Building a Cross-Platform Mobile App for a Commercial Real Estate Finance Startup
DBB Software built Bips, the iOS and Android app of Metechi, a New York commercial real estate finance startup, from scratch in React Native and Expo, and released it on the App Store and Google Play. The app gave its users a feed of posted proposals, private chat with file transfer, and subscriptions billed through both stores.
Industry
Finance & Fintech
Service
Mobile App Development
Team
1 React Native Engineer
Project State
3 months in 2022
Country
United States
About the Client
Metechi is a New York commercial real estate (CRE) finance company founded in 2017. Its platform matched commercial loans with a network of vetted lenders, and Bips was its mobile app for brokers, borrowers and lenders, which the company described as the first app for CRE lenders' data.
The Client’s Initial Request
Metechi engaged DBB Software to build Bips, its mobile app, based on the company's requirements and designs, because the product was planned as a phone-first tool for CRE brokers, borrowers, and lenders.
iOS and Android at Launch
Release on the App Store and Google Play together, so users could join from either platform.
01
Deal Flow and Private Conversations
Give users a feed for posting proposals and a one-to-one channel to exchange details and finalize deals.
02
Sign-Up With Existing Accounts
Let users join with an Apple, Google or Facebook account.
03
Paid Access Through the Stores
Sell subscriptions and purchases inside the app, billed by Apple and Google.
04
A Tested Path to Release
Set up both store accounts, the signing certificates, and a deployment process that had been run end to end.
05
Solutions we delivered
DBB Software built the app from scratch in about three months with one React Native engineer, working from Metechi's requirements and designs. It was written in TypeScript on React Native and Expo, with Apollo GraphQL as the data layer.
Cross-Platform Build on Expo
One TypeScript codebase produced both the iOS and the Android app.
React Native and Expo for the app itself, with react-navigation handling movement between screens.
react-native-iap ships native code that Expo Go can't load, so the app was built and tested as a native binary on both platforms.
Apollo GraphQL for fetching and updating the app's data.
TypeScript and ESLint across the codebase, hosted on GitHub.
Proposal Feed and Private Chat
The app centered on two surfaces: a feed where users posted proposals for others to browse, and private chat where two users exchanged details and finalized a proposal.
Chat was one-to-one, with file transfer inside the conversation.
Social Sign-In
Users signed in with an Apple, Google, or Facebook account.
Sign in with Apple sat alongside Google and Facebook login, as App Store Review Guideline 4.8 required at the time for any app offering third-party login.
Subscriptions Through Both Stores
Paid access ran on App Store and Google Play billing, through react-native-iap, a library over Apple's StoreKit and Google Play Billing.
Subscription and purchase products were set up in App Store Connect and Google Play Console, and wired into both apps from the shared codebase.
Store billing is required by App Store Review Guideline 3.1.1 for subscriptions that unlock app features.
Store Setup and Release Pipeline
DBB took the app from a working build to release on both stores.
Configured the App Store and Google Play accounts and created the iOS distribution certificate, provisioning profile, and Android upload key.
Shipped Android releases to Google Play as app bundles under Play App Signing, which Google required for new apps from August 2021.
Set up and tested a deployment process on Fastlane, an open-source tool that automates mobile builds, signing, and store uploads.
Tested the app against the requirements and designs, then released it on both stores.
Results Achieved
iOS and Android Launched in 3 Months
One engineer took the app from an empty project to releases on the App Store and Google Play.
Paid Plans at Launch
Bips could charge for access from its first public release, billed through Apple and Google.
Deals Kept in One App
Users went from a posted proposal to a private conversation with shared files without switching apps.
Onboarding With Existing Accounts
Users could join Bips with an Apple, Google, or Facebook account they already used.
Planning a Fintech App for iOS and Android?
DBB Software builds React Native apps from the first screen through both app stores.
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