MOBROG: Rebuilding an app with 2 Million Users
How we helped Splendid Research modernize their outdated MOBROG mobile app, improve user experience, support over 2 million users, and reduce long-term reliance on external developers by building a flexible and easy-to-maintain platform.
Overview
MOBROG is a survey app run by Splendid Research, a company that collects market and opinion data. MOBROG allows users to take part in surveys and get paid for their feedback. It is available as both a web app and a mobile app. Over time, the web app got many upgrades, but the mobile app was left behind. The original mobile version was built in 2016 by another company and was not updated much after that.
As the years passed, more users stayed on the web platform because the mobile app became outdated. The app was hard to maintain, and Splendid Research was too dependent on the original developers. This became a serious issue. They wanted to build a new app that looked and felt modern but was also easy to manage on their own. Their main goal was to have better control of the mobile app and reduce their need to rely on outside developers.
Our team stepped in to help. We worked closely with Splendid’s product and engineering teams to create a new app from the ground up. This included design, development, and building tools for managing the app after launch. We made sure the app could handle high user activity, including sending millions of notifications every day. The project ended with Splendid Research owning a mobile app that matched the quality of their web platform and could be managed without full-time help from outside developers.
Problem
The MOBROG mobile app had several issues that hurt both user experience and internal control. First, the app had not been updated in over 2 years before we stepped in. It was created by a different company, and the UI did not evolve over time. Meanwhile, the MOBROG web app continued to grow and improve. Because of this, most users chose to use the web version instead of the mobile one. The mobile app did not match the same level of quality or features.
Another major issue was the lack of control Splendid Research had over the app. They relied too much on their old development partner. Any small change needed outside help, which slowed things down. It also cost more money and made it harder to respond to user needs. On top of this, the app used many web views instead of native screens, making it feel slow and less responsive.
This situation made Splendid realize that their mobile app was holding them back. They wanted something new—an app that looked and felt modern, but could also be updated by their own team without deep mobile skills. They needed a product that would scale with their large user base and not fall behind again.
Solution
We began by learning as much as we could about the current state of the app and the company’s internal team. We looked into how the app was built and what features were missing. We had long discussions with the Splendid product team to gather ideas and understand their needs. Our team also added ideas from past experience building mobile products.
Next, we created wireframes and designs with input from both Splendid’s and our own designers. This helped shape the look and feel of the new MOBROG app. We focused on making the app easy to use and visually appealing. Our engineers also worked on making the app easier to update. We built tools so that Splendid’s own team could make changes without always needing outside help.
One big technical task was building a system that could handle the high number of user notifications. MOBROG sends over a million notifications every day, and this needed strong backend support. We worked with their engineering team to make sure notifications were delivered smoothly and reliably.
We also built and exposed many APIs to give Splendid better access to their own data. This made it easier for their team to monitor and control how the app worked. By the end of the project, Splendid had a fast, reliable mobile app that they could manage on their own—even without in-house mobile developers.
This solution helped MOBROG close the gap between their mobile and web experiences, and it gave Splendid Research full control over their mobile product for the first time in years.
