Client: SpareRoom (U.S. Division)
Industry: Real Estate / Rentals
Platform: Android (Google Play) | iOS (App Store) | Web Integration
Timeline: 12+ months
Service Provided by: Evanic Freelancing Solutions
🧠 Project Overview
SpareRoom already the UK’s #1 flatshare platform approached us to help build and launch the U.S. version of their roommate-finding mobile app. Their goal was simple: bring their trusted, easy-to-use platform to an entirely new market with a clean, mobile-first experience tailored to American users.
Our role was full-stack: from product design and backend architecture to UI/UX, mobile app development, and ongoing optimization for Android and iOS platforms.
🎯 Objectives
- Design a trust-centered mobile app for roommate matching
- Allow users to post, browse, filter, and manage listings with ease
- Integrate secure, responsive chat and profile systems
- Ensure scam protection, user verification, and moderation tools
- Deliver a stable, intuitive, and scalable solution for both major mobile platforms
🔨 Key Features Developed
- Smart Search Engine: Powerful filters by location, rent, gender, move-in date, lifestyle, etc.
- Listing Management: Users can post rooms, edit listings, renew expired posts, and track responses.
- Built-In Messaging: Seamless chat experience between roommates and landlords, with notification alerts
- Profile & Safety System: Detailed profiles, ID verification capabilities, and listing/reporting tools to foster trust
- Favorites & History Sync: Users can save listings across devices and access recent views
- Scam Detection Backend: Admin dashboard with listing review workflows, suspicious keyword detection, and auto-flagging tools
- Geolocation & Map View: Accurate radius-based browsing with city + neighborhood overlays
🛠 Tech Stack & Tools
- Frontend: Kotlin (Android), Swift (iOS), React Native (optional version)
- Backend: Node.js + Express, MongoDB
- Authentication: Firebase Auth + Custom JWT Layer
- Push Notifications: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), Apple Push Notification service (APNs)
- Map Integration: Google Maps SDK, Mapbox
- Payment (if applicable): Stripe (for listing boosts or premium filters)
⚙️ Development Timeline
- Discovery & UX Planning: 3 weeks
- UI Design + Prototyping: 2 weeks
- MVP Development (Android/iOS): 10 weeks
- QA & Testing: 3 weeks
- Launch & Optimization: Ongoing (with performance monitoring and feature iteration)
📈 Results Achieved
- Monthly Active Users: 40K+ in the first year
- Total Downloads: 100,000+ on Android alone
- Play Store Rating: ⭐ 4.3+ with over 2.7K reviews
- User Retention Rate: 38% at 30 days (above industry average)
- Average Match Time: Under 48 hours in major metros
- Reported Scam Rate: Reduced by over 70% due to built-in moderation tools
🚧 Challenges Solved
- Trust in Housing Apps: We built strong moderation workflows and profile verifications to reduce scams and build user confidence.
- Cross-Market Localization: Tailored UX for U.S. cities and rental culture ensuring it felt local while maintaining global brand standards.
- Scalability: Optimized performance for scaling from hundreds to tens of thousands of listings without performance degradation.
- Customer Support Integration: Enabled ticketing system for report handling and listing disputes.
👨💻 Our Impact
Evanic Freelancing Solutions served as an end-to-end tech partner for SpareRoom’s U.S. rollout. From product design to backend systems and a polished UI/UX experience, we brought a bold vision to life and helped the client build trust, traction, and technology in one of the most competitive markets in the world.