Did you know that the Android App Bundle has become the gold standard for publishing on Google Play? Dig into its benefits.
When I first heard about this new upload format known as the App Bundle, I was very excited! Many of the issues that we developers faced like building APKs to target different API versions, device types, and so on- are now passed on Google Play.
From this day on, developers will be able to use Dynamic Delivery for creating optimized APKs that satisfy the requirements of user’s devices and delivers them at the runtime for installation.
All this is being done through the Android app bundle app distribution format. Let us dive into what Android’s new, official publishing format is all about.
What is Android App Bundle?
Android launched a new official publishing format called android app bundles (.aab) and it offers a more efficient way to build and release your app. It also lets you easily deliver a great user experience in a small-sized app, this in turn also improves install success rate and reduces uninstallation rates.
Android App Bundles are Google recommended way for building, publishing, and distributing the application across different device configurations.
Did you know that the android app bundle has become the gold standard for publishing on Google Play? Over 600,000 apps and games currently use the app bundle in production, representing over 40% of all releases on Google Play including Netflix.
Let’s look into the benefits of app bundles now.
Benefits Of Using Google Android App Bundle
1. Size Reduction
App bundles help in reducing a significant amount of application size! On average, developers have witnessed a 20% size savings compared to APK. You can visit the new app size report in the google play console to see how much your app could save.
Did you know that, with the help of app bundle development, Adobe reduced the size of Adobe Acrobat Reader by 20%? Not only this, but some of these size savings by early adopters of app bundles show some jaw-dropping results. These results are what make Android app bundles a great way to build Android Go apps:
2. Increased app installations and decreased uninstallations
Apps increasing size would not matter much if we had unlimited storage in our devices. But, as we know, it’s not the case. As the size of an app increases the number of installations decrease!
As a ripple effect of size savings with the help of xamarin android app bundle will increase the app installations. This also resulted in the increase of update rates, and very fewer uninstallations.
3. Higher efficiency
App bundle development in android allows you to build one artifact that includes all of your app’s collected code, resources, and native libraries. So, you are no longer required to build, sign, upload, and manage version codes for multiple APKs. Hence, the efficiency is increased if you install an android app bundle on your device.
4. Faster downloads
Your app can be efficiently tailored to each device by Google Play which means the process of downloading and installing the app becomes faster.
5. Integrated codes
With the help of the android studio app bundle, you can prepare for the 64-bit requirement without increasing the size of your app. As a result, Play will deliver the appropriate native code required for each device.
6. Increased engineering velocity
The entire process of creating an app is accelerated. From building dynamic and independent modules to designing, testing, and releasing it. The engineering velocity gets a major boost with the android app bundle unity.
For example, The Book My Show app declared that their app builds time (for a completely new build, without any caching) went down by 70% — this is because, with app bundles, it just dumps every resource into the bundle, rather than segregating them, like for APKs.
7. Reduced manual effort
During android app development several manual efforts can be completely automated. Once the development is done, its link is uploaded and shared on a specific Slack channel automatically. No manual intervention is required.
8. Dynamic delivery enabled
App bundles have introduced us to a new concept known as dynamic delivery. One can deliver conditional features at the time of installation on the basis of properties like device features (e.g., AR/VR), user’s country, or device’s version. Users are also given the facility to install features on an on-demand mode instead of the install time. They can even uninstall the features they no longer need.
This will help the users personalize their experience as per their requirements. This will also come in handy when you do not want to increase the size of your app in the long term. Further allowing us to make the initial size of our application smaller and then offering extra features only to the users who might actually make use of them.
How To Build and Deploy Android App Bundles?
Unlike APKs, app bundles are a publishing format that entails all of your app’s codes. So, it cannot be deployed directly to a device. With the help of the android studio, creating a project as a signed app bundle is just a few clicks away!
To build app bundles, follow these steps:
Step-1: Start with downloading Android Studio 3.2 or higher. It is the simplest way to build app bundles.
Step-2: Add support for Play Feature Delivery by including a base module, organizing code and resources for configuration APKs, and, optionally, adding feature modules.
Step-3: Now, start building an Android App Bundle using Android Studio. You can even deploy the application onto a connected device from the app bundle through modification of your debug/run configuration and selection of the ‘deploy APK from app bundle’ option.
Step-4: Testing and publishing your app bundle will be the final step.
Test Your App Bundle
Once you create the android app bundle, you should test how Google Play will use it to generate APKs and how those APKs will behave when deployed to a device. You can use the following methods to test the same:
Test your app bundle locally by using the bundle tool. It will generate APKs from your app bundle and deploy them to a connected device.
Share your app with a URL. It is the speediest way of uploading your app bundle and sharing your app as a Google Play Store link with your testers.
Set up an open, closed, or internal test. This is another way of testing custom delivery options, like downloading app features on demand.
Final Words
The future has a lot in store for all of us and it is up to us to keep up with it! Without any doubt, I can tell you that the android app bundles are where the future lies. Being an android app development company, we can help you stay ahead in the game.
For any regular person, it is hard to associate the term “free” with “revenue”, right? Why wouldn’t it be for free means no cost?
In this article today, we will take up this unlikely association of terms and see – can they really compliment each other, i.e., Can a business really make money with a free application?
However, before everything, let’s discuss why one should even consider taking a step into the direction of developing a free application for business, where they could develop a paid app and generate revenue upfront.
We have some mind-blowing statistics up our sleeve that would make you reconsider everything and change your perception towards free apps.
Free Apps Vs Paid Apps
On comparing free apps with paid apps, the numbers we received were ground-shaking. As per Play Store statistics, the number of free apps alone is approximately 2,589,804 as opposed to 1,25,894 paid apps. Whereas, according to the App Store statistics, 90.3% of total apps are free. Similarly, the difference between the number of paid apps downloads vs. free apps downloads is huge and is in favor of the latter.
These stats speak volumes about the preferences of users, globally. Therefore, it is proved that developing a free application is going to fetch you a wider user base.
You might be wondering about “How Do Free Apps Make Money on Android and iOS?” or the question buzzing in your mind right now might be – “Is it even possible to make money from a free app, let alone higher revenue?”
Absolutely!
What you need is a success recipe (in our case, a powerful app monetization strategy) that will provide you detailed insights on prevailing monetization models, enabling free applications to become money-making apps.
Proven Free Mobile App Monetization Strategies
Now that we have witnessed the proliferation of the popularity of free apps, let’s get straight into the strategies that make it possible for these free apps to make money without explicitly earning from users.
