About the client
AppsAnywhere is a company dedicated to enhancing software delivery in the education sector. Founded in 2009 as Software2, the company rebranded to AppsAnywhere in 2022 to align with its flagship product. Their platform enables educational institutions to provide students, faculty, and staff with seamless access to software applications on any device, anywhere, and at any time.
Key outcomes
We took over, stabilised and enhanced the AppsAnywhere platform, resulting in:
Global user adoption
Successfully deployed to over 3 million students across 300+ institutions in 22 countries
Trusted by top universities
Actively used by leading institutions including Imperial College London and the University of Michigan
Scalable growth
Codebase and process improvements enabled faster development and expansion into new global markets
Business challenge
Unstable app performance and developer gaps jeopardising a critical education platform
Our client had developed AppsAnywhere, a specialised desktop app for Windows and Mac that lets university students access educational tools without individual installations.
Used by over 2 million students, it served as a key resource for many institutions.
Initially developed by freelance developers in Eastern Europe, the app lacked structured development and consistent focus, leading to the following challenges:
- Limited developer availability: The original team was preoccupied with other projects, resulting in poor responsiveness and inconsistent updates.
- Frequent app crashes: Users regularly experienced stability issues, impacting the overall user experience.
- Delayed feature rollouts: New feature development was significantly delayed, limiting innovation and competitiveness.
- Risk to revenue and reputation: The issues posed a serious threat to customer satisfaction and the company’s revenue stream.
Adding to the challenge was the app’s niche tech stack, making it hard to find a development partner who could maintain, improve, and scale it effectively.
To overcome these obstacles, AppsAnywhere reached out to GoodCore to take over the project and supplement their existing development team through our IT staff augmentation services.
The solution
The project entailed the following requirements:
- Ensure a smooth and well-documented takeover of the existing desktop application, gaining a deep understanding of the codebase and deployment architecture.
- Identify the root causes of instability and performance issues, and implement fixes to stabilise the application for the large university user base.
- Review and simplify the complex deployment process to enable faster, more reliable releases across both Windows and Mac platforms.
- Address gaps in the release management process by introducing structured workflows and better version control practices.
- Provide ongoing development support to help the client keep pace with user-generated feature requests and continuously improve the product experience.
Our Process
We followed a structured process to ensure a smooth transition and steady progress:
We began with a comprehensive code audit to understand the application’s architecture, identify flaws in the deployment pipeline, and uncover potential risks.
Due to the lack of documentation and limited support from the original freelance developers, we worked closely with the client’s CTO over a two-month period to gradually take full ownership of the codebase.
To manage the technical complexity, we assigned two dedicated desktop application developers to the project, with strategic oversight from our VP of Engineering.
Our team adopted the Agile methodology, breaking down the project into three-week sprints to deliver incremental improvements, prioritise critical fixes, and respond quickly to feedback.
What we delivered
Through close collaboration and technical refinement, we delivered significant improvements that enhanced performance and elevated the end-user experience:
Stabilised performance and improved reliability
We addressed memory management issues, optimised inter-process communication, and refactored parts of the codebase that were causing bottlenecks. Key improvements included better error handling, logging enhancements for quicker debugging, and patching stability issues across both Windows and macOS builds. These changes significantly reduced crash reports and improved the reliability of the app in live environments.
Automated and error-free release management
Previously managed manually, the release process for both Windows and macOS versions of the AppsAnywhere client was time-consuming and error-prone. We automated the entire build and release pipeline, reducing manual effort, minimising human error, and improving overall release efficiency.
Seamless client installation and updates
We revamped the setup experience to eliminate end-user friction. The system now auto-detects existing installations, upgrading outdated versions or installing the client from scratch, all without requiring any user intervention, resulting in a smoother and more intuitive onboarding process.
Intelligent app delivery based on hardware compatibility
To ensure optimal performance for resource-intensive apps, we developed a system that automatically detects the user’s hardware specifications. These are validated against predefined requirements, allowing only compatible applications to be delivered, ensuring a better user experience and efficient use of system resources.
