A page in their words
Yap transcribes the answer and writes it up as a page at the same link, with a title, sections, and a short summary. It reorders and drops filler and repeats. We maintain their take and tone, no over-smoothed AI speak or hallucinated facts (unless your friend's tripping).
Fact-check on the side
We can automatically add links to sources for facts, but we keep opinions intact. Taste and perspective are the point.
Links to what they mention
People, places, books, and bands named in an answer get linked to Wikipedia or their official site, with a reading drawer so you never leave the page.
Your own ask box
Turn on the ask box at yap.so/@you and anyone can send you a question from your profile; you answer when you feel like it. Mahmoud's is at yap.so/@mahmoud.
What makes yap different
Your words, not AI's
The writeup can reorder, section, and cut repeats, but always maintains your opinion. ChatGPT, Otter, and Notion AI summaries turn everyone into the same polite narrator. A yap reads like the person sounds.
Private by default
A yap is visible only to the two people in it, unless both decide to share. Some apps publish to a feed by default, but here yaps start private, perfect for braindumps and brainstorms.
All you need is a link
The question and the answer live at one URL, and nobody needs an app or an account to answer. Just text, email, or DM, and the recipient can respond from any browser.
Opinions are the point
Wikipedia and language models both converge on the consensus answer. Yap is built for the individual take: the fact-check flags checkable claims with sources but never touches taste.
You never lose a thought
Your best nuggets are getting lost in voice memos and chatlogs with voice notes that you can't find again. Here everything's transcribed and easily findable.
Who uses yap
- People who'd rather ask a friend than a search box: where to eat in Tokyo, which book next, whether that one apartment's neighborhood is actually fine.
- Anyone with a friend who's annoyingly good at something (money, wine, cameras, running) and would happily talk for five minutes but never write it down.
- Experts, creators, and the slightly internet-famous who get the same questions over and over and would like to answer once, in their own voice, from an ask box on their profile.
- Families and friend groups catching a story before it's gone: how you two met, the recipe nobody wrote down, what the move was really like.
The team behind yap
Mahmoud Hashemi, founder
Mahmoud builds yap. Before this he was a staff engineer at Stripe and did Python infrastructure at PayPal, Shopkick, and SimpleLegal, and he founded FinFam, the collaborative financial planning app. On the side he maintains a pile of open source (boltons, glom, hyperlink) and co-created Listen to Wikipedia with Hatnote. He's a Python Software Foundation Fellow who generally loves community. Ask him anything at yap.so/@mahmoud.
Cappy the Yapybera
Chief Vibes Officer, ask him for onsen recs. Find him at @cappy.
How yap started
Yap launched in September 2026 on a bet: AI is working overtime converging on weird synthetic consensus, a super smoothed over omni-answer. But what about human intelligence? The individual perspective, opinion, and taste needs a space. I'm tired of prompting chatbots, I wanted my friend's answers to look better than ChatGPT's. Yap is what I built to make that happen.
The team
Yap is made by 10Real, Inc., the same small company behind FinFam and GoodTurn. We're tiny. If you have a question, email hi@yap.so and you'll hear back from Mahmoud.
How yap works
Getting started
Sign in with Google, Apple, or a magic link. No passwords to lose. Your first ask takes about a minute: type or say the question and yap makes the link.
Turnaround
Answers are transcribed while the person talks. The page is usually ready a few minutes after they stop, full of links and ready to be pored over.
Support
Email hi@yap.so. It goes to Mahmoud, and he reads them all.
Privacy and your data
No ad trackers, nothing sold. Delete your account and everything you recorded by emailing legal@yap.so. Read more at docs.yap.so.
Pricing
Yap is free while we figure out where this crazy experiment leads.