Advertising
Being a pretty familiar concept, advertising is one of the most popular and influential ways to earn money from an application. When talking about this trend in the app monetization, you promote services or products for third-party clients on your application and in return, you get paid. There are many parameters on which a company pays for the advertisement –
Per impression
Per click
Per install
The discussion doesn’t end here. There are five variants or ways in which you can display the ad on your app –
Banner ad
These are the type of ads that you might have seen at the top or bottom of any app. This placement is considered less intrusive and hardly tampers with the user experience. Although, studies show that these banner ads have a very low CTR; meaning there are fewer chances of any user clicking on that ad. Nevertheless, the fact that banner ad growth in 2017 increased at CAGR 7% is a clear indication of its effectiveness despite everything.
Rich Media ads
Evident from the heading, rich media alludes to popular mediums of media such as engaging videos induced with dynamic CTAs, Parallax scrolling, other social media components, QR codes, and more.The case with videos is that an advertisement video would start playing when there are any natural pauses in the app (mostly random). Many apps also reward users upon watching the whole video. One case in point is the “Ludo King” app that offers coins for playing a video.
Native ad
Native ads are the most artful of all. These ads are so well integrated into the app’s interface, making it hard for the users to recognize them as ads rather than as part of the content of the app. Facebook’s ads appearing as user-generated content is a prime example.
Interstitial ad
Though might be considered a little too much on-the-face, these ads are a great way to promote third-party services or products. There is a high chance of getting more CTR via this ad type as they cover the whole of the device screen, obtaining the full focus of the users. Users can either choose (X) option placed on the ad or can click on it.
Incentivized ad
These types of ads include incentives for users in return for performing specific in-app actions such as filling out a survey or poll, sharing content, and so on. It is like killing two birds with one stone, for you not only earn through advertising, but you also get a loyal customer base via giving out incentives. One of the catalysts of this trend is the RunKeeper app.
List ads
Being self-explanatory, List ads are displaying multiple ads (advertisers) at a time.
Referral Marketing and Affiliate Income
This is a proven free mobile app monetization strategy. Under referral marketing, the content containing information about any affiliated company is shown in the application. Here also, your earnings will depend on the clicks and number of installs done through your app. The rewards earned are based either on the revenue share or the cost per action (CPA) model.
This marketing model is used for –
Promoting other apps via banners or pop-ups,
In-app advertisements
Advertise via in-app store
Similar to the previous advertisement model, campaigns that are used in affiliate marketing are:
Cost-per-Mille – Popularly known as CPM, this is where you get payments depending on the number of impressions. The advertiser is charged every 1,000th time the affiliate ad is shown (known as mille in Latin). In comparison to the Android platform, iOS affiliate ads are usually more expensive and sometimes can differ upto 30%. AdMob, operated by Google has the highest end of CPM rates.
Cost-per-click (CPC) – The term is self-explanatory pertaining to the revenue generated by the number of clicks on the advertisement.
Cost-per-sale – Also called as PPS (Pay-per-sale), this where a developer is charged when a sale/purchase has taken place. The publisher of the app is paid a fixed commission (a specific percentage of the purchase).
Cost-per-view – With CPV, you are paid on every view on the advertisement video or other rich media ad interactions.
Cost-per-install – Under the CPI model, you generate revenue via per install of any software product.
One case in point for affiliate marketing here is Amazon. You can select a product to advertise it in your app and then get the ad fees depending on every redirected purchase.
In-App Purchase & Freemium
Another great strategy to turn your free app into a money-making app is to engrain the in-app purchases model in your application. With this functionality, any user who makes in-app purchases will be given some sort of bonus or premium functionality. You can sell any virtual product under the in-app purchase model including gaming currency, or ability to unlock any stage or purchase any fictitious thing relating to any particular game.
Now, there are three types of in-app purchases-
Consumable – It is a product that can be used only once within the application, i.e., Gaming currency.
Non-consumable – It refers to any product purchased for long-term and repeated use, i.e., unlocking any gaming level or buying any virtual book, etc.
Subscription – It’s a model allowing users to access premium features functionalities of a product for a limited time. This is what we are going to discuss next in detail.
Subscription
As explained above, this is one of the most in-trend monetization models and a way through which a free app brings profit, mainly employed by online newspapers and magazines, cloud services like Dropbox and SoundCloud, and entertainment apps such as Netflix, Spotify, a ride-sharing app like Uber, etc. Though the app is free to download, a user will have to buy a subscription plan to access any kind of feature which the app is mainly famous for.
In fact, as per the report by Sweet Pricing, 5% of the overall successful apps are using this model. Though, not a money-magnet primarily, it can help you generate big bucks in the long run.
There can be many options under this model –
Monthly-based subscription
Yearly-based subscription
Per-day subscription
Major platforms like Google and Apple allow the app owners to manage subscription transactions through them. Consequently, Apple enjoys 30% of the first year’s overall subscriptions followed by a decrease to 15% after a year of paid service. Whereas, Google is more generous in this regard by taking only 15% of first year’s revenue.
Sponsorship
Being one of the most effective free mobile app monetization techniques, the sponsorship model is ideal for those apps having an existing strong user base and on the top of it, caters to a particular market niche. This way, you can connect with the sponsors belonging to that industry and match their brand with ads, info in the app, or even adapt the design of the app to that particular brand.
There are primarily two kinds of deals – Revenue from the app divided equally or setting a monthly sponsorship fee.
Crowdfunding
Rather a new cog in the machinery of monetization, Crowdfunding is another way how free applications make money. There are several renowned platforms like CrowdFunder, AppsFunder, Indiegogo, Kickstarter, etc that developers use for generating funds for app like vinted.
In fact, in 2017, 138 app ideas received fundings amounting between $10k-$100k on the Kickstarter platform.
Email Marketing
The email has been a great source of marketing to many organizations since its inception, something that also became a crucial option for every mobile app development company and app marketing team to promote mobile apps.
The process consists of accumulating user data (email address) and then sending them corresponding marketing materials to procure the interest of subscribers in the product.
Certain ways through which you could collect the email addresses are:
Asking for the email address in return for rewards (coins, bonus, etc.)
Employing third-party tools
Encouraging them to sign up via Facebook SDK
Note: Always ask for permission or inform the users before collecting any data along with stating the purpose.
Pay Per Download
Under this popular free app monetization model, an app is offered at a one-time fee charged at the time of download, giving access to all its functionalities and features, as opposed to the premium model.
Though this model ties all the profits and revenue to the number of downloads, this might not be the first choice of many app developers. The reason being, users might not feel comfortable paying for the app upfront without even getting a trial.
One way to go around it is to have an impeccable marketing strategy with exceptional app listing, press, and reviews to promote the app’s features and values.
