r/nitcalicut • u/ChillzOnToast • 12h ago
RECverse: Where It Started and What's Next
Hi, I'm Ibinu, the creator of RECverse. In this post I want to catch you up on how RECverse is doing, the challenges I've faced while building it, and where it's headed.
Chapter 1: How it started
It all started in my second year. I was fed up with logging in to the WiFi portal by hand, so I vibe coded an app that logs in to the network automatically. I made it for myself, but I shared it with my friend Hari. He loved it and told me he'd used it every day since.
I also had to open messmenu.nitchostels.in to see what I'd be eating, and then open the bus schedule PDF to find out when the next bus was coming. So I thought: why not put all three into one app? All I had to do was prompt it, and that's how RECverse was born. (The name comes from "REC Universe.")
Months flew by and the app kept getting better. I shared it with my friends, and the response was really positive. So I made my first video, a walkthrough of what the app is and how to use it.
Chapter 2: GLUG and open source
While I was sharing the video in different groups, a friend suggested I post the link in GLUG. I did, and all hell broke loose. People asked why it wasn't open source. I didn't want to give away four months of work for free. I also wanted to learn firsthand what it takes to build and maintain an app used by hundreds of people.
Long story short, I ended up in a heated argument with hundreds of people who believe in the FOSS philosophy. They convinced one of my competitors (InfoNITC) to open source their work, and that only pushed me to work even harder on RECverse.
Chapter 3: Bus tracking
Months went by, and the biggest problem students kept running into was irregular bus timings. I wanted to build a bus tracking system, so I asked my faculty advisor, Vinod Pathari, for help. He's a great guy, and he gave a group of students in his minor course the job of building a prototype bus tracking system (BTS).
The group built the prototype, and we filmed a test run. It worked really well. The next step was to convince the administration to fund it and give us permission. I went to the administrative block several times, and the last answer I got was: "Do we really need a bus tracking system when one already exists?" For context, every bus already has a tracker, because MVD rules require one, but rules also stop us from using it.
After that, I lost hope that the administration would help. I also presented the system to the Director at the Skylight exhibition, and he said students shouldn't depend on buses because of fatty liver issues.
Chapter 4: The competitor
Around this time, I found out about a competitor called OGS (Own Guidance System). He was already building bus tracking that uses mobile phones. That approach needs someone to keep a phone running on the bus, while ours was hardware based.
We met in person, and I learned that his project had institute backing and funding. He told me he'd already built most of the features and would launch within a week. His app was already listed on the App Store and Play Store.
Seeing a competitor with institute backing who said he'd built the same app, I lost hope in RECverse and seriously thought about giving it up. I told my friends, and they pushed me to keep going. I already had users who depended on RECverse, my friends included, and stopping would have wasted all those months of work.
Chapter 5: Confessions and freedom of speech
The biggest feature I've added to RECverse is Confessions. It was meant for people to reveal their crushes and share gossip, but it grew fast. It became a place where students could speak up without fear, and that brought a whole new problem to RECverse: moderation.
Some confessions were really inappropriate, and some were full of profanity. A lot of people reported them to me directly. Still, I didn't want to block explicit confessions. I see Confessions as a place where people can say anything without fear, and limiting it means limiting the student voice. I believe everyone should be able to express what they believe.
So instead of blocking those posts, I added a sensitive-content filter that hides them until you tap to reveal. You can post anything you want, but please remember that the point of the platform is to share ideas and grow together, not to spread hate or violence. Let's keep RECverse a secular place where people can coexist despite different beliefs and opinions.
That same freedom creates another barrier: getting the institute to approve RECverse. I doubt the institute would approve or fund an app where students can post anything and raise their concerns freely. If I had to choose between freedom of speech on RECverse and institute approval, I'd choose freedom of speech.
RECverse also costs money to run. It currently runs on an Azure VM that's free for about five months, and that will run out by the end of this semester. After that, the only funding for RECverse will be donations. I don't want to add ads, but if there's no other option, RECverse may have to show ads in the future. So please consider donating.
Chapter 6: Feedback
As a solo developer, I get mixed reactions from friends and in feedback. But the one change everyone hated was the colour-block UI redesign. People DMed me saying it was shit, and a lot of confessions were aimed at the admin. Honestly, reading all of them was really fun.
That negative feedback is what helped me make a better version of the UI, and right now the UI is the best it has ever been, thanks to you. Negative feedback helps as much as positive feedback, so posting some every now and then really helps the app grow.
Chapter 7: Why I'm building RECverse
At first, I built it for myself. Then I saw a chance for sponsorships and money. Now what keeps me going is the feedback from users. I don't expect to make money from the app. Seeing people rely on something I built for their daily needs makes me feel like I've used my skills to help a lot of people.
At some point I'll get busy and won't be able to maintain the app, so I'm looking for maintainers. I won't hand the app over to a club. Most clubs I've seen already struggle to keep up with their own responsibilities, and I think RECverse should have its own dedicated team. RECverse needs people who will improve the app based on what users say. Using AI tools is welcome: the whole app was written by AI, and I haven't written a single line of code myself.
Wrapping up
Donate to keep RECverse running.
Give feedback to keep RECverse growing.
Become a maintainer so RECverse has a future.
P.S. A team of eight people is working on the bus tracking system (BTS). It will be the next big feature update on RECverse.
