Behind the success of Shifter: The story of innovation inside the company

It all started in the early days of our company when we decided to create the Shifter. An app that has seen user growth of over 100% every year since its launch. In this article, we'll take a look at what's been behind the success of Shifter and why it's different from other shift calendar apps.

How most shift calendar apps work

Create a profile, select all working days and each shift in the work cycle, specify the start and end time of each shift and create the cycle itself. While the process behind the setup of most of the better shift overview apps is fine-tuned for simplicity, it is still complicated for a large number of users. Although it sounds like it can't get any simpler, the opposite is true.

How the idea of Shifter was born

It all started while testing a similar app in 2016, practically in the early days of iDevBand, when one of our employees had the idea that it could be done differently. Instead of a mobile app that would require each user to configure their own shifts, we created a mobile app connected to our own shift database - Shifter.

Enter a username, select a company, choose a shift and that's it - the app setup process was as simple as possible from the very first version of the app. We created the app with an emphasis on maximum simplicity and user-friendliness and we continue to develop it in this spirit.

The biggest problem at the beginning was the addition of the database itself, which is the core of the whole solution. In the first days the users themselves - employees and management of individual companies - helped us (and still do, for which we thank them very much) to create and complete the database, but in the last 3 years we have been increasingly approached by the companies themselves. Adding shifts by employees of individual companies also has an advantage: they usually tell other co-workers about the added shifts, so the app gains more users.

Rapid growth and increase in popularity

Since its launch, we have been experiencing over 100% user growth per year with the Shifter app. The growth trend is mainly supported by the addition of shifts by large companies with more than 1000 employees.

The Shifter app is currently being used in over 100 countries. There are 18 countries where Shifter has more than 1000 users. However, the main user base is still mostly from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

Soon after the launch, we extended the app with the ability to add multiple profiles and shifts, which has proven to be a much appreciated feature. Thanks to this, users can add shifts of their friends or family members in the app, which makes planning joint activities much easier. Another important feature is the shift editing option, which offers users the ability to move, edit or cancel their shifts, as even with cyclical shifts, schedules change from time to time.

Looking ahead

An even easier way to add shifts, the possibility to view crossing shifts with friends or family members, or advanced notifications. We have many plans to improve the Shifter, but we continue to make sure that the app remains simple, efficient and serves its purpose - helping employees plan their time and keep track of their shifts literally in the palm of their hand.

Want to learn more about Shifter? Read our case study .