September 2020 - Page 4 of 4

Advance Enterprise Digital Transformation Efforts By Mobile Apps

Posted on 06/09/202010/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

Irrespective of which industry you look at, you will find entrepreneurs hustling to kickstart their digital transformation efforts which have been lying in the backdrop since several business years. While a considerably easy move when you have to alter your digital offering according to the customers’ needs, things become a little difficult when you start planning digital transformation for your business. A difficulty that mobile applications can solve. There are two prime elements which businesses need to focus on when planning to digital transform their workflow and workforce: adaptability and portability. And by bringing their processes and communications on mobile apps, they are able to hit both the targets in one go. Here are some statistics looking into why enterprises need to count mobile application in, in their digital transformation strategy –

Although the above graph should be a reason enough to take mobile apps seriously, there are some other numbers as well.

57% of the digital media use comes in through apps.
On an average, any smartphone user has over 80 apps out of which they use 40 apps every month.
21% of millennials visit a mobile application 50+ times everyday.

While the statistics establish the rising growth of mobile apps, what we intend to cover in the article is the pivotal role mobile applications play in digital business transformation. To understand it from the entirety, we will first have to look into what is digital transformation and what it entails.

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation means using digital technologies for changing how a business operates, fundamentally. It offers businesses a chance to reimagine how they engage with the customers, how they create new processes, and ultimately how they deliver value.

The true capabilities of introducing digital transformation in business lies in making a company more agile, lean, and competitive. The end of the long term commitment results in several benefits.

Benefits of digital transformation for a business

Greater efficiency – leveraging new technologies for automating processes leads to greater efficiency, which in turn, lowers the workforce requirements and cost-saving processes.
Better decision making – through digitalized information, businesses can tap in the insights present in data. This, in turn, helps management make informed decisions on the basis of quality intelligence.
Greater reach – digitalization opens you to omnichannel presence which enables your customers to access your services or products from across the globe.
Intuitive customer experience – digital transformation gives you the access to use data for understanding your customers better enabling you to know their needs and delivering them a personalized experience.

Merging mobile app capabilities with digital transformation outcomes

The role of mobile applications can be introduced in all the areas which are also often the key areas of digital transformation challenges that an enterprise faces.

Technology integration
Better customer experience
Improved operations
Changed organizational structure

When you partner with a digital transformation consulting firm that holds expertise in enterprise app development, they work around all these above-mentioned areas in addition to shaping their digital transformation roadmap around technology, process, and people.

In addition to a seamless integration with the digital transformation strategy of an enterprise, there are a number of reasons behind the growing need to adopt digital transformation across sectors. Ones that encompasses and expands beyond the reasons to invest in enterprise mobility solutions.

The multitude of reasons, cumulatively, makes mobility a prime solution offering of the US digital transformation market.

Here’s how mobile apps are playing an active role in an enterprise’s 360 digital transformation.

How are mobile apps playing a role in advancing businesses’ internal digital transformation efforts?

1. By utilizing AI in mobile apps

The benefits of using AI for bettering customer experience is uncontested. Through digital transformation, businesses have started using AI for developing intuitive mobile apps using technologies like natural language processing, natural language generation, speech recognition technology, chatbots, and biometrics.

AI doesn’t just help with automation of processes and with predictive, preventative analysis but also with serving customers in a way they want to be served.

2. An onset of IoT mobile apps

The time when IoT was used for displaying products and sharing information is sliding by. The use cases of mobile apps in the IoT domain is constantly expanding.

Enterprises are using IoT mobile apps to operate smart equipment in their offices and making the supply chains efficient, transparent. While still a new entrant in the enterprise sector, IoT mobile apps are finding ways to strengthen their position in the business world.

3. Making informed decisions via real-time analytics

In the current business world, access to real-time analytics can give you a strong competitive advantage. Mobile applications are a great way for businesses to collect users’ data and engage with them through marketing transformation messages designed around the analytics based on their app journey.

You can use real-time analytics to know how your teams are performing, analyze their productivity, and get a first-hand view into the problems they are facing in performing a task and how it’s impacting the overall business value.

4. Greater portability

Portability in an enterprise ecosystem enables employees to work as per their convenience. While it shows less impact in the short term, in the long run, it plays a huge role in how productive a team is.

By giving employees the space to work as per the time and location of their choice, you give them the space to boost their creativity fuel and in turn productivity. One of the results of using software that enabled our employees to work according to their terms and conveniences for us was greater business expansion ideas and an increase in overall productivity of the workforce.

Tips to consider when making mobile apps a part of the digital transformation strategy

If at this stage, you are convinced that mobile applications are a key part of digital transformation efforts, here are some tips that can help your strategies for increasing the ROI on your enterprise app –

Adopt mobile-first approach – the key factor that separates enterprise apps that are winning is how they don’t treat apps as the extension of their websites. Their software development process is strictly mobile-only. This in turn shapes their entire design, development, and testing processes.

Identifying the scope of mobility – the next tip that digital transformation consulting firms would give you is analyzing the operations and workflows for understanding which teams, departments, or functions would benefit from mobility the most. You should not start reinventing a process which works okay, you should look for areas which can be streamlined, automated, or valued through mobility.

Outsourcing digital transformation efforts – when we were preparing An Entrepreneur’s Guide on Outsourcing Digital Transformation article, we looked into several benefits of outsourcing digitalization to a digital transformation strategy consulting agency. But the prime benefit revolved around saving businesses’ efforts and time which goes into solving challenges like – absence of digital skillset, limitations of the agile transformation process, or the inability to let go of the legacy systems.

Offline-first Apps: Trending Customer Experience Strategy

Posted on 05/09/202010/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

Around the globe over $2.7 billion is lost yearly because of a poor connection and bad internet speed. On a micro level, if an app does not load well more than 75% of the users would leave it, and additionally, more than 45% of users strongly feel that they won’t return to the apps which didn’t load.

There is a strong negative emotion that users carry towards applications not optimized for limited connectivity. This, when added to the fact that quarantines across the globe have made people more reliant on the internet resulting in a massive drop in download and streaming speed, is a bad sign for the app industry. The omen of lowered connectivity has turned app entrepreneurs towards offline apps.

Before we get to the stage of dissecting what are the benefits of offline apps for businesses, especially in the current time, let us first peek into the state of internet connectivity across the US – a picture that validates the need for offline-first apps not just in the coronavirus times but till much after.

What are Offline first Applications?

Majority of the mobile applications in the market access a database located on servers and provide requested data to the users. The offline mobile applications, while still needing a server connection do not require a consistent internet connection. In this case, data is downloaded on users’ devices and can be accessed offline.

On a technical level, the offline apps download updates from the server when a connection is available and simultaneously upload changes the users made when offline to the server.

An offline mobile application development process generally revolves around some assumptions:

Offline apps assume that the users are offline, meaning there will be low latency and unreliable network.
Fetching the resources over the network will be slower than fetching them from a local source.
The app must inform users of low network conditions but must not keep them from completing the objective.
Respecting users’ network and battery conditions, only the data which has changed from the last synchronization must be synchronized.

