Project
About project
About project
About project
Our client, the Storage App, is an American company offering a storage service. They partnered with Doubletapp to create an application allowing users to make payments and manage their storage units efficiently. Through the app, users can choose the type and size of a storage unit, view photos, rent and pay for it, manage multiple units, make payments, and even unsubscribe remotely.
The Storage App promotes its application through professional platforms and conferences. They utilize the White Label system, allowing other warehouse owners to distribute the app, simplifying users' lives.
The app requires users to enter a Customer Code from the warehouse owner, providing a customized experience.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
Originally, the client wanted to develop an application that provides authorized users with access to storage units, control over their quantity, post- and pre-payment, renting new units, and disconnecting from unused ones. In the current version, tools have been added not only for accessing the unit via the phone but also for sharing access for a limited period.
Future plans include simplifying payments for users through the application and connecting partner services, such as freight transport from warehouse to warehouse without customer involvement and integrating rental options for new warehouses.
When the client started working with the White Label system, allowing other companies to use our application for their clients, a new set of tasks emerged. Warehouse owners must be able to customize their unit block, uploading new colors, FAQs, contact information, and adding locations.
Additionally, a separate version of the application was needed for managers from companies that joined the franchise. Managerial application tools are focused on NFC locks, allowing them to open and close the unit using a phone. The development of lock software was entirely carried out by Doubletapp.
Managers need to program locks, provide access, track which resources on a specific warehouse are paid for, identify any delays, and monitor the usage mode of the units. This is done for security reasons; for example, if the warehouse primarily opens at night, there is a likelihood that something illegal is stored there.
RESULT
RESULT
RESULT
The client's project was commercially successful, leading to plans for expansion. The company promotes the application through professional advertising platforms and conferences. Colleagues recognized the potential in operating a shared infrastructure: the project is implemented using the White Label system. This means that warehouse owners don't need to develop their technology or create their application. Instead, they can connect to what is already functioning effectively.
The White Label system allows warehouse owners to customize the app for their clients, streamlining operations across the US.
Our super team
NikitaFlutter
SofiiaFlutterKirillFlutterNikitaiOS
AndreiiOS
KirillAndroid
MaksimAndroid
KirillManagementRealization
Realization
Realization
In the end, we:
• implemented a White Label solution, allowing companies to use the application with unique branding and settings.
• created a user and manager version of the application. Users can control and pay for their storage units, while managers can track access, payments, and warehouse usage modes.
• developed software for NFC locks based on ready-made boards selected by the client.
• established a complete infrastructure — locks and software — that the client plans to sell as a separate product, with sales scheduled in the near future.
• implemented App Clips for iOS and Instant Apps for Android, enabling users to share temporary access to their units through micro-applications that do not require installation
The customer's Product Owner and Product Manager from Doubletapp worked closely together: brainstorming ideas, analyzing metrics, proposing hypotheses, and testing and implementing them.
As a result of our collaborative efforts, the client company, The Storage App, transformed from a local warehouse owner in need of an application for tracking storage units and rent payments into a service connection distributor.
All these efforts are the tip of the iceberg for ordinary users who simply use the convenient application when sending items to storage and paying for the familiar service.
Insights, Hypotheses, The Process of Creation
Insights, Hypotheses, The Process of Creation
Insights, Hypotheses, The Process of Creation
The initial plan was simple — a small informational application for people renting storage units from one company. However, new ideas and features quickly emerged, requiring constant refinement of the project architecture.
WHITE LABEL
The first such task was White Label. A White Label product is a product or service produced by one company that other companies rebrand to make it appear as if they created it themselves. Our client suggested that colleagues in the market join the system, allowing ordinary users across the country to control their storage resources using a single application.
Users download our application and enter a code that identifies which specific client they belong to — there will be their locations, colors, logos, images, and units. From a technical point of view, the project needed to add the ability to change styles (colors, logos, etc.) through a special admin panel. During the first launch of the application, the user enters the code or follows the link provided to them, unique to each version of the application, and we load all the necessary styles from the server, saving them to the local database so that the user does not have to wait for the complete loading of styles each time.
MANAGER APPLICATION
When the decision was made to create a second application for managers of companies using our solution, modularity came into play. Initially, we decided to separate common UI components and white label functionality into separate modules (no one wants to write the same thing twice, right?). But as the applications developed, more and more similar functionality emerged, and more and more features were separated into individual modules to simplify code sharing.
Tip for Flutter developers:
I would like to mention the melos utility, which significantly simplifies interaction with multi-module applications.
NFC LOCKS
NFC locks are the most complex feature at the moment. The client decided to create their own locks based on ready-made boards. The boards come with an SDK (software development kit) — a pre-configured set of ready-made solutions: APIs, code fragments, libraries, documentation, etc. There was no SDK version for Flutter, so we enlisted native developers from our company. With a large and cohesive team from different departments, we created a Flutter library to control NFC locks based on ready-made boards.
The entire UI of this feature is written in Flutter, and when interacting with the physical lock via NFC, we send commands through the Platform channel to native libraries, which, in turn, redirect responses from the lock back to the Flutter part of the application.
Tips for Flutter developers:
The Pigeon package significantly simplifies interaction between native and Flutter parts, generating APIs and models for platform implementation.
APP CLIPS FOR iOS AND INSTANT APPS FOR ANDROID
To enable users to share keys to their storage units with friends, family, or couriers from an online store using the mobile application, we developed solutions for sharing access to locks through a system of temporarily living links: they can be opened in the application, granting temporary access to the unit. Not all users will agree to install an entire application just to open the unit once. App Clips for iOS and Instant Apps for Android came to our aid, developed by native developers on our team using libraries we had previously written for interacting with locks.
App Clips and Instant Apps are sort of small applications that do not require installation and instantly launch on your device, allowing you to quickly open the storage unit.
