Echo is a new chat messaging app aimed at allowing you to talk to strangers (or as we like to say, friends who haven't met 😆) within a radius around you. This allows for more time/location relevant chats as well as allowing users to connect with the people who are closer to them. Unlike many chat apps, our app aims to keep interactions in real time and doesn't save chats/information after you are done chatting! Just like real conversations, we believe the best socializing happens on the spot!
Our team consists of a handful of dedicated and talented developers from the University of Florida. We started out of and currently reside within UF's Open Source Club. We are always on the lookout for more developers trying to get their hands dirty on a real project! We would love to have YOU join our team! ❤️
Documentation of the project's source code is available here.
Objectives
Currently, we are working on developing a minimum viable product (MVP) of the mobile app. We expect to have an early working version by the end of the Fall 2024 semester.
What's the Tech Stack?
The project consists of a dedicated frontend and backend. The frontend is built using the react-native framework, which bundles a React app to cross-platform devices. Similarly, the Expo Go framework is used to deploy the app on a sandbox testing environment. The backend is built using TypeScript and NodeJS. It also uses Firebase DB and Firebase Authentication.
How do I Access the Source Code?
The project is completely open-source and its source is available on GitHub. GitHub is a platform for version control and collaborative software development that uses Git to track changes in code, allowing multiple developers to work on the same project simultaneously. At the Open Source Club, GitHub is used to host source code and publish issues. GitHub Issues are a feature that helps track tasks, bugs, feature requests, and discussions within a project. They allow developers to organize and prioritize work, facilitate communication, and plan project milestones effectively.
How do I Contribute?
Contributions to the project's source code are accepted through the GitHub repository. A guide to setting up the development environment is available here.