Octocue

“Next slide, please!“

Not all the apps we produce are huge and complicated, with multiple screens and dozens of third party APIs to rely on.

We were recently contacted by OctoCue - part of the local Fix8 Group - who had a very simple requirement - “make us a clicker app.” As a Manchester-based app development company we were the obvious choice.

“What’s a clicker app?” we asked, and it turned out that OctoCue wanted an app which a user could control a slide presentation with, remotely.

Instead of relying on leaning over to click a laptop at the appropriate moment or shouting “next slide” to the presenter, the user can use a mobile device to control Powerpoint. This allows for remote conferences to continue during Covid and a seamless experience for attendees.

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We used Google Flutter to produce the app, and we implemented real-time updates via socket.io. This fitted-in nicely with an idea to use Firebase Dynamic Links, which would automatically invite users to a presentation and auto-fill authorisation codes, allowing users straight into the app experience without any need for explicit authentication.

Here at Foresight we use Firebase for nearly all of our green-field projects. It's the fastest way to market, infinitely scaleable and really low cost to run while in the development phase. It's a truly serverless development platform, allowing us to implement complex features easily while vastly reducing complexity. As Firebase is a Platform as a Service there are no servers to manage after we complete your project, ensuring that maintenance costs and risks are low.

Flutter is always the best choice for apps which are going to be used by the general public, who have a 50/50 mix of Android and iOS phones. Flutter produces a fast and attractive mobile app for both Android and iOS from one codebase, reducing development and future maintenance costs.

Our rapid application development process and experience allowed us to get the app to market in a matter of just weeks. This in turn allowed our customer to corner the market for this type of service, which is still in-use for remote conferences and presentations today.