Though, there were the most popular and prominent ways to earn money via free apps, there is one more not-so-avidly-used app monetization model –
Accumulating And Selling Data
It might not be the most ethical practice, but there are many apps out in the market that earn profits on their free apps by selling their databases to third-parties. The information traded might be the email addresses, personal preferences, and searches of users, and social media accounts.
If this is something you do not support (which is excellent), you can make use of this raw data to tap into the minds of users and improve your product/services based on their preferences.
How To Choose The Right Free App Monetization Strategy?
Any app monetization strategy is deemed futile which doesn’t compliment your business model. All the efforts will turn to dust if you can’t procure expected results from your endeavors. This makes it prominent for you to find out which strategy would render positive results, something that we have eloquently covered in our article “Choosing the right app monetization strategy”.
Free App Monetization Tools
Here are some tools that will help you in integrating your application with one of these free app monetization models.
For Freemium App Model
Play In-app Billing – A powerful tool by Google for every Android app development agency to easily integrate the freemium model into their app. The tool takes care of all the checkout details, negating the need for your app to process financial transactions.
Apple In-App Purchase – This Apple tool enables the users to buy the in-app content/services or subscription and treats it as a software download from the store.
AdWorkMedia – It is a perfect tool to integrate advertising methods with gated freemium tools in a system. It allows you to implement content and product lockers, provides walls and other similar monetization tools.
For In-App Advertisements
Google Admob – This tool from Google helps the users to analyze the data accumulated on the activities and preferences of customers via Google Analytics. This allows users to improve their advertisements, based on the understanding of the analysis.
Apple iAd – This poses as a great tool for users to show ads of other companies while also managing their own advertisements – all in one place.
NativeX (for games) – This tool is developed by Venture beat. It renders incredible no lag video with creative ad units for impeccable game app monetization and user acquisition.Unity (for games) – Only targeting ads for gamers, this tool displays customized ads based on each user’s behavior in the game app.
For In-App Video Advertising
Vungle – It is a remarkable tool that has the SDK working on all major platforms, i.e., iOS, Android, and Windows.
Adcolony – It employs its proprietary Instant Play ID technology and buffer-free video playback in order to engage and monetize users.
For M-Commerce Purchase
Shopify – This tool is excellent for adding e-commerce to the native app that allows customers to buy directly from within the app.
MobiCart’s tool – It effectively allows the application to act as a website, facilitating the buying and selling of products.
App Monetization Mistakes To Avoid
The occurrence of mistakes is probable in the initial stages of any process, which resultantly invites blunders creating great losses. In which case, a pre-insight into these mistakes is helpful in avoiding them completely. So, here they are –
1. Not Analyzing And Targeting A Particular Niche
Understanding the geographical needs of the users is pivotal. Your app might be preferred by users from one country and not obtain attention at all from others. This is why it is important for you to study the market niche and its feasibility in relation to the location of the targeted user base. So, instead of crying over spilled milk, it is better to analyze your potential users first and then develop a monetization strategy around it.
2. Selecting The Wrong Pricing Model
A crucial part of the app monetization strategy is setting up the prices and rather a sensitive one as well. Carelessly or assumingly setting up prices can blow up in your face, obliterating everything you have worked hard for. For instance, $5 may sound fair to you for the US audience, as iOS users’ average spending on mobile apps is $88 per year, but the same pricing would not work for users in developing countries. So, always make sure to study your audiences well before finalizing anything.
3. No Strategy For The Localized Version
Let’s understand this via an example. Say, you are charging 1 USD from users to jump a level in the game in the US. This might be an acceptable amount for US users to pay for in-app purchases but may not appeal to users in other regions where finance is a concern. There are even some regions where the in-app app monetization model might collapse, i.e., Latin America, where users are not in the position to spend as much.
However, you can here choose another monetization strategy i.e., in-app advertisements to bring in revenues.
4. Not Having A Strategy At All
More often than not, Indie developers publish an app just for the sake of it or for fun and give no heed to making the app a lucrative business. Planning an app monetization strategy is something that should be done while the development process is on-going.
Of course, you can mix up all these models and integrate them together into your app in a tasteful and practical manner.
Conclusion
Based on our understanding of this article on “How do free apps make money”, it is evident that in-app advertisements is the easiest and effective app monetization model that can be adopted for free apps along with other kinds of applications.
Whereas, other strategies such as in-app purchases, subscription, and freemium models are those that are suitable for certain types of applications, offering particular functionalities.
The open-source Flutter SDK is a Google UI toolkit that creates attractive, natively compiled mobile app, from a single codebase.
With apps being downloaded and used by millions of people in a rapid way, the mobile app development is skyrocketing.
There are many companies that are making use of this trend and contributing to the increase of app downloads. Here are some facts:
Did you know that android users can choose from 2.7 million apps, making Google Play the biggest app store?
The Apple App Store is the second-largest app store with almost 1.82 million available apps for iOS.
You should know that the accurate number of applications change because both the app stores regularly remove low quality content from their app stores and accept apps from the developers on a daily basis. However, the number of apps has been steadily increasing over the years.
In 2020, global mobile app revenues were over 581 billion U.S. dollars. In 2023, mobile apps are projected to generate more than 935 billion U.S. dollars in revenues via paid downloads and in-app advertising.
After reading the above facts and data, it is clear that the app development market is rapidly growing, and mostly the startups are taking the lead in developing apps and increasing their reach. If you have an idea and are confused about which platform to use, the best suggestion would be mobile app development with Flutter.
What Makes Flutter a Better Choice for Developing a Startup App?
As they say, numbers never lie. Let us look at some data revolving around Flutter app development services:
According to a 2020 developer survey, Flutter is the second most popular cross-platform mobile framework used by software developers across the globe. According to the survey, 39% of software developers chose Flutter development services for apps. This usage is expected to grow in 2021 as well.
Google broke down the share of Flutter developers and maximum work for a startup. Here is all you need to know: 35% work for a startup, 26% are enterprise developers, 19% are self-employed, and 7% work for design agencies.
Google reported a 80% spike of Flutter built apps in Play Store after version 1.20 was released. The number of apps built with Flutter in the Play Store has increased from 50,000 to 90,000 since April 2020.
As per Google Trends, Flutter is the leading programming language since February 2021 followed by React Native to develop customized cross-platform mobile apps.
Creating a startup mobile app with Flutter is in vogue and why would it not be? Flutter provides mind blowing benefits! Let’s discuss some benefits, shall we?
Benefits Of Building A Mobile App With Flutter
1. Fast development process
Flutter cross-platform application development is a huge buzz creator due to its “Hot Reloading” or “Hot Restart” features. With the help of this feature developers are able to write codes and finish the project development in real-time. As a result, coders increase their productivity and save a lot of valuable time.
