Case Study: Darts Scorer 180 – From Side Project to 100K+ Annual Users

The Idea: A Modern Darts Scoring Experience

In 2017, while still in university, I set out to build a darts scoring app with a sleek, modern user experience. The existing apps felt outdated, cluttered, and often required unnecessary logins or complex onboarding flows. My goal was simple: let users start a game as quickly as possible, without friction.

What began as a side project quickly turned into something much bigger than I had anticipated.

Launch & Unexpected Growth

After a much longer-than-expected development process, I launched Darts Scorer 180 in January 2019 on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store—without any major expectations. I shared it in a few Facebook dart groups, and to my surprise, downloads started surging.

Users were immediately drawn to the modern UI and intuitive design, which set it apart from other apps in the category. The organic growth continued, and within a year, during the Darts World Championship season in January 2020, the app ranked #2 in the German iOS Sports charts.

Challenges: Bugs, Feature Requests & Scaling Pains

As the user base grew, so did the need for refinements. The first version of the app, while well-received, revealed areas that required improvement. Users quickly provided valuable feedback, requesting additional features and reporting issues that needed attention. To ensure a high-quality experience, I adopted a user-centric development approach, prioritizing updates based on real-world usage and direct user input.

Technical Hurdles: Expo Almost Killed the App

The biggest technical challenge came from my initial choice of Expo for React Native development. At first, it seemed like a great option for fast iteration. However, over time, Expo introduced more and more breaking changes, and at one point, an update made it impossible to maintain the app — causing all users to lose their saved statistics.

This led to a wave of negative reviews and a serious drop in user trust. The only way to recover was through rapid customer support and a technical overhaul. I made the difficult decision to fully migrate to bare React Native, ensuring I had complete control over updates and dependencies.

Even though Expo has since become more stable and is now the default for React Native, I wouldn’t recommend it for scaling production apps.

Backend Evolution: From Firebase to Supabase

On the backend side, I initially chose Firebase because of its low entry barrier. It allowed me to get started quickly, but as the app scaled, Firebase’s limitations became clear:

  • Poor developer experience – The dashboard was cluttered and lacked transparency.
  • Scaling problems – NoSQL databases work well for small apps, but as complexity grows, they become harder to manage.
  • Google Cloud integration was frustrating, making backups and structured queries a nightmare.

The solution? A full migration to Supabase. Supabase provided:

✅ PostgreSQL, which offers far more control and flexibility

✅ Plenty of authentication options

✅ A Firebase-equivalent feature set — without the headaches

✅ Overall a better developer experience

The transition to Supabase significantly improved performance, maintainability, and scalability.

The Power of React Native: One Codebase, Two Platforms

Despite the challenges, choosing React Native was one of the best decisions for the project. Over the years, it has evolved significantly, allowing me to:

  • Maintain a single codebase for both iOS and Android.
  • Easily adapt to different screen sizes without extra effort.
  • Deliver a seamless user experience, indistinguishable from a fully native app.

This approach has saved countless development hours, making the app much easier to maintain and iterate on.

Where Darts Scorer 180 Stands Today

Six years after its launch, Darts Scorer 180 has:

🚀 100,000+ annual users worldwide

💰 6,000+ active subscriptions

🌍 Players from all over the world

It has become a trusted tool for casual darts players, and while I no longer play darts as much as I did during my university years, I still get a kick out of walking into an Irish pub and seeing people using my app.

Lessons Learned

This journey has been about much more than just building an app — it has shaped me as a developer and entrepreneur. Over the years, I’ve gained deep expertise in:

✅ Building and scaling mobile applications

✅ Designing a top-tier user experience

✅ Navigating React Native and backend migrations

✅ Growing an app organically without paid marketing

✅ Providing great customer support to maintain a loyal user base

What started as a simple side project has turned into a highly successful product and an incredible learning experience.

And if there’s one takeaway from all this, it’s this: Success in mobile app development isn’t just about code — it’s about understanding your users, adapting to challenges, and constantly improving.