Giving Back
Our pro bono apps initiative means creating an app for an NGO, each year.
We are also organising Hello App - a free app development course for students.
About Us
Here at Cobalt Sign, we are developing native mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows. The one sentence that defines us and our work looks like this: “Don’t stop until you’re proud”. As it states, we are always focusing on developing beautiful & quality mobile applications, both for our clients and for ourselves.
We enjoy growing and improving our own apps. One of them is Ready Set Holiday! a stylish travel app of which we are proud of. Ready Set Holiday! has over 1.9 million downloads and a 4.5-star rating on the stores.
Giving Back
At Cobalt Sign, we are developing apps since 2011; we love apps & everything related. We want to share our passion and also give back so we started doing pro bono apps initiative a few years back. First, we started developing free apps for events and NGOs in our city. Then, we started organizing Hello App as well (formerly Mobile Summer).
Hello App is an app development workshop for students which has reached its 5th edition. We dedicated an edition of the workshop to help organizations from Timisoara have their own apps. So, together with our students, we developed 3 apps in collaboration with Alergotura, FITT Timișoara and Plai Association.
Our Contribution so Far
Developing Pro Bono Apps for NGOs
During our Internship Program
Each summer, we’re organising an internship program at Cobalt Sign around app development for NGOs, according to their needs. Starting from 2019 we decided to expand our reach and impact. From now on, we will be accepting requests from organisations worldwide, not only local NGOs.
We believe it is only fair that unpaid internships should not be taken advantage of. So, we use this time & effort to contribute to the community and help an NGO.
This way, our interns have the opportunity to exercise teamwork and learn software development skills. All this, on a real-life project, that is useful for the community.
The students will be working on iOS & Android apps under the guidance of our team of experienced app developers. The initiative’s objective is to create simple & modern, but also useful, ready-to-launch apps. Finally, our target is to publish the apps at the end of the summer.
Pro Bono Apps
Developed During Our Internship Programs
iOS & Android App for the UK Sepsis Trust
During our 2019 internship program, we developed an iOS and Android app for the UK Sepsis Trust, a British NGO focusing on sepsis awareness. The app is an instrument for those who need support & information about sepsis and for those who want to join forces with the organization.
Together with our interns, we developed the iOS app using Swift programming language and the Android app using Kotlin. The apps both have the same functionalities & design. and they were published on the stores for World Sepsis Day.
Find out more about the initiative and the apps here.
Official Apps for Plai Festival in Timișoara
We first developed the iPhone & Android apps for PLAI Festival in 2013 as part of our pro bono apps initiative. Since then, we updated them each year to include new design elements and fit the event’s requirements.
In summer 2018, together with our 2 interns, we completely re-created the PLAI Festival apps, in React Native. Now they have a fresh & minimalist design, and a new backend in Firebase.
The apps display a simplified tab navigation and contain useful information. Also, you can learn more about the venue, partners, tickets and most importantly, the daily schedule with push notifications.
HELLO APP
Since 2014, we are organizing free app development sessions for programming savvy students from Timișoara. It all started as a way to share our passions and to give back and grow the mobile developers’ community. Through these coding sessions, students can learn new technologies and implement their own app ideas.
Our goal is to help them understand the basics of programming and encourage teamwork and creativity. Everything in a cosy, informal and friendly environment. Also, the students get a taste of real-life app development. They learn to implement their own ideas and at the end of the event, their projects get published on the app store.
Find out more about our initiative on our Facebook page.
Apps for our City
Developed with our Students from the 4th Edition
During Hello App, each team usually implements their own app idea. However, the 4th edition of our summer course was a bit different. Together with the participants, we developed apps for our city, Timișoara.
We managed to help 3 local NGOs – the first one being Alergotura app, which promotes a healthy lifestyle through running events. The second one is FITT Timișoara, which is the main youth organisation in town and organizes events for students. The third one is Plai Association, focused on cultural and social initiatives.
We held 6 meetings between June 24 & July 5, where both the participants and mentors worked on these apps. Read more about the 4.0 edition and the apps.
Alergotura
![Mobile Summer apps---alergotura---despre-alergotura[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-alergotura-despre-alergotura1.png)
![Mobile Summer apps---alergotura---evenimente[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-alergotura-evenimente1.png)
![Mobile Summer apps ---alergotura---home[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-alergotura-home1.png)
TIMEvents 2020
![Mobile Summer apps---timevents-2020---eveniment-1[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-timevents-2020-eveniment-11.png)
![Mobile Summer apps---timevents-2020---despre-MS[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-timevents-2020-despre-MS1.png)
![Mobile Summer apps---timevents-2020---despre-tm-2020[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-timevents-2020-despre-tm-20201.png)
inTimișoara
![Mobile Summer apps---plai---despre-plai[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-plai-despre-plai1.png)
![Mobile Summer apps---plai---evenimente[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-plai-evenimente1.png)
![Mobile Summer apps---plai---eveniment1[1]](https://www.cobaltsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mobile-Summer-apps-plai-eveniment11.png)
Get in touch if you need an app
We want to achieve as much as we can through Hello App and our internship programs. So, if you are representing an organization or project with ecological, cultural or artistic matter, don’t hesitate to contact us. Fill in the form below to help us understand the app you need and we’ll contact you.
We are always happy to help and to hear your ideas!
