Coupon Cabin

Challenges

Coupon Cabin approached us with a significant challenge involving their mobile Safari browser extension. Originally developed by another company, the extension was plagued with bugs, poor performance, and an inefficient codebase that made it difficult to use. Users were experiencing slow performance, crashes, and overall instability, impacting the company's ability to provide a seamless shopping experience. Given the complexity of the issues, Coupon Cabin needed a team with specialized expertise in mobile Safari browser extensions to step in, address the problems, and improve the extension’s functionality.

Our Approach

With our extensive experience in mobile Safari extension development, we quickly identified the root causes of the issues and devised a plan to refactor the existing code. Rather than starting from scratch, we focused on key areas that would significantly enhance the extension’s performance and functionality. Here’s what we did:

• Fixed critical errors with asynchronous message handlers between background and content scripts, which were causing major communication issues within the extension. This fix improved internal data flow and user interactions.
• Rewrote the logic for chrome.storage, restructured classes, and ensured that updates from chrome.storage were properly reflected in the Vuex state manager. This overhaul made the extension more responsive and efficient, with better data handling and state management.
• Redesigned the handling of cookies and planning logic, shifting to a browser API-based approach using chrome.alarms and chrome.cookies. This change made the extension more reliable, reducing errors related to session management and cookie storage.
• Integrated the iOS extension into Coupon Cabin’s mobile app, allowing it to be distributed through Apple’s App Store as part of the overall mobile experience. This was a key technical challenge, as iOS extensions need to be incorporated into mobile apps for proper distribution, and our solution ensured seamless integration.

Updated the React Native framework along with numerous dependencies, bringing the extension up-to-date with the latest standards and enhancing its compatibility with modern web technologies.

Results

Our improvements resulted in a much more stable and functional mobile Safari extension, providing Coupon Cabin’s users with a smoother shopping experience. By leveraging our previous experience with Safari extensions, we were able to tackle complex issues and deliver a solution that significantly enhanced the extension's performance.

Since the successful refactoring, Coupon Cabin has become a recurring client. They trusted us to develop a brand-new desktop browser extension, which was completed successfully, and we are now working on refactoring their desktop app. This ongoing relationship speaks to the trust and confidence that Coupon Cabin has in our expertise.

While there is still work to be done to complete the full refactor of the mobile Safari extension, our partnership with Coupon Cabin continues to grow. This case study highlights our ability to jump into complex projects mid-development, leverage our deep expertise in Safari browser extensions, and build long-term client relationships based on trust, reliability, and proven results.

This project also emphasizes how important it is to work with a team that understands the intricacies of mobile Safari browser extension development—our previous experience was a key factor in being able to resolve the deep-rooted issues in Coupon Cabin’s codebase.