Need Help With App Idea

Sorry if this has been answered somewhere else.

I am interested in building a document storage service for military members and I was wondering if bubble.io would be a good platform to do it on. I am trying to service anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 people. The app basically works like this:

users will be able to login to a very beautiful dashboard where they can see categories of all of their professional documents that they will be able to store throughout their careers (To include: Awards, Evaluations, letters, qualifications, etc.)

The app will need some type of “document scan function”
and will also need to have a cloud storage function for users.

I.E - Members can take a picture with their phone and scan docs.
And they will also be able to upload via desktop.

Also, the storage will have to be secure. Maybe some type of encryption?
I’m not really sure. Essentially its a dropbox, but catered to members in armed services.

I am obviously not a coder, but I am trying to become more knowledgeable about these things. If anybody could help me out, I would be extremely grateful! Thank you all!!!

I think you could do it on bubble. For scanning I have seen apps that get access to the phone or desktops camera to load images.

In terms of uploading files via desktop, not a problem.

Storage can be done through various services, Amazon AWS I think is an option a lot of users have used, although bubble does have built in storage that uses Amazon AWS, but it costs a bit more than if you stored directly with Amazon AWS. I believe there is a plugin that helps with that.

I am not sure about secure encryption, but shouldn’t be an issue.

One of the costliest parts of maintaining and operating an app is the storage costs, and most of that is for files and images. So, you’d need to make sure you have a way to monetize based on storage used by each user…maybe tiered plans or something.

Hey thanks a lot for your input. I really appreciate it!

So as far as storing goes, I currently use cloud ways digital ocean server to host my other websites.

Would I be able to use a service like that if I were to go with…say, an amazon S3 option or something similar?

I want to build a prototype for myself (because I definitely need it ) then I want to introduce my peers to it. I work in admin (11 year Navy Yeoman) so I have a pretty good idea on pain points for Sailors and how to market to them.

Getting this first version off the ground and understanding how to actually build it is what I am focused on now.

Any other tips and advice you may have would be great, thanks man!

I am not familiar with digital ocean server…you may want to search the forum on that. All I know is that Amazon S3 is an option for storage as opposed to using bubble storage capacity (which just uses Amazon S3 anyway)…some bubblers have connected their apps to Amazon S3 to lower their storage costs.

In terms of tips or advice on how to get the first version off the ground.

  1. Buy a course that you can build along with. Courses from code-free are what I used to build along with on a clone of a popular app.

  2. Search the forum first for answers to questions before posting a question. Read all the posts that come up for your keywords when searching as you will undoubtedly learn other things you didn’t know you needed to know. I’ve read hundreds of posts and it has helped open up bubble capabilities to me.

  3. Use free resources like some of the youtube channels that have short tutorials on specific functionality. “Coaching bubble” “Code free minute” are two good ones that I use regularly.

  4. Learn about database design and structure as well as user experience design and user interface design from sources outside of bubble…google material design is very helpful for the user interface design, google as a search tool for user experience design is my go to…database design is all over the web, so again google is a go to.

  5. When building build from the start with mobile responsiveness in mind…that implies learn mobile responsiveness prior to diving into the build of the app. Saves a lot of time to build from the beginning rather than having to go back and redesign for mobile.

  6. Expect to experience a learning curve. I’d say if you have no background in programming and coding, the learning curve may be 3 to 6 months to feel fully confident you can build most anything. That being said, you should be building your app, so the 3-6 month learning curve will still produce usable results…it is basically build as you learn.

  7. Paper and pencil are necessary to map everything out prior to beginning your build. You need to know the functions, data needed etc. to know what you are building before you start.

  8. Free templates are useful for learning from as you become more familiar with bubble as you would be capable of picking apart the editor to see how it was built and implement it into your app.

Overall, be prepared to hit stumbling blocks, but keep pushing forward and you’ll achieve your goal.

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Good to know that other bubblers have gone directly to external storage like AWS S3 and etc to lower cost. THanks.