Building the social discovery mobile app
The social discovery app
The Outoo team approached us with their idea to create a social discovery platform, focused on
finding and attending events, bringing people together. The platform
was to consist of native mobile apps on both iOS and Android, in order to be accessible to the
majority of the mobile market.
The app was to take the idea of mutual liking between users, matching to chat, but having both
users interested in attending an event or venue at a certain time -
increasing the chances of meeting up in person. Chats were to expire shortly after both users
had reached the location, or when the event is over, decreasing the
amount of time spent talking via the app and forming a real connection instead.
Lean methodology and staged roll-out
Our step-by-step development process provided
Outoo with the flexibility to evolve the app's feature-set, interface, and user experience over
time
based on valuable feedback from real users.
We initially launched Outoo exclusively on iOS, limited to the Worcester area, in order to gain
initial feedback from users - helping to grow the app's feature-set
tailored to fit the market based on user feedback. As users are central to the Outoo experience,
it was important to focus on growing the app in specific targeted
areas so as to overcome the classic 'chicken and egg' problem.
Delivering the mobile application
The finished mobile application is available on both iOS and Android, covering the vast majority
of the mobile market. Users can sign in with Facebook, automatically
setting up their Outoo account populated with their details and photos. Once signed in, users
are able to search for events taking place in their current location or a
chosen city, view event information, see who's attending, and mark themselves interested in
going.
'Liking' a user sends them a chat request, notified via a push notification, which they must
accept before a conversation can begin. Users can chat via instant
messaging until the event ends, including photo messaging, after which the conversation expires.
Users are notified if one of their matches physically arrives at
the event location, where they can meet up. In-app purchases are available to re-activate
expired chats, where the event has ended, granting users a second chance
if they missed the opportunity.
