1,000,000 users. 40,000 locations. One app that works offline anywhere in the world.

Campercontact is Europe's largest motorhome community platform: 40,000 locations, user-generated reviews and photos, and a rapidly growing user base as camper travel hit a 30% year-on-year growth surge. The existing platform could not keep up. Data was slow to load, the app could not function offline, and the architecture was not built to scale internationally.

Elements was brought in to rebuild the mobile app, working alongside the broader MakerStreet network: backend in Mendix, design by Soda, and web frontend by Touchtribe. Our responsibility was the mobile app, built to handle scale, offline use, and global deployment.

A React Native app with offline-first architecture

Users do not always have internet while travelling through rural France or the Austrian Alps. We built offline functionality as a core requirement, not an afterthought. Users can download entire regions for offline use. The transition between online and offline is seamless, with local data staying in sync when connectivity returns.

Fast search through 40,000 locations with ElasticSearch

Making large amounts of location data fast and filterable was a central challenge. We implemented ElasticSearch to power the filtering layer, giving users quick, accurate results across location type, facilities, ratings, and distance, even as the dataset grows.

A shared codebase that connects to web and backend

The React Native app shares data fetching and parsing logic with the web application. This means data is consistent across platforms, logic is only written once, and the team does not have to solve the same problem twice. All actions in the app sync immediately to the backend, whether adding a location, submitting a review, or upgrading to a pro account.

Why React Native and a shared codebase with the web app?

Campercontact serves the same data across mobile and web. Building two separate data layers would have meant duplicated logic, inconsistent behaviour, and double the maintenance. React Native allowed us to centralise data fetching and parsing, ensuring both platforms always show the same information in the same way.

This project was a collaboration across the MakerStreet group: Mendix backend, Soda design, Touchtribe web, Elements mobile. Elements acted as the mobile specialist within a coordinated delivery team, with shared architecture decisions across disciplines.

With 1,000,000 users and a modular React Native architecture, Campercontact is positioned to expand further across Europe. New location types, enhanced community features, and deeper personalisation based on travel history are all achievable without rebuilding the core.