'Buddy Finder' App Is The Brainchild Of Manalapan Boy

MANALAPAN, NJ — It's not always easy to make friends.

So Pranav Boddu, an 11-year-old who attends sixth grade at the Pinebrook School in Manalapan, had an idea about how to use his technology skills so he and other kids could find "buddies."

It all started during an isolating time for lots of kids and adults - the pandemic.

Pranav always enjoyed coding. He also enjoys swimming, gymnastics and taking guitar lessons, but lots of those activities were not able to happen during the pandemic.

In the fall of 2020, Pranav started spending more time on video games and watching YouTube, according to his mother, Jayalaksh Narayanan.

But she knew he liked coding, and was learning Python on his own and developing basic games.

But it was challenging to learn on his own, so she enrolled her son in the BYJU FutureSchool, an online learning platform that teaches math and coding, via one-on-one, live instruction with a teacher. The school is named after the founder Byju Raveendran, a former teacher who founded the company based in India, according to a spokesperson for the school.

Pranav started as a beginner and learned to code using free resources. Next he learned block coding for apps, the school said.

During the summer of 2021, his coding teacher asked him to think of a problem that can be resolved by using an app, which doesn’t have an app solution already.

While his parents helped him think of several ideas, he chose a topic that he understood firsthand – how to overcome the obstacles to making friends.

But now he had an idea for a solution.

So when he got an opportunity to design an app, he wanted to build one that would help parents connect their kids with others who have similar interests, especially if they have special needs or have trouble making friends, according to the school.

And so his Buddy Finder app was created.

The app gives kids the opportunity to build new friendships beyond their school and neighborhood.

Pranav’s app is now a finalist in a Silicon Valley Challenge coding competition.

Pranav shared the idea with his teacher, and he was officially selected to compete in BYJU’S “Silicon Valley Challenge,” a global coding competition.

In the fall of 2021, Pranav advanced to become a finalist, and was assigned a mentor to help develop his concept into a functioning app for the Google Play platform.

In December 2021, he presented his app via video to competition judges and is currently awaiting results of the competition. Carolyn Kamii, the school spokesperson, said the results will be announced in 2023.

His Buddy Finder app, has several key pages:

• Login/Sign Up: where parents create an account
• Home Page: features links to Add Profile, My Profile, Find Buddy, Buddy Chat
• Add Profile: parents add each child’s name, date of birth, zip code, description, and select an interest from a drop down menu of options (includes sports, video games, and miscellaneous)
• View Profile: parents can see and edit their children’s profiles
• Find Buddy: type in desired zip code and interests so it can search for the right buddy nearby
• Buddy Chat (not enabled yet): in the future, parents can use this chat feature to connect with other parents to schedule a time for kids to play

While Pranav is done working on Buddy Finder, which is available on Google Play, he said it can be enhanced in the future: the ability to search for buddies by multiple interests or by age; notification of upcoming events in their area according to kids’ interests; typing in custom interests that are not included in the dropdown list; allowing parents to email each other inside the app; allowing users to organize events and solicit invitations to other parents who are using the app; and enabling the buddy chat function, according to the BYJU school.