A chat app that lets you debate topics with anonymous people

by Flutter Awesome

hottake

Description

A chat app that lets you debate topics with anonymous people. Choose a topic and a stance then debate someone who holds the opposite view. Once the debate is over give your opponent a rating. Ratings are shown next to your name when you debate. There is an Android version and a Web version.

Images

Technologies

This app uses Flutter for the frontend and Firebase for the backend. My experience with flutter was decent, I enjoyed working with dart and building UI for Mobile but had trouble with state management and struggled to make flutter web feel like a website. Firebase was a pleasure to use since it is possible to stay within the free usage limits while developing an app. Services like Authentication are also provided but firebase. The only issue I had with firebase was that after using the Firestore for a bit I found out that there was no onDisconnect function available so I ended up using both the Realtime Database and the Firestore.

Functionality

  1. Topics are stored in a collection in the Firebase Firestore
  2. The app fetches the topics and shows them as buttons on the home page
  3. The user clicks on a topic and then is asked to pick a side (for or against the topic)
  4. An HTTP request (Firebase Functions) is made and a Chat Room ID is returned to the app
  5. A chat room loads in and the users can debate the topic
  6. Once a user is done debating then they can end the chat with a button
  7. When the chat has ended the users are able to rate their interaction with the opposing user
  8. Messages, chat room, and user data are stored in the Firestore while the chat goes on and is deleted when the chat ends.
  9. Users can change their usernames and see their reputation on the settings page.
  10. User can create an accout or use thier google account to make an accout.

How to run

  1. Install Flutter https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install
  2. Create a Firebase account https://console.firebase.google.com/
  3. Install Firebase https://firebase.google.com/docs/flutter/setup?platform=ios
  4. If you enable App Check in Firebase then you will need to use debug keys to run locally
  5. Files not included in repository:
    • lib/shared/private.dart (Contains reCapchta key for web App Check)
    • android/app/google-services.json (For android authentication, follow instructions in step 3)
    • lib/firebase_options.dart (Created when you init firebase in step 3)
    • web/token.js (For android apk authentication if you decide to upload to Play Store)

Why

This app is a personal project I worked on to learn more about how Flutter work, mainly on how one codebase can be used to make apps on many platforms. I will also use this project on my developer portfolio.

Limitations

  • Flutter web loses state when refreshing the browesr window, this means that you disconnect from a chat if you refresh the window. Shared Prefrences need to be added to save data when the page is refreshed.
  • You can not change your password or email.
  • App Check needs to be disabled (in the Firebase console) if you want to use the Android version installed from an apk since App Check tokens are only valid if the app was installed from the play store.

What could be added

  • A user reporting system
  • Reputaion based match making
  • Ability to save chats
  • Saving users as freinds and joining chats with friends.

GitHub

View Github