2. Utilization of widgets
Flutter integrated apps provide a wide range of widgets including navigation, scrolling, fonts, and icons that are customizable regardless of the screen size. These widgets are easy to customize and make the app development process fast and simple.
3. Single code base for multiple platforms
The reason why Flutter is trending is because of its ‘write-once’ approach. Writing multiple codes for different platforms is no longer significant. Flutter mobile app developers only have to code once and not separately for both operating systems, that is Android and iOS, that is why Flutter is considered by most of the developers. As a result, Flutter makes the app development process as cost effective as possible.
4. User-friendly interface
Flutter can customize almost anything visible on your startup app. Be it shapes, colors, shadows, clipping or transforming elements, Flutter allows developers to execute everything seamlessly. Hence, it is needless to say that Flutter makes the app development process flexible and simple without adding extra workload.
5. Potential to move beyond smartphones
If you want to create a startup app, why do you want to limit it to just smartphones? Flutter cross platform app framework works as a full-fledged development tool. With Flutter you app can function on any platform- Windows, Android, Linux, IOS etc.
6. Serverless apps
Flutter allows the creation of serverless apps. Developers can use Google’s firebase support as back end and create serverless startup apps. Flutter provides a quick development cycle to help developers achieve their targeted time frames.
Numerous companies are choosing Flutter to develop exceptional apps in record time. Due to all the benefits, features, and functions listed above, creating an app using
If startup app development companies choose Flutter, then it’s the correct choice made. Flutter eliminates the struggle of time constraint and limited budget faced by startups trying to release apps across multiple platforms. Also, it is a blend of all the best Google ideas and technologies, a mixture which results in the creation of a powerful mobile framework.
Step By Step Guide To Flutter App Development
Step-1: The idea
This one is a cliché but don’t all great applications begin with an out of the box idea? Once you have an idea, you need to conduct a market research and find out your target audience. If you wish to create an app then don’t just begin blindly; instead, dig deep and research the facts, concepts and competitors. It is always important to find out how you are better than your competitors.
Step-2: Flutter for MVP
A minimum viable product or MVP acknowledges business owners to validate their idea, gather feedback, and identify customer’s needs. MVP is useful in avoiding market failure and investing on a product that is not backed up by proper market surveys and research.
Being an open source, Flutter complements MVP development. With Flutter increasing the pace of the development process, the process has become more simplified and efficient. Also, Flutter’s compatibility with Firebase, doesn’t require you to separate backends for building simple MVP. Creating MVP with flutter provides an added benefit of delivery of an intricately designed solution.
Step-3: User interface and user experience
Flutter not only provides us with native performance and hot reload for fast development but also access to beautiful, native components. The Flutter toolkit has opened a gateway to allow for a multitude of UI/UX and, by using its own source code, eliminating platform limitations.
Flutter is becoming an all-platform framework. What about when you want to use your startup app or a smaller or a bigger device? Be it a smartwatch, TV, laptop or smartphone. So, you can build native mobile apps using flutter to provide a wider range of devices that the app can function on.
Flutter’s adaptive components help you overcome such challenges. Adaptive layouts means how your app proficiently displays the UI on the device where it is being viewed on.
There is no need to build separate code for a multitude of devices, as Flutter already supports that using a single code-base. There are packages you can rely on which are equipped with native iOS & Android widgets to help your app give a platform-specific look.
Step-4: Development, integration and deployment
Startup mobile app development is a highly interactive process. The process includes- planning, development, coding, testing and reviewing. This is the step where you must look out for a Flutter mobile app company that can develop an android app using Flutter.
Mobile app development comprises three integral parts that are – backend, API and mobile app front end.
Backend: The Backend has the information that the end user cannot see. It includes databases and server-side objects that are important for supporting mobile app functions.
API: Application Programming Interface is a communication method between the app and the backend.
Front end: The front end of an application is what the user uses. Mostly an app has an interactive UX that uses APIs and backends in order to manage the data.
Once everything is in place, the next step is deploying your web server (API) into a production environment that is scalable. The second is deploying the app on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
The Bottom Line
The current app development market is extremely competitive! In order to make a new app stand out within a limited budget, the product should be extraordinary enough to drive the attention of the crowd.
If you are launching your startup app, Flutter is the platform to choose as it allows you to develop user-friendly apps across multiple platforms in a cost-effective way. Unlike other platforms, Flutter app developers create apps with a smooth UI for their users.
Flutter is bound to transform the cross-platform app development industry with its capabilities to emboss customization and expedite the app development process. Dive deep into the world of Flutter app development company and join the transformation.
The craze to make money through mobile apps is inextricable. While some developers try different permutations & combinations, others have hit the jackpot overnight.
The craze to make money through mobile apps is inextricable. Whereas some developers try different permutations without any results to show for, others have hit the jackpot overnight. Having analyzed a bevy of such case studies over roundtables, and after-office coffee-talks, we have our list of the mobile app monetization trends of 2021. Building an app isn’t an easy task, but this technological era provides you with the opportunity to create a million dollar app if proper process and guidelines are followed.
As a luminary mobile app development company, Anteelo has partners in every sector from healthcare to Edtech and other industries to obtain an engaging customer base and great ROI. We’ve seen first hand the most effective monetization tools for mobile apps, and with such validated expertise, look forward to empowering the entrepreneurs of new and old.
Why bother monetizing your app?
Before we dive into the reasoning behind monetizing an application, let us clarify one of the biggest confusions – can free apps make money? Yes, they can. Here’s how.
Apps have increased their user-reach multifold over the years. The below given chart appears to climb north in the foreseeable timeline as the internet and smartphones digitize our daily lives. By 2023, it is purported that apps would generate in excess of $935 billion in revenues, the primary drivers of which would be downloads and in-app advertisements.
When it comes to millennials, 21% of the cohort opens an app as much as 50 times a day. With an estimated 72.1 million millennials in the US alone, you do the math!
Having cultivated a regular footfall of app traffic and not knowing how to monetize it, would be like having a treasure chest without a key.
Identifying the Best Mobile App Monetization Strategy
As the modern saying goes, money doesn’t grow on trees but is certainly minted in apps. Let us explore 8 impactful strategies and the reasons promulgating their adoption rate. However, as you digest these points, do note the factors that make up for a profitability-friendly application.
Data Monetization
Data makes digital businesses tick. The public readily gives apps all the permissions to collect “relevant” data in return for premium experiences. Algorithmists decipher the variety and volume of the data they need on each user so as to peel the peripheral layers of behavioral psychology and augment tactics that urge the buying patterns. This can be observed from the fact that Facebook has 52,000 data points on each user.
