Soundscape
Building a Productivity and MusicTech product from the ground up to help students and professionals focus and be more productive with a cost-effective subscription model
Soundscape is a HealthTech focus and productivity app built by Ministry of Programming to enhance mental well-being through ambient soundscapes. Our team developed a cost-effective hybrid mobile solution using React Native with cross-platform optimization, implementing audio streaming, user personalization, and subscription billing. The app serves 50K+ users with 4.8-star rating.
A mobile app that boosts deep-focus and concentration through sound-enhanced focus sessions
A carefully crafted app that helps users with focus/concentration and productivity through audio stimulation, customisable focus sessions, reward and an elaborate habit-building system to ensure consistency of usage.
Process
Lean Startup
Design Thinking
Dual-Track Delivery
Continuous Delivery / DevOps
Product Stage
Early stage
Brand design
In collaboration with founders we have designed a brand that is modern and flexible as a foundation for the product design / component system.
Soundscape in numbers
30+
Soundscapes on the platform
1000+
Active users in Week #1 after launch
10 bil.
Streams on music catalog on Spotify/Apple Music
Challenge
Designing and Delivering a well-designed app to customers
In a world full of distractions, staying focused is increasingly difficult, especially for students and professionals. Soundscape’s founders envisioned an all-in-one app designed to solve the focus and concentration problem for this audience - improving activities like studying to sleeping with a cost-effective app that leverages existing streaming subscriptions. The founders looked for a tech partner with experience in building apps and MusicTech products, to make this a reality while being able to help with the full end to end engineering process from product, discovery, design to development.
Solution
Product Strategy
Starting from scratch, we defined the core user segment, crafted a compelling visual identity, and designed a seamless user experience to address the key pains for the users. Our team engineered the app with hybrid technologies, prioritizing speed of iteration and flexibility, while integrating key features like Spotify and Apple Music support. A critical component was building a robust analytics system, combining backend and client-side events. We leveraged tools like Amplitude and Customer.io to provide real-time insights, empowering the founders to drive growth and optimize user engagement from day one.
Design and Discovery phase
To sharpen our product vision and requirements, we assembled a product trio: a Product Manager, Tech Lead, and Designer. We narrowed down the initially broad business model, focusing on identifying and targeting early adopters. This allowed us to refine the product's functionality and tailor the user experience for those users. We established the brand style before progressing to the mobile app design. We prototyped, iterated, and validated the solution through continuous feedback. We added modern design elements and animations to make the app stand out in the app store.
MVP development - Architecture
The app, built with Typescript, React Native and a Node.js backend on top of MongoDB, featured amazing UX, beautiful UI style with slick animations to really drive the cozy and smooth feel of the app all to provide the users the best experience for deep focus and enhancing their concentration free of distractions. This tech stack was familiar and we could move and iterate hundreds of times in a short period of time with a very lean architecture and a small dev team.
Integrations & Streaming Infrastructure
To enhance the app’s capabilities, we implemented seamless integrations with Spotify and Apple Music, allowing users to connect their accounts effortlessly. Additionally, we developed our own cloud streaming service to deliver long-form, custom-produced, high-quality audio content. This infrastructure not only broadened the app's content offerings but also provided a robust platform for future scalability.
Product Launch
We used beta testers and power users that gave continuous feedback to tweak the MVP. We launched on the app stores in the “back-to-school” season primarily targeting US students, quickly attracting thousands of signups and achieving high user NPS scores
Tech Stack
- React Native
- Postgres
- NodeJS
- TypeScript
- AWS
- Figma
Where are we at now?
We have launched the app and we are iterating with new features and launching in new markets. The goal is to scale this quickly to millions of users and to provide a better experience than other similar apps. We envision new partnerships, integrations and smart marketing tactics to make the app successful.
I’ve had the privilege of working with numerous skilled teams and agencies over the past couple of decades, but the collaboration with MOP has truly set a new standard. Their end-to-end capability to support us across product management, design, development, testing, and SRE has been nothing short of exceptional.
One standout element was their Design and Discovery (DnD) phase, which was by far the best experience I’ve encountered. It wasn’t just about transforming a product idea into a prototype — it was about establishing a solid foundation for the success of the entire collaboration.
During the DnD phase, the MOP team worked closely with us, ensuring a deep understanding of our business objectives.
Together, we shaped the product scope and design, aligning our visions perfectly.
Thanks to their holistic approach, we are excited about continuing this partnership and building on our success with the exceptional MoP team.
Samuel Cyprian
Co-founder & CEO, Soundscape
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