Sanct Social, a social app for family and close friends that is a free download on the App Store in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore and nine more countries, released the eighth episode of its short film series, "Someone came.", on YouTube on Saturday (Oct 24). The film is about a question many Malaysian families know, with one person working in Singapore and the rest across the Causeway: when someone is unwell over there and the family cannot go, who can? Its answer is a person a trusted friend introduces, in this case a mother from Johor Bahru, and it shows the five features that get her to the door: a sleep status with an alarm friends can see, a contact card shared in a chat, a friend request with a message, a thirty-minute live location, and the new friend categories, where Family only exists when both people agree. Every app screen shown is the real app.
KUALA LUMPUR: Sanct Social, a social app for family and close friends, released the eighth episode of its short film series on YouTube on Saturday (Oct 24).
The film, “Someone came.”, runs under two minutes with no dialogue. Sanct Social is a social app for family and close friends, free on the App Store in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore and nine more countries including the Philippines, Vietnam, India and Japan. It is the first film in the series set partly in Johor Bahru, and the first to show the app’s sleep alarm and friend categories.
The company said the film was made to answer one question and to teach five features along the way: when the person you love is unwell in Singapore and the family in Malaysia cannot go, who can, and what does each step look like in the app.
What the film is about
Keisha works in Singapore. On a Friday night she comes home with a cough and sets her sleep status far earlier than usual. Her sister in Jakarta sees it and cannot come. She asks Rivani, Keisha’s Malaysian friend, who is at her mother’s house in Johor Bahru for the weekend. Rivani introduces her mother in the app, Keisha sends a request, the mother accepts, and by Saturday lunch she is at Keisha’s door with a tiffin carrier, forty minutes across the Causeway.
“For Malaysian families with someone in Singapore, help is often forty minutes away, not a flight away. The film shows how a friend’s introduction gets that help to the door,” Sanct Social founder Sion Abednego said in a statement.
Sion said each feature in the film was built so that the people who care about someone could act rather than only reply, and that the release lists the steps so new users could follow them.
“We want people to finish the film knowing exactly what to tap. The story carries the feeling; the steps are the lesson,” he added.
The five features, their purpose, and how to use them
1. A sleep status with an alarm that friends can see. Why it is there: the people closest to you can tell you are resting, and a very early night is a quiet way of saying something is off. Steps: on Sancty’s sleep screen tap “Sleep or nap?”, choose Sleep, set the alarm by scrolling the hour and minute columns the way the iPhone clock works, then save; the screen reads “Sweet dreams — your friends can see you’re sleeping”. At wake-up time First Light plays, softly at first and louder as it goes; hold “I’m Awake” to get up or tap “10 more minutes”. The alarm rings only while the app is open.
2. A contact card that introduces two people. Why it is there: on Sanct Social two strangers cannot add each other, so a mutual friend does the introducing. Steps: inside any chat tap the plus, then Contact, then “Share a Contact”, and choose the friend to introduce; the card carries the name and photo and a “View on Sanct” button, and the person who receives it can now send a request.
3. A request that carries a message, and the Friend requests screen. Why it is there: whoever receives the request can see who is asking and why before deciding. Steps: open the profile from the card, where it says “via Rivani · 1 mutual friend”, tap “Add friend”, type a short line and send; the confirmation reads “Request sent — they’ll see your message”. The receiver taps the bell to reach Friend requests, sees “Pending (1)” and the message, and swipes right to accept or left to ignore.
4. A thirty-minute live location. Why it is there: the person at home watches you cross the Causeway instead of asking where you are. Steps: tap the plus, Check In, pick the place, Share Location and choose Live; the app sends your moving position for half an hour and switches itself off.
5. Four friend categories: Friend, Business, Family and Partner. Why it is there: a circle is not one flat list, and some moments belong to family alone. Friend and Business switch immediately; Family and Partner wait for the other person to say yes; the category is private to the two of you. Steps: on a friend’s profile tap “Switch category” and pick one; for Family or Partner the other person sees “wants to mark you as Family” with Accept and Decline, and after accepting the label shows on both profiles. When posting a moment, “Who can see this?” offers the categories, which is how the lunch photo in the film reaches Family alone.
About the app
The company said every app screen in the film is taken from the Sanct Social app as it is today, with only the characters’ names, words, photos and times changed. The sleep alarm and the friend categories belong to the update about to reach the App Store; the other features are in the app now.
Sanct Social is a free download for iPhone on the Apple App Store in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, and in nine more countries including the Philippines, Vietnam, India and Japan, with no advertisements. It supports Bahasa Melayu, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Hindi. The Android version is not ready yet. More than a thousand people are already on the platform, and all eight episodes of the series are on YouTube.
For more information and to download the app, visit https://sanct.social