HackHQ

A native iOS app for discovering hackathons, saving the ones you like, tracking your applications, and setting deadline reminders. Built with SwiftUI and SwiftData as a learning project, with a custom HackHQ brand design system.

Features

• Discover — Browse a feed of upcoming hackathons as branded cards. Featured events are highlighted with a warm cream accent and orange edge.
• Saved — Bookmark hackathons and revisit them in a dedicated list.
• My Hackathons — Track applications with a status workflow (Interested, Planning, Applied, Accepted, Waitlisted, Rejected, Attending, Attended, Withdrawn), plus notes.
• Reminders — Schedule local notifications for application deadlines and other key dates.
• Detail view — Full event info (location, format, dates, deadline, tags, description) with actions to save, track, add reminders, open the website, and share.
• Appearance — System / Light / Dark theme preference, persisted across launches.
• Animated splash — A zoom-in launch screen with the HackHQ logo that blends seamlessly into the brand background in both light and dark mode.

Screenshots

Screen	Light	Dark
Discover
My Hackathons
Detail
Saved
Settings
Splash

Tech stack

• SwiftUI for the UI
• SwiftData (@Model, @Query, ModelContainer) for persistence
• UserNotifications for deadline reminders
• Asset catalog for brand colors, the app icon, and light/dark logo art
• No third-party dependencies

Requirements

• Xcode 26 or later
• iOS 26.5+ deployment target
• macOS with the iOS 26.5 simulator runtime (or a device on iOS 26.5+)

Getting started

1. Clone the repo.
2. Open hack-ios.xcodeproj in Xcode.
3. Select the hack-ios scheme and an iOS 26.5+ simulator or device.
4. Build and run (Cmd + R).

On first launch the app seeds sample hackathon data via SampleDataService so the Discover feed isn't empty. To exercise reminders, grant notification permission from the Settings tab.

Project structure

hack-ios/
├─ App/               App entry point, root container, splash, tab bar
│  ├─ hack_iosApp.swift
│  ├─ RootContainerView.swift   # hosts splash over the app, applies theme
│  ├─ RootTabView.swift
│  └─ SplashView.swift
├─ Features/          One folder per feature area
│  ├─ Discover/
│  ├─ Saved/
│  ├─ Applications/   # My Hackathons + application editor/detail
│  ├─ Reminders/
│  └─ Settings/
├─ Components/        Reusable views (HackathonCard, TagChip, StatusBadge)
├─ Models/            SwiftData models and enums
├─ Services/          SampleDataService, NotificationService
├─ Theme/             Brand design system (colors, typography, styles)
├─ Utilities/         Formatting helpers
└─ Assets.xcassets/   Colors, app icon, logo art

Design system

The brand lives in hack-ios/Theme/ and the asset catalog so styling stays consistent:

• Colors (BrandColor.swift + *.colorset)
  • brandOrange #ED5B29 — primary accent (also the app accent color)
  • brandBackground — page background: neutral #F4F4F4 (light) / ink #100F0F (dark)
  • brandSurface — cards/rows: white (light) / #1E1D1C (dark)
  • brandCream — warm accent for featured cards and the splash: #F5EDE6 (light) / #2A2521 (dark)
  • brandInk — primary text, plus derived brandInkSecondary, brandHairline, brandOrangeSoft
• Typography (Theme.swift) — system fonts styled with heavier weights and tracking for a technical feel, plus a SectionEyebrow label.
• Reusable styling — .brandCard(featured:) view modifier and PrimaryBrandButtonStyle / SecondaryBrandButtonStyle.
• Appearance (AppTheme.swift) — AppTheme enum persisted via @AppStorage, applied with .preferredColorScheme at the root.

Note: Xcode's generated asset symbol extensions are disabled for this target so the hand-authored color tokens in BrandColor.swift are the single source of truth.

Data model

• Hackathon — core event, with format, dates, deadline, tags, and isFeatured / isSaved flags. Owns an optional Application and a list of DeadlineReminders (cascade delete).
• Application — the user's tracking record for a hackathon, with ApplicationStatus, notes, and timestamps.
• DeadlineReminder — a scheduled reminder tied to a hackathon and a local notification.
• Tag — many-to-many labels shared across hackathons.

Testing

The project includes hack-iosTests (unit) and hack-iosUITests (UI) targets. Run them with Cmd + U in Xcode.