New App Shows Philly Area's Best Holiday Light Displays

BROOMALL, PA — If you're looking to check out holiday light displays in your neighborhood or want to show off your own dazzling display, you now have a resource, thanks to one local dad.

The ChristmasPrism app, developed by Mike Kane of Delaware County, is a new way to find light displays in your neighborhood.

"It was a need of necessity," Kane, 36, told Patch. The necessity was driving his two sons — 2-and-a-half year old Mikey and 1-year-old Kyle — around to see lights in the Broomall area.

"They started to get tired of looking for lights and started crying," Kane said. "I drove home with my head down."

He and his wife, Stephanie, were scouring social media for resources on how to scout out the area's best holiday lights.

But in what could be considered a Christmas miracle, Kane woke up the next morning with the ChristmasPrism app idea.

"Rarely do we see any part of society that doesn't have an app," he said. "It kind of formulated in my dream."

So Kane, a professional coder who taught himself several coding languages while battling a rare and debilitating nerve disease, started working on the app.

About two weeks later, the app was polished up for users to join.

The 2003 Marple-Newtown School District grad said he shared the app with nearby social media users and got a great response.

Since the app launched a week ago, more than 24,300 people have downloaded it, and they are just in the Philadelphia region. As of Thursday, the app is ranked No. 30 on the Apple Store's entertainment section with a 4.9 rating out of 280 reviews.

"It's in 15 states," he said. Houses in Florida, Alaska, and more are featured on the app.

Kane said thanks to Facebook sharing, and media recognition from WMMR's Preston and Steve and Philadelphia Magazine, the app went viral.

The app is totally free and does not include advertisements. "I think it was the right choice to not have ads," he said.

Additionally, Kane said it does not collect user data and doesn't require your location to use. Users are given anonymous login information to preserve their privacy, which is very important to Kane, who works for Philadelphia-based Connectify and helped develop a virtual private network feature.

When users open the app, they see a Marple-Newtown logo and the map opens on the Broomall area. However, Kane is adding a feature that lets users provide their location details so the map will open on their location, making finding nearby light displays a bit simpler for those outside of the Philadelphia region.

Kane sees the app as a way to give back to the community in a time that has seen so much strife and contention.

"People like it because there are no comments about politics or the coronavirus," he said.

Not only has he given back by bringing joy through the app, he's also given back by sharing his story of battling chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) and teaching himself to code.

"I didn't know what to do," he said of battling CIDP, which he was diagnosed with at 21.

CIDP left his whole body feeling the same way your arm or leg does when it falls asleep. "I woke up one day and couldn't move," he said. "It's horrible."

After about 10 years of treatment, his doctor gave him the OK to forgo treatment.

That's when he decided to make a change. So he shut himself in his basement and taught himself to code, treating his lessons as a job.

He joined Connectify five years ago as an intern who was working on the company's iOS development. He later advanced through the company to become a team leader.

Since the app took off, he's been getting messages from others with CIDP, which never truly goes away due to its chronic nature. He said others battling CIDP have asked for advice and help.

He's also been asked to speak to St. Joseph's Prep's coding students following the app's success.

At the moment, he's working on adding a few special features to the app. One idea he's working on is making a separate version for those who dress up as Santa Claus and make donations.

Another is an "Easter egg" feature.

"If you look at the North Pole this weekend," he said, "you might see Santa Claus."

ChristmasPrism is only available on iOS, so use is limited to iPhone users. However, Kane said he plans to work on establishing a website and develop an Android version of the app to have a bigger impact for Christmas 2021.

Download ChristmasPrism for free from the Apple Store here.