Roome

Challenge

Student housing search breaks down for a simple reason: it’s hard to know what’s real. Outdated listings, fraudulent posts, and unverified roommate profiles waste time and add risk—especially when students need to make decisions fast.

Roome needed a mobile-first product students could trust, with clear requirements from day one:

• User verification: Confirm identity and university affiliation so users feel safe engaging on the platform.
• Real-time availability: Keep apartment listings current to reduce dead ends and disappointment.
• Roommate matching: Connect students based on lifestyle preferences, budget, and location.
• Secure communication: Give users a safe way to talk before making commitments.
• Cross-platform accessibility: Deliver a consistent experience on iOS and Android.

Discovery

We treated trust as a functional requirement, not a tagline. For students, trust is practical: is this person real, is this listing actually available, and what’s the next step?

We mapped the full workflow—onboarding and verification, browsing and filtering, matching, and messaging—so the product stayed focused. If a screen didn’t reduce uncertainty or move a student forward, it didn’t make the cut.

That framing clarified what “quality” meant for Roome: verification needed to happen early, listings needed to stay fresh, and the path from browsing to a real conversation needed to be short and clear.

Approach

We built Roome as a cross-platform mobile app using React Native, giving iOS and Android users the same experience from a single codebase.

We prioritized the points where students typically lose time or confidence:

• Verification up front to improve trust and reduce fake accounts.
• Matching logic based on the real factors students use to choose roommates.
• Live listing updates and notifications so students can act quickly.
• In-app messaging so conversations stay private and organized.
• Map-based context to help students evaluate location near campus and amenities.

Throughout development, we ran multiple rounds of user testing with students and tightened the parts that matter most for first-time users: onboarding, filtering, and messaging. We focused on clear copy, predictable navigation, and fewer dead ends.

Solution

We delivered a mobile application that streamlines student housing search while prioritizing security and usability. The app launched on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Key features we implemented:

• University email & ID verification: Users verify their university email address and complete photo ID checks. This two-step process reduces fake accounts and improves platform credibility.
• Advanced roommate matching algorithm: A matching system that evaluates lifestyle preferences (sleep schedules, cleanliness, social habits), budget constraints, and location preferences to recommend compatible roommates.
• Real-time apartment listings: Live availability via integration with property databases and direct landlord submissions. Push notifications alert users when new listings match their criteria.
• In-app secure messaging: An encrypted chat feature that keeps conversations inside the app and reduces reliance on external messaging platforms.
• Map integration: Using the Google Maps API, the app displays apartments and roommate locations relative to campus, transit routes, and local amenities.

Technology stack:

• React Native: Cross-platform mobile development for iOS and Android.
• Node.js backend: Server-side business logic, user authentication, and matching algorithms.
• PostgreSQL: Data storage for user profiles, listings, and match data.
• Firebase push notifications: Real-time alerts for listing updates and matches.
• Google Maps API: Location and mapping features.
• Stripe: Payment processing for deposits and transaction management.

Results

After launch on iOS and Android, Roome hit early product milestones and delivered a smoother day-to-day experience for student users.

• Faster housing decisions: Students find verified housing options and compatible roommates in an average of 4 days versus a previous 3-week search period.
• Higher platform trust: Verification and secure messaging decreased fraudulent listings and unreliable roommate arrangements.

Lessons

In student housing, trust and speed drive adoption. Verification needs to happen early, not as an afterthought, and listing freshness has to be treated as a core product feature—not a nice-to-have.

We also learned that matching works best when it’s grounded in the criteria students actually use—budget, location, and day-to-day living habits—and then supported with simple tools like messaging and maps that help users move from “maybe” to “confirmed” without leaving the app.