Postmello · Press

About Postmello

Postmello is letters, not texts. Kids can keep in touch without texting: they write and draw digital letters with friends and family, on iPhone and iPad.

Each person gets their very own place: a desk of their own, and collections that make it a whole little world, from a fairy glen to a base on the moon, with matching mailboxes and stationery.

It is connected, not always on. There are no chat bubbles, typing dots or read receipts, and a letter waits in the mailbox until its reader is ready.

Only friends and family an adult approves can exchange letters, from a desk or by email. No photos or videos, nothing public, and letters can't be forwarded.

Postmello is free, with unlimited letters, and collections are optional one-time purchases. No ads, and no selling personal data.

Launched: September 2026
Runs on: iPhone and iPad, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 or later
Available: App Store, 174 countries and regions
Price: Free, with optional collections
Founder: Patrick Amihood
Based in: Palo Alto, California
Press: [email protected]

Patrick Amihood, Founder

Patrick Amihood is the founder of Postmello and a dad of two in Palo Alto, California. Patrick spent nearly a decade at Google leading engineering teams, with a focus on human-computer interaction.

Patrick has been thinking about how we communicate for a long time. Before Google, Patrick co-founded ChatTag, a text messaging service where picking a tag created a room for everyone to chat as a group.

Patrick designed and built Postmello independently after Patrick’s older daughter reached the age when friends started texting. Roughly a hundred builds were shaped by both daughters, their friends, and early users of the app.

A summer of letters, in Patrick’s words

I’ve spent my career in Silicon Valley building technology, and I know how much a device’s design shapes the way we use it. Now my own daughters are reaching the age when friends start texting.

Last summer, my older daughter, 9 years old, asked my wife to borrow our phone to text a best friend. It was a small request, and a reasonable one. I wanted another way to say yes.

I built the first version over the summer, and my older daughter began writing to her school friends, exchanging letters almost every other day. We traveled that summer, and she was able to keep in touch with her friends for those months we were abroad, and with the new friends she made along the way.

My younger daughter, 6 years old, likes to draw rainbows for her friends. A few words and a drawing arrive as a page made for one friend, instead of another message in a stream.

There’s a pleasure in it I remember from the old days: the postal ritual of choosing the paper, stamping the envelope, then waiting for the flag to go up when a reply comes back. Opening a letter someone made just for you never gets old.

At their age, I get to decide when they have the iPad. It’s a shared device at home, and I approve every friend they can write to. I’m comfortable with it because it’s a small circle, completely closed off: nothing public, no photo or video sharing, no forwarded memes.

They sit down at the desk, make something for a friend, send it, and get on with the day. The letter arrives, and the afternoon is still theirs. It’s a sense of connection without anxiety, and of anticipation without the constant pull to check.

I hope that this can help children retain their childhood for a little longer: postponing texting and social media, and protecting three kinds of quiet.

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