Software · 2025
Wax
Silence the noise. Keep the connection. A calm, fast Instagram experience without the Reels rabbit hole — named for the beeswax Odysseus' crew used to drown out the Sirens' song. Keep the feed, stories, and DMs you love; lose the algorithmic pull.
Why Wax
Speed
Virtualized feeds, on-device caching, image prefetch, and optimistic UI for 60fps scrolling.
Fairness
Every “use Instagram normally” feature is free, forever — no paywalls on the basics.
Craft
Instagram-1:1 inside, wrapped in a calm honey-and-wax brand at the edges.
Phase 0
Running on the web target with mock data — note the four-tab bar with no Reels tab, the core of the Wax thesis.
Architecture
The UI talks only to a single SocialProvider interface, and the active backend is chosen in one file — so Wax can swap data sources (mock → IG private API → Graph API → a Wax-native network) without rewriting the app. Built on Expo Router, Shopify FlashList, TanStack Query, and expo-image; session tokens stay on-device via expo-secure-store.