System admin
The system admin can see and edit all profiles, edit website content, and handle subscriptions and users’ access to website content.
Muslim Kids Television
An educational media and entertainment platform for English-speaking Muslim children
Idea
Michael Milo, the founder and director of Milo Productions, was looking into app development for kids’ early cultural and religious education. The idea behind the Muslim Kids TV project was to build a family-oriented platform focused on English-speaking Muslim children that would be a place to watch cartoons and play games while learning about religion and culture. Milo Productions specializes in producing educational Muslim TV shows for children, and their work is popular and appreciated all over the world. Creating Muslim Kids TV to distribute and monetize their content was a natural next step.
Muslim Kids TV gives Muslim children a voice in the online world, cultivates a community celebrating Muslim beliefs, provides positive role models, and educates as well as entertains.
Analysis
According to the Pew Research Center, there were 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide as of 2015, representing roughly 24% of the global population. Today, Islam is the second-largest world religion, but given that it’s also the fastest-growing major religion, babies born to Muslim families are projected to outnumber those born to Christian families by 2035.
Muslim Kids TV is a safe, educational, and entertaining platform that provides kids with the opportunity to learn interactively. They can watch videos, play games, and even recite surahs when studying the Quran – all within the same space. Milo’s project takes great care for what children watch and do, and makes sure to keep them entertained.
User Roles
Adult user
Parents can create profiles for children, check what they do on the platform, and get notifications when children make progress.
Child user
Children can log in to their profiles and see their favorite content. They can watch educational and entertaining videos, play games, and learn the Quran.
Results
Duration:
June, 2012 - Feb, 2014
Team:
Backend - 2 Frontend - 2 Android - 2 iOS - 2 QA - 3 UI - 1 UX - 1 PM - 1
Designed the interface
Muslim Kids TV isn’t just an educational resource – it also offers many entertaining features such as videos, games, contests, worksheets, printables, and even a Quran Recitation Buddy to help kids on their path of religious learning.
This platform is designed to actively engage children in working with texts, photos, and videos. We made these activities as natural and intuitive as possible, keeping in mind the age of our target audience.
Defined the web architecture
A Python/Django + HTML/JS/CSS module is responsible for performing most of the work on the website: rendering content and pages, sending emails and push notifications, handling authorization and authentication, and executing work with profiles and payments.
An API module built on the Django REST framework powers mobile applications for both iOS and Android.
Added integrations
We used Wistia for video playback and hosting. To make sure that children would be able to view only age-appropriate and approved content, we implemented a local environment that contains only the proven content. This combination of technologies also made it possible to store and synchronize video data, create playlists, mark favorites, and allow parents to choose what content their kids can watch without having to worry about something inappropriate popping up.
Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay allow Muslim Kids TV users to securely purchase subscriptions, manage recurring payments, and receive invoices. The platform also offers options for paying in person at certain convenience stores and paying for a number of accounts at once (which can be particularly useful for schools).
To help our client better understand the platform’s audience and create a more fulfilling experience, we implemented Infusionsoft tools and Google Analytics.
The wide variety of tools offered by Infusionsoft allowed us to automate everything related to ecommerce and conversion rates, letting Muslim Kids TV managers focus more on content and less on advertising. Google Analytics helps managers understand the market by giving insights on user preferences and offers statistics that can inform updates to the platform (adding/removing features, focusing on certain types of content, etc.).
Developed a native iOS application
The Muslim Kids TV application for iOS is written in Swift. For the iOS app, we decided to implement the Model-View-Controller (MVC) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) design patterns, as these best met our client’s requirements.
We implemented Alamofire for REST API interactions. For image caching, we used SDWebImage, and for in-app video downloads we decided to go with the default File Manager, which is a powerful tool designed and developed by Apple.
With the help of native animations plus customized transitions and transformations, we were able to create high-level instruments for working with tension, velocity, and damping. In the other words, we fully integrated the UI and UX requirements.
Using MKParentalGate, we implemented one of the most important features of Muslim Kids TV – a dexterity-based parental gate (to make sure that children can’t log in to a parent’s profile) with simple logic and a comfortable UI.
Developed a native Android application
The Android version of Muslim Kids TV was written in Java with the Android software development kit (SDK). We used a Model-View-Presenter (MVP) architecture, which supports maintainable and scalable code.
In-app payments are handled by the Google In-App Billing Service and are bound to users’ Google accounts, ensuring security and stability.
We also integrated a customized WebView so that JavaScript-based games run smoothly.
For video playback, we implemented native Android SDK tools and customized the controls. We also added a feature so users can download videos and play them offline.
To ensure better UI adaptivity across devices, we configured all UI layouts for both tablets and smartphones.
Implemented features
Parents can create profiles for up to three children per subscription. Profiles allow for personalization so kids can view their favorite content and not just what their siblings prefer watching.
Parents are notified every time their kids make progress in the Muslim Kids TV educational space.
All games that were previously available only on the web version are now available on all devices.
Children can create avatars for themselves by choosing from a variety of characters, clothing, and accessories.
This tool not only lets children listen to and repeat surahs, which are displayed word by word karaoke-style, but also record their recitations and check the accuracy of their pronunciation. The memorization tool can also send daily reports to parents so they can monitor their children’s progress.
We built a custom media player for the Android and iOS applications that matches the design offered by our client and supports offline access to saved videos.
Technology Stack
Client's feedback
SteelKiwi is amazing to work with. They are very responsive to what we need. They are amazing listeners and work with us through perfecting the design process and giving their feedback on the best technical solutions. Even though we are in two different countries and speak two different languages, we have never had any issues. Their support people speak and interact in fluent English. We have never had any trust issues. They have never overcharged us for the work. We feel we are very fortunate to have developed a relationship with such a developer. We contract a lot of services and SteelKiwi gets top rankings from us.
Michael Milo, Founder and Director of Muslim Kids Television
