Verslo Žinios: modernizing Lithuania’s oldest business news app

Verslo Žinios is Lithuania’s leading business media publication, covering corporate acquisitions, stock markets, macroeconomics and the broader Baltic business landscape for over 30 years. Most of the content is available by paid subscription.

The company publishes the national business weekly Verslo žinios and the magazine Verslo klasė, and operates the news portal vz.lt.

For many years, Verslo Žinios had focused its investment on its web presence. Its mobile ecosystem consisted of two native applications – one for Android, one for iOS – built almost a decade earlier in separate Kotlin and Swift codebases, which over time had become difficult to maintain and evolve.

Running two separate platforms created real operational constraints. Releasing new features and security updates simultaneously across both operating systems was slow and resource-intensive, and the legacy code made every improvement more complex than it needed to be.

Audio was an area with clear room for improvement. Podcast and audio streaming functionality had not kept pace with the standard set by modern consumer apps, creating friction for business professionals who rely on hands-free listening during their commute.

The mobile app needed a visual refresh. Rather than continuing to redirect mobile users to the website, Verslo Žinios decided to invest in a proper mobile-first experience within a defined scope: a limited budget, a modern and maintainable technology stack, and a delivery timeline of six months, from January to early June.

Civitta delivered the entire mobile application layer. We acted as both a development partner and a strategic advisor, and helped the client define the product vision before development began. The backend was developed by the client’s internal team, and our work included integrating the app with it.

• One React Native codebase for both platforms
  We recommended a cross-platform approach and rebuilt the iOS and Android apps from scratch as a single, maintainable React Native codebase. New features and updates are now released on both platforms at the same time, and long-term maintenance costs are significantly lower.
• A podcast player built for everyday listening
  We guided the selection and integration of a new podcast player and rebuilt the core listening module. It provides smooth streaming and reliable background playback, and it works with Bluetooth car infotainment systems and external media controls.
• A mobile-first reading experience
  We advised against dynamic navigation and recommended fixed tab-based navigation, the standard pattern in mobile apps and more intuitive for readers. Articles open in a webview rather than a fully native infinite scroll, which ensures accurate content tracking and analytics, essential for a media business. Article rendering is fast, and the experience is consistent with the website. Our UX recommendations followed iOS and Android design standards. This helped the client’s web-oriented design team adapt the new brand to mobile conventions and modernise the interface in line with current digital design practice.
• Subscriptions, paywall and a route from web to app
  The app connects to the client’s backend for authentication, real-time subscription management and paywall access control, so subscribers keep seamless access to their content. We also set up an automated web-to-app redirect funnel. It guides mobile web visitors into the new app and systematically converts them into active app users.

• The new app launched on iOS and Android from a single codebase. Within the first month, it received strong positive feedback from the internal editorial team and from external subscribers.
• The release was carried out without disrupting existing subscriber access, so the subscription model continued to run as before.
• The web-to-app redirect funnel is bringing mobile web visitors into the optimised app. User engagement and daily app retention have begun to increase.
• The relaunch was covered in the public media, which credited Civitta’s software development support in modernising one of Lithuania’s flagship media assets.

1. Modernisation can be seamless. A product built on two native codebases almost ten years ago was replaced without interrupting the service or affecting existing subscribers.
2. Users compare an app with the best they use. Podcast playback and hands-free controls were judged against global streaming services, so improving them had the greatest effect on the overall experience.
3. A single codebase is easier to sustain. The earlier apps declined because maintaining two platforms was too costly. One React Native codebase reduces maintenance costs, allows updates to be released on both platforms together and makes continuous improvement realistic.