NetReelz
Short dramas and endless rewards, built for a new generation.
What we were handed.
Short-form video trained audiences to expect an instant payoff, but episodic streaming apps still open on a loading spinner and a grid. Swiping between episodes meant tearing down and rebuilding a video player every time, which burns battery and data — a real problem on Egyptian mobile networks.
What we built.
We rebuilt the watch experience around a bounded pool of reused video players with background prefetch, so a swipe is instant instead of a fresh load. On top of that sits a coin-rewards layer: users earn passively while watching and spend on premium unlocks, with daily quests and streaks turning viewing into a daily habit.
The app, screen by screen.
Three of the flows that shaped every architecture decision, rebuilt here as interactive mockups.
The right drama, every time you open the app.
A genre-aware home feed surfaces the next episode of your current series at the top, then mixes curated trending titles below. Chips let you jump instantly between Drama, Thriller, Comedy, and Romance.
Swipe. It's already playing.
A bounded pool of video players is reused across swipes instead of being rebuilt each time, with the next episodes prefetched in the background. The poster paints immediately and the video fades in on the first frame — so there's no spinner between episodes.
+1 coin every 12 seconds. No ads required.
Coins accumulate passively during playback and top up an in-app wallet. Three daily quests reset at midnight — watch three episodes, hold a 7-day streak, rate an episode — each with its own reward and multiplier.
The operator side, built to last.
Publish a series in minutes, not days.
An internal CMS lets the content team upload episodes, set release schedules, tag genres, and configure reward multipliers per episode — all without a deployment. Metadata syncs to the CDN edge in under 60 seconds.
Features that matter.
A curated list. These are the features that shaped the architecture rather than the full backlog.
TikTok-speed reels player: pooled controllers, LRU eviction, background prefetch
Poster-first rendering — the thumbnail paints instantly, video fades in on first frame
Data Saver mode: prefetch budget adapts to Wi-Fi, cellular or saver mode
ReelCoins earn engine — coins accrue during active playback, no ads required
Daily quest board with streak tracking and tiered rewards
Local payment rails (InstaPay, Vodafone Cash) alongside Stripe and Flutterwave
18-language interface with an Arabic and English content library