Why a mobile dashboard is an easy win

Most SaaS products live on the web. A mobile companion app is the obvious win that almost nobody ships. If your web app has logged-in users, a read-only mobile dashboard doubles your activation rate for the power users who want a glance-check on the go.

I shipped one of these as a companion to a web tool. The mobile app is not a second product. It is the same backend, a focused read view, and one or two mutations you can safely do from your phone.

What you actually need to build

• Auth bridge: Reuse your existing Supabase session, or issue a short-lived mobile token from your backend.
• Dashboard screen: One main number. Two secondary metrics. A chart that fits on one mobile screen. Pick what a power user would check between meetings.
• Push alerts: Fire a push when a metric crosses a threshold the user defined. This is the entire retention loop.
• One write action: Usually "acknowledge an alert" or "approve a pending item". Anything more complex belongs on the web.
• Settings screen: Thresholds, push toggles, sign out.

No full CRUD from mobile. No graphs nobody opens. Keep the app small.

The stack I use

• React Native + Expo.
• Supabase client reused from the web app so row-level security applies the same.
• NestJS — if you already have a backend, point the app at the same API.
• Victory Native or React Native Skia for the chart.
• Push via Expo Notifications.

Real build time

Mobile companion to an existing web product, built once.

• Auth bridge: ~5 hours.
• Dashboard + chart: ~8 hours.
• Push alert system: ~6 hours.
• Settings + sign out: ~3 hours.
• Store submission + screenshots: ~5 hours.

About 27 hours total, spread across 3 weekends, with an existing backend you can point to. If you are also building the backend, add another 15–20 hours for a minimal API.

Where people get stuck

• Session lifetime mismatch: Mobile sessions last months. Web sessions often expire in days. Make sure your refresh token logic survives an idle mobile app.
• Over-building: You do not need every web feature on mobile. Cut hard. One main number. One chart. One write action.
• Alert spam: Threshold alerts that fire ten times a day get muted. Batch alerts. Cap to one per metric per hour.

Skip the setup

Shippen ships with auth bridges, chart templates, push scaffolds, and a pre-wired Supabase setup. You connect it to your existing web product in a morning.

See pricing