Discover how KBA Systems engineered a dual-sided native iOS & Android platform that turns local knowledge into real income — connecting people who want the best recommendations with trusted community insiders who get paid to share them, through real-time chat, an earnings wallet, and multi-gateway cashout.
Review platforms made local discovery more democratic but also more impersonal. Star ratings average out the extraordinary, and algorithms optimise for popularity, not personal fit. When you are in a new city looking for the best spot right now, a list of 4.2-star venues is no substitute for a trusted local saying go here.
We built a dual-sided native platform where users submit a Finder Request for what they want, and verified local experts receive it, make personalised recommendations via real-time chat, and earn real tips when their recommendation lands — with a Laravel backend managing verification, earnings, and payouts.
A deployed US-market platform across native iOS (Swift) and Android, with a web admin panel — real-time request matching, structured recommendation cards in chat, an earnings wallet, and cashout via PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
2 (iOS Swift + Android)
Dual-Sided (Finder & Rec'r)
PayPal · Visa · Mastercard · Amex
Laravel Echo + Pusher
United States
10+ months
Review platforms have made local discovery more democratic — but also more impersonal. Star ratings average out the extraordinary, and algorithmic recommendations optimise for popularity, not personal fit. A list of 4.2-star venues is not the same as a trusted local saying go here, ask for this, tell them I sent you.
Mainstream platforms surface the most-reviewed places, not the most personally relevant. There is no human context behind the recommendation.
Finding a place for right now means scrolling static lists. There is nobody available to give a live, contextual recommendation in the moment.
Local guides, food bloggers, and community influencers share their knowledge for free across social media, with no direct financial return for the value they provide.
Anyone can post a review. There is no mechanism to ensure the person recommending has genuine, verified local expertise — leaving quality control to crowd consensus.
Users piece together recommendations from Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Instagram, and Reddit separately. No single platform delivers a personalised answer to a specific, real-time request.
Building a platform where real money changes hands between community members, based on real-time recommendations, required careful architecture across both native apps and the backend payment and verification systems.
Building two distinct user experiences — Finder and Rec'r — within the same native codebase on both iOS (Swift) and Android, with separate onboarding flows, dashboards, and feature sets tailored to each role without duplicating core infrastructure.
Unlike open review platforms, experts must apply and be approved before they can earn. Building a structured application, review, and approval workflow accessible through the admin panel — with status updates pushed to the applicant in the app.
Broadcasting new Finder Requests to eligible local experts in real time — filtered by city and expertise — so requests are picked up quickly and requesters get a response when they actually need it, not hours later.
Building a messaging system where experts can search for, select, and formally submit a venue recommendation as a structured card within the chat — complete with name, category, address, and action buttons — not just as free text.
Integrating PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express for cashout — with a per-user earnings wallet, transaction history, and real-time balance updates — while ensuring payment security and compliance for a US-market application.
Giving experts a map and search interface to locate and confirm specific venues when composing recommendations — so the recommendation delivered is precise, not approximate, with a verified address and business details.
We designed around the core loop — a person needs a recommendation, a local expert provides one, money changes hands — and worked backwards to make every step as frictionless as possible for both parties.
The app opens to a clear role choice. Users who want recommendations go straight to the Finder flow. Those who want to earn enter an application process — sign up, get reviewed, gain access. This vetting gate is the trust foundation of the platform and is managed entirely through the admin panel.
We built fully native apps on both platforms rather than a cross-platform framework. For a platform where real-time responsiveness and a polished feel are core to the experience, native gave us the performance and platform-specific UX the product demanded.
The Laravel backend handles the logic that cannot live in the apps: expert approval decisions, earnings calculation, tip attribution, cashout processing, and recommendation tracking. The admin panel gives the operator full control over every transaction and user relationship.
Rather than a form-based flow, the entire recommendation experience happens inside a chat thread — keeping the interaction human and conversational — while the structured recommendation card within the chat provides the formal, actionable output.
The architecture prioritises real-time responsiveness, transaction security, and verified trust. Native apps deliver a polished feel, while a Laravel earnings engine and admin panel manage vetting, tips, and payouts with full auditability.
The platform delivers a complete dual-sided ecosystem: native apps for both requesters and experts, a real-time recommendation flow anchored in chat, and a Laravel admin panel for vetting and oversight.
The stack pairs fully native iOS and Android apps with a Laravel earnings and trust engine, real-time messaging, and multi-gateway payments — built for responsiveness and transaction security in a US-market application.
Instant access to a vetted local expert, anytime, any city. Instead of scrolling generic reviews, Finders get a real, personalised recommendation from a verified insider within minutes — for the exact thing they want, in the city they are in, right when they need it.
Turn local knowledge into a real income stream. Experts earn monetary tips for every recommendation that lands well — turning expertise they were already sharing for free on social media into direct, cashable income via PayPal or card.
Discovery driven by trusted word-of-mouth at scale. Restaurants, bars, and venues get recommended by verified community insiders to motivated, intent-driven customers — a higher-quality referral channel than generic review-platform traffic.
A trusted, verified recommendation network with full oversight. The admin panel gives operators complete control over who becomes an expert, full visibility into all transactions and earnings, and a clear mechanism for maintaining the trust and quality standard that makes the platform valuable.
Timeline depends on scope: an MVP with core matching takes 4-6 months, a production-ready app with payments takes 7-10 months, and a full dual-sided native platform with real-time chat, vetting, and multi-gateway cashout takes 10-14 months. This project required native iOS and Android apps plus a Laravel earnings and trust engine.
The app opens to a clear role choice: requesters go straight to the Finder flow, while those who want to earn enter a vetting application. Both roles share the same native codebase and backend, but each has its own onboarding, dashboard, and feature set — avoiding duplication of the core system.
New requests are broadcast to eligible local experts in real time, filtered by city and expertise, using Laravel Echo with Pusher. This ensures requests are picked up quickly and requesters get a response when they need it, with push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging alerting available experts.
Each approved expert has an earnings wallet with a transaction history and real-time balance updates. Tips are credited when a recommendation lands, and experts cash out via PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, or American Express through integrated gateways — with security and compliance built for a US-market application.
Unlike open review platforms, experts must apply and be approved before they can earn. A structured application, review, and approval workflow runs through the admin panel, with status updates pushed to the applicant in the app — making the vetting gate the trust foundation of the entire platform.
For a platform where real-time responsiveness and a polished feel are core to the experience, we built fully native apps — Swift for iOS and native Android — rather than a cross-platform framework. Native gave us the performance and platform-specific UX the product demanded.
This platform uses Swift for iOS and native Android for the apps, a Laravel backend with MySQL for the API and earnings engine, Laravel Echo with Pusher for real-time chat and request broadcast, Firebase Cloud Messaging for push, Google Maps for venue search, and PayPal plus Stripe for multi-gateway cashout.
The platform monetises word-of-mouth recommendations — the most trusted form of marketing — through a structured tipping and earnings mechanic. Requesters tip for recommendations that land, experts earn cashable income, and the platform earns by facilitating the transaction, with local businesses gaining high-intent referrals.
The biggest review platforms scale by averaging out human judgment. A platform that amplifies individual expertise rather than averaging it — and pays the people giving recommendations — creates a self-sustaining flywheel that is significant and underserved.
Real-time request broadcast, in-app chat with structured cards, an earnings wallet, and multi-gateway cashout show how native apps and a Laravel backend combine to handle money movement and trust with full auditability.
A vetting gate plus a transparent, audited transaction layer lets operators expand city by city with a lightweight onboarding model — new experts apply and get approved through the admin panel, with no local infrastructure required.
