Find Your Buddy
Social platform for connecting individuals for shared activities.
What we built
and why.
Find Your Buddy is a social platform that connects people for real-world shared activities, from hiking partners to study groups. We built it on React Native + Firebase with a recommendation engine that matches by interest, location, and compatibility signals.
The problem
to solve.
Context
Social · Community Apps : The client wanted to solve the loneliness problem of modern cities: people who share hobbies but never meet. The vision was Meetup for pairs, not groups, not dating, just real-world companions.
Core Problem
Existing apps either force group formats or collapse into dating flows. Users needed a focused 1:1 matchmaking system built around shared activities and geographic proximity, with safety baked in from the first screen.
How we
built it.
A 10-week build on a cross-platform stack. We leaned on Firebase to cut backend complexity and shipped a recommendation engine that learns from swipe-and-confirm signals.
User Research
Ran interviews with 30 target users to validate the 'activity-first, not profile-first' thesis.
Design Prototype
Figma prototype tested with 12 users across two rounds of usability feedback.
Build
Parallel iOS and Android development from a single React Native codebase with platform-specific polish.
Launch
Closed beta with 200 users, feedback loop, then public launch on both stores.
What got
shipped.
React Native frontend sharing 95% of code across iOS and Android. Firebase for auth, Firestore for real-time data, Cloud Functions for the matching engine and moderation pipeline. Google Maps for proximity, FCM for push.
Key Innovations
- Compatibility engine that weighs interest overlap, calendar availability, and geographic distance
- Safety-first flows: verified profiles, public-meeting-first suggestions, instant block
- Location privacy: shared location approximated to neighborhood, not exact coordinates
- In-app activity feed to discover local interest-based events
Obstacles Overcome
- Balancing match quality with match availability in low-density regions
- Designing safety flows that reassure users without feeling paranoid
- Cold-start problem: solving the 'no one to match with on day one' gap
What it
does.
5 core capabilities that define the product. Each engineered with a senior team, tested against real usage, and shipped to production.
Activity Matching
Partner finder based on shared interests and hobbies.
Community Events
Discover and join local interest-based social groups.
Unified Profile
Showcase skills and hobbies for accurate matchmaking.
Interactive Map
Geospatial tool to find buddies and events nearby.
Compatibility Engine
Data-driven recommendation system for partners.
The product,
end to end.
11screens from the shipped build. Every flow, every state. These aren’t renders, they’re production.
The impact,
measured.
Launched simultaneously on both app stores with a cross-platform codebase that lets the client ship features in days, not sprints, and a matching engine that improves measurably with every new user cohort.
Built with.
A social product lives or dies on trust and momentum. Find Your Buddy launched with both: the UX earned the downloads, the architecture kept it fast as the user base grew.
Got a project that
needs this kind of build?
Tell us the problem. We’ll tell you if it’s a 2-week sprint or a 2-month platform, honestly, in the first call.
