UniFriends: Academic and Extracurricular Networking App

Abstract

UniFriends is a social application that aims to provide university-aged students a platform to network and find other students in both academic and extracurricular contexts. It is divided into two parts - academics and extracurriculars - that represent two distinct sides of the identity of the average university student. The thesis covers the long process of developing a full-stack application, from the planning stage all the way to deployment and then fixing related issues. It covers the technologies used, documents every feature offered and goes through the decisions and challenges that shaped the development process. Beyond its descriptive scope, the thesis serves as a practical reference for the React and Spring Boot ecosystem as of April 2026, reflecting contemporary development practices and the adoption of widely used, modern technologies.