Tensio
There are two of us behind Tensio.
No corporation, no department for anything. Two founders building an app alongside university and work: an app we use ourselves and put our own money on.
Who builds Tensio
One writes the app and the server, the other takes on what comes up beside it. Both meet at the same point: in the end, every euro charged has to be explainable.
Business informatics, sixth semester, plus three stints in investment analysis, credit analysis and finance: valuing business models, reading annual accounts, assessing creditworthiness and risk.
At Tensio he writes the app and the server, from the goal catalogue and the verification sources through to charging, splitting and paying out. That the app works with real money rather than points comes from that corner: once you have calculated for a living what a default costs, badges stop being convincing.
A school-leaving qualification focused on business and public administration, two stints in administration, and business administration at university today. Administration teaches you early that a case only counts once somebody else can follow it. Which is exactly the attitude an app needs when it charges money and passes it on.
At Tensio he keeps the small work away from development: adding and verifying organisations, answering enquiries, proofreading copy, and running new goals through by hand before they enter the catalogue. None of it ever shows up in a changelog, and the app would take longer without it.
The question a tick leaves open
An app that rewards good intentions with ticks, streaks and badges leaves one question open: what happens on the evening you don’t feel like it? The honest answer is “nothing”. That is where intentions fail, not for want of an overview, and no prettier chart fixes it.
So Tensio is built around two commitments, and everything else follows from them: no goal the app cannot verify itself, and no stake that is forfeited only symbolically. Both make the app less comfortable than it would have to be. That is exactly why it works.
We are users, not just the provider. We have our own goals running in Tensio, with our own money on them. Miss a check-in and we are charged like anyone else: there is no exception in the code for founder accounts.
What we cannot do yet
Three things better known in advance. If any of them is the deciding factor for you, Tensio is not the right thing right now.
Android only
There is no Tensio for the iPhone. The demanding part is not the interface but the verification, and that works differently on iOS. Between two people, one platform where it holds up beats two where it half does. The FAQ has the detail.
Passing the money on is manual
Charging is automatic, transferring is not: the money goes to the organisations in batches, sent by one of us. Which is why the transparency page names not only what has been passed on, but also what is still outstanding.
No reply within minutes
Two people with university and work alongside means you get an answer from somebody who built the app themselves, but possibly not until the next day.
Replies come from the two of us
There is no ticket system and no hold music. Write to us and one of us answers.
- Questions, bugs, complaints: Team@trytensio.com
- Creators and partnerships: same address, we sort it out ourselves. How the creator programme works.
- The mandatory provider details are in the imprint in full, not on this page.
What has actually been passed on is public. The transparency page lists the total per organisation and openly shows what is still outstanding. Take a look.
Enough about us
Whether it works for you is the more interesting question. Up to five active goals are free, and you only need a card once a stake is involved.