How we shipped Hischool Android app in half a day
For months, we kept hearing the same question:
“Do you have an Android app?”
“I searched Play Store but couldn’t find it.”
“When will Android be available?”
And honestly — they were right to ask.
Most of our early team used iOS and macOS, and Hischool was built web-first.
But a huge part of our community uses Android, and they wanted a real app, not just a browser tab.
So we had a decision to make.
Native app or something smarter?
We considered building a full native Android app.
But that would mean:
- Rewriting large parts of the app
- Maintaining a second codebase
- Slower releases
- More bugs
- More time away from improving Hischool itself
So we looked for a better solution.
Discovering TWA
That’s when we found Google’s Trusted Web Activity (TWA).
TWA lets you turn a Progressive Web App (PWA) into a real Android app:
- Installed from Play Store
- Fullscreen
- No browser UI
- Fast
- Secure
- Native-like experience
And the best part?
👉 We already had a PWA.
Half a day later… it was running
We wrapped our existing Hischool PWA using TWA.
Setup took half a day.
When we first ran it on the Android simulator — it already felt good.
But simulators lie.
So we tested it on a real Android phone (borrowed from a friend’s wife 😄).
And that’s when it clicked.
It felt:
- Fast
- Smooth
- Native
- Clean
- Just like a real app
At that moment, we knew:
This is it. This is the Android app.
I even bought an Android phone myself just to keep testing it properly.
What makes the Android app special
Because the Android app runs our PWA:
Instant updates
Every web update is instantly available on Android.
No waiting for store approvals.
Full feature parity
Everything you can do on web — you can do on Android:
Offline-friendly
Cached data, faster loading, more reliable experience on unstable networks.
True app experience
No browser chrome.
No weird behavior.
Just Hischool.
One codebase. Every platform.
With PWA + TWA, Hischool now runs on:
- Web (PWA)
- Android (TWA)
- iOS (Web wrapper)
- Desktop (Electron)
All from one shared platform.
This means:
- Faster development
- Faster fixes
- More stability
- More features for everyone
Download Hischool for Android
You can now download the official Android app:
What’s next?
This is just the beginning.
We’re working on:
- Better offline mode
- Deeper Android integration
- Performance improvements
- Notifications
- Background sync
And every improvement ships to all platforms — together.
Built once.
Shipped everywhere.
That’s the power of web-first.