Such intriguing insights were accessed by Cambridge Analytica by paying Facebook for unbridled data-access. Although the process of data-collection was questionable then, a legitimate market for data access has blossomed since making access to data, one of the hottest app monetization models.
When to use it – to make a killing, your data must be BIG, literally. Big data is something that has volume, velocity and variety. The higher the number of data identifiers you collect, the more vendors you can sell it to.
Premium
You pay for the app before trying it out. This model is receding fast as people are reluctant to spend unless they trust the brand. Most often, mobile gamers partake in such apps that exercise a pay first, play later protocol. It is proven as a matter of fact that free apps are much easier to distribute than paid ones. So unless you are a billion-dollar organization with fever-pitch fanfare to try out your products, refrain from using it.
When to use it – if you have to use it, make sure the marketing budgets are tuned to perfection as the notion of paid apps takes hard-selling. Premium works best for brands that account for majority market share and can fend-off competition with a loyal base.
Freemium
There was a time when in order to monetize mobile apps, 98% of the applications in the market stuck to this model. While that time was in 2014,thus in 2021 freemium apps still account for 94% of the market share emerging as one of the dominant go-to android app monetization strategies. The idea is to open up a basic in-app functionality to users so that they get a hang of it and automatically opt-in for premium features by paying a fee. Those wondering how to make revenue on apps, would be flattered to know that user acquisition costs are lower for freemium apps.
Freemium also provides the scope for incorporating secondary revenue mechanisms such as in-app advertising. In fact, mobile app developers use freemium as a hurdle for users to overcome and discarding-app ads.
When to use it – we recommend using freemium when you have potentially better app features that people will pay for. The model works best when app sessions can be stretched for longer durations. Spotify would be one example.
Subscription
This is a one-word answer best suited to the question how to generate revenue from mobile apps? Usually, mobile app development services design a 3-tier subscription policy targeting users with the spending potential of basic, intermediate or advanced levels. Subscription plans can be classified over separate durations depending on their pricing. A subscription model gives first-time users the leeway to experiment and see for themselves the value proposition by paying a nominal fee.
Whether you discuss android app monetization strategies or the ones applicable to iOS platforms as well, this model has been used to monetize mobile apps far and wide. Documented evidence suggests businesses opting for the subscription services have grown consistently over the last few years. The only thing you need to know is how to choose the right app pricing strategy.
When to use it – This model is best-suited to content-heavy apps that tie users into a fallback loop and long-term app use. Examples include Medium, and Netflix.
Sponsorships
Partnerships can take many forms. Our experience as a mobile application development company spells a common theme wherein one app invites a second one to leverage the user base, reward them for using the app, and mutually benefit from higher user engagement. For instance, Domino’s could offer extra discounts for ordering food from Uber Eats the kind it doesn’t on other apps. Conventional wisdom advises that there has to be a shared user base for the sponsorship model to prosper.
When to Use it – It is mostly used by brands operating in the same domain.
Advertising
Come to think of it, this is just a byproduct of the data an app collects. The same is used by ad networks, to drive relevant ad-traffic to the app as you open the gates to advertisements. In case you were wondering how to monetize android apps under a mobile app monetization strategy, you can find multiple options to charge advertisers on CTC (click through rate), CPC (cost per click), and lead conversions. There are a plethora of app monetization platforms that the advertisers leverage to funnel decent amounts of revenue. Such mobile app monetization platforms include the following:
AdMob
InMobi
Millennial Media
StartApp
Linkury
AdColony
AudiencePlay
Audience Network
Media.net
Smaato
Fyber
Unity Ads
MoPub
Chartboost
Epom Apps
SmartyAds
Leadbolt
IronSource
In addition to them, you can run the following kind of ads on mobile apps:
Rewarded Ads
They reward ad viewers for going through the complete duration of the ad with say an extra discount coupon.
Banner Ads
They appear horizontally either at the top or at the bottom of the screen. The thing with banners is that they can irk people by intervening with the content by sometimes overlapping it.
Interstitial Ads
These are full-screen layovers and produce the best click through rates. Unless the designer screws up, there is little you can do to not get things right with interstitial ads.
Native Ads
They appear as part of the overall content on the screen. It is hard for viewers to distinguish whether it is even an ad or not (hence the name) a fact that increases the likelihood of a click through.
When to use it – Advertisements should be used when you have an abundance of user data such as demographics, search/purchase history etc.
In-App Purchases
Finally, in-app purchases are a tested and highly quantifiable revenue metric that app development services can play around with, while still keeping the app free to download. Users do not pay upfront but rather for add-ons that enhance and enlarge their in-app engagement. Few studies posits global revenues from in-app purchases at $71 billion for the year gone by. Popular types of in-app purchases implemented by gaming apps include the following:
Game currency
Extra health
Milestone points
Health Boost
When to use it – this monetization model was successfully experimented with by the gaming industry following which content driven apps have also taken to it.
Which is the Perfect-Fit Monetization Model for Your App?
The answer is embroiled in further queries that pertain to intricacies of your business goals. For starters, consider finding a black and white answer to the following questions:
What is your apps’ USP?
What is your app’s product market fit?
Would you sacrifice short-term revenues for long-haul users?
The next-big monetization model could be held in your outlook and your approach towards consumerism.
Mobile application development services like ours at Anteelo have a record and reputation for conjuring innovation out of thin air. Well, that’s just an expression, but you get the point. Checkout our most hip-and-happening successes that earned us the laurels of being the best App Development Company of the Year.
Beside the connections with friends, colleagues, family, and strangers, social media gradually helps brands to connect with the users and audience.
Current estimates peg the total number of social media users worldwide at 4.20 billion in 2021. While the uninitiated connect the rise of social networks with the mass production of smartphones and the overarching reach of free internet, that is far from the truth. The actual evidence points to a rather slew of social media app features plugged-in to play around with the chemistry of the human brain.
Having analyzed the best social media apps in the current times, let’s know more about the social media apps like WeMe that are creating the buzz and benefiting the wider community of social media application development.
Below, you will discover a 2D view of the social media universe that is largely responsible for the average user spending 145 minutes per day on such platforms. Let’s get to it!
What is Common Between Successful Social Media Apps?
The following traits have been observed to connect the subjective dots between the leading social media platforms of the day.
Built-in social hypnosis
Any social media app for mobile aims to get popular and prolong its use with the help of viewers. The features of a successful social media app therefore, must integrate specifications that can keep users hooked so much so that they lose track of time. Irrespective of the platform-type, it is safe to say that a social media app should have an unending supply line of content that intrigues users and raptures their subconscious minds.
A successful social media app places huge bets on first being free to use, and second offering next-level personalization (more on this in a bit).
The goal is to be authentic and naturalistic. Just as user engagement goes up, so do the ad revenues which primarily are the blood vessels of the most used social media apps.
