Claris

Overview

Claris is a two-sided mobile marketplace pairing influencers with hospitality venues — restaurants, cafés, hotels — for pre-planned content collaborations: an influencer books a venue, delivers agreed content (an Instagram story, a TikTok, a review), and receives a deal (a free meal, drink, or stay) in return. I joined after the Bubble.io MVP had already validated the concept, and led the rebuild of the frontend in React Native across two companion apps — Influencer and Venue — on top of the existing Xano backend.

Challenge

The Bubble.io MVP proved the model worked but couldn't deliver the performance, native feel, or scale the founders needed as usage grew — the low-code frontend was the main bottleneck. The rebuild needed to keep the validated Xano backend and data model intact while replacing only the frontend, across two distinct native apps that had to feel fast, polished, and cross-platform from day one.

Approach

1. 01

   Migrate frontend only, keep the backend

   Rebuilt the UI in React Native while keeping Xano as the API layer, avoiding a full backend rewrite and preserving the data model validated during the MVP phase.

2. 02

   Two apps, one platform

   Built the Influencer app (discover venues, pick a deal, deliver content) and the Venue app (manage bookings, approve content, track collaborations) as separate React Native apps sharing the same backend.

3. 03

   Real-time messaging

   Integrated GetStream.io so influencers and venues could coordinate collaboration details directly in-app, without falling back to email or phone.

4. 04

   Push notifications & email

   Wired up OneSignal for booking updates, approval status, and deadline reminders across both apps.

Development Highlights

• Deal-based booking flowInfluencers browse venues, pick from pre-planned deals (Story, Diary, Full Dedicated, Review), and book a time slot in a few taps.
• Content-for-deal trackingEvery collaboration tracks deadline, requested content type, and approval status end-to-end for both sides.
• Native performanceFull migration off Bubble.io to a native React Native experience, with faster load times and platform-appropriate UI.
• Cross-platform from one codebaseBoth apps ship to iOS and Android from a single React Native codebase per app.

A validated Bubble.io MVP rebuilt as a native, two-sided marketplace — same backend, a faster and more polished experience on both sides.

Outcome

The result is a fully functional, scalable pair of apps with a seamless native experience on both iOS and Android. Moving off Bubble.io to React Native cut development friction and improved performance across the board, while OneSignal and GetStream.io keep influencers and venues connected through reliable push notifications and real-time messaging. The backend on Xano is built to scale as usage grows, without requiring another platform migration.