# Romain Chikirou > Romain Chikirou is a freelance tech lead with 6+ years in web and mobile development. He designs, builds and ships iOS and Android apps and generative AI products (RAG, LLM agents, assistants on company documents) for startups and large companies, from the first idea to production. Based in France, works remotely. Stack: TypeScript, Python, Swift, React Native / Expo, React, Next.js, NestJS, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Supabase, Qdrant, LangChain, LangGraph, Docker, Azure, GCP. Last reviewed: 2026-10-29. # Projects ## Capsule The disposable camera for friends: every photo develops at the same time. Platforms: iOS, Android. Stack: React Native, Expo, Flutter, Supabase, Firebase, Node.js. Year: 2023. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/capsule Capsule was born in the emlyon business school incubator, where I was co-founder and CTO. The idea: bring back the fun of a disposable camera among friends. You create a capsule for an event, lasting 12 or 24 hours, invite your friends, and every photo is revealed at the same time at the end. - Product and concept design: ephemeral events, capsules, delayed reveal - Experience and interface design - First version in Flutter, then a full migration to React Native and Expo - Backend for capsules, members, media and states, moved from Firebase to Supabase - Invitations and social mechanics - Performance work, product iterations and release The app passed 10,000 users. It shows I can grow a mobile product, make structural technical decisions such as two migrations, and drive it end to end. ## Whysp Your friends' photos and messages, right on your lock screen. Client: Voodoo. Platforms: iOS. Stack: React Native, Expo, Swift, Supabase, Node.js. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/whysp A social app for your closest friends: a photo taken on the fly lands straight on their lock screen, with no feed and no pressure. Everything relies on native iOS integration. - Concept: private social, small circles of friends - Mobile app in React Native and Expo - Lock screen widgets and Live Activities in native Swift - Deep links from the lock screen to the right screen of the app - Onboarding, invitations, one to one and small group sharing - Notifications and near real time states - Testing, performance and release A distinctive social product shipped end to end, showing my command of native iOS features and of what makes social apps work. ## Ultimate Personalized workout programs, and meals analyzed from a single photo. Client: Rocapine. Platforms: iOS, Android. Stack: React Native, Expo, Supabase, OpenAI, RevenueCat. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/ultimate A 100 day fitness challenge, at home and with no equipment: everyone starts on the same day, and missing a workout means you are out. The app adds meals analyzed from a photo and a voice coach. - iOS and Android app in React Native and Expo - Progressive 100 day program and daily tracking - AI meal analysis from a photo - Voice coach during workouts and HealthKit sync - In-app subscriptions and metrics tracking A consumer fitness app shipped for Rocapine, rated 5 on the App Store. ## Sorun An endurance coach that builds your running, trail, cycling or triathlon plan. Platforms: iOS, Android. Stack: React Native, Expo, NestJS, Python, MongoDB, RevenueCat. Year: 2026. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/sorun SORUN is a coach for endurance sports: running, trail, cycling and triathlon. I joined as a freelance lead mobile developer on the Qöna coaching app, then became CTO and partner of SORUN, which carries on the team and method in a fully redesigned app. - React Native and Expo app development, with the product team and the coaches - Personalized training plans, from 5K to ultra trail, and fitness tracking - RevenueCat subscriptions: trials, one time purchases, promo codes - Development workflows: environments, releases, Sentry monitoring - App Store and Google Play release and follow-up - Architecture, product priorities and roadmap as CTO The app is live on iOS and Android, and I keep growing it as CTO and partner. ## Rendez-vous Parties, concerts and afterworks near you, to meet people in real life. Client: RDV. Platforms: iOS, Android. Stack: React Native. Year: 2026. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/rdv Rendez-vous helps people find what to do nearby: parties, concerts, afterworks, workshops. The goal is to bring people together in real life, from finding the event to holding the ticket. - iOS and Android app in React Native and Expo - Event discovery by city and category - In-app ticketing, secure payment and digital tickets - Chat between attendees and organizers - Wallet of credits and perks The app is live on the App Store and Google Play. ## Vortex Guided vibrational activations to reconnect with yourself and clear blocks. Client: Mehdi Baer. Platforms: iOS, Android. Stack: React Native. Year: 2026. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/vortex Vortex gathers a coach's guided sessions: you pick an Activation and their voice guides you, as in a live session. The app had to bring together 100+ activations, monthly lives and their replays. - iOS and Android app in React Native and Expo - Guided audio player and activation library - Lives and replays, favorites, random activation pick - Subscription access The app is live on the App Store and Google Play. ## Crush.ai An AI companion: chat with characters and generate images along the conversation. Platforms: iOS, Android. Stack: React Native, Expo, Firebase, Mistral. Year: 2024. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/crush-ai An AI companion app: you chat with characters that have their own personality, and generate images along the conversation. - Mobile app in React Native and Expo, Firebase backend - Chat server connected to language models - Image generation inside the conversation - Premium plan and usage tracking with Amplitude A personal project to test early how generative AI works for consumers on mobile. ## Procrastinator Plan your tasks at night, and wake up to a letter from your past self. Client: Rocapine. Platforms: iOS. Stack: React Native. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/procrastinator Procrastinator flips procrastination around: in the evening you plan tomorrow's tasks in a few minutes, and in the morning you get a letter from your past self. - iOS and Android app in React Native and Expo - Daily letter built from the planned tasks - Tasks ranked by difficulty, game style - Morning and evening notifications, progress tracking A productivity app live on the App Store. ## Unfold Measure your body age in a minute, then 5 minutes of mobility a day to make it younger. Client: Rocapine. Platforms: iOS. Stack: React Native. