UBER meets tutoring. That was the idea behind TUTR, a startup based out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama focused on making the tutoring experience smooth and fast – just like hailing a ride from the convenience of your smartphone

For students needing help with an upcoming test or study project – the app was simple to use. Create an account using the TUTR mobile app, sign in via SMS code, link a payment method. Once done, a map view is presented showing online nearby tutors filtered by skillsets the student requested. Pick a tutor and request assistance, and the tutor would respond with their price and terms. Once the student and tutor session started, they could chat in the app, share a white board, or share location to coordinate an in-person tutoring session.

The TUTR platform handled all of the complexity of payment management, vetting tutors, enforcing safety rules, etc, ensuring a safe, secure, and productive experience for all users on the platform.

My Role On The Project

I led the mobile development team supervising backend engineers, designers, and QA professionals in development of the TUTR mobile application. I also handled a significant amount of programming inside the mobile app itself. Contributing both leadership and engineering skills, we built from the ground up a cross-platform iOS/Android mobile application with all the features requested during the development process.

We developed features that included:

• SMS-based sign in flow.
• Payment processing via Stripe.
• Integration with the Bramble platform to allow users to share a whiteboard and other resources within the TUTR app.
• Real-time sharing of location data.
• Rich chat functionality with push notifications, typing indicators, etc.
• Integration with Mailgun for sending emails that made it to the inbox for all marketplace related communications such as resetting passwords, payment receipts, etc.
• Setup and provisioning of servers on Linode to support platform activities.

The app was built using the cross-platform Titanium mobile framework and JavaScript along with the referenced 3rd party services to deliver a rich marketplace experience to our users.

Does your organization need help building a mobile app like this? I can help! Drop me an email and let’s make it happen.