Folderly founder
CEBU CITY, Philippines — As the new school year begins, here’s something that might be of great help to students.
Ethan Supatan, a Cebuano Computer Science student, has created an app to help students organize their school materials in a fun and engaging way.
The app is called ‘Folderly.’
Supatan shared with CDN Digital how he came up with the idea for this app.
He said the idea began after using an application to organize his school materials, which had many features but was somewhat complicated and required an internet connection just to access the page.
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He stopped using the online tool because he found it very complicated. That’s when he decided to create a more simplified app to help students like him organize their school materials.
Supatan said the idea of creating his own app started in September 2023.
He designed a few layouts in Figma with no name yet. Since he also runs a TikTok account with content about PowerPoint designs and artwork, he decided to test its effectiveness by sharing the design of the app he had just created on TikTok.
The positive feedback confirmed his drive to create something great and better.
“My goal was to create an intuitive UI where users could easily navigate the app—a functional yet aesthetically pleasing app.”
Supatan then created a Discord server to update his followers about Folderly’s release and gather feedback, which helped him address potential issues at an early stage.
“To be honest, developing Folderly wasn’t an easy path. I was still a 2nd-year student at that time and wasn’t confident in my programming skills. I was contemplating whether I could even make Folderly a reality,” he said.
Supatan later received an invitation from Apple to participate in the ‘Swift Student Challenge,’ which invites student developers worldwide to submit their own apps created using Swift (Apple’s programming language).
He attends the University of the Philippines-Cebu, where programming concepts are taught effectively. However, without prior experience in Swift, developing the app alone within two months, especially during a busy school semester, was a significant challenge for him.
Reflecting on the past, he said, “I remember going home early or using my breaks to dedicate my free time to making Folderly. It was definitely a struggle to juggle everything.”
Apple announced the 350 winners, and Supatan was thrilled to be one of them. His main goal was to secure the $99 App Store membership fee waiver, and he was deeply grateful for the support from his friends and family.
To advance Folderly, Supatan reached out to his high school friend Wince dela Fuente, who agreed to collaborate. Wince and his team helped develop the Android and iOS versions of the app. They used the nationwide AppCon competition as motivation and won Best Product last June, which they celebrated in Manila.
“I’m grateful to have them as my team since they wholeheartedly accepted Folderly.”
Folderly was recently launched and became the No. 1 productivity app and No. 1 overall app on the App Store charts in the Philippines for the month of July.
Supatan’s team is currently working on the Android version, as the app is only available to iOS users for now. They are excited about the app’s future, and so are the students who have expressed enthusiasm for using it to enhance their academic experience.
“I’m happy that, because of Folderly, students get to romanticize their academic life to the point that some have shared their excitement for school opening so they can use the app,” he said.