BabyBook
Communication app between nurseries and families
Impact
From blocked legacy code to a modern cross-platform app
The challenge
BabyBook had grown organically into a critical tool for educational centers, but its technical foundation was unsustainable. Asociación El Saliente needed a partner to help them:
Eliminate critical technical debt: Native Android Kotlin code impossible to maintain, with business logic coupled to the UI and no separation of concerns.
Expand to iOS: Only available on Android, losing 40% of the potential market. Duplicating development in Swift wasn't viable.
Accelerate development speed: Any change required weeks of work. Iteration velocity prevented responding to center needs.
Improve stability and experience: Confusing flows, slow screens, and lack of visual feedback caused constant frustration for educators and families.
Our approach
We opted for a complete rewrite in React Native: same product, modern architecture. The strategy centered on three fundamental pillars:
Migration to React Native with scalable architecture
Complete rewrite from Kotlin to React Native with TypeScript, implementing layered architecture (presentation, logic, data), separation of concerns, and centralized state management. This unlocked iOS automatically with a single codebase.
Reverse engineering and flow redesign
Exhaustive analysis of the existing app to extract business logic, identify real usage patterns through sessions with educators, and eliminate 30% of features nobody used. Complete redesign of critical photo upload and family communication flows.
Iterative development with continuous validation
Deliveries every 2 weeks with test builds for the pilot center. Direct feedback from educators and families incorporated into the next sprint. If something didn't flow naturally, it was rethought before moving on.
What we built
A cross-platform app with modern architecture that maintains all original functionality while laying the foundation to grow. Every decision followed the same principle: deliver immediate value while building a sustainable technical foundation.
Modern cross-platform stack
React Native + TypeScript for iOS and Android with a single codebase. Reusable component architecture, state management with Context API, and optimized native navigation.
Multiplied development speed
Modular, reusable components that accelerate new feature development. What used to take 3 weeks now ships in days. Hot reload for instant iteration during development.
UX optimized for real usage
Photo upload with preview and automatic compression. Flows reduced from 5-6 screens to 2-3 steps. Immediate visual feedback on every action. Smart caching to work offline.
Infrastructure ready to scale
Documented, maintainable code that any developer can understand. Clear structure that allows adding centers, features, and customization without touching the foundation.
The impact
The results translated into concrete capabilities that didn't exist before. The team went from being technically blocked to having a platform that evolves at the pace they need, from an Android-only app to presence on both mobile ecosystems, and from unmaintainable legacy code to an architecture any developer can understand and extend.
"Before, every change meant fighting with the code for weeks. Now we can iterate as we need to. We added iOS without doubling the team. It's a different level."
Technical Director, Asociación El Saliente
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