Business Challenge

The founders of Big Shooter Golf aimed to launch a fully functional mobile platform that would engage amateur and casual golfers. 

They needed to bring the idea to market quickly and support both iOS and Android users from day one. 

The key challenges included:

• Tight timeline for MVP delivery: The team needed to go from concept to launch-ready product in just a few months to validate the market and start user acquisition.
• Cross-platform development: The app had to offer a seamless experience across iOS and Android without doubling the development workload.
• Remote coordination: Effective collaboration of a fully-remote team across multiple time zones and geographies was crucial to maintain velocity and stay aligned on product goals.

Solution

To meet the ambitious goal of launching a robust mobile platform for golfers within a tight timeline, the Itera Research team built a high-performance cross-platform app using React Native and Ionic.

Cross-Platform Mobile App

The team chose React Native in combination with the Ionic framework to ensure a consistent and responsive user experience across devices. This hybrid approach minimized code duplication while maximizing performance and flexibility. The addition of the Swilt JavaScript framework within Ionic further streamlined the creation of reusable components and custom UI elements.

Seamless Video Sharing

One of the most technically complex features was enabling users to record and share videos directly from the app. The development team built a custom UI for camera integration and implemented a dedicated video module for smooth media handling and enhanced user experience.

To support reliable video uploads and playback, the backend was powered by Python Django, with all media stored securely on AWS S3. This combination ensured scalability and fast content delivery across regions.

Real-Time Data Handling

For efficient communication between the server and mobile clients, the team implemented web sockets for real-time state synchronization. To handle local data storage and usage within the app, Redux was used for global state management, while Readax helped process and adapt server responses for use within different components.

Typed and Organized Architecture

The app was written in TypeScript, ensuring that data structures between the frontend and backend remained well-defined and consistent. This improved code maintainability, reduced bugs, and made future updates faster and safer.

Over-the-Air Updates

To simplify ongoing improvements and bug fixes, the team integrated PacketGo for over-the-air (OTA) updates. This allowed the product team to push changes and new features without requiring users to download the latest version from app stores, enabling faster iteration and a better user experience.

Key Features

• ​​Cross-Platform Compatibility: Consistent user experience across iOS and Android with the app built on React Native and Ionic.
• Social Video Sharing: Vibrant and media-rich community with users recording, uploading, and sharing videos of their golf swings or games.
• Real-Time Updates: Live synchronization of scores, user activity, and competition status, using web sockets and state management tools.
• Camera Module UI: Intuitive access to camera functions with custom-designed interface.
• Over-the-Air Updates: TAutomatic updates through PacketGo integration.
• Reliability at scale: Secure and efficient storage of all user-generated images and videos, using AWS S3.
• Typed Data Handling: Strict data typing, improving code quality and consistency across the application with TypeScript.
• Global State Management: Centralized control of client-side state, streamlining data processing and user interface logic with Redux and Readax.

Tools & Technologies

• React Native
• Ionic Framework
• Swilt JavaScript Framework
• TypeScript
• Redux & Readax 
• Python Django
• AWS S3
• Web Sockets
• PacketGo (OTA Updates)
• Custom Camera & Video Module UI

Results

Following the successful launch of the Big Shooter Golf app, the platform achieved strong user engagement and rapid community growth:

• High User Adoption: The app attracted hundreds of active users, validating both the product concept and execution. Particularly, during competitions and local events.
• Expanded Community Building: The app quickly evolved into a social hub for golf enthusiasts, facilitating local game discovery, video sharing, and social networking within a single interface.
• Positive User Experience: With smooth cross-platform performance and real-time features, users enjoyed a seamless experience that kept them coming back and inviting others to join.