KEAKR App

Project Overview

KEAKR revolutionized mobile music creation by combining professional-grade audio recording capabilities with a vibrant social platform, enabling artists worldwide to create, collaborate, and share music without traditional studio equipment.

Founded by French rapper Axiom (Hicham Kochman) and backed by legendary filmmaker Luc Besson and Pierre Gatignol (SunGard), KEAKR represented an ambitious vision to democratize music production. The platform attracted over 1 million users and became a hub for emerging artists, beatmakers, and music enthusiasts seeking professional tools on mobile devices.

Our team was responsible for developing the complete iOS application from the ground up, implementing advanced audio processing pipelines with sub-10ms latency, real-time monitoring systems, and seamless social networking features. The app delivered studio-quality sound on mobile devices through sophisticated integration of the Superpowered Audio SDK, custom C++ audio processing modules, and Apple's AVFoundation framework with multi-track recording capabilities.

1M+

Active Users

<10ms

Audio Latency

4.5★

App Store Rating

Our Role & Responsibilities

Technical contributions and key deliverables

Native iOS Development

Architected and developed the complete iOS application using Swift 2.0+ and Objective-C in a hybrid codebase with modern runtime features
Implemented Auto Layout constraints for adaptive UI across iPhone 4s through iPhone 7 Plus with dynamic type support
Established MVC and MVVM architectural patterns for maintainable, testable code structure with protocol-oriented programming
Managed dependencies and third-party libraries through Cocoapods package manager with version locking for reproducible builds

Low-Latency Audio Engineering

Integrated Superpowered Audio SDK for professional-grade, low-latency (<10ms) audio processing with custom buffer configuration
Developed C++ 11 audio processing modules for real-time effects including reverb, EQ, compression, and auto-tune with DSP optimization
Implemented AVFoundation framework for multi-track recording and playback functionality with sample-accurate synchronization
Optimized audio buffer management and thread synchronization for glitch-free recording with Core Audio and Audio Units integration

Social Platform Integration

Integrated Facebook SDK for OAuth 2.0 authentication, friend discovery, graph API access, and content sharing with deep linking
Integrated Twitter SDK for tweet composition, hashtag tracking, social authentication, and timeline integration
Built real-time social feed with infinite scroll, likes, comments, artist following, and push notification integration
Developed user profile system with customizable portfolios, Keaks (freestyles), play counts, and engagement analytics

Backend Infrastructure & DevOps

Integrated RESTful RTM API hosted on AWS EC2/S3 infrastructure for content delivery, user data synchronization, and media storage
Implemented Fabric SDK suite for crash analytics (Crashlytics), user behavior tracking (Answers), and beta distribution (TestFlight)
Configured continuous integration pipelines with automated testing, code signing, and App Store deployment through Fastlane
Optimized network requests with NSURLSession caching strategies, background sync queues, and offline functionality for intermittent connectivity

Technical Challenges & Solutions

Complex problems we solved during development

Audio Latency Optimization

Challenge: Mobile devices typically have 50-100ms audio latency, unacceptable for professional music recording and monitoring
Solution: Implemented Superpowered SDK with custom audio buffer configuration, direct hardware access, and optimized thread priority achieving <10ms round-trip latency
Result: Professional-grade recording experience comparable to dedicated hardware audio interfaces

Memory Management

Challenge: Audio files, social content, and real-time processing caused memory pressure on older devices with limited RAM
Solution: Implemented lazy loading for social feed, image caching with LRU eviction, automatic audio file compression, and manual memory management for audio buffers
Result: Stable performance on devices with 1GB RAM (iPhone 5s and newer) without crashes or audio dropouts

Real-Time Synchronization

Challenge: Keeping social feed, notifications, and user-generated content synchronized across devices with varying network conditions
Solution: Implemented push notifications via Fabric with background fetch, exponential backoff retry logic, and local queue for offline actions
Result: Near real-time updates with minimal battery impact and graceful degradation on poor connections

Content Moderation & Security

Challenge: User-generated audio content required moderation to prevent copyright violations, inappropriate material, and platform abuse
Solution: Implemented client-side content validation, server-side moderation queue with manual review workflow, and DMCA takedown process integration
Result: Compliant platform with automated flagging, manual review process, and zero legal incidents during operation

Technical Stack

Technologies, frameworks, and tools

iOS Development

Swift 2.0+ Objective-C 2.0 C++ 11 Auto Layout UIKit Core Data Grand Central Dispatch

Audio Processing

Superpowered SDK AVFoundation Core Audio Audio Units Real-time DSP Low-Latency Audio

Social Integrations

Facebook SDK Twitter SDK OAuth 2.0 Social Graph API Share Extensions

Backend & DevOps

AWS EC2/S3 RESTful API Fabric.io Crashlytics Answers Analytics TestFlight Cocoapods

Project Outcomes

Measurable results and achievements

User Adoption

1+ million downloads within first year of launch across global markets
Top 10 Music app in 15 countries including US, UK, France, and Germany
4.5+ star average rating on App Store with consistent positive user feedback

Content Creation

500,000+ songs recorded in-app by users across all genres
50,000+ beatmakers uploaded instrumentals for collaboration
Daily contest participation from global artists with thousands of submissions

Industry Recognition

Featured by Apple in "Best New Apps" editorial collection multiple times
Coverage by major tech and music publications including TechCrunch, Billboard, Rolling Stone
Partnerships established with major record labels for artist development programs

Technical Performance

<10ms audio latency (industry-leading for mobile recording applications)
99.9% uptime for API and content delivery infrastructure
<2 second app launch time on all supported devices
99.5%+ crash-free session rate in production environment

KEAKR