How We Built an Offline-First Event App for It's the Ship Festival at Sea
It's the Ship is a famous electronic music festival held on a cruise ship sailing between Marina Bay in Singapore and Langkawi in Malaysia, with thousands of music fans and artists on board. Limbani Softwares designed and built an offline-first mobile app that gives guests the performance line-up, itinerary, activities and merchandise in their pocket, even without internet at sea.
Industry
Events & Entertainment
Project Type
Event Mobile App
Market
Singapore & Malaysia
Platforms
iOS, Android
The Solution
We built a festival companion that works at sea, so every guest always knows what is on, where to be and what to grab next, with or without a signal.
Offline-First Design
Schedules and information are stored on the device, so the app works on the ship without internet.
Performance Line-Up
Guests browse artists by day and stage and save their favourite sets.
Voyage Itinerary
Boarding times, shore days and key moments are shown in a clear day-by-day timeline.
Activities and Updates
New activities and announcements are published to the app during the festival.
Merchandise
Guests browse festival merchandise and see where to collect it on board.
Account Access
Guests sign in with an account to access their personal information anywhere on the go.
Technologies & Tools
A cross-platform offline-first event app with local data storage, a festival design system and content updates from the organisers.
Development Process
The development process involved the following stages:
Discovery
Festival UX Design
Offline Architecture
App Build
Testing at Scale
Event Launch
The Challenge: How Do You Build an App for a Festival at Sea?
On a cruise ship, mobile internet is limited or unavailable, yet thousands of guests need to know which artists are playing, where and when, and what is happening across the ship. It's the Ship needed an app that felt as energetic as the festival and kept working reliably in the middle of the ocean.
How Does the It's the Ship App Work?
Before boarding, guests sign in and the app downloads the line-up, itinerary and festival information to the device. On board, they browse sets by day and stage, save favourites, follow the voyage timeline from Marina Bay to Langkawi and back, and check merchandise, all without needing a connection.
What Made the App a Success?
The offline-first approach meant guests could rely on the app at any moment of the trip, and the bold design matched the festival's brand. The organisers could add new activities and updates, giving thousands of guests one trusted place for everything happening on board.