We asked UNI-INTERACT founders, Wakana Kumagawa, Miyu Kondo, and Hideaki Iwata about building an app that allows university students who are learning languages to interact with and meet each other. Wakana is currently studying English and Spanish at a Japanese university. Her study abroad plans in Australia were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so she decided to build an app for students from different countries to interact with one another. She chose Bubble because the no-code platform's forum and easy-to-use interface made the process of building the UNI-INTERACT website simple and fast.
Tell us about your app and what it does.
Our app, UNI-INTERACT, is an online community where university students, who are learning languages, can interact with and meet each other. Due to the rapid spread of coronavirus, many university students haven’t been able to study languages the way they want and communicate with international students.
Thus, this is where UNI-INTERACT comes in! With UNI-INTERACT, students can connect with university students from around the world through online video calls, social events, proofreading services, and more for free!
How does your app work?
Through UNI-INTERACT, students can find language exchange partners and schedule video calls through Zoom, get their writing corrected by native speakers, and post materials that they recommend so that other language learners can utilize them too.
Tell us a little about your background and how you discovered no-code tools like Bubble.
I am currently studying English and Spanish at a Japanese university. To improve my English and Spanish skills, I was planning to study abroad in Australia and Spain; however, I couldn’t go because of the pandemic. Due to study abroad cancellations and as online classes become mainstream worldwide, I thought it would be useful to be able to communicate online with students in other countries. To make this possible, my friends and I decided to create UNI-INTERACT, and that’s when we decided to look up how to build a website without code.
Why did you build your app on Bubble?
We didn’t know much about no-code tools before, so we tested different platforms to find the perfect one. Once we found Bubble, we knew that it would be perfect for building the UNI-INTERACT website. Even though we didn’t have much experience, Bubble’s forum and easy-to-use platform made the process very simple.
What have been your milestones or successes so far?
We launched our app last month, and we have already had students join from the U.S., Spain, France, and more! Right now, we’re working on making a video on how to use our website so that more and more students can use our website!
What are your next steps or future plans for your app?
We hope to improve UNI-INTERACT so that students can utilize it not only for language learning but also for studying abroad and internships. In addition to that, once studying abroad is possible again, we’d like to provide a service for finding host families!
Learn more about UNI-INTERACT: Instagram
About Bubble
Bubble is a leader in the no-code movement. Bubble offers a powerful point-and-click web editor and cloud hosting platform that allows users to build fully customizable web applications and workflows, ranging from simple prototypes to complex marketplaces, SaaS products, and more. Over 500,000 users are currently building and launching businesses on Bubble - many have gone on to participate in top accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, and even raise $365M in venture funding. Bubble is more than just a product. We are a strong community of builders and entrepreneurs that are united by the belief that everyone should be able to create technology.
Do you want your app featured by Bubble? Reach out to us and tell us about your app. In addition to this series, we sometimes select our best apps to showcase on our website.
