We Ditched Slack and Our Intranet for Arheev
Tools don't just organize work. They architect behavior. One company replaced their internal comms stack with Arheev and it did more for culture than two years of offsites combined.
6 min read
About a year ago, we started getting the same request from clients: "Can I approve this from my phone?"
The answer was technically yes, you could use the mobile browser. But it was clunky. Slow. Not really designed for a phone screen.
So we built a proper mobile app. It's on the Play Store now.
HR managers aren't always at their desks. Obvious statement, but it affects workflow more than you'd think.
We saw patterns in our data:
The mobile browser worked, but barely. People would try it once, get frustrated, then wait until they were at their desk.
The Android app isn't a simplified version. It's the full platform, just reorganized for a smaller screen.
This is the main use case. Manager gets a notification, opens the app, approves or denies. Under 30 seconds if it's straightforward.
The AI approval suggestions work the same as on desktop, showing previous similar requests, flagging coverage gaps, checking policy compliance. All the same data, just formatted for mobile.
Approval time for our clients who use the app: same-day for about 80% of requests, compared to 2-3 days before.
Clock in/out from your phone. Useful for remote workers or field teams.
We added location data (optional, with permission) for companies that need it. Some clients use it, most don't.
The attendance dashboard shows who's in, who's out, who's working remotely. Managers check this way more than we expected, apparently "who's around today?" is a common question.
Company announcements, news, updates. Pretty standard social feed stuff.
We weren't sure if people would use this on mobile, but it's actually the second most-used feature after leave requests. People scroll the feed while waiting for meetings or during commute.
Quick access to contact info, position, department. Seems basic, but managers use this constantly.
"What's their phone number?" "Which department are they in?" "Who's their manager?" All searchable from the app.
Building the app was maybe 3 months. Testing, fixing bugs, and dealing with platform quirks was the rest.
Google added a requirement for Android 15: apps need to support 16KB memory page sizes. Most devices use 4KB, but newer ones will use 16KB.
Three of our dependencies weren't compatible. We had to update react-native-reanimated, remove an old SQLite wrapper we weren't using, and wait for Expo SDK 51 to properly support it.
This delayed the launch by about three weeks. Annoying, but necessary.
Getting push notifications to work reliably across different Android versions was harder than expected.
We're using Firebase Cloud Messaging. It works, but there are edge cases, certain battery optimization settings kill notifications, some manufacturers (looking at you, Xiaomi) have aggressive app killing.
We added clear instructions in the app for users to whitelist Arheev in their battery settings. Not ideal, but it's the only solution.
Real-time sync between mobile and web was tricky. Make a change on mobile, it should appear on desktop instantly, and vice versa.
We're using WebSockets for live updates. Mostly works. Occasionally there's a delay if the connection drops and reconnects. Still debugging those edge cases.
Based on analytics from the first month:
Most used features:
Least used features:
Makes sense. Mobile is for quick tasks and checking information. Complex work still happens on desktop.
Short answer: we wanted to get Android right first.
Longer answer: iOS development requires Mac hardware, different testing setup, and we're a small team. We decided to launch Android, gather feedback, fix bugs, then apply those lessons to iOS.
iOS version is planned for Q3 2026. We've already started on it, just not ready to ship yet.
The app improved our return-to-office metrics for hybrid teams.
Managers can handle HR tasks without being at their desk, so they're less stressed about being away from the office. Employees can submit requests or check information without needing computer access.
One client said: "The app made hybrid work actually work. Before, people would delay HR stuff until they were in the office. Now they just do it from wherever."
Not what we built it for, but we'll take it.
Battery drain: The app uses more battery than we'd like. Mostly because of the real-time sync. We're optimizing this.
Offline mode: Right now if you lose connection, the app mostly stops working. We're adding offline caching for read-only features.
Search performance: Employee search is slower on mobile than desktop. Needs optimization.
Tablet layout: Technically works on tablets, but the UI isn't optimized for larger screens yet.
If you're already using Arheev, download the app from the Google Play Store and sign in with your existing credentials. Everything syncs automatically.
If you're not using Arheev yet, schedule a demo to see the platform, both web and mobile.
Mobile apps for HR aren't revolutionary. They're just convenient.
But that convenience matters. Faster approvals mean happier employees. Quick access to information means fewer interruptions. Being able to handle HR tasks from anywhere means less stress for managers.
Not groundbreaking, but genuinely useful.
We shipped the Android app. It works. iOS is next.
That's the update.
Tools don't just organize work. They architect behavior. One company replaced their internal comms stack with Arheev and it did more for culture than two years of offsites combined.
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