Case Study

Building a Multilingual Mobile App for Religious Texts Using React Native and Firebase

An educational non-profit organization, DharmaTech, aimed to create a mobile app that would make ancient religious texts in Sanskrit accessible to a global audience. Their goal was to translate these texts into multiple Indic languages and offer audio playback for each verse, along with an integrated dictionary to help users understand difficult Sanskrit terms. By using React Native and Firebase, DharmaTech successfully developed a cross-platform app for both Android and iOS, with a single codebase. The app provided easy access to centuries-old knowledge, bridging the cultural and language gap for users across the world.

Quick
Summary

Team Size

6 Members

Duration

3 months

Platform

React Native, Firebase

The Challenges

Multilingual Support

The app needed to support translations of Sanskrit texts into various Indic languages like Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, and more.

Audio Integration

DharmaTech wanted to provide an audio feature for users to listen to the verses being recited in Sanskrit, with the option to switch languages.

Dictionary Integration

An essential feature was the ability to tap on difficult Sanskrit words and access their meaning in different languages.

Cross-Platform Delivery

DharmaTech needed a cost-effective solution to launch the app on both Android and iOS platforms with minimal development overhead.

Real-Time Data Marks

The app required a backend to manage user profiles, store translations, and track text-to-audio synchronization, all in real-time.

Solution: Key Components of the Mobile Architecture

React Native for Cross-Platform Development

Single Codebase for Android and iOS

With React Native, DharmaTech was able to write the app in JavaScript and deploy it on both platforms, significantly reducing development time and costs. The single codebase approach allowed for easier maintenance and faster updates, ensuring feature parity across devices.

UI Consistency Across Platforms

React Native’s component-based architecture helped create a uniform and intuitive user interface across both Android and iOS, providing users with a seamless experience regardless of their device.

Third-Party Integrations

DharmaTech took advantage of React Native’s ecosystem to integrate essential features like audio playback and multilingual support, enabling efficient handling of Sanskrit texts and audio files.

Firebase as the Backend

Firebase Authentication

The app used Firebase Authentication to manage user profiles, allowing users to sign up with their Google or social media accounts. Firebase’s secure and scalable authentication system simplified user management across both platforms.

Firebase for Real-Time Data

Firebase Firestore was used to store translations, audio metadata, and user preferences. The real-time capabilities of Firestore allowed DharmaTech to dynamically update content without users having to download new app versions.

Cloud Storage for Audio Files

Firebase Cloud Storage was used to store and serve the audio files for the verses. These files could be accessed and streamed on-demand by users, reducing app size and optimizing the user experience.

Analytics and User Insights

Firebase Analytics allowed DharmaTech to track user engagement, including which texts were most accessed, preferred languages, and how often the audio feature was used.

Multilingual Support and Text Rendering

Translation Handling

DharmaTech created a structured database in Firestore to store translations of each Sanskrit verse in multiple Indic languages. The app allowed users to switch between different languages seamlessly.

Language-Specific Fonts and UI

React Native’s support for custom fonts and styles enabled the team to render texts in various Indic scripts like Devanagari, Tamil, and Bengali, ensuring clarity and readability across languages.

Localization

The app utilized React Native’s localization libraries to detect the user’s device language and automatically display the preferred language version of the app.

Audio Integration for Verses

Audio Playback

DharmaTech implemented an audio playback feature where users could listen to Sanskrit verses recited by professional speakers. React Native libraries were used to handle the audio playback, including pausing, resuming, and switching between languages.

Audio-Text Synchronization

A key feature of the app was the ability to sync the text with the audio playback. As the verse was recited, the corresponding text would be highlighted, helping users follow along.

Integrated Multilingual Dictionary

Word-by-Word Translation

DharmaTech integrated a dictionary feature into the app, which allowed users to tap on any difficult Sanskrit word to view its meaning and translation in their preferred language.

Cross-References

Users could also see cross-references to how certain words were used in other texts, providing a deeper understanding of key terms and concepts.

Results:

Cost-Effective Cross-Platform Delivery

By using React Native, DharmaTech was able to develop the app for both Android and iOS with a single development team and codebase. This approach saved approximately 40% of development costs compared to building separate native apps for each platform.
The single codebase also ensured faster updates and bug fixes, with improvements being deployed simultaneously to both platforms.

Increased Accessibility of Ancient Texts

The app made centuries-old Sanskrit religious texts accessible to a global audience in multiple languages. This included users who might not be fluent in Sanskrit but could understand translations in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and other Indic languages.
The ability to listen to the verses helped preserve the oral tradition of these texts, and users appreciated being able to follow along in text while listening to recitations.

Enhanced User Engagement Through Audio and Dictionary Features

The audio playback feature greatly enhanced user engagement, with many users reporting that listening to the verses while reading helped them understand the meaning more deeply.
The integrated dictionary allowed users to quickly look up difficult Sanskrit terms, improving their learning experience and making the app a valuable educational tool for those studying the language or religious texts.

Scalability and Real-Time Updates

Firebase’s real-time database capabilities allowed DharmaTech to continuously update the app’s content without requiring users to download new versions. This was especially useful for adding new translations, audio files, and dictionary entries.
The Firebase infrastructure scaled easily as the app’s user base grew, ensuring consistent performance and reliability even as more users accessed the app.

Global Reach with Minimal Development Overhead

The app was successfully launched on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, reaching users across different geographies and devices. This cross-platform capability meant that DharmaTech could reach a wider audience without doubling their development effort.

Conclusion

By leveraging React Native and Firebase, Codehall was able to build a cost-effective, multilingual mobile app that made ancient Sanskrit religious texts accessible to a modern audience. The use of open-source tools and Firebase’s backend infrastructure allowed the organization to develop a feature-rich app that supported multiple languages, real-time updates, and cross-platform deployment. This app not only preserved ancient knowledge but also empowered users to engage with religious texts in new and meaningful ways.