Personalized content
The secret recipe to create social media apps with a lasting impression is to offer personalized content. Thanks to a hyper-involvement of AI, ML, and big data silos that a social media app developers like us at Anteelo, have the capabilities to harness user information for tinkering and tailoring content offerings. Never downplay the role personalization plays in user engagement. 74% of the customers feel annoyed if the website content is not personalized.
Facebook can curate data with uncanny accuracy because it has over 5000 data points on each member.
Millennials and Gen-Z together form the Demand Generation. They want content on-demand. A successful social media app can fulfill this hunger for gratifying content only if it has built-in mechanisms for data collection, the elixir for pinpoint personalization.
Infinite scroll
The infinite scroll proved a path-breaking discovery in terms of innovation and social media app ideas. It is the social network equivalent of the auto-stream feature on video platforms like YouTube and Netflix. For anyone wondering how to create a successful social media app, this is where you start. Scientific studies have uncovered the workings of the exposure effect.
Long story short, the more often your brain views a certain (neutral) thing, the more it is disposed to like it.
While social media app users may not be aware of it but that is the methodology their brain is subjected to. As a social media app development company, we know too well how things come a full circle.
Offer likable content – develop user interest – customize content feed – keep at it.
Social reward mechanism
One of the advantages of social media is that it lets people share their achievements, state of mind, and ongoing experiences. But there is another side to their personal story. Users rejoice when their friends join in on the act and engage with posts by likes, emojis and comments, and re-shares. The most used social media app, Facebook, has leveraged the power of ‘likes’ to its fullest on its subsidiary concern Instagram, with the competition following suit.
For social media app users likes and dislikes are the strongest indicators of the shareability of a post. Research posits accumulating likes on a post releases dopamine that delivers a satisfying kick.
This is nothing but a reward mechanism, something of an open secret to building a successful social media app.
Leveraging social urges
Social media app design ideas are guided by human psychology, at least in the current scheme of things! They integrate and to an extent, tap into our levers of social pressures to make us prolong the app use. Consider WhatsApp for instance. In what has been one of the most well-received social media app ideas of the last decade, its success prompted developers to zero-in on granular aspects of sociology.
By convention, humans feel obliged to respond if they know their message has been read. Therefore, when WhatsApp introduced the blue color read receipts, it integrated a feature that made people respond instantly. As a social media app development company in USA, we know how important such tactics are to the success of the venture.
Types of Social Media Platforms
Alright, so it is clear what distinguishes successful social media ventures from those that flounder. Yet a few questions remain such as:
What types of social networking platforms are there?
What is the cost to build a social media app?
And, what programmable features should social networking app development companies pug-into such platforms?
Instant messengers and video curation platforms aren’t the only networking alternatives in the market, though they have come to dominate it.
We can classify social networks by their TG in the following brackets:
1. Network building apps
This encompasses Facebook, Twitter, and the LinkedIns of the world. Their USP is connecting people on either a personal or professional front.
2. Media sharing apps
Networking isn’t all about opinion exchanges. Smartphones metamorphose our feelings into shareable content be it videos, images, or articles. This category focuses on such media sharing and has names like YouTube, Imgur, and Pinterest.
3. Discussion boards
You have multiple alternatives to voice questions, answers, and opinion pieces on networks like Quora, Reddit, StackOverflow, and lest we forget, Yahoo! Where it all began.
4. Business review forums
Feel you’ve been duped by a brand? Shout out your story to the world and offer a tell-all to others in the community. Websites offering such services include Yelp, Business.com, and the Expressit App.
5. Company review platforms
Since we are reviewing our purchase decisions, how about employers! This category has opened Pandora’s box in letting out insider information to the public. Examples include Glassdoor, Indeed, and the Muse.
6. Blogging networks
Content will always be the king. Networks like Medium, and Steemit reward writers for their work amplifying the unbending power of the letter.
7. Relationship networks
Their goal is to match profiles based on the registered biodata. From dating to hitchhiking, and rent-sharing, this bracket includes sites like Tinder, Badoo, and Airbnb.
Features Of Social Media Apps
If you are budgeting funds for the cost of social media app development, then it is better to first go to the drawing board and finalize the app’s features. This is not an overnight procedure but a well-defined loop that involves project management, custom development, business analysis, and quality assurance. Yet, speaking strictly of features some are universal in apps of such nature.
In our experience, the following specifications make the cut for all social networking apps of the day:
File-sharing
The platform must support multi-media file sharing
Multi-lingual support
If you plan to go global, then supporting target-region languages is highly recommended.
Privacy settings
Members should be able to customize their profiles and make public only the necessary facets of personal info.
Notifications
Send reminders to people of picking up where they dropped off.
Content personalization
This is more of a capability than a feature, the extent of which is directed by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Comments, likes, shares
In trying to create social media apps, ensure that they allow cross-platform content sharing.
Audio content
This is the new audio based social media app feature. In audio only feature, the users are able to enter the chatroom only if they are invited. Example: Clubhouse
Infinite scrolling
One of the greatest advantages of social media is that people get to discover new content. Take advantage of this yearning and offer a limitless supply of scrollable dope.
Let’s be honest! We all want to live in a world where our finances are managed judiciously and our money is being saved automatically. Earlier people used complex accounting systems, today’s world is way more simple because a finance app can save the day. Why worry when there is an app for everything?
According to Statista, total transaction value in personal finance is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2020-2024) of 25.0% resulting in a projected total amount of US$1,715,072m by 2024. This, in turn, is bringing the global personal finance management market on a growth spurt.
I am well aware of the fact that there are a number of such finance apps in the market today but I am here to guide you about your personal finance app idea. With the right approach, you can easily join the market leaders. So let’s get on to business, shall we?
What is personal finance?
In simple words, personal finance entails all the financial decisions and activities that an individual makes. It is all about planning your financial short term and long term goals for example, buying a new car, investing in a new home, saving for your child’s education or planning your retirement. Certainly, it depends on various factors like your income, lifestyle, expenses, individual goals etc.
The sector is an amalgamation of multiple Fintech categories that bring the best of the domain on users’ fingertips.
With consumers getting more conscious about their earnings and savings, personal finance apps are gaining traction in the market; making both investors and startups look ahead to developing a personal finance app.
Personal finance management mainly constitutes of:
Budgeting
Planning
Taxes and insurance
Saving
Investing
Keeping emergency fund for future
Financial literacy is very important in order to make the most out of your income and savings.
What is the role of a personal finance app?
Finance apps make your life easier by helping you to manage your finances efficiently. A personal finance app will not only help you with budgeting and accounting but also give you helpful insights about money management. It gives users various investment options, tax advice, insurance inputs and above all, a proper security system. The extensive role of a personal finance app makes them a key part of the Fintech trends list.
