Hespress wanted an English-language news app for international readers and the Moroccan diaspora, fast. We built it on the Flutter News Toolkit, launched it on iOS and Android in six weeks, and trained the Hespress engineers in Dart and Flutter along the way.
The Hespress app on a phone in two editions, Arabic and English, with a divider between them. Drag the divider to move from the Arabic edition to the English one.
01The ask
Take an Arabic newsroom to English readers, in weeks.
Hespress is a Moroccan online news site, founded in February 2007. Its English-language service covers politics, social issues, culture, sports, and regional news.
Hespress wanted to reach readers beyond its Arabic audience, international readers and the Moroccan diaspora, with an English-language app. Readers expected fast load times and reliable push notifications, and the app had to stand out among other news apps.
In their words
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“VGV was responsive to our needs and had an optimized workflow that made the whole process effortless. We were pleased with how the team made sure the final product met our expectations and did the extra work to finalize all the details at the point of launch.”
Social Media Manager, Hespress Yassin Bendaoud
02The build
Start from the toolkit, finish in Hespress yellow.
Hespress chose the Flutter News Toolkit as the foundation, a news-focused starting point VGV built with Google. We customized it to the Hespress brand and editorial needs, with one code base for iOS and Android and a design system of reusable components and flexible layouts.
Figma designs were aligned directly with the Flutter code, so handoffs stayed short. Push notifications, instant updates, and performance were built and tested first, before the feature list grew.
03The handover
The team that runs the app helped ship it.
VGV ran the project as a tightly managed six-week engagement, with agile project management to prioritize features and drive iteration. Hespress engineers worked alongside us and trained in Dart and Flutter as the app came together.
That left Hespress with the Flutter know-how to manage ongoing development, and a team ready to add video, personalization, and new content formats.
04What changed
Six weeks from kickoff to both app stores.
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Launch
iOS and Android, live in six weeks.
A polished English-language app on both platforms, inside the few weeks Hespress had.
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One code base
One app to maintain instead of two.
A single Flutter code base cut launch time and keeps long-term maintenance costs down.
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Readers
Fast loads and push notifications.
The features readers notice first shipped first, with an intuitive design around them.
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What’s next
A team ready for the next feature.
With Dart and Flutter skills in-house, Hespress is set up to add video, personalization, and new content formats.
05If you’re next
What we’d tell a newsroom in Hespress’s seat.
- 01
Don’t start from a blank project. A news-focused starter covers what every news app needs, so the weeks go to your brand and your readers.
- 02
Train your developers during the build, not after it. The people who maintain the app should help ship it.
- 03
Ship what readers notice first. Load times and push notifications came before the extras.
Roll credits.
Who did what, and with which tools.
- Client
- Hespress
- Our part
- Product designApplication developmentDart and Flutter training
- Platforms
- iOS and Android
- Built with
- FlutterDartFlutter News ToolkitFigma
- Timeline
- Six weeks to launch
Built by Very Good Ventures
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