Case study
BawoSocial
A founder-built social platform: community groups, events, realtime chat, and premium access — from zero to an on-device beta.
Challenge
Build a social platform from zero that connects digital community with physical events — groups, discovery, realtime chat, tickets, and premium gating — as a production mobile product rather than a prototype.
Approach
One engineer owning product and delivery: architecture, mobile client, and release workflow. React Native and Expo target iOS and Android with TypeScript. A custom visual system (obsidian and copper) instead of generic templates.
System
Supabase (PostgreSQL) is the backbone: realtime state sync, Edge Functions, and row-level security. Offline-first local caching keeps event details and tickets available on poor cellular. Stripe handles subscriptions. EAS provides CI/CD and over-the-air updates.
Result
A beta social platform running on testers’ devices. This page does not invent user counts, revenue, or performance percentages. The substantiated result is a shipped system with a documented stack and release path.
System
Supabase (PostgreSQL)
Realtime sync, Edge Functions, row-level security.
React Native + Expo
iOS and Android from one TypeScript codebase.
EAS + OTA updates
CI/CD and tester updates without waiting on store review.
Stripe
Subscription management and premium feature gating.
Offline-first cache
Event details and tickets remain available on spotty networks.
Auth & access
Tiered access enforced with database-level security.
Engineering challenges
Offline-first reliability
Local caching so event details and tickets remain usable when cellular is unreliable.
High-volume feeds
Community and event lists designed to stay responsive under large datasets. Frame-rate claims from older copy are not repeated here without measurement.
Navigation and state
Deep-link navigation that keeps context across RSVPs, messaging, and event discovery.
Metrics such as user counts, revenue, and frame-rate guarantees are omitted unless they can be substantiated. Product screenshots can be added when assets are available.