Types of finance apps
There are many market leaders when it comes to finance apps but we can roughly divide it into two main categories – simple apps with manual data entry process and complex apps with automated entry process. Let’s dig a little deeper!
1. Simple finance apps
As the name suggests, these are the simplest apps to track income and expenditures. These apps generally work on manual information inputs.
Pros:
The risk factor is zero since no bank accounts are linked to these apps.
These apps are very cheap when it comes to the personal finance app development process.
Cons:
The human error rate is high because of the manual data entry process.
The entire process is time taking.
2. Complex finance apps
The complex finance apps are more advanced. They allow users to link their bank accounts and cards, through which data is synchronized automatically.
Pros:
These apps are generally a lot more all-encompassing. They allow users to perform a series of tasks in place of a limited few.
The efficiency of complex finance apps is high since they save valuable time for the user.
Real-time transaction updates so the user is always conscious about the money management process.
Cons:
The cost of the development process for these apps is generally high.
It is important to invest more on security since the app deals with confidential and crucial data.
Key financial app features to make your finance app a big hit
1. Account integration
Make sure your financial management software accumulates all financial accounts of the consumer, for example credit cards, debit cards, loans, mutual funds, etc. Your finance app should be a one-stop solution for everything related to or required for money management.
2. Security
With such confidential details and credentials comes great responsibility. This is one of the key lessons that businesses can learn from Fintech companies. Creating a finance management app is one thing but making a secure one is completely a different story. There are many technologies that can help keep your money less vulnerable and more secure. Some of these technologies are listed below:
Biometric security measurements: It involves unique characteristics of a person, such as voice or fingerprint patterns. With biometrics, it can be extremely difficult for someone to break into your money management app.
Multi-factor authentication: This adds on an extra coating of security. Two-factor authentication process makes it even harder for attackers to gain access to a consumer’s sensitive information.
Real-time alerts: It is important that your finance management app notifies users in real time. Customers develop great confidence when they know for a fact that they will receive a notification if anyone is trying to access their account or personal information.
3. AI algorithms
There are many ways AI is reforming the mobile app industry in terms of user engagement and developer app revenue. Artificial intelligence algorithms will help you personalize the user experience. Let’s discuss how AI can make personal finance management more effective.
AI will help you incorporate expenditure categorization. This will aim to classify the cost spent on a specific category for example, medical, entertainment, groceries, investment, etc.
AI also looks into expenditure analytics, which automatically updates and provides you with data visualization of your money spent on each category.
4. AI chatbots for useful advice
AI chatbots provide access to all of a customer’s data. Further the app can analyze and provide suggestions. The solution can keep track of the spending habits, give insights into the credit scores, manage budgets etc. This enables AI-based recommendations which ultimately helps with efficient money management. The AI-based customer service chatbots are imitating human interactions and providing them desirable information/result in no time.
5. Real time spending and tracking
A money management app should help consumers track their expenditure. This feature will come in handy since the users will save both time and money. It is important that the consumers do not have to switch apps to track where they are spending or investing their money, it should be effortlessly done on a single platform.
6. Simplicity
No one is fond of complex procedures in a money management app because it involves crucial details. You should keep the 3 clicks rule in your head, that is, 3 simple taps should be enough to lead the consumers to wherever they want.
7. User experience
Most of the developers build an app without focusing on the design. This ultimately leads to the app’s downfall. The balance between app functionality and design is hard to maintain but is a necessity.
The design of a financial planning application must be extremely user-friendly to better customer satisfaction. To develop an efficient application with amazing user experience, you must know the target audience and where their preferences are. Not only this, you should definitely think as a user.
The user experience of your app will be a deciding factor for the consumers if they want to use it or not. Make sure your financial management software is easy to use and navigate. This will ultimately lead to business growth for your startup.
8. Constant customer support
24*7 customer support is of great importance. Customer support in different languages will get you a global clientele and keep your customers loyal.
9. Alerts and notifications
It is one of the most significant features for a finance app. Notifications can help consumers in case of:
More expenditure
Low balance in the account
Upcoming bills to be paid
Great deals for investment or savings
Additional features that can help you in making a superb finance app
Here are some advanced features for your personal finance management app.
Currency converter
In-app general calculator
Credit score calculator
Tax calculator
Shopping list
I think you might also want to know about the teams involved in developing a personal finance application. You think, I deliver! Here you go!
Make sure your financial app development company should have a team of:
It is hard to associate the term “free” with “revenue”, right? Now that you are providing fintech services to your customers, how will you make money? Let’s probe how to earn money from your Fintech app further:
In-app purchases: You can allow users to utilize basic features of your app for free and you can keep the premium features in the paid version. Premium features can include the advanced version of the basic ones and of course, some new functionalities will always be appreciated by the consumers.
Integration with third party services: Grant consumers to use third party services that are relatable to your business. This will expand the usability, functionality and audience of your app simultaneously.
In-app ads: Earning money through in-app ads is the easiest way to make money! However, my suggestion to you is, make sure that too many banners don’t pop-up too frequently in your app. That is just a huge turn-off for the user.
End note
As you have understood that there is a demand for financial application development in the market. Now, you have a basic idea about how to build an app with key features and monetize it. So, if you have an idea and want to conquer the market with it, reach out to a fintech app development company to build it. It is the right time to hire a development team of agile ninjas and skilled developers and designers to bring your idea to life.
App redesign is no joke. If you run a mobile-powered business then you are virtually on life-support while indulging in a UI UX overhaul. And if you do not realize that already, then there is all the more need for someone to point you in the right direction.
We assume you want a word by word, validated guide on an app redesign process and we wish there were simple answers. But a mobile app redesign is like your first proposal, you expect everything to fall in place, but there is always that big IF.
So as we share some of our partner experience (without violating the NDAs) you can expect it to be a little bit of both, fact-of-the-matter dope garnished with the necessary do-it-yourself stuff.
Define Your Approach (Please!)
Sequence your design thinking to find the answer to the question “what is a good app design practice?”. A UI/UX redesign is preceded by brainstorming sessions held on rendering structural changes in an app. Whatever your reasons, the re-development process must stay malleable. For this reason alone, we’ll repeat ourselves for the umpteenth time, that Agile development is the way forward. It gives everybody a few extra inches to maneuver ideas and ad-hoc requirements that pleasantly come along. We’ll let the imagery do the talking.
