How Foxbox Modernized OrangeQC’s Android App in Two Months

OrangeQC is a leading inspection platform that helps facility teams track and improve cleaning, disinfection, and safety. Organizations like the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University, and the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport have relied on it for over a decade.

In simple terms, OrangeQC is a super-powered checklist app that allows facility managers to keep a pulse on their facilities by tracking quality control, compliance, and project completion.

No more paper. No more lost inspections. No more manually entering data into spreadsheets.

It was already an awesome app. So why did OrangeQC need Foxbox?

We Modernized the Android Experience From the Ground Up To Increase Stability, Scalability and Speed of Feature Development

OrangeQC was an iOS-first company, but after many years of success on iOS, they wanted to extend their reach to better support Android users. Users asked for it and OrangeQC delivered.

The trouble is that the Android ecosystem is in constant flux, so the constant changes quickly became burdensome for the company to support—and frustrating for Android users.

While most OrangeQC users depend on the iOS application, roughly 10–20% needed an Android version of the app.

Inconsistency was the primary issue with the current Android app. In other words, the app might work on one Android phone but not another.

It was a problem that needed to be addressed, quickly.

OrangeQC Took a Leap of Faith – And it Paid Off

If an Android app doesn’t work as well as it should, it’s understandable to think that you only need to patch the Android version.

However, our senior engineering team did a deep-dive into fixing the Android app’s core issues, and recommended to re-architect the app from the ground up. Complete rewrites are usually to be avoided, but with the everchanging Android landscape, it was necessary to get on a solid foundation for continued growth.  OrangeQC’s options were clear: patch the existing Android app for a short time, or fix it forever with a modern architecture. They put their faith in us and chose the latter.

The result?

A Modern React Native Platform that supports Android users.

Foxbox helps us differentiate ourselves in a traditionally paper-based industry. They helped us bring a modern approach to our application and deliver value to our users. Matt Gornick, Founder | OrangeQC

The OrangeQC Android app is more stable than it’s ever been, and it opened up new feature development opportunities that were not available before our rebuild.

A flawless launch so great, nobody noticed.

We smiled at the opportunity to transform an app for what OrangeQC Founder Matt Gornick calls a traditionally paper-based industry into something that’s, well, tech-savvy , sleek, user-friendly, and, pardon the pun, clean.

Since this is a platform that’s been used by organizations for over a decade, we needed to rebuild and relaunch without impacting current users.

We rebuilt the app in parallel with the existing one, allowing users to continue using the old version and slowly migrate to the modern application, before finally  ending support for the old version.

No loss of local, offline data

A big component of the launch is that the new version didn’t impact production users and the data that was stored on their phones from the previous version. We allowed users to upgrade to the modern app at their convenience.

Since many activities are performed offline, losing this data or forcing the user to upgrade was not an option.

We prioritized the user experience from the beginning, so launching the new version without the user losing their data that was stored on their phones was important, but also a big technical challenge.

We did it without a hitch. 

The experience is everything.

The app is faster. More reliable. And most importantly, it’s a better experience for everyone. Period.

So that’s what we did: from proof of concept, to working MVP, to production app—in only two months. Over the subsequent months, we iteratively worked with OrangeQC to roll out further offline support and new functionality to bring it to parity with the classic application.

Modern Application, Fewer Bugs & Happier Customers

I originally envisioned Foxbox as the ‘Android team,’ but they quickly filled other development needs on web and iOS. I’ve never seen a software firm ramp up as fast as they did, and keep quality top of mind. Matt Gornick, Founder | OrangeQC

Now that the new Android app is launched, we're poised to continue development bringing it closer to the iOS application’s feature set. Impressed by the success of the Android project, OrangeQC enlisted us to improve their web application and iOS app.

More opportunities for bigger and better feature development.

The one thing that modernizing the Android app did for OrangeQC is that it allows the engineering team to move faster, and to build modern experiences without worrying about breaking the app as the Android ecosystem changes.

On the web application, we started by adding one of the most highly-requested user features: a Template Library incorporating industry best practices directly from within the software. Now OrangeQC users not only benefit from a world-class application, but can rest assured that they are also leveraging industry best practices.

On the iOS application, we undertook a modernization of the codebase to bring it up to date with the latest standards.

The end result? Polished, robust software that works across three unique platforms: iOS, Android, and the web.

We’re working to roll out new features soon, so stay tuned, Android users. You won’t be disappointed.

Foxbox came through. They did everything faster than I expected, and they delivered. I couldn’t ask for a better team than Foxbox. I’m excited to continue growing with Foxbox. Matt Gornick, Founder | OrangeQC

Tech Stack

• React Native
• Swift
• Objective-C
• ReactJS