What Are the Benefits of Offline Mobile Application Development?

1. Seamless Online to Offline Experience

The first of the numerous benefits of offline mobile app development is that the user experience remains unaffected between high and limited connectivity. For a user the benefit of working seamlessly online and offline results into a greater loyalty and return visits.

2. Simplified Storage Process

When you store all the data on the server, you must ensure that there is a powerful network and stable connection. Additionally, the responsibility of providing the perfect condition also falls down on you.

While it is an unmissable stage, you can ease the work with offline app development. In this case, you will have to update information on the server when necessary and possible. The only thing you will have to worry about is choosing the best local database. You can either go with either of the react native local databases or make a choice between MySQL and MongoDB.

3. Faster Loading Speed

Since offline applications do not rely on servers or internet speed, they load faster. The users get to enjoy working on the application irrespective of whether they are in a fluctuating network state or on airplane mode.

4. Competitive Edge

An application that is not dependent on an active internet connection is always a step ahead of competition compared to one that works only through the internet. This is the number one reason why brands like Google, Spotify, Kindle, etc. have an unmatched customer experience backing their growth.

Although the benefits of offline apps give an impression that an offline running app is the route of app success, you have to realize that it is not a universal solution to every problem that comes associated with an unreliable network. The custom application development approach makes the most sense when you are working around features and use cases that put your app in an active state in a no-network area.

But when your app relies on making financial transactions or keeping people updated with real-time updates like cricket scores or share market, going offline-first will deem to be unsuccessful.

Is Offline-First Application Development a Necessity? An IFTTT Answer

Your application will most likely be used in a poor connectivity area

A good starting point when developing an offline-first mobile app is to know whether your app will be used in areas having poor signal – these can vary from apps that travelers use to being a key feature in enterprise applications.

Your app offers limited features which do not necessarily need to be performed online

If your application needs features that are dependent on being online at all times, it would be best to not work on an offline-first option. But if your application is more on data recording or consuming content – basically, one where interaction is not a mandate, you must go with the approach.

Your application offers a large set of content accessible through the search functionality

Searching for large data volumes can be difficult when your users are working with low and unreliable connections. You can better the experience by implementing a lightweight version of the online database.

If these three points stand true in your case – meaning taking an offline-first approach makes the most sense for your business, the next step would be to know how to get started. While your partnered mobile app development company would perform the technicalities, it won’t harm to be in the know-how of the changes that will happen in your app when it moves from online to offline state.

Developing Offline-First Mobile Apps: Ways & Considerations

Show a Proper UI for the Offline State

Communication is the key to a successful customer experience strategy. You should notify the users when the application detects low or unavailable network conditions. This can be done both by displaying a blank interface or via a popup message.

Make Static Information Available

In the case of applications that work with limited connectivity, the static information gets downloaded and stored locally when it first loads. The information generally is of the kind that is not altered frequently.

An example of this can be seen in Google Maps. It comes with offline functionality that enables users to navigate locations on a map and expand to some level of detail even when the connection fails.

Create Cache of Commonly Used Dynamic Data

Unlike in case of static caching, dynamic cache data are expected to be updated constantly. To enable this in a limited connectivity environment, users’ information is stored temporarily in the local cache (a process most commonly seen in PWAs) – this prevents blank screen during the offline mode.

The approach, beside acting as a reason why big brands make use of PWAs, is used heavily by game developers and social media applications. Majority of the social media applications enable users to access their last newsfeed load.

Real Time Data Synchronization

In this case, the data is uploaded automatically in place of manually. With the help of advanced synchronization protocols, the offline app that makes use of this method can transfer the changed data version and the actions taken to edit it?

Parting words

At Anteelo our answer to how to make an app offline lies in multiple considerations. We ensure that your application works with the best local databases, has a seamless workflow integration, faces zero data security and protection issues, and promises seamless connectivity.

Our developers are skilled in not just efficient online-first app development, which comes almost naturally to them, they also have the right mindset and technical know-how to build an offline-first mobile application.

Insight on Why and How Often Should You Update Your App?

Posted on 05/09/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Various startup founders and established brands come to us for mobile app consultation. They frame several questions regarding what features and technologies to introduce to their app idea, what checklist to consider for optimizing the application, how to promote their app, etc. But, there are only a few who ask how often they should update their app.

Why? Because most of them are unaware of the fact that mobile app development lifecycle does not end at launching the application or bringing eyeballs to their platform. They are still alien to the fact that updating an app can improve their app visibility and add more profits to their app plan.

For the same reason, I have decided to write this article as a mini guide – disclosing why, when and how to update your mobile app so that you could reap better outcomes in the mobile industry and enjoy the popularity like that of Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and SnapChat. Later, we will look at how much does it cost to update an app.

So, without making ado, let’s begin with the first section of the article, i.e, why to update your app.

Why to Update a Mobile App?

The answer to this question lies in the fact that the second you enter the Mobile App Market, you become a part of a whirlwind of select factors that are constantly moving and getting bigger than the day before.

There are so many things that change when your app enters the market, such as:-

New Devices are Released
New Android and iOS versions come up
Programming Languages changed
The users’ demands changed
Security Standards are continuously updated

A change in these factors brings a major difference in your app visibility in the marketplace, making it necessary for you to look into the app update process.

Along with, various other factors come into play to incite the feeling that it’s the right time to update your mobile app, such as:-

1. Bug Fix

No matter how carefully you developed your app, a bug free application is a myth. There will be times when you will find a customer review saying ‘my app is acting weird’ or ‘it’s consuming a lot of battery juice’. It’s a normal occurrence, which would require an effort into the process of bug fixing and maintenance app update.

2. Introduction of New Features

The consumer base in your industry will start demanding newer, faster, and different value offering. To be in the competition, you will have to adhere to them before your competitors do.

This situation again prompt you to look into the right strategy to plan your app updates.

3. Launch of New Configuration Devices

The introduction of new mobile devices also come under the category of reasons for app updates. This is because when a new device enters the market, it comes up with some significant change in the look and feel of the device. This makes it difficult for your application to fit well and be equally in sync with all the versions, as we have seen in our earlier blog, titled: The X Factor: What is the New iPhone X doing to Your Current App Design. And thus, create the necessity to update your application accordingly.

4. Change in Business Strategy

Many times, the mobile app developers realize that they are not getting as much as traction from the target audience as recorded earlier. This makes them ponder upon the business strategy they are following and therefore, look forward to the process to make app updates.

5. Change in App Store Guidelines

Another factor that creates the necessity to invest your time and effort into app update cycle is the change in app store guidelines.

The Apple App Store and Google Play Store keep on changing their app submission guidelines from time to time. These changes, many times, bring a drastic impact on the future of your mobile application. For example, as per the Google Play Store’s updated policy, any app operating on Android 7.0 or less won’t be able to sustain in the market and enjoy its perks. This implies the app developers have to update these applications to make them ‘Android 8.0’ ready and thus, remain in the market.

