More Than | Insurance
When to rebuild, not refactor, how a fresh start rebuilt trust for young drivers
For MoreThan’s Smart Wheels app, fixing things around the edges wasn’t enough. With trust falling and poor tracking eroding user confidence, we rebuilt the app from the ground up and delivered a smoother experience at a fraction of the ongoing cost.
MoreThan’s Smart Wheels app is designed to reward young drivers for safe habits behind the wheel. Paired with a black box in the car, it tracks speed, distance and driving behaviour, then offers tips and financial perks to help users improve.
But there was a problem. The app’s tracking data had started to feel off. Users were being flagged for behaviours they hadn’t done, and trust was falling fast. A tool that was meant to incentivise good driving had started to frustrate and confuse the people using it.
Worse still, the app’s codebase had become tangled and hard to maintain. Updates were risky, and older systems were struggling to keep up. MoreThan needed a solution, not just to fix the data, but to rebuild trust and engagement with young drivers.
“If drivers didn’t believe the data, the whole premise of the app fell apart.”
The :[The Solution]
We started with a full technical review using our Springboard Development Framework. Looking at the app’s code, performance and long-term maintainability against MoreThan’s goals.
The conclusion was clear: this wasn’t a case for refactoring. The original codebase wasn’t stable enough to support future development, and it couldn’t meet modern user expectations. A full rebuild would be faster, more efficient and ultimately more cost-effective.
We rebuilt the Smart Wheels app from scratch as a cross-platform solution. That meant a single codebase for both iOS and Android, meaning it was easier to maintain, quicker to update and far cheaper to run.
Crucially, we overhauled how tracking data was handled. Out went the flawed assumptions and patchy location estimates. In came a clean new interface, accurate point-to-point tracking and a more transparent experience for users.
By working in two-week agile sprints, we involved MoreThan at every stage, testing features early, gathering real feedback and iterating fast. We focused on building a minimum viable product that could grow steadily, with no need for risky overhauls later.
The new Smart Wheels app is simpler, sharper and built for growth. Users are more engaged, the tech is easier to manage and MoreThan has a digital product that better reflects the brand's promise to its customers.
75% reduction in ongoing maintenance costs
4.4 stars on Google Play — up from the industry average of just 1 star
Rebuilt trust among users through cleaner design and accurate data
MoreThan came to Indiespring because they needed a partner who wouldn’t just patch up problems. We recognised that a fresh start was the best route forward — and we delivered a new experience that was better, faster and cheaper.
“It feels like a completely different product and that’s exactly what we needed.”Struggling with an app that’s lost user trust? Sometimes the best fix is a rebuild.