IKAWA
Coffee roasting mobile apps
IKAWA, a UK-based coffee roaster manufacturer.
Request
Result
Technologies
- Swift
- Java
- C++
- CoreBluetooth
- Retrofit
- Firebase Realtime Database
- Firebase Crashlytics
Result
Results
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The Attraction of New Clients
To meet the users' needs, IKAWA continues to focus on improving its coffee roasters and mobile apps for managing them. It leadProduction developments to a rapidly increasing number of the company's customers.
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Production Development
Due to the growing popularity of IKAWA coffee roasters, the company began developing and improving new versions of the machines. Currently, the company is on the verge of releasing the fourth version of the coffee roaster design.
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Scalable App
IKAWA got a stable and high-quality mobile app with a state-of-art design and excellent performance. The key advantage of the app is its scalability. Native development provides further technical support and the development of new functionality.
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Ongoing Collaboration
Cogniteq has been working with IKAWA for three years, supporting their ongoing product development and incorporating customer feedback. This collaboration ensures continuous improvement and the addition of new, innovative features to meet evolving user needs
Challenge
Our client, IKAWA, is a UK-based company that manufactures and sells two types of coffee roasters: advanced professional machines and standard home models. Initially, the company developed a cross-platform mobile app to manage their coffee roasters. However, this approach proved ineffective as it limited scalability and made it difficult to introduce new features.
As a result, IKAWA began searching for a team with strong expertise in native mobile development. Cogniteq was recommended as a company of highly competent developers who combine a passion for the client’s business with deep mobile development experience. We faced stiff competition from several IT firms, but after a series of meetings at our office, IKAWA’s team recognized the value of our experience with similar projects and chose to partner with us.
Solution
IKAWA set the Cogniteq team the task of developing two separate mobile apps for iOS and Android from scratch and provided us with updated designs for the app screens. The apps were created for different products: IKAWA Pro — to offer a refined experience for professional coffee roaster users, and IKAWA Home — designed for managing a home coffee roaster.
To avoid duplicating functionality, our team built a shared app core containing all the basic features used in the IKAWA Home version. The Pro version was then extended with additional functionality. Our top priority was to create an intuitive and flexible experience for coffee enthusiasts, allowing them to customize roasting recipes exactly to their preferences.
App-Roaster Synchronization
Our developers ensured smooth synchronization between the app and coffee roasters via Bluetooth.
Recipe Library
This section helps users interact with the app quickly and easily. It includes a variety of IKAWA recipes that can be sent to the coffee roaster with a single tap. In the IKAWA Pro version, the Recipe Library also features Favorites, Archive, and Search options.
Creating Custom Recipes
The app allows users to fine-tune coffee bean roasting by either placing control points on the Roast Graph or manually setting the time and temperature for each stage. This was one of the most complex parts of development, as we had to create a consistent graph display on both iOS and Android using a graph visualization library. The default framework lacked needed features, so we extended it significantly — including adding the ability to plot and edit control points on the graph.
Automatic Backup & Sync
All user data is synced across devices and backed up to the cloud. If the app is deleted, data is restored upon reinstallation. Using Firebase, we ensured users can log into their accounts on multiple devices with seamless data merging. For example, when syncing across devices, the system retrieves the most recent backup, unpacks it, and merges it with the current data from the second device.
Roast History & Progress Tracking
The app logs all roast sessions. Users can add notes and upload photos of roasted beans, which are also stored. On the Roast Page, users can monitor real-time roasting progress.
Recipe Sharing & Firmware Updates
Users can share their custom recipes via email. Additionally, the app allows firmware updates for the coffee roaster — the firmware code is sent directly from the app to the device during an update.
Tablet Compatibility
The apps are fully compatible with tablets, providing a more spacious and user-friendly interface for larger screens.
App Signing-In
We implemented a user registration system with email verification.
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