Now that you know why it becomes imperative to update an app on the stores, let’s now how often should you update your app and the technicalities of it.

How to Update your App – The Technicalities

When talking about app update, the steps to follow varies with the platform considered. So, here in this section, we will dig out how to update an Android app and how to update an iOS application individually – beginning with the former one.

How to Update an App on Android

When you have designed the mobile application as per the changes, you need to follow these steps for rolling out the update on Google Play Store:-

1. Increment the Version

When you upload an app in play store, you are assigned a version number. So, the best practice for app updates in the case of Android is to change this version number in the ‘App Info’ section of the Andromo setting. Once you have updated the version there, create the app again and download its new APK file.

2. Upload the new APK

Once the new version is ready with you, sign in to the Google Play Developer Console and select your application from the list, then select APK tab there. Once there, click on ‘Upload new APK to Production’ button. You can then either save the file or send it over for publishing; reaching to the next step of the process to make app updates.

3. Update the App Description

Once you have published the new version, you need to inform the users of the change. For this, you can put in what changed data in the ‘Recent Changes’ tab of your description section.

Once you have updated the new version, it takes around 24 hours to make it visible to the users.

How to Update an App on iPhone

To update your iOS mobile application, you need to look into these steps:-

Log in to iTunes Connect
Click on My Apps
Next, click on ‘+Version’ on the left panel
In New Version box, put in the new version number and click on ‘Create’
Once you have put in all the information about the Version in the iTunes App, it’s time to upload the build.
Use either Xcode or Application Loader to upload the new version of the app
Once uploaded, the new version will now get prepared to submission. If you have gone through it, press ‘Submit for Review’.

Once uploaded, it takes maximum 30 days for the update to show to the users.

With this attended to, let’s turn towards the last section of the article, i.e. how often should you update your app.

How Often Should You Update Your App?

As depicted from the above figure, every mobile application development company has a different answer to what is the best time to update your app. While some keep on updating apps in fixed schedule, other turn towards the process only when they are introducing a new feature or targeting a market. There is no concrete answer to this question.

Now while this gives a hint of when you can update your app, this also adds to the risk. As per the top mobile app development agency, the app update process comes with a ripple effect which is not always in your favor. There are situations when rolling out an update can bring more bugs and issues in your application or reset the existing review and rating – compelling you to restart the journey from the first day of app launch.

Knowing this infamous ripple effect, it is wise to take a deeper look into the market and check how do other companies plan for an app update.

So, let’s see:

Appbot analyzed the releases of 200 apps on the App Store and divided them in Paid, Free, and Grossing categories to get their Update picture.

Here’s what they found out.

The majority of Top Free Apps were updated at least once in the time span of 18 days and there were at least 25 updates in 75% of the free apps in both the stores, combined.

While this was for the free apps, the paid ones showed a different picture.

The paid apps on an average took 89 days break between two app updates and there were just 1 to 2 app updates in a year.

So how often should you update your app? What is the best time to update your app? What happens when you update an app? Why app needs to be updated?

It’s safe to say that you should update your app as often as possible. Here, ‘As often as possible’ means when you have the resources, when there is a new technology in the industry, and when your competition has introduced a feature that the world is loving.Now that we have discussed the implications of when to plan your app updates in great details and you have gotten an idea of how frequently we are supposed to make updates in the current application, let’s move on to the Costing part of the app maintenance.

How much does it cost of updating an app?

Just like what we have seen in the case of calculating the cost to make an app from scratch, the cost of frontend maintenance and its backend update also depend on various factors, including :-

1. Hosting Costs

The backend of your app would probably be on some third party cloud server such as Microsoft Azure or AWS hosting site. Your hosting cost alone can reach over hundreds or thousands of dollars every month. The hosting cost estimate is also directly proportional to the involvement of human resources invested in creation and maintenance of the backend.

2. Crash Analytics and Monitoring

In order to plan your app updates and execute them timely, you will need a monitoring tool to analyze the app usage patterns. While most of the crash analytics and monitoring are available free of cost, you will need to invest in people who would be responsible for extracting data for gaining business insights.

3. Play Store Optimization and App Store Optimization

After you make app updates, you will need to update the app description in the stores, for which you might need to look into a comprehensive guide on Play Store Optimization or have guidance from someone who knows how to find the right keywords, design new screenshots and videos, and write the new content.

With this, we have covered everything that will help you to know when and how often should you update your app so as to take the best advantages of the process without burning a hole in your pocket.

Hope you find this helpful with your app updates needs.

Run Design Sprint with Remote Teams: The Ultimate Guide

Posted on 04/09/202010/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

Geographical distances should not be a roadblock to collaboration and creativity. Who understands this better than a digital product development team? Going by this sentiment, for a process that lays down the basics of creativity and collaboration at the product ideation stage – Design Sprint – the steps should be the least complex.

While good to hear, on paper, the reality is that for a lot of brands, the process of a design sprint is difficult when conducted in a room, let alone when conducted remotely.

But with 85% of our clients belonging to other global nations, we have more or less mastered the art of running remote design sprints. So now when remote is the new workplace normal, we are in a somewhat better space.

Here’s our design sprint process that your team can also benefit from.

Table of Content

What is the design sprint methodology?
Challenges of Running Design Sprints Remotely
Pre-Design Sprint Model
4 Days Remote Product Design Sprint Process
Remote Design Sprint Tips & Tricks

What is the design sprint methodology?

The design sprint process – a.k.a one of the top UX best practices – is a four days’ step-by-step methodology that answers critical business and product questions via designing, prototyping, and idea testing. Built by Google and GV, it is a mix of innovation, business strategy, design thinking, behaviour science, etc. brought together to make a way of working that any team can make use of.

The user experience design formulation process works for product managers, developers, and designers, who work in the space of innovation and problem-solving. It answers some of the most critical questions a brand struggles with:

How can we convert an idea into a validated prototype faster?
How can we ensure we are designing the right product before putting a ton of money in it?
How can we test whether the feature-set we are envisioning the ones that users need?

Irrespective of how straightforward the product design sprint process looks, conducting the event virtually is difficult.

Challenges of Running Design Sprints Remotely

The difference in time zone and availability of team – UX sprint calls for intense, engaging sessions. Scheduling and aligning distributed teams for long periods can pose a challenge.
Low engagement – On a remote mode, the concentration of the team is one click away from going to YouTube or Telegram. Keeping them focused is a key issue that sprint teams face.
Tech-specific challenges – Low battery, bad internet condition, and faulty microphone is a trio that can make your design sprint steps take a bad turn. As a mobile app design company, we ensure that the technology part of the sprint is on point before the design sprint commences.

Our first two three sprint sessions brought us face to face with these challenges. Although the failure count was low, the frustrations were galore. Although our struggle phase goes back to 2014 when we were handling our first client interaction, from what we read across the internet, the issues remain more or less the same. Here are some of the pre-sprint setups we settled on to make the remote design sprint process smooth-sailing.

