Uffy is a mobile app for learning English, primarily designed for children aged 4 to 10. In the future, we plan to expand the platform to support other languages as well.
Uffy helps children learn English step by step in a fun and engaging way. The main story centers around a friendly alien who arrives on Earth without knowing any English. A child becomes the alien’s companion and learns the language alongside him. This shared learning journey creates emotional involvement and encourages consistent use of the app.
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Story-based learning
Children follow the alien’s adventures through illustrated, age-appropriate visual stories. While the narrative is linear (no choices), it includes (or will include) learning activities within the stories. -
Built-in word support
New English words are introduced in context and can be tapped to hear pronunciation, see translations, and view helpful images. -
Interactive mini-games (Realization in progress)
Stories include educational games such as drag-and-drop vocabulary tasks, matching games, spelling puzzles, and sentence building challenges. -
Gamification
Children can customize the alien and other friendly characters by earning clothes, accessories, and decorations through learning activities. -
Rewards
Small prizes boost motivation and make learning fun. -
Cross-platform
Available on Android and iOS devices.
After downloading the app, a parent creates an account and sets up a child profile. The child is then introduced to the alien and begins exploring English through interactive stories and games. As children progress, they unlock new features and outfits. Learning happens naturally through reading and play — without pressure, but with constant encouragement and rewards.
- Varvara Volgina — Designer
- Anastasia Komkova — Designer
- Maria Khodorova — Backend Developer
- Yulia Kravtsova — Frontend Developer
- Artem Gorev — Fullstack Developer / DevOps
We are a motivated and collaborative team with all the skills needed to bring this app to life. Most importantly, we share a strong belief in the power of playful, story-driven learning to make language acquisition enjoyable and effective for children.
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React Native
JavaScript framework for building native mobile apps using a single codebase for Android and iOS. -
Expo
A platform that simplifies building, testing, and deploying React Native apps. Used for rapid development and real-time testing via Expo Go. -
TypeScript
Provides type safety and improves developer experience. Reduces runtime errors and makes the codebase more maintainable.
The frontend is structured modularly to handle key features like:
- User authentication
- Home page
- Vocabulary explorer
- Story-based learning
- Wardrobe and customization
By using Expo and React Native:
- We ensured fast development and smooth cross-platform deployment.
- Teams could work on UI and functionality in parallel.
- The architecture supports scalability for adding more languages and features in the future.
This is an Expo project created with create-expo-app.
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Install dependencies
npm install
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Start the app
npx expo start
In the output, you'll find options to open the app in a
- development build
- Android emulator
- iOS simulator
- Expo Go, a limited sandbox for trying out app development with Expo
You can start developing by editing the files inside the app directory. This project uses file-based routing.
When you're ready, run:
npm run reset-projectThis command will move the starter code to the app-example directory and create a blank app directory where you can start developing.
To learn more about developing your project with Expo, look at the following resources:
- Expo documentation: Learn fundamentals, or go into advanced topics with our guides.
- Learn Expo tutorial: Follow a step-by-step tutorial where you'll create a project that runs on Android, iOS, and the web.
Join our community of developers creating universal apps.
- Expo on GitHub: View our open source platform and contribute.
- Discord community: Chat with Expo users and ask questions.