Sanct Social, a social app for family and close friends that became available in Malaysia as a free download on 30 September 2026, took part in the fifth Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) in Hangzhou, China, from 23 to 27 September 2026 as a member of the Indonesian business delegation. Over three days the company held business-matching talks with Chinese technology companies and explored the smart glasses and AI models that are already exhibited and sold in China. One of those conversations is moving forward, and the company may return next year to see the prototype. The app supports Bahasa Melayu, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Hindi, carries no ads, and has five thousand people on the platform.
KUALA LUMPUR: Sanct Social, a social app for family and close friends that is now available in Malaysia as a free download, took part in the fifth Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) in Hangzhou, China, from 23 to 27 September 2026.
The company joined as a member of the Indonesian business delegation, at the invitation of the DTI Conference & Expo (DTICX) and the expo’s organisers. The delegation included Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs, its Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Jakarta Smart City and a group of Indonesian technology companies.
Over three days, Sanct Social held business-matching talks with Chinese technology companies and explored the smart glasses and AI models that are already exhibited and sold in China.
Business matching
The first day at the expo was spent on the exhibition floor. Business-matching sessions ran on the second and third days, and the third day ended with the closing ceremony and a delegation dinner on a boat on the river.
Sanct Social founder Sion Abednego said the company had gone to learn and to look for potential partnerships.
“As an early-stage start-up, we wanted to see for ourselves what is already being built and sold in China, not read about it from a distance. One of the conversations in Hangzhou is moving forward, and we may be back next year to see the prototype,” he said in a statement.
He said the exhibition floor showed smart glasses with built-in AI assistants, AI accelerator cards, voice assistants and industrial AI models, and that Sanct Social had spoken with several companies in those fields.
“The question we carry to every table is the same one our users ask: how does a family with one person across the Causeway and the rest at home stay close? Everything we looked at in Hangzhou, we looked at through that question,” he added.
The expo
The fifth GDTE opened on 24 September 2026 at the Hangzhou Grand Convention and Exhibition Center. On the first evening the Indonesian delegation attended the Night of Digital Trade, the expo’s gala.
How to start on Sanct Social
A user’s first friends are added by meeting in person and scanning each other’s QR code, with an invite code, or through an introduction from a friend already on Sanct Social. New users are asked to bring in five people who are close to them; until then some features stay closed. Every evening at 6pm the Sanctum opens for them: a small beach inside the app where family and friends who live apart spend the evening together.
On user data, the company said Sanct Social does not sell user data to third parties. Sancty, the small companion inside the app, processes data only inside the user’s own account in order to respond, and the data is not used to train public AI models. The privacy policy is available at https://sanctsocial.app/privacy
Pricing and availability
Sanct Social is a free download. Its core features will stay free, while optional premium features will be introduced later. There are no ads in either.
The app is available for iPhone on the Apple App Store in Malaysia and Indonesia since 30 September 2026, and in Singapore since 28 September 2026. The Google Play version for Android users is not ready yet. The app supports Bahasa Melayu, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Hindi. Five thousand people are already on the platform.
For more information and to download the app, visit https://sanct.social
