Case Study · Software & Portals

Bubcon A next-generation mass-market messenger app.

Partner project by Softteco

Project profile

CustomerBubcon
PartnerSoftteco
IndustryVoIP & Messaging (Startup)

Challenge

Bubcon approached SoftTeco with a working Android prototype built to test the underlying concept. The company needed a partner to review the existing codebase and build a complete iOS application from scratch, including a widget and a smartwatch companion app. Key requirements were a high level of security with end-to-end encryption, stable group chats and calls, and compliance with European data-protection rules, so the messenger could also be used professionally, for example with banks or insurers.

Solution

SoftTeco built an iOS app from scratch for the German startup Bubcon and redesigned the encrypted messenger's backend architecture for greater stability and scalability.

SoftTeco designed the iOS app entirely from scratch, from architecture to release, using Swift with WebRTC for encrypted audio and video calls, Alamofire for REST requests, and an XMPP framework for the messaging protocol. Because the original architecture could not meet the required encryption and speed levels and was causing dropped messages, it was rebuilt to reduce server load and improve stability and scalability. The backend consists of two parts: the core messenger service runs on Ejabberd (Erlang) using the XMPP protocol with PostgreSQL for storage, monitored via Grafana and clustered to handle many simultaneous connections; a separate storage backend, built on Java 8/Spring4 with an Angular admin panel, manages functions such as stickers. Twilio and Plivo were integrated for user verification and password recovery via SMS, with TLS 1.2 securing data transmission. The existing Android app was also technically enhanced alongside the iOS build.

Technologies

Swift
WebRTC
Alamofire
XMPP Framework

Results

According to the case study, insights from other SoftTeco projects fed into the development, resulting in a functionally mature and stable application whose backend is designed to support up to 20,000 simultaneous connections. SoftTeco describes the resulting performance and stability as competitive with WhatsApp.