Overview
Gift Buddy is a cross-platform wishlist and gift coordination app available on iOS, Android, and Web. Users create wishlists, share them with friends and family, and claim gifts before purchasing — preventing duplicates through real-time synchronization across all devices.
Challenge
The client needed a single product that works natively on three platforms — iOS, Android, and Web — with shared state and real-time updates. Gift coordination requires instant sync: when someone claims a gift on their iPhone, it must reflect immediately on every other device. Additionally, both Apple and Google require native in-app subscription flows with their own billing APIs, renewal logic, and compliance rules — two completely different payment systems that need to feel like one.
Solution
We built the mobile apps with React Native to share a single codebase across iOS and Android, while the web version runs on Next.js for fast loading and SEO. Appwrite handles authentication, database, and real-time subscriptions from EU-based data centers. Native subscription modules integrate directly with Apple StoreKit and Google Play Billing, handling renewals, receipt validation, and subscription state management independently per platform.
Key Features
- Real-time wishlist sync via Appwrite Realtime — gift claims propagate to all connected devices within milliseconds
- Native Apple and Google subscription billing with server-side receipt validation
- 25+ built-in gift categories with status tracking (New, In Progress, Done, Canceled)
- Social graph with follow system and user search by nickname or name
- Offline browsing with local cache and background sync on reconnect
- Dark mode with system theme detection and multi-language support (English, Ukrainian)
Result
Gift Buddy launched on all three platforms within 2 months. The native subscription integration passed both Apple and Google review on first submission. Real-time sync delivers sub-second updates across devices, and 60fps animations throughout the app provide a polished native feel on every platform.