Pre-Design Sprint Model

Prepare the design sprint material and template beforehand

For ensuring that you get the most of the remote design sprint, prepare all the materials beforehand. The existing customer insights, documentation shared by the clients, etc. should be gathered and distributed within the team before the process starts.

Form the team

We created a team of seven people leaving the finance team out of the process since we would hardly need any budgeting activity here. The role of decider and facilitator, although important even in the regular sprint session becomes all the more important in a remote sprint design process. The decider is the one who has the final call while the facilitator is someone who takes the responsibility of bringing everyone on the same page aided by the necessary technical help.

Schedule the sprint event

The UX design sprint method requires the teammates to be available, without distraction for five days. While doable when we were in the same space, fixing 5 days is difficult when operating remotely. But since we pride ourselves on being an app design firm that takes a design-first approach, we knew the importance of the process and convinced the clients to make themselves available as well.

Pro Tip: If you find it difficult to get people available for five consecutive days, put a weekend between the deciding and prototyping days. This way, the team will approach prototype creation with a fresh mind on Monday.

Logistics side of pre-sprint prep

Although a remote-inclined tech and office setup should come naturally for brands that work with a distributed team or overseas client, in case you are not one of them, we recommend you to have:

Camera
Microphone
Cubicle
Good internet connection which can support you being on video at all times for five days
Whiteboard to make the sketches on.

With the pre-design sprint process discussed, let us now give you a peek into our four-day process.

4 Days Remote Product Design Sprint Process

Day 1: Sketching and Mapping

The phase comprises bringing the sprint team together and brainstorming the product and the solution it would offer. The entire day is spent on researching whether or not the product is even needed by the masses and if that as a whole is a solution they are looking for. Here, we also discuss the alternatives of what would people choose had the product didn’t exist.

The more you brainstorm and read into this process, the more you would realize that this step is the same as what a mobile app design and development company follow when they validate an MVP.

Day 2: Storyboarding

With multiple ideas now present, the team on Day 2 fix a plan of action. They draw a storyboard containing how the users would come to the app, why they would open it, the features they would interact with, and what will be the outcome of their time inside the application.

Ensure that you have added all the necessary materials and resources backing the storyboard assumptions.

Day 3: Prototyping

Once you have the storyboard ready and the idea decided, head on to the stage of prototype development. The idea is not to build a product that will be deployed in the stores, but an app that people can run and experience. There are a number of different app prototype tools you can work on to create a clickable version of your app vision.

The process of prototype development should be done with the intent to allow people to test it on Day 4.

Day 4: Testing

This is the last step of the design sprint process where you get people to test your prototype and share their experiences with your team. The best thing to do here is to record those sessions so that you can always go back to them when your application hits the development stage.

Up until this point, you have read everything that you need to know about conducting remote design sprints. But the true success stories lie with brands that know the many side-tips. Ones that every innovative mobile app design agency knows.

Remote Design Sprint Tips & Tricks

In case you are finding it difficult to get team’s availability at the same time, divide the remote design sprint across two weeks.
Prepare sprint brief and template beforehand
Add ample breaks
Restrict multi-tasking – the team focus throughout the design sprint session should be on the session.
Ask everyone to divide their screen into video and the digital whiteboard so that they can see the whiteboard and the participants at the same time.

We have reached the stage where the only thing left for you to do before you go to the idea conception stage is get in touch with a mobile application design company that is an expert in remote design sprint. We can help.

Python-Based App Development

Posted on 03/09/202009/06/2021 by Tushar

Python is a very popular programming language among developers. In fact, it was declared the top programming language for 2019 beating even the original coding language – Java. It has indeed facilitated the whole mobile app development process to a great extent and hence, won the above-mentioned title.

For decades now, technology has been going through makeovers, changing and improving a little every day. And as a result, we have SmartPhones, Supercomputers, Artificial Intelligence, a lot of amazingness like such.

Now, to utilize these technologies we now have developed different programs and mobile applications, which, by the way, are created by programming languages. One such popular language is Python.

So, let’s take the road of knowledge leading towards the answer regarding Python app development and the kind of applications that can be built on it.

What is Python?

To answer one of the most frequently asked questions “What is Python” in simple words – Python is object-oriented, interpreted, and a high-level programming language. It has incredible built-in data structures that are combined with the dynamic typing and binding to render hassle-free app development. It poses as a scripting or glue language to combine several components together.

Python is renowned for its simple and easy-to-learn syntax which supports readability and reduces the expenses incurred in the program maintenance. It also favors modules and packages, which in return promote modularity and code reusability. To add another jewel to its crown, it totally favors cross-platform, making Python ideal for mobile app development.

Now, merely saying that Python is a popular language will not suffice. So, let’s look at its features which played a crucial role in spreading its popularity like wildfire.

Why Python has Become Popular?

1. Python’s code is easy to read and understand

One of the most renowned features of Python is its syntax. The rules of its syntax enable developers to express concepts without writing additional code. Python has a way of making complex things simple; the reason why it is deemed suitable for beginners to learn.

Python is the only language to focus on code readability which is why it allows developers to use English keywords instead of punctuation. All these factors make Python perfect for mobile application custom applications. Moreover, the clear code base is going to help developers maintain and update the software without any extra efforts.

2. Python is Quick

In Python, the programs are added to the interpreter that runs them directly. This means there is no compiling, which happens for almost all the other languages. On the Python code, it is easy and quick to get your hands on the feedback on your Python code such as recognizing errors. With Python, you can finish and execute your programs (run them) faster than with other programming languages.

3. Python is Compatible

There are numerous operating systems such as Android, iOS and Windows which Python supports. In fact, you can use Python interpreters to use and run the code across platforms and tools. It also makes it possible to run the same code across multiple platforms and the modified app code without the need for recompilation. Moreover, if you wish to check the impact of changes made in the code and that too instantly, then Python is your choice.

4. Facilitates Test-Driven Development

Creating prototypes of software applications has never been easier. All thanks to Python app development. Python fully supports the development of prototypes and even allows you to build applications directly from the prototypes by refactoring the code.

Coding and testing can now go hand-in-hand, thanks to Python. It has adopted the methodology called TDD, acronymous of Test-Driven Development.

5. Strong Standard Library

Python has a pretty robust standard library that gives it an edge over other languages. Python’s standard library enables you to select modules from a wide range as per your requirements. Now, each module allows you to add functionalities later in the process without extra coding.

This point can be cleared with an example. Suppose you are writing a web application, now you can employ certain modules in Python to implement web services or manage OS interface. Just browse through Python’s library and even gather information related to modules.

6. Python Supports Big Data

Big Data is another emerging technology and Python is one of the most used languages for its development. It is because Python possesses a huge number of libraries to work on Big Data. Moreover, it is easier and faster to code with Python for Big data projects as compared to other languages, making it a popular choice of developers around the globe.

