Yepic is a mobile application for tradespeople, letting them track their jobs with ease. The core functionality of the Yepic software is creating the daily work log from the photos taken on the jobs. The user takes snaps of their work and uploads it to Yepic. The software extracts data from the photo's metadata, instantly creating an entry in the worklog tracking location, time, and duration of the task. No more note-taking and forgotten gigs. Just one photo is enough to keep things organized.

Making Things Yepic

Yepic team understands that even when you are a skilled tradesperson, you cannot be a master of ALL trades. Nevertheless, in the modern world, all jobs require some administrative work. That's how the idea of Yepic was born.

Yepic, like all custom software, was designed to smooth up business processes. But instead of targeting business users, it is made for tradespeople. With Yepic, they don't have to worry about logging every single gig they do. All they have to remember about is to take the picture.

Yepic app does the rest for them. It extracts information about time and location from the pic's metadata. And, it doesn't even have to be online.

The Rescue Mission

How did we become a software development partner for such an exciting project? It is not a secret that this time we were not involved at the beginning of the process. We didn't get to be there for the requirements gathering and getting an in-depth understanding of the problem. Instead, we came with the rescue mission.

Unfortunately the team that built the early version of Yepic was no longer around, so they began to look for a custom software development company.

One of our former clients recommended our Flutter team. And here we were, ready to start the development process. We were presented with extensive documentation and requirements to make sure we were all on the same page. We agreed that Flutter, with its cross-platform - single codebase approach, is the perfect technology to ensure the on-time delivery of the entire project.

Flutter App Development

The fact that every custom software is different is obvious. The fact that no two mobile apps are the same in terms of priorities and individual requirements might be more surprising. For Yepic, there were two technical priorities.

Yepic app had to be:

• battery-friendly
• available offline.

We took this specification very seriously. After all, custom software development is meant to meet all the client's needs. We appreciated having priorities straight and upfront since we know we have to buckle up to write a multi-platform app within the desired deadline. We knew Yepic was counting on us.

Battery

Tradespeople usually don't have offices. They work at their clients' houses, typically moving across the town the entire day. They don't have time or resources to charge their phones between jobs. They are always on the go. Yepic team wanted to make their lives easier, not complicate it even more with software applications draining their phones' batteries. They wanted to build software that is lightweight, handy, and battery-friendly. They are after solving problems, not adding more of them.

Our Flutter development process made it a priority. Since location tracking is Yepic's core feature, we approached it the smart way. Yepic doesn't use localization all the time, thus draining the phone's battery. It only tracks the user when necessary leaving battery life for other purposes like staying in touch with the clients.

Offline

Another critical challenge in writing Yepic custom software solution had a similar origin as the first one. Working from different places means there is no steady internet connection. There is no office wifi, and the reception might vary as well. Hence Yepic was designed as an offline-first software.

It might be counter-intuitive as most mobile development, not to mention web apps development, takes Internet connection for granted. They are designed to be used online. Writing an offline first software demanded a change of mindset within our dedicated team.

Yet we found the solution to make the Flutter framework work the way we needed. We used AWS Amplify to enable Yepic offline and synchronize all the data once the user is back online.

The side advantage of such an approach? It makes Yepic even more battery-friendly.

Metadata

The above two are significant Yepic features. But the true Yepic magic happens with metadata extraction. Our developers wrote a custom solution that extracts information from the photo's metadata. This allows the users to add entries to their timesheets just by adding a picture - time and location are populated automatically.

The Yepic Future Ahead

Right now, we are working with Yepic to extend the app functionalities. Yepic plans to be a marketplace connecting tradespeople and people who need their services. Tradespeople will be able to showcase their work and get opinions and ratings from the clients. This way, the bespoke software we created for Yepic will help tradespeople get more clients. The clients will get access to the best-rated professionals making sure whatever they need is done correctly.

The Outcome - The Yepic Present

We needed just 5 months to get Yepic into both Android Store and AppStore. At the moment, Yepic allows tradespeople to create their work logs just by uploading photos taken at the gig. With Yepic, tradespeople don't have to worry about the office part of their jobs and can concentrate on what they do best.

With all the battery-saving features, tradespeople can always be available by phone. Yepic is here to make their lives easier without interrupting existing routines.

You can check out how Yepic looks like: