Trinity College Media
An Android app for Trinity College Kandy featuring a sports blog, real-time scores, an event calendar, and push notifications. Over 500 installs.
Trinity College Media is an Android app I built for Trinity College Kandy’s media unit. It was the first production app I shipped, and it holds a special place in how I think about software — because it was used by real people from day one.
What it does
The app was built for the Trinity College community: students, parents, alumni, and fans who follow the college’s sports and events.
- Sports blog — Match reports, team news, and featured stories from college sports, particularly rugby.
- Real-time score updates — Live match scores that update without the user having to refresh. During big rugby matches, this was the primary draw.
- Event calendar — Upcoming school events, sports fixtures, and concerts, all in one place.
- Push notifications — Score alerts and event reminders sent directly to devices, powered by Firebase Cloud Messaging.
Why this one matters
This was 2016. I was still in school. Building something used by over 500 people while learning Android development was formative — I had to figure out Firebase’s realtime database, FCM, background services, and the Android activity lifecycle all at once, without a framework to hold my hand.
The app taught me that users don’t care how the code is structured — they care whether the score updates when the game is live and the notification fires when the match kicks off. That focus on the actual user experience, not just the implementation, shaped how I approach product development.
Tech stack
Built with native Android (Java), with Firebase Realtime Database for live score sync, Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications, and Firebase Authentication for the admin panel used by the media unit to publish content.