7. Strong Supportive Community and Corporate Sponsors

Another prominent element that decides the popularity of any programming language is its community support. Unlike many languages out there, Python has a very active community providing impeccable guides and tutorials, and other forms of documentation for a better understanding of the language. Moreover, having a sponsor like Google only adds up to the list of reasons for Python’s popularity.

Popular Python Frameworks for App Development

1. Django

Django is a high-level and open-source Python framework that streamlines web app development by providing access to different features. It is perfect as it allows developers to create complex codes and Python web applications efficaciously.

A few features that make Django one of the best frameworks for Python are its authentication mechanism, database schema migration implements ORM for mapping its objects to database tables and template engine.

2. Flask

Another extremely reliable Python framework is Flask, developed on Werkzeug and Jinja 2. It is denoted as a microframework because it does not require tools and libraries like other frameworks. Due to its features like integrated support for unit testing, RESTful request dispatching, etc. it is considered an ideal option for small projects, as opposed to Django which is used in the development of big projects.

3. Web2Py

Web2Py is one of the most popular frameworks of Python for mobile app development, loaded with a debugger, and a deployment tool. It helps the developers in debugging and building the code effectively along with testing the apps.

Because Web2Py is a cross-platform framework, it is compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, etc. It follows the Model View Controller design. One element which impresses the developers most is its ticketing framework, a component that issues a ticket whenever a mistake is made.

4. Pyramid

Pyramid is a highly adaptable Python framework for app development that works incredibly for both easy and complicated applications of Python. It is useful in creating prototypes of applications and also for developers to chip away at API projects.

A majority of Python developers admire this framework simply for its transparency and high-quality features. One other feature that is worth mentioning is Pyramid’s transversal framework used for mapping URLs for coding, making it easier to create RESTful APIs. In fact, some tech industry giants like Mozilla, Dropbox, and Yelp have used it in their processes.

5. CherryPy

Another Python app development framework is CherryPy. It is an open-source framework that is capable of implanting its own multi-strung server. This framework possesses features like setup framework, thread-pooled web server, and module framework.

Moreover, it doesn’t demand you to use any particular and specific ORM or template engine. In fact, it allows developers to utilize different technologies for data access, templating and whatnot, making it a preferred choice of developers to build applications in python.

What Type of Apps Can You Build in Python?

1. Blockchain Applications

Blockchain, being one of the hottest trends of this decade in technology has swept the market of its feet. From the developers’ point of view, Blockchain development was not as easy as shelling peas. However, Python has literally made it so. Because Python is a very understandable language, the process of building blockchain applications is a lot more facilitated.

By employing Python frameworks like Flask, developers can use HTTP requests to interact with their blockchain over the Internet and create endpoints for distinct functions of blockchain. Developers are also able to run the scripts on multiple machines for developing a decentralized network – all with the help of Python.

2. Command-line Applications

Command-line applications and Console Applications are the same. It is a computer program created to be utilized from the command line or a shell and does not have any graphical user interface.

Python is deemed a suitable language for such applications because of its Read-Eval-Print-Loop (REPL) feature which enables developers to evaluate the language and identify new possibilities.

Since Python is a popular language globally, top app development companies have access to a sea of free Python libraries that they can use for building command-line apps.

3. Audio and Video Applications

Python app development helps in creating music and other types of audio and video applications. Since the internet is loaded with audio and video content, you can use Python for analyzing it all. Some Python libraries like PyDub and OpenCV help in the successful completion of the app development.

YouTube is one such application that is created using Python. So, you can easily surmise now how effective and incredible this language is in delivering apps with high performance.

4. Game App Development

For all the gaming enthusiasts, many games such as EVE Online and Battlefield 2 have been created using Python. Battlefield 2 game employs Python for all of its add-ons and functionalities and World of Tanks game uses it for basically the majority of its features. In fact, Disney’s Pirates of the Carribean game was written with the help of the Panda 3D game engine – whose game development language is Python.

Developers are given the facility to create a rapid game prototype and Pygame and Python can be used to test them in real-time. Additionally, Python in game development can be used to create game designing tools that assist in many tasks of the development process, namely, creating dialog trees and level designing.

5. System Administration Applications

We know how tedious system administration can get, given there are thousands of tasks to be completed and a sea of data to be managed. System Administration applications are a savior for the management, to say the least.

Python is regarded fit for creating system administration apps for it allows developers to easily communicate with the operating system via the ‘os’ module. It enables developers to interface with the OS on which Python is currently running. This language makes all the IO operations accessible which includes simple reading and writing to the file system.

6. Machine Learning Applications

Another inspiring tech trend of this decade has to be Machine learning development. Machine learning is an algorithm technology that feeds data to operating systems and enable them to make intelligent decisions. Before creating applications of machine learning was a tricky task, but now we have Python for machine learning applications.

Python comes loaded with libraries like Pandas and Scikit for machine learning that are available in the market for free and can be used under GNU license.

NLP (Natural Language Processing) is one branch of machine learning enabling a system to analyze, manipulate, and understand human language for the algorithm to work.

With the basic knowledge of Python, developers can create machine learning apps with the help of these highly competent and effective libraries.

7. Business Applications

Python highly supports practical agility, meaning it is capable of developing numerous kinds of applications. This is why Python also assists in ERP and E-Commerce app development solutions.

Odoo, an all-in-one management software is written in Python and provides a wide range of business apps forming a suite of business management apps. Another famous business application built with Python is Tryton which is a three-tier general-purpose and high-level application. It is so easy to create such apps with Python which is why app development companies choose it.

Other Use Cases of Python Language

1. Web and Software Development

Since Python has a code that is very simple and easy to understand, this uncomplicates the web and Software development services, making the process more efficient. Another charming feature of Python is its compatibility to integrate with other languages, making it a more flexible option.

Some effective frameworks like Django and Pyramid assist the developers in software development with Python and enable them to create web apps from scratch. The standard library of Python also supports numerous internet protocols including XML, JSON, and HTML. Instagram is one such application create with Django- a Python framework.

2. Image Processing and OCR

Python has this amazing ability of object detection and Image processing. With the help of a wide range of Python libraries such as PyTesseract for OCR (Optical Character Recognition), TensorFlow for object detection and the Python Imaging Library (PIL) for Image processing, it has become highly efficient for developers to create apps with self-contained deep learning and Computer Vision capabilities.

3. Automated Testing

When it comes to Automated Testing, Python is the language of choice. Automated testing is the process of execution of the apps’ features using a script rather than a human being. In this regard, Python along with Selenium (a web-based automation tool) provides a plethora of libraries and tools to perform automated tests. These tools are also known as CI/CD tools acronymous of “Continuous Integration” and “Continuous Deployment” and can run the tests, compile and publish applications along with deploying them into production.

4. Web Crawlers

Web Crawlers, also known as Spiderbot, are typically used to make a duplicate copy of all the visited pages of the world wide web for later preparation by a search engine. This will index the downloaded pages to render fast searches.

In fact, Crawlers are useful for automated maintenance tasks on a Website. For example, checking links or validating HTML code. Python is considered ideal for creating these Spiderbots because of its simple and fast code, and due to the availability of impeccable libraries.

