How I built Pro Rently
From idea to App Store + Play Store. React Native, Supabase, multilingual AI.
Rental flow
Search, inspect, message, and convert from one mobile journey.
Map search
Listing detail
Realtime chat
Payment access
The Challenge
Build a multilingual real estate rental app for African markets with local mobile payments, real-time messaging, and support for 4 languages including audio translation.
Key Decisions
- 1React Native + Expo for cross-platform (iOS + Android in one codebase)
- 2Supabase Realtime for messaging + RLS for data isolation
- 3Audio translation pipeline across EN/FR/Kinyarwanda/Swahili
- 4Freemium by neighborhood with MTN MoMo + Airtel Money
The Result
App Stores
Languages
Codebase
Technical Challenges
Row-level security on every table. Policies isolate tenant data without app-level checks.
Translation pipeline across 4 languages with graceful fallbacks when a language pair is unavailable.
Multiple rejections, guideline corrections, metadata rewrites. Final acceptance on both stores.
Architecture
Client
React Native screens, Expo builds, mobile-first navigation.
Auth
Supabase auth with profile roles for tenants, owners, and admins.
Data
PostgreSQL tables for listings, messages, profiles, subscriptions, and media.
Security
RLS policies keep user, listing, and message access scoped correctly.
Market
Maps, language support, and mobile money flows match local user behavior.
Launch story
- Prepared production builds with Expo and EAS.
- Adjusted store metadata, screenshots, and guideline details through review.
- Used the release process to harden the product beyond local testing.
What I would improve next
- Add saved searches and listing alerts
- Expand to more Kigali districts
- Add property sale closing workflows