[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":178},["ShallowReactive",2],{"navbar-blog-translation-/blog/":3,"blog-index-en":4},null,[5],{"id":6,"title":7,"body":8,"description":166,"draft":167,"extension":168,"featured":169,"image":170,"meta":171,"navigation":169,"path":172,"publishedAt":173,"seo":174,"sitemap":175,"stem":176,"updatedAt":3,"__hash__":177},"blog_en/blog/2026-09-10-why-we-built-uclass-one.md","“How many classes do I have left?” — Why we built UClass.one",{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":158},"minimark",[11,19,22,25,32,35,38,43,46,64,67,70,74,77,80,83,86,89,92,95,99,105,108,111,114,117,123,127,130,133,136,144,152,155],[12,13,14,15,18],"p",{},"“Hey, how many classes do I have left?”",[16,17],"br",{},"\n“Two more.”",[12,20,21],{},"These days, that conversation takes a few seconds at Roman’s training sessions: a glance at his phone is enough. Before, it meant opening a spreadsheet and counting check marks, then, if the student had been ill, remembering which absences had already been accounted for and how far their pass had been extended.",[12,23,24],{},"UClass.one grew out of conversations like these.",[12,26,27],{},[28,29],"img",{"alt":30,"src":31},"A capoeira class: an instructor and children practising a movement together","/blog/why-we-built-uclass-one/class.jpg",[12,33,34],{},"We’re Roman and Natalia. Roman teaches capoeira; Natalia used to teach yoga. We’ve always worked independently: renting spaces, putting groups together, teaching, and handling everything that inevitably comes with it — from taking payments to figuring out why one student’s pass has expired while another’s apparently hasn’t.",[12,36,37],{},"On July 30, 2026, we released UClass.one for iPhone and Android. Several years passed between the first idea and the release, and it all started with a fairly ordinary problem.",[39,40,42],"h2",{"id":41},"when-a-spreadsheet-stops-helping","When a spreadsheet stops helping",[12,44,45],{},"Roman:",[47,48,49,52,55,58,61],"blockquote",{},[12,50,51],{},"In my first classes, I kept attendance on paper. Then I set up a Google Sheet — surely that would get my records in order.",[12,53,54],{},"It was manageable on a computer, but I needed to open it on my phone, right there in the room, with people standing in front of me waiting for an answer. Children’s classes were especially fun.",[12,56,57],{},"Kids got sick, parents brought doctor’s notes, and in our city the usual practice was that classes missed due to illness wouldn’t be lost. So each time I had to work out what the next pass should cost or how long to extend the current one, while remembering what I’d already adjusted last time.",[12,59,60],{},"And there you are, facing a parent with a doctor’s note. Five more people are waiting to pay. Class needs to start, and you’re counting check marks.",[12,62,63],{},"That was when I thought: this could just be a simple app. Mark attendance, record a payment, and see straight away where someone stands with their pass.",[12,65,66],{},"Natalia did things differently: she took payment for individual classes and didn’t keep detailed records. There were no pass balances to untangle, but there was no precise answer to “How much did yoga bring in this month?” either.",[12,68,69],{},"We worked differently, but both of us lacked clarity on things that kept coming up around our classes. How many visits are left? Who needs to buy their next pass? How much money came in this month?",[39,71,73],{"id":72},"building-it-for-ourselves-and-trying-it-in-class","Building it for ourselves — and trying it in class",[12,75,76],{},"We did look for an existing solution. But what we found at the time was mostly built for fitness centres, where an administrator sits at a computer and keeping records is part of their job.",[12,78,79],{},"We didn’t have an administrator — we did everything ourselves.",[12,81,82],{},"So the app had to work on a phone, right there “on the mat”: while students were arriving, while someone came over to pay, whenever there were a few seconds to check people in.",[12,84,85],{},"Roman is a backend developer, so he started building that tool himself. The first version ran in a browser, looked rough, and in places was frankly awkward to use. But it already did the jobs it had been built for, so it got used — and gradually it became clear what needed reworking.",[12,87,88],{},"The original aim was to make every action take three taps. In actual classes, some things turned out to need considerably more, while others were awkward not because of the buttons but because the underlying logic was too complicated. Passes, absences, and extensions took a particularly