[cristinacordova]

We require accounts on web for things like news source recommendations and notifications for when we release new features. If you create an account, your sources will also sync across platforms like Android, iPad, iPhone, etc. Our mobile apps do not require sign-in, however, so feel free to download those from our homepage: http://www.pulse.me/

[MatthewPhillips]

> notifications for when we release new features

The real reason. This should be explained on the site.

[cristinacordova]

We don't send frequent emails - we haven't emailed our user base in months - until today about this launch. If users don't have an account, they can't have a consistent experience across platforms. A good user experience is our top priority here.

[shurane]

What about being able to at least preview the service without needing an account? We can do that already on the app version, before we decide to sign up with Pulse.

Signing up is an extra step, and a little too much, for a product that I want to field test before I decide I want to use it.

[cristinacordova]

Fair point. As you said, you can test the mobile app without signing up. We found that many of our users didn't know about our account syncing feature (because they didn't sign up). They then told us that it was difficult to switch between devices when they downloaded our apps as they had different news sources on different devices. This is an effort to remedy that confusion by keeping one single consistent account across platforms. Trying to get users to sign up later when they want to sync (which we've tried on mobile) has proved to be difficult for most users.

[yajoe]

Congrats on shipping, and thank you for being part of the community.

I would also second the feedback that requiring an email is undesirable. I know you are doing it so you can count reach and demographics easier and eventually sell those eyeballs or market research. We all need to eat. I get it. However! There is fatigue from needing to log into free services, especially when there are alternatives racing to the bottom with less friction.

You may grow your userbase faster by encouraging early adopters like those who visit this site to use the product. I also believe that the sign-up stopped >50% of the CTRs. I would recommend removing the requirement to sign-up now. Just $0.02 from yet another joe on the internet... :)

[cristinacordova]

Thank you. You can test the mobile app without signing up. We found that many of our users didn't know about our account syncing feature (because they didn't sign up). They then told us that it was difficult to switch between devices when they downloaded our apps as they had different news sources on different devices. This is an effort to remedy that confusion by keeping one single consistent account across platforms. Trying to get users to sign up later when they want to sync (which we've tried on mobile) has proved to be difficult for most users.

[chimi]

Look, it's your app, you can do what you want with it, but you're losing potential users with this requirement -- end of story.

[cristinacordova]

Yes, we agree that there will be some drop-off, but we're taking that chance in order to provide the best experience across platforms.

[tuhin]

The biggest reason of all, it lets you sync sources across all devices. Sync saved stories. Notification and communication take a backseat when you can easily send push notification to a much larger audience that is your entire userbase. Just thought it was important to mention that.