The brief
Separated parents coordinate a lot: handovers, school runs, doctor visits, and who has the kids on which day. That usually happens across text threads, and text threads are where misunderstandings grow.
ChildLink is our own product: one calm, shared place where both households see and plan the kids' days.
What we built
A cross-platform Flutter app backed by Firebase. Firestore keeps both parents' views in sync in real time, and Firebase Auth handles accounts.
Releases run through Codemagic CI, so every build that reaches a store went through the same pipeline. Six weeks after the first line of code, the app was store-ready.
Key decisions
Flutter + Firebase to hit six weeks
One codebase for both stores and a managed backend meant the effort went into the product, not the plumbing.
Realtime sync as the core feature
Firestore listeners keep the calendar live between two households. No refresh button, no stale schedules, no "I never saw that change".
CI before feature-complete
Codemagic was wired up in week one, so shipping to the stores was a routine, not a scramble at the end.
Outcome
- Idea to store-ready in six weeks.
- One Flutter codebase for iOS and Android.
- This is the MVP in 6 Weeks package, applied to our own product.
Common questions
- How fast can a mobile app MVP realistically be built?
- ChildLink went from the first line of code to store-ready in six weeks. The choices that made that possible: one Flutter codebase for both stores, a managed Firebase backend instead of custom infrastructure, and CI wired up in week one.
- Why choose Flutter and Firebase for an MVP?
- One codebase ships to iOS and Android, and Firestore gives realtime sync between users with no backend to build or host. The effort goes into the product, not the plumbing.
- When should CI/CD be set up on a new app project?
- In week one, before the app is feature-complete. Every ChildLink build that reached a store went through the same Codemagic pipeline, so shipping was a routine, not a scramble at the end.