Design and development of the Hoop Slam app
We designed and developed the app for a streetball community connected to smart basketball hoops: a system with many pieces —reservations, matches, levels, and hardware— designed to be simple to use on the court.
End-to-end product design and development
We designed and developed the app for a network of smart basketball hoops
Hoop Slam turns cities into courts. Its idea: smart basketball hoops that automatically detect points, manage reservations, and build a player community with levels, matches, and rankings.
The hardware already existed; what was missing was the app that puts it in the players' hands. inQbarna handled the design and development of that app, for iOS and Android, starting from the client's functional brief and translating it into an experience designed to be used on the court.
THE CHALLENGE
A complex system used in the middle of a match
The functional brief we received was ambitious and complete: 30-minute reservation slots, 10-player matches, a player level that rises and falls with each win, result validation between teams, no-show penalties, and real-time communication between the physical hoop and the app.
All that logic is necessary, but most of it should not be in the foreground. The player uses the app on the court, with little time and people waiting to play, so each screen had to solve one thing immediately.
The design work consisted of deciding, for each moment, what the player needs to see and what can remain in the background.
- A single reservation changes face six times between creation and completion.
- A match is played while running, without looking at the phone, with the score coming directly from the hoop.
- Community rules —levels, validation, penalties— had to be fair without feeling bureaucratic.
OUR SOLUTION
Showing only the right action at each moment
We designed the app around what the player needs to do at each moment. The reservation detail changes according to its state and, in each one, shows one clear main action —join, start the reservation, start the match, or validate the result— with the rest of the information in the background.
For the match, we prioritized readability: large score and time displays that remain visible during play. And we decided not to include pause, because in a time-limited match it created more problems than it solved.
- Onboarding with court language: the initial level is calculated with five questions written in the player's language, not like a form.
- Trust by design: result validation by both teams and gradual penalties, so playing with strangers is fair without penalizing a first oversight.
- Real time: the hoop status and score sync live and are reflected directly in the interface.
THE PROCESS
From product definition to launch
The project advanced from a closed functional brief to the app launch, combining design, native development, and real-time integration with the basketball hoop.
UX/UI Design
Summer – Autumn 2025
Information architecture, wireframes, scalable design system, and mockups, validated with the client.
Development
Autumn – Winter 2025
Native iOS and Android apps and real-time integration with the basketball hoop hardware.
Launch
Spring 2026
Official release on the App Store and Google Play.
Ongoing
Present
Product evolution and new community features.
UX/UI Design
Summer – Autumn 2025
Information architecture, wireframes, scalable design system, and mockups, validated with the client.
Development
Autumn – Winter 2025
Native iOS and Android apps and real-time integration with the basketball hoop hardware.
Launch
Spring 2026
Official release on the App Store and Google Play.
Ongoing
Present
Product evolution and new community features.
IMPACT & RESULTS
A complex system, an app that is simple to use
The result is an app that organizes a system with many pieces —six reservation states, real-time score from the hoop, levels, validation, and penalties— into an experience that is simple to use. The difficulty was not each screen separately, but keeping the whole system simple in the real usage context: a court, with little time and many people.
Complexity under control
The six states of a reservation are resolved in an interface that shows one main action at each moment.
Designed for the court
Large scores, one-tap interactions, and product decisions adapted to physical use, not desktop use.
A trusted community
Levels, crossed validation, and penalties that make playing with strangers fair and reliable from the first match.
TECHNOLOGIES USED
Native app connected to the hoop in real time
The native design on iOS and Android is supported by a real-time communication architecture between the smart hoop, the cloud, and the app, so the game state and score are always synchronized.
Design
iOS
Android
Connectivity & backend
Hardware
THE PRODUCT IN ACTION
An app designed for the moment of play
From level assignment to the live score, the screens follow the same criterion: prioritize the main information and keep a clear action available at each moment.
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