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/unfold Unfold measures your body age in under a minute, then offers 5 minutes of mobility a day to improve it, with no equipment or wearable. - iOS and Android app in React Native and Expo - Body age test and personalized daily program - Camera feedback and hold tracking - Real time voice coaching and progress tracking - Subscription with a free trial A health app shipped for Rocapine. ## Private Widget A private photo widget: your group of friends sends photos right to each other's home screen. Client: Voodoo. Platforms: iOS. Stack: React Native, Expo, Swift. Year: 2024. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/private-widget A private photo widget: a small group of friends sends photos that show up right on each other's home screen. - React Native and Expo app, native Swift widget - Private groups and SMS invitations - Photo capture and sending to friends' widgets - Web page to join a group from a link One of the first widget projects for Voodoo, which paved the way for Whysp. ## Top Science The latest medical studies, picked and summarized every day for health professionals. Platforms: iOS. Stack: React Native. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/top-science Health professionals have no time to read 20 pages of studies a day. Top Science picks scientific articles every day and summarizes them, by specialty. - iOS app in React Native and Expo - AI selection and summaries of studies - Feed tailored by specialty: nutrition, sport, sleep, rehab - Onboarding by profile: doctor, physio, researcher, student A personal project live on the App Store, rated 5. ## Molly Flip your phone, stay focused and earn gems: scrolling has to be earned. Client: Rocapine. Platforms: iOS. Stack: React Native. Year: 2026. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/molly Molly does not block social media: it rewards focus. Flip your phone, stay focused, earn gems, and the mascot grows with your progress. - iOS app in React Native and Expo - Focus sessions started by flipping the phone - Gems, daily streaks and an evolving mascot - Subscription and paywall A digital wellbeing app live on the App Store. ## Uplift Habit challenges proven with a photo and validated by the community, to keep goals together. Client: Voodoo. Platforms: iOS. Stack: React Native. Year: 2024. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/uplift Uplift helps you stick to new habits through others: join challenges, prove your participation with a photo, and the community validates or rejects it. - iOS and Android app in React Native and Expo - Challenges, photo proof and community validation - Habit and progress tracking - Social mechanics and notifications A social health app shipped for Voodoo. ## Adwise The AI marketing assistant: connect Google Ads, Meta, GA4… and ask questions in plain English, on your real data. Platforms: Web. Stack: React, NestJS, LangChain, Qdrant, PostgreSQL. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/adwise Agencies and advertisers spend hours cross-checking Google Ads, Meta, GA4 and Search Console. Adwise connects all of them and lets you ask questions in plain language, on your real data. - Platform architecture and development, as a co-founder - OAuth connections to marketing platforms: Google Ads, Meta, GA4, Search Console, LinkedIn - AI assistant that queries the data and answers with tables - Per client workspaces for agencies - Performance reporting and a GEO tracker, a brand's visibility in AI answers A SaaS live at adwisehub.com, used by agencies and advertisers. ## SpinWinGo A QR code prize wheel that turns a restaurant's customers into Google reviews. Platforms: Web. Stack: Next.js, Supabase, Stripe. Year: 2026. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/spinwingo Restaurants and local shops need Google reviews and customers who come back. SpinWinGo puts a QR code prize wheel on the tables: customers play, win a prize and join the shop's customer list. - Product design and development, from the landing page to the dashboard - Customizable wheel: prizes, colors and odds - Customer list and email and SMS campaigns - Single use vouchers and abuse protection - Stripe subscriptions and a blog published automatically from Notion A SaaS live at spinwingo.app, which I grow myself. ## Insidia A sovereign AI hub for Swiss companies: open source models, hosted in Switzerland, connected to their documents. Platforms: Web. Stack: NestJS, Next.js, Python, RAG, PostgreSQL, MinIO, Docker. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/insidia Insidia is a sovereign AI hub for Swiss companies: banks, insurers, law firms, clinics. They want an internal AI, hosted in Switzerland, running on open source models and connected to their documents. - Microservices architecture, with a dedicated instance per client - Main API in NestJS: authentication, model orchestration, access control - Python document services: PDF, Word, extraction, embeddings - RAG pipeline: indexing, semantic search, generation - Multi-user chatbot interface and a governance cockpit: usage, costs, logs - S3 storage with MinIO, PostgreSQL, Docker, deployment on Swiss servers - Modular architecture to add business agents: HR, legal, support A platform designed end to end, from architecture to deployment, including client meetings and roadmap work. ## SAV Sika AI reads customer requests and drafts the support reply, with the right product. Client: Sika. Platforms: Web. Stack: NestJS, Qdrant, Langfuse, OpenAI. Year: 2026. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/sika-sav ## BrandBot Proximus's internal AI assistant: brand guidelines, logos, visuals and tone of voice, in one question. Client: Proximus. Platforms: Web. Stack: Python, FastAPI, Next.js, LangGraph, Azure, Bynder API. Year: 2025. https://romainchikirou.com/en/projets/brandbot Proximus, Belgium's leading telecom company, wanted its teams to instantly find brand rules, logos, official visuals and the right tone of voice. The job was to take a prototype to production. - RAG pipeline connected to the company DAM (Bynder): logos, images and PDF guidelines - Automatic request classification, by brand and question type - Specialized agents: guidelines, asset search, tone of voice, query rewriting - Tuned chunking, rewriting and filtering for accurate answers - FastAPI backend orchestrating the AI flows, and an internal web interface - Migration to Azure: Azure Vector Search, Azure PostgreSQL, production release The assistant went from prototype to production on Proximus's Azure infrastructure, with full documentation and training so internal teams could take over. # Blog