Painful
The process of signing up to start using the app fully is a pain, I love the concept of keeping bots out, but if I have to jump any hoops I’m out, I don’t use corporate email for social media and not many people do, I’m not a student, I’m a guy that uses Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail congruently your now alienating people that way too
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Silly Goose!
A place for us Canucks to keep real and keep classy while connecting. Love it.
Danger, Do not download
Unusual data collection for a social platform. Requires government ID scan, facial biometric (selfie), and institutional email. Not necessary to verify account legitimacy. Heavy integration with Canada Post’s Identity+ system. Ask yourself why a social media app needs facial recognition data tied to your government ID and work/school email. Privacy-conscious users should consider alternatives.
Books say private start up, but pattern says either explicit government backing (unlikely to be public) or very coordinated institutional alignment/regulatory capture dressed up as indie startup.
This not a social media app it’s a honeypot made to look like one and it is about profiling you, identifying you and monetizing your data.
Books say private start up, but pattern says either explicit government backing (unlikely to be public) or very coordinated institutional alignment/regulatory capture dressed up as indie startup.
This not a social media app it’s a honeypot made to look like one and it is about profiling you, identifying you and monetizing your data.
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Not ready
I wanted to like it, but it’s not ready. The app doesn’t display properly on my phone. Things are cut off on the left and right. Perhaps it’s the text size I’ve chosen on my phone. I couldn’t find a way to make posts private. From Home, I would want to see posts from people in my Nest, not strangers. My advice is to focus on “within nest” sharing of posts. I don’t need to see things from strangers, nor do I need yet another chat.
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Social Media for People, not Bots.
Been excited for a competitor that took data privacy seriously and all the other predatory functionality of modern social media. Gander is making a real effort to do that and give us social media that is real, safe, and human focused. Sick of everything being a bot and never feeling a real connection half the time. Highly recommend jumping on board and supporting a good company at its beginnings!
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High bar for entry
A fantastic online space for Canadians if you can jump the bar to get in. They require you to verify your identity with Canada Post. That this will keep the more paranoid part of the population out of the space will be good for the space seems like a good thing. But we are early days, the lunatic fringe is like spices in food, they bring flavour to life.
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Works great. People are nice.
It’s like an oasis of nice folks. A place to talk about Canadiana without a bunch of anger-bots waiting like angry geese to start rage-baiting folks who just want to have a nice conversation.
Seems to work fine on Canada Day
Seems solid
Doesn’t work
They need to do an update. Cannot sign up for a new account, login, verify am account or get support.
Gander is Wonderful!
I’ve been using Gander for a few weeks and it’s a breath of fresh air. So many amazing, interesting, talented people sharing their art, music, culture, thoughts, photos and lives. I’m so glad to be here!
ID confirmation
Not happy. Tried twice to confirm id. Nothing happened. No response from support either
A Wonderful Community
The app is new, so at this point, there are steady updates to deal with issues raised by users, but overall, my experience has been wonderful. People sharing art, photos, local faves, even the Honkfic microfiction daily prompts. Great place! Look forward to seeing it grow.
Good app, keep improving
It’s a nice app, but it could use a few improvements. It really needs a Snapchat-like feature for group chats, where you can easily send media that expires after a certain period. Additionally, the messaging side needs to be more robust with a few more options. Finally, the tabs used to switch between the Gander, Blue Sky, and Following columns need to be smoothed out and improved.
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Not ready for prime time
Trying to create account after getting early access, verify email, get to interests and then “invalid or exhausted invite code”. Also, signing is a relatively insecure “we email or text you a code”… no password, MFA, or passkey… easier to get hacked now. Not a promising start for a new platform.
Doesn’t update
Figured it might not work on my old phone at some time.
Too basic
The UI is very basic but I suppose it’s just because it’s still in its infancy stage. That said, this isn’t useful for me right now. I can’t even post because I’m waiting to be verified by Canada post but I haven’t even received the email yet it’s telling me I should have gotten one. Canadian here and as much as I’d love to support this and get rid of reliance from America, this doesn’t cut it.
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Beta Test
I tried out Gander for 3 days in beta here are my observations :
-aesthetically it is similar to Bluesky but more basic
- in beta they are offering you only to upload videos and photos if you give them full access to your library
-if you try to reply to bridged accounts the app closes
-bridged accounts infrequently show up in the feed
-reliability and political leaning ratings for news sources are a terrible idea, sometimes good publications publish misinformation and bad publications publish good information and the user base should be able to figure that out.
- the vibe is abysmal and unwelcoming (ironic for a Canadian app, I know). Most beta testers are ex Facebook boomers who give off mean girl/boy to new users and spend the majority of time posting Facebook-like content.
-not writing it off entirely, I will pop back in when it goes live but for now, it’s not for me.
-aesthetically it is similar to Bluesky but more basic
- in beta they are offering you only to upload videos and photos if you give them full access to your library
-if you try to reply to bridged accounts the app closes
-bridged accounts infrequently show up in the feed
-reliability and political leaning ratings for news sources are a terrible idea, sometimes good publications publish misinformation and bad publications publish good information and the user base should be able to figure that out.
- the vibe is abysmal and unwelcoming (ironic for a Canadian app, I know). Most beta testers are ex Facebook boomers who give off mean girl/boy to new users and spend the majority of time posting Facebook-like content.
-not writing it off entirely, I will pop back in when it goes live but for now, it’s not for me.
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A nice Canadian app!
While there are still features being added and bugs being worked out, it’s a great app providing more Canadian content and community.
A great alternative to other social media!
A great alternative to other social media!
Sanctuary
Been using Gander for a couple of months now. Ditched the rest. Without the constant algorithmic horror drip, I find I’m happier, more relaxed and slightly saner.
A truly Canadian experience!
I’ve literally been on the app for 10 minutes and it feels so calming and authentically Canadian. No bots or rage bait. I’m loving this so far!