Word-level sync
Narration timings are generated during content import, so every word lights up exactly as it is spoken, even on older tablets.
Children's reading companion
A tablet app that reads along with children aged four to eight, highlighting words as they are spoken and adapting to each child's pace.
- Sector
- Education
- Platforms
- iPad, Android tablets
- Timeline
- 5 months to launch
- Squad
- Tech lead, 3 engineers, designer, QA
The brief
An education publisher wanted to turn its library of picture books into an interactive reading app that works in classrooms and at home.
Many schools in its markets have unreliable Wi-Fi, and parents were wary of apps that collect children's data. Both concerns shaped every technical decision.
What we built
- Read-along player with word-level highlighting synced to narration
- Downloadable book packs with full offline use
- Simple progress tracking for parents and teachers
- A parent area protected by an age gate
- Content pipeline for the publisher to add new titles without developers
- Child-safe design with no ads, chat or external links
Engineering notes
Offline by design
All reading progress is stored on the device and synced when a connection appears. Nothing a child does depends on the network.
Privacy first
No third-party analytics in the children's area. Usage data is anonymous and aggregated before it leaves the device.
Results
- lost reading sessions since launch, online or offline
- 0lost reading sessions since launch, online or offline
- of reading sessions happen fully offline
- 62%of reading sessions happen fully offline
- titles added by the publisher's own team
- 180+titles added by the publisher's own team
- average reading session length
- 14 minaverage reading session length
Stack
- Swift
- Kotlin
- Kotlin Multiplatform
- Go
- PostgreSQL
- AWS S3
- CloudFront
Have a product in mind?
Send us a short brief, a sketch or a link to what exists today. You will get a reply from an engineer, not a salesperson.