Ketch'Up

mobile app to help people connect on the go!

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Inspiration

The inspiration behind Ketch'up stems from a common scenario that many of us have experienced - friends saying, "Let's see each other sometime," but never quite managing to make those plans a reality. We've all been there, caught up in the busyness of life and constantly promising to reconnect with loved ones, only to find those promises fading into the background. Ketch'up was born out of a desire to transform those vague promises into concrete plans, ensuring that "the time" to meet up actually happens. Our app is designed to help people effortlessly bridge the gap between intentions and actions, making it easier for friends to connect on the go and create meaningful moments together, without the hassle of endless rescheduling and missed opportunities. With Ketch'up, we aim to bring people closer and strengthen the bonds of friendship, one ketch-up at a time.

What it does

1. Create Ketches: Friends who want to 'ketch-up' can create a "Ketch." The creator of the Ketch sets a "deadline" and a location for the meet-up to happen. The app utilizes an API to generate hang-out activity suggestions based on the chosen location, making planning more exciting and engaging.

2. Activity Voting: Once friends have joined the Ketch, each member can "Tinder swipe" through the generated activity suggestions. The app tallies up the votes and suggests the most-preferred location and activity based on the collective choices of the group, making it easy to decide on a plan that everyone enjoys.

3. Scheduling: After the preferred activity and location are determined, the creator of the Ketch can schedule the meet-up. To confirm attendance and ensure that the Ketch actually takes place, friends must upload an image of their "ketch-up" adventure, creating a fun and visual way to document the gathering.

4. Photo Gallery: Ketch'up provides a built-in photo gallery to display images of completed Ketches, allowing users to document their favorite memories and revisit the fun times they've had with friends. This feature adds a sentimental and personal touch to the app, making it a cherished memory bank.

In a nutshell, Ketch'up turns vague promises to "see each other sometime" into concrete plans, offering an interactive and visually appealing way for friends to connect, plan memorable outings, and preserve their shared moments.

How we built it

In crafting the frontend of our application, we harnessed the power of JavaScript and employed React Native. As a social media platform, we recognized the paramount importance of visual appeal. To achieve this, we delved deep into the realm of style components, harnessing the potential of CSS to craft intricate visual elements and intricate patterns. We meticulously consulted various tutorials, honing our skills to implement advanced user interfaces such as the innovative swipe feature. Shifting our focus to the backend, we made a strategic decision to implement MongoDB. A pivotal aspect of our application lies in its ability to capture moments visually. This feature enhances the application's ability to immortalize precious moments, fostering connections in our fast-paced, stress-filled world. Utilizing the power of Google API, we liberated our application from the constraints of geographical limitations and narrow knowledge pools. By integrating this API, we provided our users with dynamic activity suggestions tailored to their current locations. Whether they find themselves in bustling city centers or serene countryside retreats, our application becomes a personalized guide, offering tailored activity recommendations. This dynamic approach ensures that users are always in the loop about exciting events and venues, regardless of their geographical location.

The challenges we ran into

It is an ambitious project, so challenges along the way are inevitable. We are working on completely new technologies as none of us is really familiar with mobile app development. We had to refer to documents and tutorials video of the tech stacks before even starting to implement them to our needs. We also encountered numerous bugs along the way that were at times frustrating to fix! However, these challenges are also part of the reason why this project is super rewarding.

Accomplishments that we are proud of

None of our members is really familiar with React Native and mobile app development, so navigating the tools and frameworks is challenging but definitely very fulfilling! We are also extremely happy with how the app looks, considering that we only have 24 hours to design and implement it. Lastly, our team worked so well together– we couldn’t ask for a better bunch to ‘ketch-up’.

What we learned

Mobile app development. We have definitely learned a lot about React Native and the relevant technologies, utilizing Google APIs, styling user-friendly features, etc.

Developing collaboratively and on a time-crunch. This is pretty self-explanatory – if anything, we have learned that twenty four hours is not long at all! Additionally, four programmers simultaneously working on an app is not an easy challenge. We learned to make use of Git (after some painful merge conflicts!).

Planning and communication! True to the spirit of our app, we “ketch-up” frequently in our 24-hour coding period to discuss ideas, brainstorm on debugging, and give feedback on each other’s features.

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