The Problem
Event organizers were juggling multiple disconnected tools — Google Forms for RSVPs, spreadsheets for attendee tracking, email for communication, and manual check-ins at the door. Eventa aimed to consolidate the entire event lifecycle into a single mobile platform, but the initial concept was too broad. It tried to cover small meetups and large conferences at once, with no clear hierarchy in the UX.
The attendee-facing experience also needed work. Users who downloaded the app for a specific event found it difficult to discover other relevant events nearby, the RSVP flow required too many steps, and there was no real-time coordination during events — attendees couldn't see live schedule changes, venue updates, or connect with other participants.
Approach
I designed and built the iOS app with two distinct user modes: Organizer and Attendee. The Organizer mode featured a step-by-step event creation wizard that guided users through venue setup, ticket tiers, schedule building, and communication templates. Smart defaults and templates took most of the setup work out of creating an event. The Attendee mode focused on discovery, with a location-based feed and category filtering.
For real-time event coordination, I integrated Firebase Realtime Database for live updates — schedule changes, venue announcements, and attendee count updates all pushed instantly to connected devices. The check-in system used QR code scanning with offline fallback, storing scans locally and reconciling when connectivity resumed. I also built a lightweight in-app messaging feature for attendee networking.
Challenges
The dual-mode architecture (Organizer vs Attendee) required careful state management to avoid data leaking between contexts. An organizer viewing their own event needed admin controls, while the same event viewed as an attendee showed a completely different UI. I implemented a role-based rendering system with protocol-oriented design that cleanly separated the two experiences while sharing the underlying data models.
QR code check-in needed to be bulletproof for events with hundreds of attendees arriving simultaneously. The scanning module had to handle rapid successive scans, duplicate detection, and provide instant visual and haptic feedback. I optimized the AVFoundation camera pipeline for continuous scanning mode and implemented a local bloom filter for O(1) duplicate detection without network round-trips.
Results
Event creation time dropped from an average of 45 minutes (across multiple tools) to under 10 minutes within the app. Organizers reported a 70% reduction in day-of-event coordination overhead thanks to real-time push updates and centralized attendee management. The QR check-in system processed up to 200 scans per minute with zero duplicates.
The attendee discovery feed drove a 35% increase in event attendance for organizers who listed public events. The app achieved a 4.5 rating on the App Store with particular praise for the clean organizer workflow and reliable check-in system. Monthly active users grew 25% month-over-month in the first quarter after launch.
Want to work together?
I'm open to senior and lead roles, and I take on a few freelance projects.
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