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Loobi, from idea to App Store & Google Play
A 0–1 project building a social app designed to help dog owners connect more easily
Loobi is a 0-to-1 project that addresses one of the challenges for dog owners: finding an easy way to connect with other dog owners. It’s a social app that works as a communication bridge between dog owners, making it easier to interact and arrange meetups.
Live website
Team
1 UX|UI designer, 1 UI designer,
2 Developers, 1 graphic designer
Duration
11 months
Tools
Figma
Year
2025
My role
I worked as the UX/UI Designer on Loobi from concept to launch, owning the end-to-end user experience. I led early UX research and problem framing, defined the core flows, and co-designed the UI and high-fidelity prototypes. I collaborated closely with engineers throughout development to ensure a smooth handoff and successful iOS and Android launch.
Impact
Loobi launched successfully on both the App Store and Google Play, reaching users in more than 15 countries. Early adoption and international reach validated the product direction and demonstrated strong demand for a dog-owner social experience.
Introduction
The perfect match for your dog might be just around the corner
Imagine this: somewhere near you, there’s another dog that could be the perfect match for yours. Maybe just a few streets away. But there’s one problem, there’s no easy way to find them or make that first connection.
That’s exactly the gap we wanted to solve.
Problem definition
The right moment, motivation, and context for connection
For many dog owners, the challenge isn’t the lack of nearby dogs, but feeling comfortable initiating a connection. Building on this gap, Loobi started with an ambiguous challenge: not simply building a feature for dog owners, but understanding the right moment, motivation, and context for connection.
The focus shifted toward understanding real behavioral patterns — when dog owners go out, what makes interactions feel comfortable, and which factors influence choosing a potential match.
Constraints & challenges
Defining a focused and scalable MVP
Loobi was built from zero, with no users or data to guide early decisions.
The main challenge was defining a focused MVP without overloading the product with features.
Design choices constantly balanced simplicity for first-time users with long-term scalability and technical constraints.
Research insights
Research insights shaped the core values of Loobi: safety, compatibility, and community
To better understand dog owners’ behaviors and challenges, I conducted research and early market exploration to uncover real needs and risks, shaping the core product direction and early design decisions.
Behavioral insights
Safety concerns, busy routines, and distance from dog-friendly spaces indicated the need for a low-pressure, location-based experience that minimizes social friction.
While the early concept focused mainly on matching, research revealed the importance of shared activities, so I introduced group meetups alongside matching as part of the MVP experience.
Priorities such as energy level, behavior, distance, health, and breed informed the structure of filters and smart matching logic.
Product & market insights
Industry growth and increasing demand for pet-related experiences highlighted strong potential, while low awareness of existing pet social platforms revealed a clear opportunity gap, which led me to design a simplified onboarding and discovery flow.
Research revealed strong interest in features such as pet location discovery (parks, vets), in-app community spaces, services, and marketplaces. To maintain a focused and scalable MVP, I prioritized matching and group meetups in the initial release while intentionally postponing other feature directions.
Experience strategy & core flow
Guiding users from nearby matches to a natural first connection
The strategy focused on frictionless first connections, helping dog owners find compatible matches and interact naturally while supporting Loobi’s long-term vision.
Onboarding
Discovery
• Ask only essential information first to reduce entry friction.
• Prioritize dog attributes since they drive matching decisions.
• Allow users to define basic compatibility preferences early.
• Location-based discovery.
• Minimal browsing friction by prioritizing quick visual signals over dense listings.
• Group meetups as a low-pressure entry point.
Decision
Interaction
• Quick-scan card design to support fast decision making.
• Smart filtering to narrow down matches without overwhelming users.
• Encourage interactions tied to real locations and activities.
• Owners need to feel confident before introducing their dog to another.
• Chat unlocked after compatibility to avoid random messaging.
• Encourage offline interaction by supporting quick meetup planning.
Design decisions & execution
Narrowing the product to its core experience
The decision was to focus the MVP on matching and group meetups as the core interaction model, even though this introduced several trade-offs.
Risks & Considerations
One of the key considerations was that focusing the MVP on matching and meetups could lead to low retention, as users might leave after finding a suitable connection.
At the same time, both features depend on having a sufficiently large user base, increasing the importance of early marketing efforts.
What I prioritized
Despite these challenges, the decision was to prioritize matching and meetups, as they align with Loobi’s long-term vision. The focus was on validating the core experience first, with the expectation that these features would evolve as the product grows.
Speed to market vs. product integrity
I chose to refine the core interaction model instead of rushing feature expansion.
Monetization vs. early adoption
I decided to delay monetization to focus on building a strong user base and validating core behaviors.
Match
The matching experience allows users to browse nearby dogs, evaluate compatibility at a glance, and initiate contact through a lightweight interaction.
Match filters
Informed by research, filters focus on key compatibility factors, enabling users to refine matches manually or rely on smart auto-matching.
Meet
The Meet feature was designed to help users discover and join nearby meetups through list and map views, or create their own based on location, filters, and context, enabling more natural and comfortable social connections.
Iterations
Iterating based on user behavior
Following launch, I identified key areas for improvement based on early user behavior and feedback.
Before
After
To make this step smaller, I introduced a lightweight way to interact without starting a full conversation. The goal was to create a more comfortable, low-pressure entry point and make it easier for users to reach out.
At the same time, this helped increase visible activity in the app, so users wouldn’t feel like there’s no interaction happening.
Lightweight interaction
After launch, I noticed that sending a message as the first interaction felt like a big step for many users. It required effort and came with a sense of pressure and possible rejection.
Onboarding
I noticed that for many users the app still felt unclear and slightly confusing after download.
To address this, I designed an onboarding flow that clearly explains how the app works and guides users through the main interactions, helping them understand how to use Loobi from the start.
Showing approximate location before joining private meetups.
Giving more control over who can join meetups.
Private meets
I also introduced private meets, allowing users to create more controlled meetups and decide who can join. This gave users a greater sense of safety and flexibility when organizing interactions.
Impact
User adoption validated the product direction
Loobi launched successfully on both the App Store and Google Play. Early adoption validated the core product direction, while revealing opportunities to improve interaction and engagement, and evolve the experience toward a more scalable product.
Reflection
Balancing scope and simplicity in early-stage products
This project showed me that in early-stage products, defining the right scope is more critical than designing the experience itself. What we chose not to build had a direct impact on how users understood and engaged with the product.
It also reinforced that simplicity is not just about reducing features, but about creating clarity when the product concept is still unfamiliar.
Next: improving retention, refining interactions, and scaling the experience.