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Inspiration
As Rutgers students who have dormed at some point or the other, it's a struggle to find roommates. We ask friends, we post on Instagram and Reddit and social media sites, we answer verified Rutgers polls, but none of these are good options. Social media sites or general roommate-finding sites don't verify their users to make sure they are students, while Rutgers forms limit you from contacting potential roommates yourself. This is why we created KnightFinder, an app designed to find Rutgers-affiliated roommates only.
What it does
It lets user sign in or make an account with Rutgers scarletmail, and then it was intended to let them answer lifestyle prompts and browse profiles for potential roommates in the Search tab, and then use the Chat tab to reach out to them. However, due to authentication problems with Firebase, we were unable to implement this fully.
How we built it
We used React Native libraries and the Local Expo CLI development interface to create a cross platform app, while using Firebase for data storage and authentication. The project is written in Javascript, and the logo was built with Adobe Photoshop.
Challenges we ran into
A majority of our challenges were due to package deprecations and version errors, since global Expo CLI is deprecated and many dependency issues slowed us down. Then, Firebase authentication failed because it couldn't properly install and integrate with our deprecated global Expo CLI.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
More than anything, we're proud of having an idea that solves such a relevant, widespread problem at Rutgers. We're proud of designing a cool Rutgers logo and making login and signup UIs despite having no experience with Firebase authentication, Expo CLI, or mobile app development.
What we learned
We learned how different React Native CLI and Expo CLI for mobile app development is compared to React.js for building web applications. Neither of us have mobile app development experience or have used these technologies before. For one of us, this is our first hackathon, so we learned how to recognize and treat errors fast. Firebase storage is also very different from SQL and MongoDB, so it was interesting working with these new tools.
What's next for KnightFinder
After we get the authentication feature working, we'd love to display profiles in the search section, implement a sort by filter to find roommates that have similar lifestyles and want to live at the same places, as well as implement a working in-app chat feature to talk to potential roommates.
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