EasiCash

Start saving money by using our management iPad app that helps small business thrive.

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Inspiration

My mom works in a small restaurant, and she always tells me how her manager is frustrated with keeping track of sales. I came up with the idea of making an intuitive and simple iPad app that allows her and other nearby small businesses to avoid writing everything down on paper and forgetting on the back of their heads and includes analytical tools. Hey it is free and open source too!

What it does

We created an iPad management app that allows business owners to:

  1. Add their own menu items with intuitive visualization to make ordering easier and faster, with all menu items in the center and list info and customer info on the right. Filter the menu by category.
  2. Keep track of previous history in a table format with customized sorting.
  3. Understand what the data represents behind these sales using charts and bento design.
  4. Switch to different tabs with a seamless experience.

How we built it

This is the first iPad app we have ever made. We built the app entirely using Swift + SwiftUI. We used a few iOS libraries: PhotoPicker (to import pictures from the photo library) and Charts (for chart visualization). TipKit (to show tips on how to use certain features). Everything is built from scratch without using any third-party libraries. The sidebar is implemented using the latest iOS 18 technology, TabView and Tab. The current XCode beta version we used is XCode 16.1 beta, running on Sequoia 15.1. It wouldn’t work on any other device unless it's running on these two platforms.

Challenges we ran into

The challenges we faced were understanding Apple SDK. There are many tools we hadn’t used before, such as the inspector to show additional info, the table to properly show rows of sales, and SwiftCharts to visualize different data that makes sense to a small business. We also had difficulties with the MVVM, especially when it comes to the observer pattern with the view model. There were many times where the preview just crashed without any reason. We spent a lot of time in the first few hours trying to figure out the most intuitive design for a restaurant business owner to understand and present the most information without needing to learn the platform by simplifying it.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We take pride in creating an app that directly addresses the challenges we faced as cashiers. Our research into existing cash register products revealed that many are difficult to learn and come with a high cost—often over $200 per month, and even more for digital versions. Our application focuses on solving these problems by providing a functional, user-friendly cashier register solution that is not only easy to use but also highly customizable. Users can effortlessly add, delete, or edit menu items to suit their needs.

In addition, we've included powerful analytics features that enable business owners to gain valuable insights into their operations. The app allows users to analyze their income, visualize peak passenger flow periods, and identify the best-selling categories. This combination of ease of use and robust functionality makes our app an affordable and effective tool for small businesses, a goal that we are truly proud of achieving.

What we learned

Programming an iPad app is so much fun. We evaluated a few designs from Apple and existing designs from other companies, and have a deep understanding of how to make a functional iPad app!

What's next for EasiCash

We want to allow more customization for users and store all menu items and sales on disk, enabling customers to manage their business better. We also plan to store the menu data online so it syncs across different devices. Additionally, we aim to make this a cross-platform app so it can run on iPhone and macOS desktop. We would like to add some AI analysis so business owners can predict their future revenue and know what to upgrade in their inventory to keep up with the market.

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