Drip is a hobby project of mine that started as I taught myself iOS development, and hit the App Store starting in 2013.
I wanted to create a place where people could go to indulge in art, design, and culture. People could open this app when they were on the bus, or relaxing on their couch and they could tune their minds to a frequency of style, taste, and creativity - rather than tacky ads, memes, and fear-mongering news. Drip could be a news source that celebrates creativity and inspires you, rather than make you feel afraid of the world around you (like traditional news sources so often do). I wanted to celebrate the creative acts of humans, rather than highlight the destructive acts.
I also had an idea for monetization that I could introduce a shopping experience that could enable retailers to reach a desirable, taste-making audience in a way that was much more rich and engaging than traditional mobile ads. The UI would be the same rich, full-screen experience as the other content in the app, but there would be a "Buy" button instead of a "Read" button. So these would effectively be ads, but they wouldn't feel like ads at all, because they'd be giving you value rather than taking it. They'd be content you could just browse because you appreciate the beauty of well-designed product, but if you were so inclined, you could tap "Buy". This would launch a web view to the retailer's site, and Drip could potentially get paid for the referral.
Version 1 of Drip hit the app store in mid-2013, and a redesigned Version 2 launched at the same time as iOS 7. Version 3 took things to the next level and did some really cool things with full screen images that panned, parallax page views, and more. I used it as a playground where I could imagine nifty UI and see if I could build it. It was one of the most fun things I've ever worked on. Unfortunately I couldn't keep maintaining it and Drip is no longer in the App Store (RIP!)
