React Native Mobile Frontend Developer

React Native Frontend Developer (Contract, Remote) Company: Solsis PBC Type: Fixed-price contract, remote, 40 days to completion Start date: Immediate About the project We are building a mobile app that helps young adults, starting with college students, actually connect with real people and make plans to hang out, instead of scrolling past bots and fake content. We have a working prototype that reflects the UI/UX we want. It's a well-organized React Native (Expo) codebase, but it runs entirely on hardcoded mock data with no backend wiring, and was built as a design/UX proof of concept rather than a production foundation. What we need now is an experienced React Native developer who can build the production app from the ground up in a fresh codebase, matching the look, feel, and user experience of the prototype, and connect it to our near-complete backend as we approach our August 2026 launch. Our backend engineer is finishing up the remaining backend work over the course of this project, and you'll be working closely with him throughout. What you will be doing You will use our existing prototype as a UI/UX reference, but you will be designing and building the production app's architecture from scratch rather than building on top of the prototype codebase. We want the production build to use NativeWind for styling and React Native Reusables as the component foundation. Core screens and features to build: - Shared Availability Calendar (our most complex feature): The prototype includes the target UI, a layered, color-coded day view where users select multiple friends and see everyone's events and free time side by side, but it currently runs on generated mock data. You will be building the real thing: connecting to actual calendar sources (device calendar and/or Google Calendar API), handling multiple sources per user, and implementing the event-overlap logic behind the layered availability view. This is net-new integration work, not a port of existing code, and you'll coordinate with our backend engineer as the calendar-sync API is built out alongside you. - Hangs (Events): Time-based events users create and RSVP to, surfaced in both the feed and the calendar. Hangs and the Shared Availability Calendar are closely tied together, since a Hang is scheduled directly against everyone's overlapping availability. - Social Feed: The primary content feed, full-screen posts with snap scrolling, likes, comment threads, reposts, and sharing. - Custom Relationship Types: Beyond a standard Follower/Following model, users designate connections into specific relationship types such as Friend, Bestie, or Crush, in addition to the default "Public" type. This controls what content and information each connection can see, and it's enforced on both the frontend and the backend. - Search Search across users, with filtering by relationship type. - Discovery Feed: A card-stack, matching-style discovery experience for finding new friends and sending connection requests. - Notifications: An in-app notification center covering likes, comments, follows, hang invites/RSVPs, and chat activity. The prototype implements this as a historical notification feed; real-time push delivery (e.g., Expo Notifications) is planned as backend support lands and should be architected for from day one. - Direct Messaging: One-to-one chats, including a pending-request flow for unconnected users. - In-App Photo Editor and Camera Capture: A built-in camera capture flow and photo editor used when creating posts, so users can shoot and edit content without leaving the app. - Identity Verification: Integration with a third-party identity verification provider to confirm users are real people before they can fully use the app. - AI Content Detection: Integration with a third-party AI image detection API to screen uploaded images for likelihood of being AI-generated. - Content Authenticity Ratings: A rating system, surfaced on every post, showing the app's AI-detection result for that image. Other users can vote on whether they agree with the app's rating, and that community feedback is displayed alongside the automated result. A note on sequencing: our backend is near complete and will be finished out over the course of this project, with the remaining work (search, notifications, calendar sync) wrapping up as you build. You'll be working closely with our backend engineer throughout, and for a small number of features you may be building UI slightly ahead of a final endpoint, so comfort working that way, using typed API layers and mocked services you can swap for real endpoints, is helpful. What we are looking for - Strong hands-on experience with React Native and Expo - Experience integrating a React Native frontend with a REST API backend - Ability to design clean, maintainable architecture from scratch while matching an existing UI/UX reference - Solid communication skills in English and reliable availability for regular check-ins - Ability to complete the full scope of work within a 40-day timeline Nice to have: - Experience with cloud-backed mobile apps - Experience with push notification setup (Expo Notifications, APNs/FCM) - Prior experience on an early-stage startup or founder-led team Compensation: $500 total, split into two milestone payments: - At the 20-day mark, provided progress is on track: $150 - After full completion of the frontend build: $350 Expected total project timeline: 40 days. How to apply Please include: - Your resume or a link to your portfolio/GitHub - Links to any shipped React Native apps you have worked on (App Store/Play Store links preferred) - A short note on any experience you have with calendar integrations or scheduling UIs - Your earliest available start date We will review applications on a rolling basis and move quickly with strong candidates given our timeline.