sidenote

home screen
chat screen
credits plan
credits plan
plan details
resource upload
notes archive
conversation history
user details
user progress and details
lesson quiz
settings
subscription plan
lesson to test from conversations
subscription plan

Inspiration

Studying today is chaotic. Students juggle between PDFs, notes, assignments, and random resources, often switching between multiple apps just to understand one concept. Most tools are either passive (just reading) or too rigid, with no real interaction.

We wanted to build something that feels natural—where learning isn’t just consuming content, but actively engaging with it. The idea was simple: what if your study material could talk back, guide you, and adapt to you?

That’s how Sidenote was born.

What it does

Sidenote transforms scattered study materials into an interactive learning experience.

Users can:

Chat with their study content and get instant explanations
Practice concepts through contextual questions
Capture insights using in-chat sticky notes
Organize learning without switching between apps

Instead of jumping across tools, everything happens in one seamless flow.

How we built it

We built Sidenote as a mobile-first application using:

React Native (Expo) for cross-platform development
Backend APIs + AI models to power chat, explanations, and practice
Supabase for data handling
RevenueCat for monetization (credits + paywall system)

The core idea was to keep everything modular:

Chat system for learning flow
Sticky notes as an interactive layer
Action buttons for guided learning (practice, notes, etc.)

Challenges we ran into

Backend integration issues: Handling real-time uploads and API communication across devices was tricky, especially with network constraints.
State management in chat: Ensuring messages, notes, and actions stayed in sync without breaking flow required careful handling.
Mobile performance: Features like draggable and resizable sticky notes needed optimization to work smoothly on mobile.
Build and deployment issues: Setting up APK builds and resolving environment/config issues took significant effort.

What we learned

Building for mobile requires constant trade-offs between performance and features
A smooth demo experience is as important as the actual functionality
Monetization should feel natural, not forced
Small UX details (like sticky notes) can significantly improve user engagement