WindowSeat

The WindowSeat team came to us with an idea born out of a very valid concern: kids these days spend too much time with digital devices and too little time connecting with what matters. So, how can a mobile app solve that, you might wonder? Well, the platform we built offers 1,500 Christian audio dramas that families can listen to while spending quality time together: doing puzzles, cooking dinner, taking road trips, or just hanging out together. WindowSeat provides safe, screen-free content that fits seamlessly into family life.

Now, let us tell you how we built it.

Brights took on WindowSeat’s development after the client’s initial attempts with other vendors didn’t work out. With just four months to complete the MVP, we faced an ambitious challenge: building an app rich in complex, user-friendly features while responding to continuously evolving business needs — all in time for MOMCON, a major conference for parents at which the app had to be presented.

Not ones to shy away from a challenge, we embraced the task, equipped with the design provided by the client. So, let’s dive into the solutions we implemented to bring WindowSeat to life.

Audio player functionality
The app's core is an audio player functionality, which we developed from scratch to deliver a screen-free audio experience. The full player includes everything for seamless use, including scrolling titles and backgrounds, detailed content info, a sleep timer, and more. The app also remembers playback progress for each audio, with a “Continue Listening” section and a complete listening history.

We also built a mini-player that keeps audio accessible at all times, even when the primary controls aren’t visible, letting users enjoy audio with just a swipe or a tap.

Offline access and downloads
For families on the move, we developed offline functionality that makes it easy to download content for later and experience Christian audio adventures from anywhere. Whether on a road trip or camping where connectivity isn’t ideal, users can save stories, track progress, and switch smoothly between online and offline modes.

Sleep timer
We all know how comforting it can be to fall asleep while listening to a story. With this in mind, together with the client, we introduced a sleep timer so that children and parents could drift off to a bedtime audio drama and set the app to turn off automatically. This addition allows families to end the day in a relaxed, screen-free way, creating a comforting nighttime ritual.

Daily devotionals
To help kids engage in positive habits, we added the Word Nerd devotionals — a daily feature that combines animation and vocabulary learning for spiritual growth. Each day, a new word is presented on the home page through a looping Rive animation, adding a dynamic visual experience. The audio is crafted programmatically, blending an intro with that day’s content, to introduce children to language that deepens their understanding of faith.

Discover experience and favorites
The WindowSeat app was meant to feel like a curated library, so we developed the Discover tab as an entryway for exploration. Here, users can browse by category, creator, or newly added content, making it easy to find stories and shows that fit their interests. To keep the most-loved episodes close at hand, we added a Favorites feature that lets users create personalized playlists and add content to an Up Next listening queue for continuous enjoyment.

Subscription management
WindowSeat is a subscription-based app, so we implemented a subscription management system integrated with secure payment processing. This feature includes flexible options — a free trial, monthly, and yearly subscriptions — so that families can choose a plan that best fits their needs.

Analytics tracking for royalties calculation
WindowSeat cooperates with many creators — hence the 1500+ audio dramas on its platform. To ensure fair and transparent compensation for content creators, our team developed a custom solution to track user engagement and calculate royalties accurately. We also integrated Mixpanel for detailed listening analytics and GoHighLevel as a CRM for managing customer data.

Admin panel
The team developed an intuitive admin panel to support WindowSeat’s ever-expanding content library. With a complex content structure that allows straightforward updates and management across various levels and types, Brights provided WindowSeat’s team with the tools to efficiently organize and release new content.

Presenting WindowSeat's app at MOMCON was the first step in connecting families with a new way to enrich their time together. The product’s debut has sparked interest and even brought in its first customers. And we're confident this is just the beginning, with more and more families finding WindowSeat fitting into their routines, one story at a time.

Since the successful MVP launch, Brights continues to enhance WindowSeat. In addition to improving current functionality, we are already working on new features like comped accounts, gift cards, royalty reports, and more, ensuring the app is not just viable but 100% lovable for parents and their children.