All Square
Project details
Patrick Rahme, The AppSolutions client, and the CEO of a community for golfers called AllSquare, decided to create a social network to harness his, and like-minded peoples’ passion for golf in the community.
AllSquare offers users many opportunities to share their golf achievements, engage with golfers from all over the world and find a golf course nearby.
It has the largest and most comprehensive golf course database in the world. The app newsfeed shows latest check-ins, photos, and updates of the community members.
Working with TheAppSolutions is a real pleasure.
All their team members are friendly, professional and detail-oriented.
A real treat!
— Patrick Rahme
Co-founder & CEO
The challenge was to help All Square become the world’s leading marketplace and social network for golfers.
The AppSolutions team was challenged to build a robust Android app from scratch. Also, we have faced with not an ordinary situation.
Adopting iOS app to Android is common. In that case, the design and functionality of the app on Android should become a trendsetter for the further app upgrades on iOS. However, an existing iOS app design was not satisfying.
So, our task was not to adapt an existing design of iOS app to Android platform but to create an entirely new design and user experience for Android OS through which the world of golf will become more open and connected.
Our Solution
The mobile app redesign was defined together with the client. We needed to create a new design and keep the same user experience across devices. After discussing the details, our UI/UX team started working on wireframes.
To create an outstanding UI we synthesized the material design principles with the innovative technologies, and applied best design practices of mobile development in their category.
We were lucky with our client, a natural lover of beautiful solutions. The process of design approval ran very quickly and easily.
Our team presented the full design scope, received client’s feedback, then made some changes and the new design of AllSquare was born.
Using technology stack
To provide smooth, uninterrupted operation of our Android app, we used a technology stack, a set of subsystems and components such that no additional software was needed to support an application.
To build AllSquare app on Android we have used the following solutions:
Square open source and its libraries including Retrofit, Okhttp, and Picasso in combination with RX Java for accessing the app backend.
Such approach allowed us to implement the reactive programming paradigm for asynchronous operation with API, files, and databases.
It was an important part of development because an asynchronous operation allowed the app to perform all its functions fast and without any hanging.
Creating a network
Any social media makes sense for the user only if there are his friends or interesting people.
We’ve provided AllSquare app with social media integration by using Facebook SDK.
That lets users invite their Facebook friends in the app with one click.
We implemented One Signal service to provide push notification delivery about the actions of the community members for users.
Geolocation technology
To let users find the nearest golf course and make check-ins we implemented Google maps service.
We compared the data of golf club location with the user’s location and showed the nearest golf courses on the map.
Also, the nearest hotels to the golf courses are shown in the app. We tied up our app with Booking.com service via API, so a user can book a hotel via Booking.com directly from AllSquare app.
Summary
First app release was delivered after 2,5 months of hard working. The AppSolutions provided the project with the brilliant team consisting of 3 Android app developers, frontend developer, 2 QA testers, technical writer, UI/UX designer and project manager.
It offers the largest golf course database in the world with more than 33.000 golf courses and resorts in more than 180 countries. Users can explore courses with reviews and find the next golfing destination.
AllSquare allows everyone who has a passion for golf to become a community member and connect with like-minded people, share photo/video content, and golf achievements, make check-ins and new friends as well. We used the latest social media technology to enhance communication between golfers, golf clubs and any other stakeholder in the golf industry. in the golf industry.
Get closer
This engaging community for golfers was built with cutting edge technologies by The App Solutions team. We aimed at providing the seamless UX and mastering the outstanding UI for Android platform in order to become the trendsetter for the app’s iOS version.
