News App Builder
A system designed to automatically build mobile apps for news feeds.
7 000 000 ₽
cost of development
50 000
flagship app downloads
Task
The client is the owner of Naked Science, a popular news resource which has a large audience on Telegram and VK. To expand their presence and retain readers, the company decided to launch its own mobile apps.
The task was twofold. First, we needed to develop a mobile app for the client’s flagship resource, Naked Science. Second, we aimed to create a universal builder for RSS, based on this app.
The core business idea was to sell an app that would help other news outlets quickly and cost-effectively obtain their own branded apps (White Label). The system was designed to automate the building process, enabling the client to generate ready-made apps for their users without the need for a development team.
Solution
We developed a generator system that can create consistent mobile apps for news feeds.
The process is as follows:
- Admin Panel: The resource owner accesses a special control panel.
- Data Input: The owner uploads key parameters such as the future app’s name, color scheme, icon, link to a RSS feed, subscription settings, and digital signatures for publishing on the App Store and Google Play.
- Generation: The system automatically processes the data and creates a ready-to-use mobile app build.
Using this builder, the flagship app, Naked Science, and an app for another resource called Durov's Code were successfully created and launched.
Development Process
The project resumed after a long pause, which presented the first technical challenge: many of the tools and libraries we used had become outdated.
The team had to significantly update the code.
Over time, the project’s focus shifted from developing the generator system itself to enhancing the user experience of the main app, Naked Science. We refined the UI and added new features, such as gesture controls (swipes for navigation) and a quick scroll-to-top button.
Working on this project allowed us to tackle a non-trivial R&D challenge.
The Hardest Part
The most significant technical challenge was adapting the interface for the Dynamic Island feature on the iPhone 14 Pro, which Apple had presented at that time.
When the smartphone was released, there was no official documentation or ready-made solutions for dealing with this new interface element. Standard layout methods were ineffective, causing the top part of the app, including the header, to be cluttered and overlapped by the Island.
How we solved these tasks
In the absence of any guidelines, our developers took a research-driven approach. They had to mathematically calculate the exact margins from the top edge of the screen to ensure that the app’s interface shifted downwards and displayed correctly without conflicting with Dynamic Island. This unconventional workaround allowed us to resolve the issue even before official instructions from Apple became available.
Artyom Plyonkin
«In the absence of official documentation for Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro, our developers showed ingenuity by independently calculating all interface parameters using mathematical modeling.».
Technology Stack
iOS
Android
Web adminResults
We successfully created and launched a fully functional generator system capable of automatically building mobile apps.
The flagship app, Naked Science, was successfully brought to market and achieved approximately 50,000 downloads.
The team demonstrated their capability to tackle complex R&D challenges even before the official documentation from the device manufacturer was released, showcasing a high level of technical expertise.
