Unified communication apps
A real-time messaging app with 6 million downloads and over 50 billion messages exchanged
When we started developing Fling’s iPhone and Android apps in 2014, little did we know that they will go on to win over 6 million users, launching DECODE into the world of the most advanced real-time communication technologies.
Short summary
Industry
Social
Location
United Kingdom
Timeline
12 months
The Fling app allowed people to send photos and videos to strangers around the world.
The challenge
The basic idea behind the app was to shake up the idea of social networking—messages flung on it weren’t sent to your friends, but to complete strangers around the globe.
It took about a blink of an eye for the app to scale from a concept to a platform handling more than 100 sign ups per minute and 6 000 000 messages each day.
The solution
Back then, the users loved the app so much they kept flinging messages, and they expected them to fly over the globe and get responses in a split second.
To achieve that, we worked directly with ProcessOne—the team that created ejabberd—and then we went ahead to create custom XMPP extensions, as nothing on the market catered to the speed and volume we were handling.
Outcome
In the meantime, Fling ran out of funding and the app is no longer available for download. We expanded on our skills in real-time communication technologies from supporting this project as app developers for two and a half years.
That remains rock solid.
It’s hard to think about that experience without a beaming smile, and the feeling is obviously mutual.
How we set up our team and tools when we start working with a software company →
This blog will describe which tools, processes, and practices we use here at DECODE, and how we approach new projects.