Conclusion

All in all, we can see Python app development is really fast and flexible. It is very easy to create various types of applications because of the versatility of Python’s code. There are numerous types of libraries available for different kinds of applications – the reason why app development companies opt for Python over a sea of other languages.

Insights on Designing Experiences in Digital Healthcare

Posted on 02/09/202009/06/2021 by Tushar

With world in your palms, user experience is becoming a necessity in every domain. Everyone is looking for a memorable and seamless experience that is intuitive, intelligent and definitely a solution provider.

This is why today UX is gaining extreme importance and is playing a major role in simplifying the complexities. It is undoubtedly the foundation to success and all the passionate designers have proven this time and again. Many companies, be it product or service oriented are acknowledging the role of designing in the pavement of success like Fintech, Travel & Tourism, E-commerce, Enterprise Applications. But, there are few industries who needs to brace up like Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Insurance etc.

Today, I will share some insights from our experience in Healthcare and also touch upon the world of possibilities waiting to be discovered.

“How awesome it would be to have an intelligent system that calculates patients BMI, pointers of medical history, important notes of patients and then suggests drugs accordingly and doctors could pick up from that.”

Our first step in Healthcare UX

We started in the field with ‘Context media’, a US based client that aimed at designing an interactive tab app that helped patients gain more knowledge about the chronic diseases. Though, it was not a big project but helped us touch the unanswered vacuum of the industry. Soon, we got our milestone project ‘Surgeon logbook’, a project of ‘Narayana Health’. Dr. Varun Shetty approached us to design an extremely simple app that would aid surgeons in maintaining their log book digitally. We spent hours with the doctors understanding their requirement (conscious and subconscious) and them. We were appalled User Experience in Healthcare to discover how healthcare industry was so heavily paper dependent in 21st century! With our mobile first approach and research, we were happy to unearth that the world of surgeon’s was looking forward to an App like this.

3 Years in Healthcare industry and after spending few thousand hours with doctors, nurses, surgeons and patients, we have been entrusted with immense knowledge and thrust to design many more healthcare products. We are on a mission to revamp health care with outstanding UX and ensure that it is way more accessible than shopping.

Let’s see the current scenario of EMR in Healthcare and later I have shared some tips for designing Healthcare products.

EMR – Electronic Medical Records

Today Healthcare is not just about cure it is more about prevention. We have power to access the knowledge with just a tap. But, it’s sad to observe that current Electronic medical records (EMR) in market is just another piece of software that can be used by doctors and patients only post formal training.

Seriously? Training for an EMR! We didn’t need any training for Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, did we? It’s not just about providing a technical solution but it is about providing a right solution that is empathetic towards users and intelligent enough to eradicate problems. Major software companies have spent months and years building EMRs, just to realize that hospitals, doctors and patients aren’t using it the way they were supposed to.

This is where User Experience Design and Emotional intelligent designs play a major role; every other day we read of medical errors that leads to loss of life, but with practicing a good UX practice, we can definitely avoid and overcome these errors.

Imagine an EMR with a seamless experience for doctor while he is prescribing drugs. The app that is as simple as an e-commerce checkout page and takes you through easy but essential steps. What if we design an experience where doctors can see side effects of drugs tailored to individual’s medical history before clicking Prescribe button. How awesome it would be to have an intelligent system that calculates patients BMI, pointers of medical history, important notes of patients and then suggests drugs accordingly and doctors could pick up from that. It’s about time to add a layer of intelligence to the app by creating an algorithm that offers helpful suggestion to users. A great example would be Tapgenes app Designed by us that takes data from embedded health tracker from iOS and suggests how can we better manage health of ours and our loved ones. This is way too exciting, I would rather stop, else I might end up building one.

Anyways, here are some tips to ponder on before designing UX for healthcare.

Start with Design Thinking aka Solution Based Thinking Session

This session with the stakeholders is the first and most crucial step. Involve the entire team, right from product owners, dev team and marketing team. Here are some links for a design thinking workshops.

Design Thinking. Thoughts by Tim Brown

What happens with a design thinking approach to healthcare? by Tim Brown

Keep it device friendly

Desktop version of EMR is history; let’s think of mobile or tabs. In one of our research, we found that doctors were more comfortable using EMR on iPad. IoT can be smartly used to supplement patient treatment through remote monitoring and communication, and to keep track of patients as they move through a healthcare facility or connect your EMR with smart wearables.

Create a UX Process

Every project has its own challenges, be it budget, timelines or development constraints. It is very important to understand them, sit back and draw your process that is adaptive to the project. We followed following steps for one of the healthcare projects:

Empathy: Understand users (doctors and Patients) wants and needs.
Discover: Research, create user scenarios, interview stakeholders, users and others playing a major role, create personas, competitor analysis.
Define: Create user journey, process flows. wireframes, clickable prototypes.
Test: Wireframes can be turned into clickable prototype, test it before you fine tune the pixels, heuristic evaluation.

Know your Users and Know them better than them

A good product is the result of good IA. Card sorting helps you group and organize necessary information by getting users involved. For example: What information doctor needs before prescribing medicine and in which flow can be easily determined by having an internal discussion and also by involving doctors involved.

Our team at Lollypop loves this activity, as Card sorting is simple, cheap, fast and user-focused. Card sorting also helps in bonding with clients and knowing the users better.

Understand HIPAA Compliance – Health Insurance, portability and Accountability.

Make sure you are aware of all the laws before you start designing fancy things. Few healthcare products fall under regulations that can impact the User Experience. Not being aware of these laws could delay the products release and could also lead to other issues. Understand the laws in handling and protecting personal healthcare information. Most of these laws are around who can access what information.

Once your personas are ready, map it to the roles and create user flows. Health insurances and their coverage are different in every country, it’s important to understand insurances role and regulations while building a product. As a designer be responsible and consider privacy of patient’s information.

Follow “Intelligent Devices, Dumb People” Rule

Yes, you read it right. We should not overweigh anyone to go out of their genre and become extremely tech savvy. Keep it simple, doctors are interested in treating patients and definitely not learning your software.

Conclusion

When you understand “What users need and not what they want” you are treading on a right path. We can order pizza, call for a taxi, maintain our finances, plan our holidays with few clicks, because, these products have appreciated the criticality of designing user centric interfaces and investing in UX to make the experience emotional intelligent. Now it’s time for healthcare to pace up and build an amazing product for hospitals and patients.

We will call it a winner when:

Patient would be able to maintain their health records and updates as seamlessly as FB posts.
Share medical records like sharing pictures in Instagram.
Doctors have all the information in few clicks.
Doctors can prescribe with easy reminders.
Doctors can concentrate on patients and not technology.
When doctors and Patients smile together.

All-Inclusive Checklist for Mobile App Development

Posted on 02/09/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Has the app industry enticed you into submitting to its popularity? Are you now at a phase where you know you want to join the crowd but are unsure where to start? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Many have been where you are now. Your worries related to which platform to choose, whom to trust to not rip you off financially in the promises of an amazing app, how would you make money off your app, how will you see that people actually use your app, etc. are shared by thousands of first timers around the world.

