NearChat

Have you ever gone alone to a concert, club, restaurant, and wished you could connect with people nearby? Did you ever want to approach a nearby person but could not think of any way to? NearChat brings you closer to the people around you, right from your phone.

Overview

This repository contains the front-end application for NearChat, built using React Native and Expo. The app leverages device geolocation, real-time socket connections, and push notifications to provide a seamless hyper-local chatting experience.

Features

• Local Discovery: Uses device geolocation (expo-location) to find and show nearby users.
• Real-Time Messaging: Utilizes socket.io-client for persistent WebSocket connections, ensuring instantaneous message updates on the chat screen.
• Offline Notifications: Uses expo-notifications to send new messages directly to your notification panel when you are offline or the app is in the background.
• Cross-Platform: Built with React Native and Expo, targeting both Android and iOS devices.

Tech Stack & Core Dependencies

• Framework: React Native (v0.81), React (v19.1.0)
• Toolkit & Routing: Expo (v54), expo-router
• Networking: Axios, Socket.io-client
• State/Storage: @react-native-async-storage/async-storage
• Device APIs: expo-location, expo-notifications, expo-device, expo-haptics
• Backend Infrastructure (Reference): Express, PostgreSQL, Prisma ORM

APK Link

Download the latest build from Expo

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+ recommended)
• npm or yarn
• Expo CLI (npm install -g expo-cli)
• For physical devices: The Expo Go app installed on your iOS or Android device (though this project uses development builds via expo-dev-client).

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/UzumakiODZ/frontEnd.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd frontEnd

3. Install dependencies:

   npm install

Running the App

Start the Expo development server:

npx expo start

Alternatively, to run natively on connected devices or emulators:

npm run android
# or
npm run ios

Project Structure

• app/ - Contains the expo-router based file-system routing screens.
• components/ - Reusable UI components.
• hooks/ - Custom React hooks.
• assets/ - Static assets like images and fonts.
• constants/ - App-wide constants and configuration.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request if you'd like to improve the app.

License

MIT