Lore

Lore is a macOS application that reads a user's local iMessage history and turns conversations into visual "stories": highlight-reel style presentations containing statistics, key milestones and shareable moments from a given thread or relationship. Marketed features include jumping instantly to the first message of any thread without scrolling, tracking open or unanswered threads ("Left on Read"), weekly recaps, top-emoji breakdowns, a "Ghosting Score", top-contact message counts and an "Orbit" view of relationships [0][1][2].

The app requires a Mac signed into the user's iMessage account to access full message history; created "Lores" can subsequently be viewed and shared on other devices. AI features are optional: users can process on-device via Apple Intelligence, or enable cloud processing in which conversation excerpts are routed through the company's stateless relay to OpenAI for story generation. AI features can be disabled entirely, leaving the app as a local conversation browser. The company states its relay does not store or log message content [0][1][2].

Y Combinator lists Lore in the Summer 2024 batch under Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI and Consumer categories, based in San Francisco, with a team size of two and YC partner David Lieb [3].

Founding story

Co-founders Terrell Marshall (CEO) and Aditya Nadkarni (CTO) met while studying computer science and jointly created a patent for an AI physical therapy platform. They later became roommates in San Francisco. Marshall previously worked at Google on AI products with more than one billion users, including Google Photos, Google Payments and Hotels Search, and was a software engineer at Workday; Nadkarni previously worked on Flexport's AI and document processing team and at Artera, a startup focused on doctor-patient communication [3].

Business model

Lore distributes a downloadable macOS application directly from its website; the sources do not disclose pricing or how the company charges users [0][1][2].

Not disclosed in the available sources.

Traction

The sources contain no independently verified usage or revenue metrics. The website displays user testimonials and reposted forum-style comments reacting to the product, and YC lists the team size as two [0][1][2][3].

Latest developments

The most recent verifiable information is the Y Combinator company profile listing Lore as active with a Summer 2024 batch designation and two employees, plus a live product site offering the macOS download [0][1][2][3].