While, it is still easy for those halves who have years of experience in the mobile market, who are well-versed with different aspects of mobile app development as mentioned in this mobile app development guide, and have launched their own app; for your half, who is new in the game, you have to lot to gear up for.

But it’s okay. You have stumbled over the right place.

We have something that no one will let you on this easily and in one place.

Keep reading to fast-track your glorious app development journey:

We have created a checklist, which covers the complete mobile app development process from its ideation stage to the stage it’s uploaded on the store. Here, we have itemized various elements that one must consider before initiating their mobile app development effort. Irrespective of whether it is done in-house, or with the help of a mobile app development company, the checklist will help in preparing you successfully developing a mobile app.

Here’s how to use it:

First select what stage you are at in the App Development process and then cross off or answer the points that are mentioned against each stage. This will give you an idea of how prepared you are for every stage.

Without further ado, let me take you down the ultimate Mobile App Development Checklist.

But before that, a quick prologue.

When you partner with a third party mobile app development company, they share a scope which entails all the parts of the checklist, superficially, which you are going to read right now. So, when dealing with a mobile app consultant, use this checklist as a means to finalize one company out of the lot you mean to interact with for developing your app.

Discovery Phase

This is the stage which preludes the app development process. This is where the app idea is checked for its viability. At this stage you analyze your target market, look at the similar apps and see what features are being offered to your target group.

If you have associated with a company, this is the part where they will sharing a scope with you that will be developed on the basis of competition analysis.

Here, you will be looking out for the :

1. Do you know who your target group is?

2. Do you know the problem your target group is facing?

3. Is there any other company offering solutions to their problems through mobile app?

4. Do you know who are the app’s competitors?

5. Have you listed down the features the competitors are offering?

6. Have you read the reviews on their app?

7. Do you know the monetization model the competitors use?

8. What app monetization would you use in the app? [Here’s a guide on this]

Technology Requirement

Once you have the understanding of the features that you need to add in your app and the behavior of your target market, the next part is to look at the basics of what your app would be. This stage will set the foundation of what you plan to offer.

9. Will your app work on Android?*

10. Is your App for iOS?

11. Will you make an app for both, now or will you wait to see its performance?

12. Is the app native or hybrid?

13. Will your app be integrated with device’s features?

14. Will it need cloud based infrastructure?

*the reason I have mentioned Android and iOS separately is because both of them come with their set of advantages and shortcomings. And even though, majority of the businesses are moving to Android, it would be completely your choice of which platform you wish to hit first.

User Interface Details

After finalizing the details related to the platform your app would be based on and the type it would be, the next step is to think about the look and feel of the app. If there is one crucial element that can affect how your app is received by the world, it is the User Interface. When you reach this stage, this is the checklist for designing an app.

15. Do you have the wireframe ready?

16. Have you decided on the App orientation? Landscape or Portrait?

17. Does the app easily transitions from one orientation to another?

18. Have you finalized your benchmarks?

19. Have you worked on the transition between screens?

20. Are the call to action button standing out from other elements?

21. Are the design elements in line with the culture of the region the app is in?

Until now you must have got a clear idea of what your app would look like and where. Beyond this point, we will now see who and how would convert this concept into a functioning app that would be used by the world. And what all would follow your app after it has been developed.

Development Criteria

This is where your app transforms from an idea into an app that would soon be available on millions of devices. Every concept that you had envisioned up until now will start taking shape here. Here is your checklist for a successful mobile app development

22. Are you making the app in house?

23. Are you hiring a sound mobile app development company?

24. If hiring, is the company in your region or based internationally?

25. If making in-house, do you have a team and expertise?

26. Do you have a cost range set for your app development process?

27. Do you know how much time would it take to develop the app?

28. Have you settled on the development process? Iterative, Agile or Waterfall

29. Have you paid attention to your app’s backend development?

Performance Metrics

Once you have settled on the decision whether to develop an app in house or employ an external agency, the next step is to make a checklist to measure its performance. This is what you need the answers to

30. Do you know how the app behaves in case of special events like low battery, less network coverage, Airplane mode, less storage?

31. Does the app has a web service?

32. Does the app have a server side component?

33. Does the app have scope to be scalable vertically or horizontally?

34. Do you get notification of app crashes in real time?

Security Measures

If there is one part of your app that can make users look beyond the performance and design and everything material, it is concrete security. Our industry is full of examples of data breach and security lags. It goes without saying that your app should not be the next example of an app that could have been made secure.

While any experienced app development company would know of the concrete ways to make an app secure, Here’s what to check from your behalf –

35. Do you have secure sockets layer incorporated in the project?

36. Does your app has two point user authentication in place?

37. Do you have control on who would have an access to your app?

38. Will there be sub-admins?

39. Does your app comply to industry security standards, like HIPAA or PCI DSS

40. Is your payment gateway integration done right?

Testing Checklist

Nearing the end stages of the app development process, testing comes into the picture. At this stage, you measure the outcome of your app development process with what you had envisioned before it all started.

Are your target users interacting with the app as you meant them to? Is it behaving like you want it? Are there any bugs and misses? You will get an answer to all these questions at this stage. Let’s see the points that you will be checking off at this stage –

41. Is your app performing same on different device and OS versions?

42. Are you testing your app on your tech team?

43. Are you testing your app on real, non-technical users?

44. Have you checked your mobile app Localization strategy?

45. Is your app ready for the next device update?

46. Is your app ready to be scaled to the next OS Update?

47. Do you have a test plan in place with tests like QC testing, Unit testing, and User Acceptance Testing?

In continuation to this, here are the things that you need to consider when testing your mobile app.

With this, you have the complete checklist for developing a mobile app. But there is one element that is still left to be worked on and that is your app brand. All these elements will fail to deliver if your app is not able to entice your target segment into using your app.

Here is the branding checklist of a successful app –

Branding Requirement

These are the elements that would define your brand impression and attract people to install your app among the sea of thousand other apps. Here’s what should be perfect in your app, before you publish it in the Apple or Google Play Store

48. Does your App icon follows the app store guidelines?

49. Are your App images are clear and contextually right?

50. Is your App Store Optimization done right? (More on this, here)

51. Are you sure your App name is not taken, unique, not unheard?

52. Have you added real screenshots in the app description?

53. Have you added tutorial videos on how to use the app?

54. Have you crossed over the various multilingual app challenges?

A quick recap:

Till now, we have seen all the elements that you will have to check pertaining to the different stages of App development process. Now, we will see how to shortlist a company out of the thousands of app development agencies in the world.

While, the internet is full of articles and guides related to this, here is a quick digestible checklist for you to finalize a brand, sooner.

Finalizing a company

If after reading through it all, you’re unsure of how you would finalize a company that can be given the responsibility to handle not just these but many other related tasks in the long run, don’t be unsure any more.

