VIDODASH

Case Study: Be There Without Being There

VIDODASH is a marketplace for live, one-on-one video sessions with local hosts. Someone in London can have a host in Lagos walk through a property room by room. A family abroad can watch a relative's event as it happens. A buyer can confirm a place really exists before sending money.

I built the whole platform: the website and API, the user app for booking and the host app for running the work, both published on Google Play.

The Challenge

• A two-sided marketplace: People who need something done and people who do it have completely different needs, so one app could not serve both well.
• Trust at a distance: Users are often in another country, trusting a stranger with a property or an important visit.
• Real-time and mobile-first: Hosts work from their phones on the ground, so availability, bookings, chat and payouts all had to work smoothly on mobile.
• Many use cases, one flow: Property inspections, city tours, meeting coverage and place verification all needed a simple search-and-book experience.

The Website

• Service categories: Property Inspection, Live City Tours, Live Meeting Coverage and Verify Places, with Shopping Guide, Surprise Someone and Events alongside them.
• Powerful host search: Filter by country, state, city, zip code, date, host online status and host gender, with single, recurring or group sessions and an option for flexible dates (plus or minus 3 days). Recent searches are remembered.
• Destination discovery: Popular destination cards across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas link straight into a filtered host list.
• Post a Task and Become a Host: Users can describe a job, and anyone can apply to join as a host.
• Trust and convenience: Secure payments, automatic currency detection, location detection, live HD video, and a blog, FAQ and knowledge hub for support and SEO.

The User App

An Android app built with React Native and Expo that takes someone from discovering a host to a booked, paid and chatted-about session.

• Smooth onboarding: A four-slide animated introduction, then sign-up, login, OTP verification, password reset and Google sign-in.
• Five-tab experience: Explore, Bookings, Wallet, Messages and Profile.
• Host profiles and booking: View a host, then book a session directly from their profile.
• In-app chat: Message a host before and after a booking.
• Account control: Edit profile, security settings, support and a settings screen with light and dark themes.
• Polish: Shimmer loading states, haptic feedback, blur effects, Lottie animations and push notifications.

The Host App

A separate Android app that works as a host's mobile business dashboard.

• Three-step host registration: A guided sign-up with host-specific onboarding, Google sign-in and OTP two-factor verification.
• Dashboard: Key stats, recent bookings and a live Online or Offline toggle that controls whether the host appears as available to users.
• Booking management: Accept or decline requests, with a confirmation step so nothing is declined by accident.
• Gigs: Create, edit and delete the services a host offers.
• Earnings: A wallet with transaction history, charts and withdrawals to a saved bank account.
• Availability and profile: Set working availability, manage bank details, edit the profile and secure the account.
• Messages: Chat with users from the same app.

Engineering Decisions

• One backend, three clients: A Laravel API with Sanctum token authentication serves the website and both apps, so bookings, wallets and chat stay consistent everywhere.
• Two apps instead of one: Splitting users and hosts keeps each experience focused, and lets each app ship and update on its own.
• Shared architecture: Both apps use Expo Router for navigation, Zustand for auth and theme state, TanStack Query for server data and Zod with React Hook Form for validated forms, so they share patterns and move fast.
• Secure sessions: Tokens are kept in the device's secure store, with OTP verification and Google OAuth as sign-in options.

Outcome

VIDODASH is a complete, live marketplace: a website for discovery and SEO, a user app for booking and a host app for running the work, all on one API. Users get a trusted pair of eyes anywhere, and hosts get a simple mobile way to earn.