ello8 is a small physical device that sits on your desk, nightstand, or shelf and displays short messages on a tiny OLED screen. That's it. No notifications, no algorithms, no feeds — just words from people you actually want to hear from.
Each ello8 is a compact, low-power device with a tiny computer inside and a small OLED display on the front. It connects to your WiFi, checks in with the ello8 server periodically, and displays whatever messages are waiting for it. When there's nothing new, the screen stays quiet.
Once your device is paired to your account, you can create messages from the ello8 web app. Messages are added to a pool — the device cycles through them on its own time. You control how long each message stays in rotation, from a specific end date to indefinitely.
You can also add friends on ello8 and send messages directly to their devices. A friend request goes out, they accept, and from that point on you can drop a message into their pool whenever you like. Their device will show it just like any other — quietly, on its own time.
Letter boxes let anyone with the link leave a message on your device — great for a shared space, a sign on your desk, or anyone you want to hear from. No account required.
Most communication today is designed to demand your attention. ello8 is the opposite — it's there when you glance at it, gone when you don't. A note from a friend, a reminder you wrote yourself, something silly, something kind. Low stakes, low noise.
Messages on ello8 are short and simple by design — and that keeps server costs low. There's no media, no storage, no heavy lifting. Because of that, we'll never charge a subscription fee. You buy the device, and that's it.
There's also no phone app. Everything is managed from the web, which means nothing to install, nothing to update, and nothing asking for permissions to your sensitive data. If you have a browser, you're set.
End up not liking our service? You can load your own software to the microcontroller (with a little techy know-how) and make the device your own. If you want to come back just pull our latest software version and load it back on! Your hardware is yours and never locked in to us. You paid for it, it should be yours.