Overview
Salik is Dubai’s free-flowing toll system, drivers pass through toll gates without stopping, paying fees automatically via registered tags.
To support millions of daily commuters, Salik partnered with Blink22 to revamp their existing mobile app into a modern, customer-first digital product. The goal: unify toll management, payments, and account services in one secure, intuitive experience that matches Dubai’s vision for smart mobility.
Technologies Used
Technologies Used- Native Kotlin
- Jetpack
- Native Swift
- SwiftUI
Platforms
- iOS
- Android
Category
- Mobility & Tolling Apps
- Vehicle & Tag Management
- Payments & Account Services
- National Identity Integration
- Insurance & Exemption Workflows
- Real-time Notifications & Widgets
Timeline
Jan 2025
On-going partnership
Initial Requirements
Following its transition into a publicly traded company, Salik partnered with Blink22 to transform its smart app into a modern, customer-centric mobility platform.
Guided by Salik’s vision to evolve from a toll service provider into a comprehensive vehicle services hub, this collaboration focuses on delivering a seamless, sustainable, and innovative digital experience that supports Dubai’s future mobility goals.
Together, we set clear objectives:
Elevate the user experience through a reimagined, accessible, and feature-rich app.
Align with Salik’s new branding identity and digital direction.
Engage users through a dedicated platform for managing tolls, tags, and payments.
Expand offerings to include more vehicle-related services and integrations.
Improve operational efficiency by streamlining processes for both users and admins.
The app serves a diverse audience, from daily commuters and fleet drivers to visitors across the UAE and GCC, and is available in both Arabic and English, ensuring inclusivity for users of all backgrounds.
Challenge
As Salik grew to serve hundreds of thousands of active users, the need for a smoother, more engaging mobile experience became clear. User reviews highlighted recurring frustrations with registration difficulties and manual payment entries. These gaps not only affected satisfaction but also limited the app's role as a true self-service platform.
Our challenge was to rebuild the Smart Salik experience from the ground up, simplifying complex financial flows, enhancing security, and turning feedback into tangible improvements, all while meeting strict compliance and scalability requirements within the UAE’s digital infrastructure.
Secure financial flows: Building compliant payment and payout systems under UAE regulations.
Accessible UX: Designing an interface simple enough for non-technical customers while still supporting advanced features.
Simplifying complex workflows: Reducing user effort while keeping processes such as insurance renewals, tag exemptions, and plate changes clear and efficient.
Translating web-first features: Adapting them into clear, mobile-native flows.
Third-party integrations: Ensuring reliability with UAE Pass and DubaiPay.
Content & update agility: Finding a way to update app content and features quickly without going through a lengthy app release cycle each time a change was required.
Approach
Working in close partnership with Salik, Blink22 continues to refine and expand the Salik Smart App through iterative releases. Each development cycle focuses on improving usability, compliance, and scalability, ensuring the platform evolves in step with Salik’s strategic roadmap.
Using real user analytics and feedback from app stores, we identified and prioritized pain points such as registration complexity, payment friction, and missing notifications for pending tolls.
Mobile-first strategy: We focused on building native iOS and Android apps with Swift/SwiftUI and Kotlin/Jetpack for long-term performance and accessibility.
Collaborative workflow: Weekly reviews, UAT builds, and continuous feedback reduced risk and kept development aligned.
Integration support: Direct coordination with third-party providers ensured smooth UAE Pass logins and DubaiPay transactions.
Embedded QA: Proactive testing for timezone accuracy, payment failures, Arabic/English localization, and secure OTP/biometric authentication.
User-first design: Minimal-click journeys, RTL/LTR support, large-font scaling, and quick-access dashboard widgets for balances and alerts.
CMS-driven content management: To address Salik's need for fast, frictionless content updates, we integrated Sitecore (a powerful content management system) directly into the app architecture.
We ensured that every enhancement moves Salik closer to its long-term vision of becoming a comprehensive vehicle services hub while continuing to deliver a frictionless experience for daily commuters, fleet managers, and visitors alike.
Solution
Blink22 delivered a fully integrated mobile app for iOS and Android, combining tolling, payments, and account services:
Toll & Vehicle Services
Tag purchase, activation, and exemptions.
Insurance renewals and verification with integrated policy checks.
Vehicle management with plate changes and tag health indicators.
Payments & Account Management
Wallet recharge, transaction history, and detailed account statements.
Multiple recharge methods, including DubaiPay and others.
Identity & Authentication
UAE Pass integration with seamless linking flows.
Multi-layer verification for new and returning users.
Multiple ways to log in, including normal login, UAE Pass, and biometrics. There's also the ability to stay signed in.
Content Management System(Sitecore)
Sitecore CMS integration to enable the Salik operations team to publish and update app content directly, without triggering a new app release.
Features, banners, offers, and informational content can be managed and updated in real time from the Sitecore dashboard.
This integration eliminates the friction of the traditional store submission and review process for content-level changes, giving Salik full operational control over the user-facing experience.
User Experience & Accessibility
Arabic/English with full RTL/LTR support.
Large-font scaling for accessibility.
Dashboard Widgets for quick balance checks and instant alerts.
Third-Party Integrations
UAE Pass for identity verification and secure login.
DubaiPay / Payment Gateway for online payments.
Sitecore CMS for real-time content management without app updates.
Analytics & Crash Reporting for monitoring app health and detailed analysis of main funnels.
Outcome
Through Blink22’s partnership, Salik successfully launched a scalable mobility solution that seamlessly integrates with the UAE’s identity, payment, and transport systems.
It delivers value across all stakeholders:
For customers: a unified, bilingual (Arabic & English) app to manage vehicles, payments, Salik tags, and insurance renewals in one place.
For Salik: reduced operational overhead through automated, self-service features integrated with the UAE’s national ID and payment systems.
For the market: a scalable, future-ready platform that enhances transparency, accessibility, and security while supporting Dubai’s smart city vision.
On October 14, 2026, Salik won the 2026 Customer Centricity World Series Award in the Best Digital Application – Strategy & Transformation category across the Middle East and Africa.
It has also been awarded the “MEIRA Gold Standard Certification 2026” at the Middle East Investor Relations Association Annual Conference, ranking among the top 10 companies across the Middle East.
While long-term growth has been steady, recent performance shows strong acceleration:
Active users increased by 51.8% in the first half of April 2026 compared to the previous month.
Engagement metrics highlight real, consistent usage:
64.9% engagement rate with an average session time exceeding 12 minutes.
Reliability remains a core strength of the platform:
99.9% crash-free rate across iOS and Android, reflecting smooth, uninterrupted performance during critical actions such as tag top-ups and insurance renewals.
Smart integrations have simplified the user journey:
42% of users actively use UAE Pass, reducing friction and eliminating manual login processes.
Last but not least, as of April 2026, the app is experiencing a strong upward trend in active usage, positioning it as a daily-use utility for drivers across the UAE and reinforcing its role within Dubai’s smart mobility ecosystem.
The collaboration is ongoing, with continuous feature releases, optimizations, and user experience enhancements, ensuring the platform evolves alongside Dubai’s rapidly growing mobility ecosystem.