kvsoftware

Jun 2026 – now · Apple Developer Academy · on the App Store

Omawe

Group trips, without the "where are you?" texts

An iOS app that turns passive location sharing into active trip awareness. Everyone heading to the same place shows up on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as on the way, running late, or arrived, so the group knows when to leave without sending a single message.

Project Manager, team of 5 · Swift · Go

App Store

Getting a group to the same place is a loop of the same three moves: open Maps, text someone "where are you?", guess their ETA, repeat. It gets worse as the group grows, and the answers are rarely true ("five minutes away"). Omawe replaces that loop with one shared, glanceable view of everyone's progress toward a single destination.

Status
On the App Store
TestFlight testers
20+
Team
5 people

What it does

One trip, one place

Create or join a trip around a single shared destination.

Status at a glance

Live Activities on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island show who's en route, delayed, or arrived, with ETAs, no unlocking needed.

Sharing that ends

Location sharing is opt-in per trip, clearly scoped, and stops on its own when the trip is over.

  1. Join the trip

    One shared destination for the whole group.

  2. On the way

    Moving, with an ETA everyone can see.

  3. Running late

    Shown before anyone has to ask.

  4. Arrived

    Sharing ends with the trip.

A member's status through one trip, as the group sees it on the Lock Screen.

How it's built

A SwiftUI app with an ActivityKit widget extension for the Live Activities, sharing its types with the app so both sides read the same trip state. Behind it, a Go backend serves the usual API and pushes everyone's progress to the rest of the group in real time over WebSocket. Two details shape how it behaves on a real trip:

  • Honest under bad signal. When GPS or the network drops, Omawe shows "last seen X ago" instead of a status that looks live but isn't.
  • Easy on the battery. Background location and Live Activity updates are tuned so a full trip doesn't drain the phone.
Two iPhones: Omawe's trip screen with a map, ETA, and distance, and the Lock Screen Live Activity with the ETA, a progress bar, and an I'll Be Late button
A trip in the app, and on the Lock Screen: ETA, distance, and an “I'll Be Late” button, no unlocking needed.

My role

I was the project manager on a team of five, building Omawe at the Apple Developer Academy from June 2026 through its release on the App Store. That meant all of the product side: planning the work, making the scope calls, and taking the app through TestFlight, where 20+ testers used it before launch, and App Store review.

What's next

Version 1 is iOS-only, built around Live Activities. Android support, multi-stop trips, and persistent friend groups are being considered for later versions.

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