long time to get right.",[12,90,91],{},"Natalia helped with design and tested the app from the perspective of someone who hadn’t been told how everything worked beforehand. Is it obvious where to tap? What just happened? Why does an ordinary task take so many steps?",[12,93,94],{},"Over time, a personal tool became our family project. Building and refining the mobile app took another year or more.",[39,96,98],{"id":97},"being-able-to-answer-straight-away","Being able to answer straight away",[12,100,101],{},[28,102],{"alt":103,"src":104},"UClass.one screen composition: class attendance and a student's pass, using demonstration data","/blog/why-we-built-uclass-one/attendance-and-student.png",[12,106,107],{},"Roman uses UClass.one at his training sessions at least twice a week, recording attendance and payments. That’s still our main test: can you quickly do what you need and get back to teaching, or is the app demanding too much attention again?",[12,109,110],{},"You mark attendance with one tap and see what’s happening with a pass: how many classes are left, when it expires, whether it’s time for a payment reminder, or whether someone has already attended classes they still owe for. If the pass rules allow an extension, the app accounts for it.",[12,112,113],{},"Attendance and payments gradually add up to a wider picture, which you don’t want to piece together by hand at the end of every month either. The dashboard shows revenue and attendance rate: if people start coming less often, you can notice in time and think about recruiting new students before paying the rent becomes an urgent concern.",[12,115,116],{},"For us, that’s the whole point of the app. Keeping records takes more than time: you have to remember something, check it, decide whether to extend a pass or deduct a visit, then keep the result in your head. When it’s already accounted for and visible on screen, it gets a little easier to focus on teaching.",[12,118,119],{},[28,120],{"alt":121,"src":122},"UClass.one dashboard composition: school statistics, attendance and revenue, using demonstration data","/blog/why-we-built-uclass-one/dashboard.png",[39,124,126],{"id":125},"now-for-other-instructors","Now, for other instructors",[12,128,129],{},"For Roman, this release is something he’s dreamed about for the past several years. He wanted to make a useful tool for people facing the same difficulties, especially since we know so many instructors who do. His own capoeira master, for example, still keeps records in Google Sheets.",[12,131,132],{},"We have a clear picture of the person we’re building UClass.one for. They rent a space, teach group or individual sessions, sell class passes, and answer their students’ questions themselves. If they teach children, they probably know the whole story with absences too.",[12,134,135],{},"To us, UClass.one means “one app for the whole class.” Your class, your students, and the everyday tasks that determine how it all works. We started with attendance, payments, and passes; we have plenty more ideas, but we want to develop them the same way we began — by trying things in practice and listening to the people using the app.",[12,137,138,139,143],{},"If this sounds like your working day, ",[140,141,142],"store-download",{},"try UClass.one at your next class",".",[12,145,146,147,151],{},"The app is available on iPhone and Android, with a free plan for small groups of up to ",[148,149,150],"strong",{},"15 students",". Core attendance and pass management features will stay free for small groups. If you already have a student list in a spreadsheet, you can bring it across using the import feature — the free plan includes two import sessions.",[12,153,154],{},"And please write to us if something feels awkward, isn’t clear, or lacks a feature you rely on. There’s a feedback form in the app, and you can also reach us by email. We’re interested in how UClass.one fits into your classes: our own experience got us started, and yours will help us see things we haven’t encountered ourselves.",[12,156,157],{},"Roman and Natalia",{"title":159,"searchDepth":160,"depth":160,"links":161},"",2,[162,163,164,165],{"id":41,"depth":160,"text":42},{"id":72,"depth":160,"text":73},{"id":97,"depth":160,"text":98},{"id":125,"depth":160,"text":126},"Roman and Natalia’s story: from paper records and Google Sheets to an app for independent instructors who handle everything themselves.",false,"md",true,"/blog/why-we-built-uclass-one/cover.png",{},"/blog/2026-09-10-why-we-built-uclass-one","2026-09-10",{"title":7,"description":166},{"loc":172},"blog/2026-09-10-why-we-built-uclass-one","qHG8t8UA4nLpK2AXa9FlhW7s0YZEXI_tZSSCOvknMe4",1789065875612]