Scaling Meaningful Connections: Touch App’s Journey with DigitalOcean

Touch App is a social media platform founded by Mohamad Faisal and his brother in Turkey, with a mission to connect people while promoting a non-toxic digital environment free from bullying and hate speech. Inspired by the early, more positive days of social media, Touch App aims to create a space where users can share experiences, videos, and ideas within interest-based communities.

Touch App is particularly popular among users aged 25 to 50 who seek meaningful interactions without the pressure of influencer culture or algorithmic manipulation. The platform’s unique features, such as virtual location switching, allow users to engage with communities based on shared interests rather than proximity.

Choosing DigitalOcean for Scalability and Ease of Use

As a fast-growing social platform, Touch App needed a reliable cloud provider to handle increasing traffic, ensure data security, and scale efficiently. With founders from non-technical backgrounds, they also required a solution that was easy to manage and didn’t require deep infrastructure knowledge.

Touch App’s journey with DigitalOcean began through a recommendation from their app development partner in Switzerland. The platform’s simplicity, competitive pricing, and scalability quickly made it the preferred choice.

“We chose DigitalOcean because it was the most comfortable to use when starting out,” explains Mohamad. “After building our in-house team, we realized we could scale efficiently with DigitalOcean while maintaining logical pricing.”

After they had built out their own team, Touch App considered moving to other providers including AWS, but realized that DigitalOcean’s pricing and flexibility stood above the rest. “We compared DigitalOcean with other providers using their cost calculators, and DigitalOcean was far more affordable,” says Mohamad. “The flexible billing lets us scale resources up or down based on our strategy.” DigitalOcean’s simple and predictable pricing model, with per-hour and monthly rates, provided clarity and control over their infrastructure costs.

Droplets, Spaces, and Managed Databases Allow for Flexible Scaling

Touch App utilizes DigitalOcean’s Droplets (virtual machines), Spaces block storage, and Managed Databases to power its platform. Touch App explains, “Our main services are built on DigitalOcean Droplets, with Spaces for storage and DigitalOcean Managed Databases for reliability." The flexibility of DigitalOcean’s services makes it’s easy for them to scale up or down based on the demands of their own business and user base.

DigitalOcean has also supported Touch App’s efforts in developing AI moderation tools for videos and images, which are crucial for maintaining their commitment to a non-toxic community.

Touch App appreciated DigitalOcean’s steady evolution, adding new features that matched their growing needs. “DigitalOcean was also growing, and their growth supported ours. Features we needed, like GPUs for AI moderation, became available as we expanded” adds Mohamad.

Additionally, they have been able to realize clear cost savings by using DigitalOcean Spaces instead of other hosting services—initially hosting videos on Vimeo, they were able to move everything to DigitalOcean, which allowed them to cut costs without sacrificing quality.

Touch App also appreciates the hands-on support they have gotten from DigitalOcean throughout their journey, with Mohamad mentioning that “When we needed guidance on GPUs for our AI moderation, DigitalOcean’s support team provided detailed resources that helped our team move forward,” says Mohamad. DigitalOcean’s extensive documentation, tutorials, and 24/7 customer support empowered Touch App to solve technical challenges swiftly.

The Future of Touch App

With three years of experience and a deep understanding of user behavior, Touch App plans to expand within Turkey and reach a global audience. They aim to leverage DigitalOcean’s infrastructure for this growth while continuing to innovate their platform.

“We see DigitalOcean as a long-term partner,” says Mohamad. “Even if we built our own servers in the future, DigitalOcean would remain part of our infrastructure.”

Touch App’s journey with DigitalOcean reflects a seamless partnership built on trust, scalability, and shared growth, powering their mission to create a more meaningful and non-toxic digital world.