01 · June 2018
The branded Xumo app
The T-Mobile branded Xumo app for Android, with Google minus-one screen integration, preinstalled on new T-Mobile and Metro devices.
Case Study 09
Partner
Xumo
Category
Free streaming TV
Engagement
2018–2025
Scope
- T-Mobile app
- iOS
- Android
- Apple TV
- Ingestion
- Transcoding
- Image server
- Data exports
Xumo needed an Android app that could ship inside someone else's phone.
In June 2018 Xumo brought us in to build a T-Mobile branded Xumo app for Android. It did everything the Xumo app did, plus an integration with Google's minus-one screen — the panel one swipe left of the home screen.
It came preinstalled on new T-Mobile and Metro devices. That meant it had to be right the day a phone came out of the box.
We built it like it was Xumo's flagship. Xumo noticed.
A carrier build is easy to treat as a side project: match the spec, hand it over, move on. We built it to the standard of an app Xumo would put its own name on, because it was going to carry Xumo's name onto every one of those phones.
Two months later, Xumo handed us its own apps.
Every job earned the next one.
02 · August 2018
Xumo's own iOS and Android apps
Xumo handed us its mobile apps. Slytrunk built and ran them from August 2018 to August 2025.
03 · Apple TV
Native tvOS, built on the mobile code
Xumo's Apple TV app, written natively for tvOS. It reused code from the mobile apps instead of starting over.
04 · Server team
A seat behind every screen
Slytrunk joined Xumo's server team, working on the systems every Xumo app and website depends on.
01/04
The systems the apps were waiting on.
01 · Ingestion
Many providers in, one catalogue out
Metadata and video from many partner content providers, brought into one pipeline so it could reach every Xumo screen.
02 · Transcoding
Scales up for the load, and back down after
Always-on transcoding meant paying for capacity whether it was used or not. We made the infrastructure scale up and down on its own to match the work.
03 · Image server
The artwork behind every tile
The service that supplies asset artwork to every Xumo app and website.
04 · Data exporters
Xumo's catalogue, everywhere it could go
Exports that send Xumo content to distribution partners, so it shows up in as many places as possible — each one a route back to Xumo.
One Android app. Seven years of the next thing.
When the server work came up, we already knew every screen it would feed. We did the job in front of us well enough that the next one came to us — from a carrier app, to Xumo's own apps, to the pipelines that filled them.
Xumo and Slytrunk — FAQ
Who built the T-Mobile Xumo app?
Slytrunk. In June 2018 Xumo brought Slytrunk in to build a T-Mobile branded Xumo app for Android, with the full Xumo experience plus Google minus-one screen integration. It shipped preinstalled on new T-Mobile and Metro devices.
Which Xumo products did Slytrunk work on?
The T-Mobile Xumo app, Xumo's own iOS and Android apps, its Apple TV app, and on the server side the content ingestion pipeline, the transcoding pipeline, the image server and the data exporters.
Did Slytrunk build Xumo's Apple TV app?
Yes. Slytrunk built Xumo's Apple TV app natively for tvOS, reusing code from the mobile apps it already ran.
What did Slytrunk do on Xumo's server side?
Slytrunk joined Xumo's server team, working on ingestion of metadata and video from partner content providers, autoscaling transcoding infrastructure, the image server that supplies artwork to every Xumo app and website, and the exporters that send content to distribution partners.
How long did Slytrunk work with Xumo?
Seven years, from 2018 to 2025. It started with a T-Mobile branded Xumo app for Android, and each piece of work led to the next.
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