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Onelight – Connecting Communities Through Local Venues

Technical rescue and complete rebuild that transformed performance, scaled for growth, and drove 35% increase in user engagement.

Project Description

The Challenge

Onelight, a social discovery platform created by the minds behind Clubvibes, had a vision to revolutionise how people connect through local venues and events in their communities. By spotlighting venues and bridging the gap between online interactions and real-world connections, the app aimed to encourage users to actively participate in their local community’s offerings.

However, the existing Ionic/Angular application was struggling. Performance issues, scalability limitations, and declining user engagement threatened the platform’s ability to deliver on its promise. The technical foundation simply couldn’t support the rapid growth and real-time interactions the product needed.

The Onelight team faced a critical decision: continue patching an increasingly fragile codebase, or invest in a complete technical rebuild that would position them for sustainable growth.

They chose the rebuild and brought our team in to execute it without disrupting their existing user base.

What We Did

We were tasked with completely rewriting the application from Ionic/Angular to React Native whilst maintaining 100% feature parity and zero downtime for existing users. This wasn’t just a technology migration — it was a strategic rebuild designed to:

  • Dramatically improve performance and eliminate the crash rates hurting retention
  • Build scalable infrastructure that could handle 2x user growth without breaking
  • Enhance core functionality to better connect users with venues and events
  • Optimise the entire technical foundation from database queries to API architecture
  • Enable the team to move faster on future feature development

Why This Project Matters

Most startups facing performance issues try to patch their way out of technical debt. They add caching here, optimise a query there, hoping to squeeze a few more months out of a fundamentally flawed architecture.

Onelight took a different approach. They recognised that their technical foundation was blocking growth, and invested in doing it right. Once.

This case study demonstrates how a strategic technical rebuild, executed with zero disruption to users, can:

  • Transform user experience — 40% faster load times and 30% fewer crashes
  • Enable sustainable growth — infrastructure ready for 2x user growth
  • Accelerate feature velocity — team moving faster on React Native than legacy stack
  • Drive business outcomes — 35% increase in engagement, 15% lift in retention

The lesson? Sometimes the fastest path forward is rebuilding the foundation.

Performance Transformation

  • Achieved 40% faster load times across the application, dramatically improving first-use experience
  • Reduced crash rates by 30%, directly contributing to improved user retention and app store ratings
  • Cut data latency by 25% through API optimisation and database query improvements

Scalability & Technical Foundation

  • Built infrastructure capable of handling 2x user growth without performance degradation
  • Implemented phased migration plan that maintained 100% feature availability throughout rebuild
  • Zero downtime deployment — existing users experienced seamless transition to new platform

Business Impact

  • Drove 35% increase in user engagement with local events and venues through enhanced core functionality
  • Achieved 15% lift in daily active user retention within six months of full migration
  • Strengthened community ties by improving the app’s ability to connect users with real-world experiences

Team Enablement

  • Organised comprehensive training sessions that brought the development team up to speed on React Native quickly
  • Enabled faster feature development velocity on new tech stack compared to legacy platform
  • Created thorough documentation and established best practices for ongoing development

Strategic Outcome The complete rebuild positioned Onelight for sustainable growth. Rather than continuing to fight technical debt and performance issues, the team now had a solid foundation that supported their product vision and allowed them to focus on what mattered most: connecting people through their local communities.

Technical Challenges We Solved

Migrating from Ionic/Angular to React Native Without Breaking Things

Transitioning from Ionic/Angular to React Native required significant adjustments in both the development process and the tech stack. The existing team needed to learn and adapt to the new framework, whilst ensuring that no essential functionality was lost during the rewrite. Any disruption would directly impact active users and risk losing hard-won traction.

Our Solution: We designed and executed a phased migration strategy that prioritised stability and learning. We conducted targeted training sessions for the development team to build React Native competency quickly, then gradually migrated features in stages rather than attempting a risky “big bang” deployment. Each phase was thoroughly tested and optimised before moving to the next, allowing us to refine the React Native implementation without interrupting the existing user experience. This disciplined approach meant users never experienced downtime whilst we rebuilt the entire application underneath them.

Maintaining Performance and Scalability Under Growing User Load

As the app grew and more users engaged with local events and venues, ensuring consistent performance became critical. Real-time interactions, location-based queries, and growing data volumes created increasing strain on the infrastructure. Without proactive optimisation, the app would buckle under the weight of its own success.

Our Solution: We took a comprehensive approach to performance and scalability. First, we completely restructured the API architecture to reduce unnecessary calls and improve response times. We then optimised database queries in PostgreSQL, implementing proper indexing and query patterns that dramatically reduced data latency. We leveraged Firebase’s scalable infrastructure to handle traffic spikes without manual intervention. Throughout the process, we used load testing and performance monitoring tools to identify bottlenecks before they impacted users, then systematically eliminated them. The result was an application that performed smoothly under heavy load and was architected to handle 2x growth without significant additional investment.

Enhancing UX Based on Real User Feedback During Migration

Whilst rebuilding the technical foundation, we had a unique opportunity to address UX issues that had accumulated in the original application. However, making UX improvements during a technical migration created risk — too many changes at once could confuse users or introduce new problems.

Our Solution: We partnered closely with the design and research teams to prioritise UX improvements that would have the highest impact on engagement and retention. Rather than redesigning everything, we focused on specific pain points identified through user feedback and analytics. These improvements were integrated into our phased rollout, allowing us to measure impact and gather feedback at each stage. This disciplined approach to UX enhancement during migration contributed to measurable improvements in daily active user retention without overwhelming users with change.

Technologies Used

Frontend

  • React Native
  • Redux for state management

Backend

  • Node.js API architecture
  • PostgreSQL database
  • Firebase infrastructure

DevOps & Monitoring

  • Load testing tools
  • Performance monitoring
  • Phased deployment pipeline

Your Product Could Be Next

Facing a Technical Rebuild Decision?

If you're struggling with performance issues, scalability concerns, or technical debt that's blocking growth, let's talk. We specialise in strategic rebuilds that maintain user experience whilst transforming your technical foundation.

We'll review your situation, identify your biggest technical risks, and outline a realistic approach. Even if we're not the right fit.

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