💬 ChatApp

A simple real-time chat application built with SwiftUI (iOS) and Laravel API Backend.

This project was created as a portfolio project to demonstrate full-stack mobile development, including:

• iOS Frontend (SwiftUI)
• REST API Backend (Laravel)
• SQLite Database
• Message Storage & Retrieval
• User-to-User Messaging

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📱 Features

Current Features

✅ Send Messages

✅ Retrieve Chat History

✅ Store Messages in Database

✅ Laravel REST API

✅ SwiftUI Chat Interface

✅ Message Bubbles

✅ Timestamp Display

✅ Receiver Information Header

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🛠 Tech Stack

Frontend

• SwiftUI
• MVVM Architecture
• URLSession
• Codable

Backend

• Laravel 12
• PHP
• REST API
• Eloquent ORM

Database

• SQLite

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📂 Project Structure

ChatApp/
│
├── chat-frontend/
│   ├── SwiftUI Application
│   ├── Views
│   ├── Models
│   └── Networking
│
└── chat-backend/
    ├── Laravel API
    ├── Controllers
    ├── Models
    ├── Migrations
    └── Database

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🚀 API Endpoints

Send Message

POST /api/send-message

Request Body:

{
    "sender_id": 1,
    "receiver_id": 2,
    "message": "Hello John!"
}

Response:

{
    "status": "success",
    "data": {
        "id": 1,
        "sender_id": 1,
        "receiver_id": 2,
        "message": "Hello John!"
    }
}

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📸 Screenshots

Chat Screen

(Add screenshots here later)

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🔧 Setup

Backend

cd chat-backend

composer install

php artisan migrate

php artisan serve

Backend runs at:

http://127.0.0.1:8000

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Frontend

Open ChatApp.xcodeproj

Run the application using:

iPhone Simulator

Make sure the API base URL points to the Laravel backend.

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🎯 Learning Objectives

This project helped me learn:

• SwiftUI Development
• REST API Integration
• Laravel Backend Development
• Database Design
• JSON Serialization
• API Testing with Postman
• Git & GitHub Workflow

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📌 Future Improvements

• User Authentication
• Login Screen
• Registration Screen
• Profile Picture Support
• Read Receipts
• Typing Indicator
• Online Status
• Real-time Messaging (WebSockets)
• Push Notifications
• Dark Mode
• Message Search

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👩‍💻 Author

Evelyn Callista Yaurentius

GitHub: https://github.com/CallistaEve