Stories

The journey behind our webapp

In the beginning of the summer, we shared the big news that you can start making your Once Upon books on our website as well. We know a lot of you have been asking for this and now when it’s finally here, we wanted to let you in on the journey behind our brand new web app. And to do this we had a lil’ chat with two of the developers, David Åberg and Peter Lundström, who’s been working on the web app from the start.

When did we start the webapp project?

We began the webapp project by creating the Image Uploader, which allowed the users to upload images from their computer and then use them in the mobile app, David explains, and that work started in the fall of 2021. Since then the webapp project has been a high priority, Peter continues, and the last three months before launching in June, I think all our product teams focused completely on the web app.

Why did we want a webapp as well?

One of the main reasons is that so many of our Once Uponers have been asking to make Once Upon books on the web, Peter says, so by offering a web version our hope is that more people will save their memories in photo books. The web also gives our users great flexibility, David adds, as they can easily and seamlessly switch between different devices.

What’s been the most difficult part of developing the web version?

To keep the same easy and fun experience that we have in our mobile app while also trying to use the advantages that the web provides, David describes. Peter continues, it was also difficult to prioritize our focus just right so that we could give our Once Uponers as much value as possible in the least amount of time.

And the most fun part?

Well, as I mentioned, I think the most fun part is the value we could give our Once Uponers in the relatively short time we had, Peter says. David agrees and adds, the web is also such a fun platform to work with where tools and frameworks are updated all the time.

What’s next?

The launch of the webapp was just the first step, just like with our mobile app, we will keep analyzing how it is used, the quality and make adjustments according to our Once Uponers’ needs, David explains. And we’ll also continue to explore how we can use the web for more fun features!