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Xome Native Mobile App

Senior UX case study focused on usability at scale, consolidating two legacy mobile apps into a unified iOS and Android experience.
   10 min read    audio version available below
    Listen to an audio talk-through of this case study.

Project Snapshot

Core Challenge

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Outcome

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Client

Xome

Real Estate Technology

My Role

Senior UX Designer (Sole Designer, Lead)

  • Design Research & Strategy
  • Design Operations
  • UX/UI
  • Stakeholder Liaison
  • Design/Development Handoff

Timeline

5 months

Project Type

Legacy Product Redesign & Feature Enhancements

Problem

The existing mobile apps were originally developer-led utilities that have evolved over several years without a cohesive UX strategy. Two separate native apps supported different business models: Traditional Listings and Auctions. Users who wanted to engage with both had to download and manage multiple apps or default to mobile web.


This fragmentation created several compounding problems:


  • Users experienced inconsistent and outdated UX, misaligned with the company's current brand.
  • One app received frequent updates due to revenue priority, while the other was routinely neglected despite having more users.
  • The split experience made it difficult to encourage traditional users to explore auctions, limiting cross-engagement.
  • Maintaining two native apps created duplicated engineering effort.


The business goal was not simply to refresh the UI, but to consolidate both experiences into a single, unified native app that could support future growth without repeating past neglect.

Constraints & Realities

This project operated under several constraints:


  • A five-month timeline covering research, strategy, UX/UI, and development handoff
  • Requirement to design fully native experience for both iOS and Android
  • Strong stakeholder opinions shaped by a recently redesigned mobile web experience (not part of this project)
  • A need to manage and coordinate work across contract designers
  • Partial dependency on mobile web patterns that were themselves imperfect


These constraints required careful prioritization, clear decision-making, and consistent communication to prevent scope creep or misalignment.

Key Decisions & Leadership

As design lead, I was responsible for not only the UX direction, but also for planning and execution across the entire lifecycle.


Key decisions included:


  • Defining and owning the design timeline, balancing research, design, iteration, and handoff within a tight schedule
  • Closing personal knowledge gaps in native iOS and Android design systems, then elevating the broader team's understanding to ensure quality and consistency
  • Leading information architecture work and collaborating closely with engineering to fine-tune structure and feasibility
  • Identifying intentional deviations from mobile web design where those patterns were insufficient for native app contexts
  • Regularly presenting design rationale to stakeholders and technical team, ensuring alignment and buy-in


A particularly important decision was pushing user testing to post-launch. Stakeholders requested mid-cycle testing to compensate for missed discovery in the mobile web project. I advocated strongly against rushed, low-quality testing, documenting how existing observational data and domain expertise were sufficient to deliver a strong MVP. This approach preserved focus and allowed for more meaningful testing once a functional product exists.


This was a difficult but ultimately successful negotiation that protected both timeline and design integrity.

Platform Strategy: iOS & Android

Rather than forcing strict parity, I leaned into native iOS and Android design systems, allowing each platform to feel familiar and device-specific while maintaining brand coherence.


This approach: 


  • Leveraged users' existing muscle memory and expectations
  • Allowed full use of iOS accessibility features, including SF typography and dynamic text
  • Gave each platform its own personality without fragmenting the brand


Shared branding elements were carried consistently across both platforms so the experience felt unified, even as interaction respected platform norms.

Image Description: Two Figma project covers, the left showing Google's Material 3 Design Kit with a small Android logo icon next to it and the right showing Apple Design Resource's UI Kit with a small Apple logo icon next to it.

Process & Collaboration

The design process was iterative and deliberately structured around small, focused feature sets.


For each cycle:


  1. Core product team reviews
  2. Technical reviews with engineering representatives
  3. Stakeholder reviews for alignment and approval


Early in the project, I shifted from live review meetings to recorded walkthroughs explaining design decisions in detail. This change proved especially effective for our internationally distributed team, reducing interruptions, preventing derailment, and significantly improving feedback quality. Stakeholders responded positively, and trust increased as rationale and intent were clearly documented.

Image Description: A snapshot of the Figma workspace for this project. Each feature has its own titled page down the left side. On the right are several screen flows with iOS on top and Android on bottom. There are 5 colorful mouse cursors labeled from left to right: Kae, Development, Stakeholder 1, Project Manager, Stakeholder 2 to illustrate how these roles collaborated together on this project.
Image Description: 4 Android screens total showing versions of the Map tab: The 2 on the left show the Auction Properties UI element collapsed and expanded. The 2 on the right show the Traditional Listings UI element collapsed and expanded.
Image Description: This is a slide from a stakeholder presentation showing 3 screens comparing the Auction Product Details screen for mobile web, iOS App, and Android App.

Outcomes

The app has not yet launched and is currently in development handoff. While quantitative metrics are not available, several meaningful outcomes have already emerged:


  • Strong stakeholder trust and confidence compared to earlier phases of the project
  • Clear alignment between design and engineering on scope and feasibility
  • Reduced friction in reviews due to asynchronous walkthroughs
  • A unified native app foundation positioned to address past neglect and fragmentation

Reflection

With more time, I would explore:


  • Personalization and customization based on user type
  • Lightweight onboarding or preference-based interactions to help users understand auctions and product capabilities


This project reinforced my ability to plan, lead, and deliver a high-visibility enterprise product end-to-end, while navigating stakeholder pressure, managing contractors, and defending decisions that protected long-term UX quality. It also validated that clear communication and principled decision-making are as critical to success as the design itself.