Shbabna 1.0.0: the first release
The first public release of Shbabna: posts, Spark, stories, messages and groups, Your algorithm, pages, creator stats, and privacy and safety tools.
Welcome to Shbabna 1.0.0, the first public release. Shbabna is a home for content creators, freelancers and anyone who makes things: share your work, follow the people who inspire you and talk with your audience, in an app built Arabic-first from the ground up.
Here's what's in the first release, on iPhone, Android and the web.
New
Your account and profile
- Sign up and sign in with your email and a verification code, or with Google or Apple.
- Up to 5 accounts on the same phone, one tap to switch.
- Two-factor sign-in with an authenticator app and recovery codes, even when you sign in with Google or Apple.
- A profile that says who you are: photo, cover, bio, an "About this account" page, and your account type: freelancer or content creator.
- Verification marks: ask for one from Settings → "Verify your identity", and the mark shows next to your name once it's reviewed.
Posts
- Eight kinds of post: photos & videos, GIF, poll, document, certificate, event, quote and code snippet.
- Photo editor: crop, text, draw, blur, Arabic filters and collage, plus alt text for people using a screen reader and a "sensitive content" label.
- Documents open and download inside the app.
- Events: people tap "Interested" and set a reminder, and the host sees who's interested and can message them.
- Pinned and scheduled posts: pin up to 3 posts to the top of your profile, and schedule a post from 10 minutes to 30 days ahead.
- Mentions and hashtags: type @ or # for suggestions, and the people you mention get a notification.
- Reposts, saved posts and archive: keep what you like, and hide your old posts without deleting them.
Spark
Spark is where vertical video lives: full screen, swipe to the next one.
- The camera records in clips, with length (15 s, 60 s or 3 min), timer, speed, align, zoom and a front screen flash.
- A video editor on your phone: timeline, split, speed, filters, transitions, and timed text and stickers.
- Up to 20 photos and videos from your gallery become one reel.
- Voiceover with "lower the original sound", and "Use this sound" to put another public video's audio under yours, credited to its creator.
- Drafts stay on your phone until you finish them.
For a step-by-step walkthrough read the Spark guide, and for the best sizes read the photo and video sizes guide.
Stories
- Stories last 24 hours, with stickers: mention, link, question, poll and post.
- Turn a video post into a story (up to 60 seconds).
- Highlights keep your best stories on your profile.
Home and Explore
- Home shows posts from the people you follow.
- For you in Explore suggests posts that match your interests, and every post there has "Why am I seeing this?".
- "Not interested" shows you less of what you don't like.
- Search for people, posts and hashtags, with trending hashtags.
Your algorithm
Your interests aren't a secret from you. In Settings → Privacy & safety → Your algorithm you see the topics we think you're into, with a bar for how strong each one is, and choose more, less or hide for each. You can also reset your suggestions and start over.
Messages
- Chats and groups of up to 256 members, with invite links.
- Message requests: messages from people you don't know wait for your OK.
- Saved messages: a chat with yourself for things you want to come back to.
- Voice messages with a waveform, and view once photos from the chat camera.
- Edit within 15 minutes, delete, forward, search your chats, link previews and online status.
- Animated stickers of Jelli and Sharara, and chat effects: type "/" and pick one that fills the screen.
Notifications
- Push notifications for every account on your phone.
- Choose what reaches you in each category: likes, comments, follows, messages and more.
Pages
For teams, companies and initiatives: a page with editors and members, join rules and a verified page mark. Post as the page, not as yourself.
For creators
- My stats for content creator accounts: reach, impressions and net followers.
- Insights on every post, and a watch curve for every video.
- Share links show you where your visitors came from.
Privacy and safety
- Private account, block, mute and hidden words.
- Choose who can message you and who can mention you.
- Smart moderation checks posts, photos and videos before they spread, including text written inside pictures.
- Account status shows whether anything keeps your posts from being suggested to people who don't follow you, and why, and you can appeal.
- Delete your account from Settings at any time.
Small touches
- Like effects: the heart moves differently each time, with special effects for hashtags like #شبابنا, #برمجة (coding), #تصميم (design) and #تصوير (photography).
- Background uploads: leave the app and your post or story keeps uploading, with progress on your lock screen.
- Data saver: lighter video on mobile data, always, or never.
- Jelli says hello when you pull to refresh.
What's next?
This is the first release, and there's more to come. We want to hear from you: if you have an idea or find a problem, write to us from Settings → Help and support, and follow this changelog to see what's new.