Overview: AV-Vault is a feature-rich mobile social media application developed with Unity, with a primary focus on meme sharing, equipped with functionalities comparable to well-known platforms like Instagram. In this detailed technical description, we will explore each facet of the app's development, its myriad features, and the technologies and frameworks employed.
Note: To see my work, open the C# files you find in the Assets folder and its subfolders.
- Account Creation: Users can register by verifying their email, allowing them to access all app features.
- Profile Customization: They have the flexibility to upload a profile image, change their username, email, and password to personalize their experience.
-
Multiple Account Access: Unity AV-Vault enables both new account creation and the option to log in with existing credentials, offering user convenience.
-
Guest Mode: Users can enter the app as guests to explore content without posting, creating a frictionless experience for newcomers.
- Posting: Users can post a variety of content, including text messages, images with captions, and videos with accompanying captions. This versatile posting functionality allows users to express themselves in various ways, enhancing their engagement with the app's social features.
- Follow and Unfollow: Users can follow other accounts to see their posts. Followed accounts' posts are accessible through a dedicated section of the app.
-
Chronological Posts: A section dedicated to chronological posts from all users ensures that users don't miss any updates.
-
Post Interactions: Users can like, dislike, comment on, save posts to their device, and share posts through dynamic links that open directly within the app.
- User Blocking and Reporting: The app empowers users to block other accounts, report accounts, or report individual comments, enhancing user control and safety.
- Profile View: Users can view posts from a specific account, diving into individual content creator feeds.
- Notifications: A comprehensive notification system informs users about new likes on their posts, comments, or new followers. Users can directly access the relevant content through notifications. Push notifications are integrated.
- Premium Plan: Unity AV-Vault offers a premium subscription plan called Vault PLUS, granting access to exclusive features.
- Pricing Tiers: Users can subscribe to Vault PLUS at various price points based on the subscription duration, or they can opt for a lifetime subscription by paying a one-time fee.
- Background Customization: Subscribers to Vault PLUS can personalize the background of all screens with their chosen image, enhancing the app's visual experience. Posts by subscribers also showcase this custom background image to other users, providing a unique touch.
- Moderator Dashboard: Moderators have access to a dedicated interface to manage and control the community. They can remove comments, posts, or accounts, review reported content, and ensure a safe and positive environment.
-
One-Year Project: The app's development spanned a year, resulting in a robust and polished product.
-
Publication: Unity AV-Vault is available on both the AppStore and GoogleStore and has received numerous updates during its lifecycle.
-
User-Centric Design: The app boasts meticulously crafted animations, intuitive UX design, and a haptic feedback system for enhanced user interaction.
These are the best results of the app. The statistics refer to the period from 01 December 2021 to 01 May 2022.
-
Unity Engine: Unity served as the core development platform, enabling the creation of a versatile and interactive mobile application.
-
Firebase Services: Firebase, with a suite of services including Realtime Database, Storage, Analytics, Authentication, Cloud Messaging, Dynamic Links, and Functions, forms the backbone of Unity AV-Vault, ensuring data management, user authentication, analytics, and real-time communication.
-
In-App Purchases: The In-App Purchases package facilitates seamless transactions for Vault PLUS subscriptions, allowing users to access premium features.
-
Haptic Feedback: The Nice Vibrations package introduces tailored vibration feedback for enhanced user experiences.
-
iOS 14 Compliance: The iOS 14 Advertising Support package ensures adherence to transparency and privacy policies, aligning the app with the latest iOS standards.
-
UI Enhancements: Animated Loading Icons provide an animated loading icon, Clean Vector Icons and UX Flat Icons deliver aesthetically pleasing icons, and TextMeshPro is used for embellished text.
-
Screenshots: The TinyScreenCapture package allows the app to capture in-editor screenshots directly from Unity.
-
Social Integration: The SocialAppTemplate package served as a foundational element at the project's inception, guiding early development stages. The code was extensively modified, helping me grasp functional programming techniques for code readability and efficiency.
-
Privacy Policy and Terms: A small website was created using a CMS to publish privacy policies and terms of service, ensuring transparency and legal compliance.
-
Monetization: Initially, AdMob was integrated for advertising, but the client opted for in-app purchases as the sole monetization method.
In conclusion, AV-Vault is a comprehensive social app that thrives on meme sharing. It encompasses an array of features, a compelling development journey, and a thoughtful selection of technologies and frameworks, resulting in a rich and engaging user experience.