Cats and Dogs: The Weather App

Introduction

The cutest project we've ever made

It’s been raining cats and dogs in London and Wrocław... quite literally! And we wouldn’t like this weather to change – ever!

Towards the end of 2018, we partnered with an award-winning creative agency Fishfinger, based in London, to build the world’s cutest weather app. From the very beginning, we were completely in love with the idea and the designs created by the agency, so when they decided to trust us with this project, we were beyond happy.

Henceforth, we worked hand in hand – the client as the designer, and Angry Nerds as the development partner - on delivering a top-notch experience for future users of the application.

Overview

Scope

Mobile application

We started with an MVP and extended the scope with time.

Back-end

We developed a dedicated back-end solution.

Front-end

We also took care of the website promoting the app.

Technology

iOS

We chose Swift, as it's a reliable programming language for iOS.

Team

4 members

The development team was supported by a QA Specialist.

Duration

7+ man-months

Right now, we continue working on new features and improvements.

Cats & Dogs is a gamified weather app that makes the routine weather checking more amusing and user-friendly. The fundamental feature of the application is the quick access to accurate and reliable weather forecast, with detailed information powered by Dark Sky. But what makes it different from thousands of weather apps is the furry companion you get to take care of!

First, you need to choose between a dog and a cat – both impawsibly cute – and name your pet. Then, enable location services on your smartphone or add your location manually – and you’re all set! From now on, you’re responsible for assuring that your pet is happy – that means, dressed appropriately for the current weather in your area. A sombrero for a sunny day, an umbrella when it rains, a warm scarf when it gets windy... And it doesn’t end there!

Wardrobe – hundreds of combinations

You can choose from hundreds of items, combining them into unique outfits. You’ll get rewarded for choosing the right clothes for the right weather, which will help you get new clothing items and unlock bonuses. You get points for each correct item, so don’t leave your pup with just a pair of warm socks when it’s snowing, cover its ears with a nice woolen cap!

There are countless of outfit combinations possible, with all sorts of clothes you can imagine, including cowboy boots, a spacesuit, flippers, a tuxedo, and also seasonal clothing – for Halloween or Christmas! You can unlock special bonuses by completing challenges or exchanging the in-game rewards. And what if you’d like to show the world a particularly fancy outfit? The app supports socialising and makes it possible to share your experience with friends over social media, as well as send fellow users gifts or extra items.

Making of

With a few intervals, the whole process of creating the application took around 10 calendar months. Let's explore the details!

Project management

Designs, animations and sounds

Development

Beta tests

Quality assurance

Additional changes

The project was agile-driven, developed in iterations, with 1-week sprints and continuous communication between the client and our team. The project manager on our side was responsible for daily communication about the project's progress and establishing the tasks for the sprints in close consultation with the client. The developers were also directly in touch with the client, which made the workflow smooth and efficient.

Fishfinger provided all the designs - the interfaces, icons and above all over ten thousand animations which are the very heart of the project. They were also one of the biggest challenges in development, as it required weeks of meticulous work to integrate the animations and sounds with the app’s features. But the final effect was definitely worth it - you can see for yourself!

The first phase of development was divided into four milestones, which included an MVP version of the app. After over 4 months both teams agreed on extending the scope and adding more features, such as an interactive tutorial, dark mode, snapshots, and sound implementation. The refined version of the app was presented to beta testers.

Together with the client, we ran beta tests of the app in order to make the solution as close to perfection as possible. The feedback we received was extremely valuable and allowed us to improve both the details of the app and the general experience for the users. If you have a possibility to run beta tests in your project, you should definitely go for it!

We take quality assurance seriously, so we also tested the application internally before the release. We believe the QA process can't stop after the launch of the app, so we still run tests after adding new features and continue gathering feedback from real-life users. We even set up a special online form where users can report bugs, so we can apply fixes immediately.

After the testing phase, together with the client we decided to add a few more tweaks and adaptations, in order to provide the users with a top-class experience. Right now, we make sure the app works smoothly, support the technical side of the app and troubleshoot when necessary. We also improve the existing features and hope to add a few new ones soon!

We were really happy to see that soon after the launch the application has been featured by AppStore and received lots of fantastic reviews from many different user groups.

Even though one may suppose the app would be most popular among kids, there’s a large group of adults who love the fact they can go back to the Tamagotchi era (we can relate!). We also got some lovely reviews from parents who enjoy exchanging in-app gifts with their children and checking the weather together. That's how technology can support family bonding!

With cute designs, lovely animations and funny pet-related puns created by Fishfinger, we're almost 100% sure the Cats and Dogs app can put a smile on everyone's face.

Features

The application’s features include:

Real-time, precise weather forecast powered by Dark Sky

Weather details, such as UV index, wind, chance of rain, moon phases, sunrise/sunset times and more

Interactive tutorial

Extra challenges for unlocking bonuses and rewards

Social media integration

Weather forecasts for upcoming hours, days and weeks

Day and Night mode

A virtual pet feature – a dog or cat you can name, take care of and dress in countless outfit combinations

The possibility to send other users in-game items and gifts

In-app purchase

Technology

Technical side of project

The core of the application is Lottie - a web and mobile framework created by Airbnb. Lottie allows to render After Effects in real-time, and its implementation is as simple as using static views. The app has been created with MVVM + Coordinators architecture and RxSwift library. It has Facebook and Firebase integrations for social features and analytics. We also decided to use Instabug to engage users with reporting bugs and feature requests.

We've also developed a website promoting the app. Its main purpose was to give users a hint of what they can expect from the app itself, sign in for beta-testing and share feedback. The web experience was based on the custom design from the client and developed by our team using Angular 8.

Give it a meow!

Our team wholeheartedly identifies as animal lovers, so we’re absolutely crazy about the app – and we want to constantly improve it, so it brings nothing but joy to the users. You can share your thoughts on how the app performs using the form HERE. We really appreciate your feedback.

Cats and Dogs: The Weather App

The cutest project we've ever made

Overview

Scope

Technology

Team

Duration