Here is a checklist to help you with the selection and finalization process.

55. Are they present on the app development companies’ review and rating sites like Clutch, Appfutura, Extract etc?

56. Are they in your time zone?

57. Are they based out of some other location?

58. Have they worked with Start-ups before?

59. Do they have experience in platform your app is based on?

60. Have they worked with the features that are to be included in your app?

61. Do they offer designing services or just the development?

62. Do you know of the team size?

63. Will they communicate with you on your mode? Skype, phone, email etc.?

64. Will there be a common report to track performance?

65. Do they follow your style of the development process?

66. Do they submit apps in the store? [If not, here’s how to submit app to Google Play Store]

67. Do they outsource any part of app development?

68. Do they take full payment upfront?

69. Do they take payment stage wise?

Mobile App Metrics

Even after it’s all done and your app has been made live on the app store, the crucial part of analyzing how the app is performing remains. There are number of standards that your app will have to fulfill before being validated as the top ranking app in the charts.

Here are the questions that you have to prepare your app to answer –

70. What is the number of your app downloads?

71. How many new visitors are on your app?

72. How many active users are there on your app any given point of time?

73. What is the average session interval of your app? The time gap between when user opens an app and when he starts using it?

74. Do you know of the time users are spending on your app?

75. Do you know at what stage are they leaving your app?

76. Are you able to calculate the Lifetime Value of a user?

77. Do you know how many people are your app able to convert in buyers?

78. Are you tracking the app store ratings and reviews daily?

79. Have you fixed a time for support response?

Cost Of a Podcast Application Development

Posted on 01/09/202009/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

Let’s be completely honest, you and I. The chances that you will read every line of this article are very slim.

But if we dictated the same article as you were driving or between meetings, the chance of listening to the entire piece would increase by manifold. Better yet, if we pass on this article to you in Chris Hemsworth’s gorgeous Aussie voice, the chance of you contacting us would skyrocket.

Such is the power of podcasting. A power that the world has started realizing and engaging with. The podcast sector is growing at a lightning speed; the industry gained an estimated $479.1 million in revenue in 2018 and can be expected to generate over $1 billion by 2021, according to a report by PwC and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The high revenue can be traced back to the fact that the average number of podcast listeners has been increasing on a constant note. An event that has led to an increase in the query for what is the podcast mobile app development cost.

Our intent today is to give you an answer to the cost to make a podcast app. We will be looking into it from angles like must-have features, the top players in the industry, and how to generate revenue after you make the app.

Table of Content

Major Players of the Podcast Streaming Industry
Must-Have Features of the App Development
How Much Does Podcast App Development Costs?
Podcast App Monetization Models

The rising number of podcast listeners in addition to the growing market revenue has led to a number of new entrants. The market which was earlier dominated by Apple Music is now witnessing new names.

Let us look at some of the most active platforms in the podcast industry.

Major Players of the Podcast Streaming Industry

In June of 2005, Apple added podcasting in iTunes 4.9 and started building podcasts directory at the iTunes Music Store. Under the new iTunes, users could subscribe, download, and organize podcasts. The popularity of podcasts has been on a rise since then. While the growth has been steady for some years, the coronavirus-driven lockdown has increased the rate of new entrants.

Here are some of the most used podcasting apps which are being seen as the reference points when an entertainment app development company builds a podcast app.

Now that we have given you a peek into the podcast industry and the market players that act as a reference when you build the app, let us look into the primary podcast mobile app development cost factor.

Must-Have Features of Podcast App Development

There are a number of features that come together when you create the app – an immersive search functionality, option to record and upload your own podcast, a live podcast, integration of payment gateway, etc. But the ones we are going to discuss here are the MVP-level features of building a podcast.

1. Category-wise Search Functionality

The first way users look for a podcast is through the application. The search functionality when developing a podcast app should allow users to find a podcast through podcast name, episode, genre, how frequent it is, RSS feed, etc.

2. Discover Tab

The discover tab of a podcast application generally consists of the podcasts being divided around genre and categories like ‘trending’, ‘featured’, ‘free of cost’, etc. The aim is to help users find their next podcast with utmost ease. What we recommend is using AI integration at this stage that would refer to what to watch next to the users.

3. Library

This is the part of the podcast app that enables users to keep track of their downloaded podcasts, new episodes, their favorite podcasts, and playlists.

You can think of it as a bigger version of Netflix’s watchlist and Continue Watching section.

4. User Profile

The user profile of a podcast application contains tabs like account details, listening statistics, help center link, settings, etc.

5. Offline Mode

When developing a podcast app, a key feature that every media and entertainment app development company suggests is taking the offline-first mobile app development approach. The reason we have kept the feature in the MVP mode is that even as an MVP you will be able to give your users the feasibility of being active on your app when on an airplane mode.

How Much Does Podcast App Development Costs?

The podcast app development cost is dependent on a number of different factors. Let us look at each of them.

1. Features

Podcast app features are the first thing that contributes to its development cost. The more advanced features you add to the application, the higher would be the cost. An example of it can be seen in the podcast recording or live stream feature. At the MVP stage, we advise integration features that are a must-have for your app’s functioning.

2. Technology Stack

The next cost-impacting factor is the technology stack. Although the choice of tech stack varies from app idea to idea, the general rule of thumb is if you develop APIs and SDKs from the scratch, the cost would be greater unlike if you use third-party integrations.

3. Podcast App Design

It can get very easy for a designer to crowd the app since the number of podcasts that make an app successful is generally on the higher side. Designing a minimal app should be the aim of the developers working on the project. However, creating a design that showcases all the multiple podcasts in an organized manner requires expertise, which in turn comes with a cost.

4. Technology Integration

The other key factor that has a direct impact on the podcast app development cost is technology integration. Although we do suggest using AI in the app if you add in technologies like IoT or Blockchain the cost would automatically increase.

5. Location of the agency

The last element is the location of the agency. As you move from East to West, the cost of app development generally increases. The average hourly rate of development in the US is generally in the range of $100 to $120, while in case of India it can be anywhere near $60 to $80. The number one reason why there is demand for remote developers.

Everything you have read up until this point is in terms of the amount you would have to spend for the development of the podcast application. But noting that the end goal of any application is to generate revenue, let us dwell on that point.

Podcast App Monetization Models

1. In-app advertising

One of the top ways for a business to earn money from an app is through in-app advertisements. By showcasing brand videos or images in the podcast screens or even after a few chapters of an audiobook, you can get the option of earning a good sum of money.

2. Subscription

A monthly subscription is the next best way to earn money on your application. Although we would advise against it since there are a number of free apps available in the market, if you feel that the content you are offering is truly off the charts, add a subscription feature.

3. Premium content

The one option that we 100% back is the premium content mode. You can offer your users a no-advertisement listening experience, access to the most trending podcasts and first look of hottest podcasters at the back of monthly or quarterly charge.

With this, you are now ready to make yourself the next big name in the podcast industry. The next steps? Get in touch with a media app development company and initiate the process.