Bring Everyone On-board
Collective decision making will make the process easier. Organizational heads should own up the responsibility to communicate clearly the what, why, and how of everything. You will have to sift through opinionated answers and earnest comments to find common ground between expectations and reality. The process will be tiresome, but will also let you discover the pain points of the app, its backlogs, and key development areas to concentrate on. Answers must address questions like:
What are the plus points of your app?
Why is it lagging, if at all?
Where are the functionalities that need the most damage-repair?
Set Out Tasks
Setting S.M.A.R.T goals is an inexorable step for apps that need redesign. Be specific in what you want from the new look. Set a measurable aim, the accomplishment of which can be weighed by numbers. This would keep you motivated. Do not exceed the time you commit to each parallel task for developing new functionalities. It’s for such days (and nights) that the vending machine had stalked up extra cans of caffeine.
Recycle Your App Design
Mobile app design best practices run high on the recycling quotient. Just because you are revisioning the design doesn’t mean it has to begin afresh. The current app was developed with considerable thought and effort. The idea is to preserve the features that offer the most value and disregard the outdated ones.
Base Your Decisions on Analytics
High-level stakeholders won’t approve of anything unless they sense a concrete reason. Your arguments for change should be objectively backed and statistically proven. Some of the metrics that should be on your tips are app downloads, screen tracking, page views, event tracking, user sessions, in-app referrals, the list goes on. Read about the tools you can use to track app analytics for mobile apps that need to be redesigned. Embedded analytics will always be crucial for apps whether you redesign them or not.
Read Competitor Like a Book
This is where most people begin, mistakenly skipping the aforementioned steps. Now that you’ve come here it should be clear why (if at all) your competition is proving your nemesis. This has to do with a feature vs feature account that tabulates similarities and differences between multiple apps. Create a checklist to track and accord points for each feature. The scoring system will give you a realistic impression of your market standing.
Think Outside the Box
There is no affiliated gospel for mobile UI best practices. That said the mobile app industry is generally amuck with creativity. No harm in xeroxing a feature or two you like in an app from another domain.
Diagnose Problematic Areas
Having infiltrated the ranks of your opponents, you can narrowly point to the areas that require more work than others. The nature of the problems could be anything, from a genuinely bad user experience, non up-to-date onboarding practices evident in customer reviews, to hidden bugs and unnecessary pop ups. As you quest forward to redesign your app, begin leveraging this intel and fast track development by prioritizing job lists.
Act on Priority
After identifying the most erring details it is time for remedying. One way to do so would be to pen down what’s going for you in a SWOT, Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat graph. This would enable sequential stacking for development cycles, focusing on the most pressing needs foremost. It is vital you ponder judiciously on this aspect while redesigning apps to avoid painstaking efforts later.
Create Wireframes
Be it your in-house developers or an app design company partnering with you, creating wireframes comes naturally to all developers. Ink the ideas built up in your mind with hand sketches and share with all project collaborators.
Make no mistake, you are sharing the foundation of your renewed app architecture and encouraging improvements. Ideation must be clinical in nature and put the spotlight on newly adopted characteristics while preserving the best ones from the previous version.
Be Open to (Further) Change
There has been a barrage of introductions to the wireframe already, but wait there can be more. Re-engineering a product will have its ups and downs and to be honest, it is your call to decide how much is enough. Mature leaders are thick-skinned which helps them accommodate productive advice from peers.
But be careful, don’t let inaccurate feedback get the better of you emotionally. Whenever in doubt, roll the dice back to the storyboard and self-introspect if the steps being proposed will lead to positive change. If not, put your foot down and move over.
Test Aggressively
At Anteelo, it is our staple schedule to act as an app design agency for one client or the other. Rushing into releasing a spanking new version of the app proves self-destructive. As soon as an MVP is ready we open it to a closed group for user feedback. We do not follow randomization and neither encourage it. Rather, the users are handpicked as per the target audience of the app. As soon as they provide a nod of approval we move forward.
Remarket Your App
Taking a new version of your app to the market is like the launch of a new one. It is all about storytelling and giving users an excuse to look forward to rather than just updating their current versions without advance notice. What if some people liked the previous design? Apple could give any brand food for thought on reinventing the wheel. With minimal feature edits, each year, they throw a keynote event that is the most anticipated globally. No, we’re not asking you to break the bank for a national campaign, but have a look at this promo of iPhone SE. You’ll get the point.
Gather Feedback
If you’ve outsourced the redesigning project for your app, demand that the mobile app design company submit user feedback reports on the new version regularly. Why should you care for user feedback?
Because these very people fuse capital into your business and if they don’t take a liking to the so-called “improvements” you’ll face customer churn. But don’t jump to conclusions. Supervise your app downloads, page traffic, sentiment analysis, app store comments to tap the immediate customer pulse. Sooner or later, they’ll come to terms with the design, so our experience says as a mobile design agency.
There is no PERFECT Design
We don’t intend to sound like a monk, but yes, everything is transient. As time fades, you’d have to repeat this cyclical process all over and do your thing. Never rest on your laurels, even if you receive critical acclaim for your work. We never let success get to our head despite having been acknowledged globally for innovation as a mobile app design agency. You can learn more about us as an app design firm reading over our collaboration with Domino’s. We revamped their UX strategy which led to a 23% increase in lead conversions.
Let’s Catch Up
Ever since our inception as a mobile application design company, we have delivered industry-standard value for our clientele. Our technology stack is the latest you’ll find and for any deals on redesigning your UI/UX, we’d be happy to demonstrate what we can do for you.
While operating in the market for a long time, the talks and then the official launch of Android 10 and iOS 13 brought Dark theme User Interface in the limelight. Both Apple and Google have been dedicating their resources and attention to the dark mode since the past one year.
With several ophthalmologists too getting on board with the dark mode initiative, the general user perception is also now inclined towards the adoption of the theme in their digital experiences.
Delivering the users what has now become a norm for them is something that the mobile app designers has to keep up with.
In this article, we are going to look into how the mobile app designers can get started with delivering a dark mode UI design experience to their users.
Any trend-focused mobile app design company would tell you that for an app to be in trend, it is necessary that it is designed according to the recent market demands. Dark UI is the one design element that has been in-demand since the past one year. And seeing the present situation, it is only going to grow.
2. Health & Wellness
We all have in one or the other point in our life faced the shock of opening an app in a pitch dark night. The light that is emitted is too high and too sudden for eyes. Prolonged use of these apps have resulted in several instances of dry and itchy eyes among users.
Benefits of the dark mode comes into the picture by making it relaxing for users’ eyes to open and work on apps in the dark. It helps solve these persistent health and wellness issues, thus answering why is dark mode popular.
3. Saves Battery
Dark mode app design helps in prolonging the device’s battery life. Google confirmed that dark mode on OLED screens has been a game changer for the device’s battery life. YouTube, at its 50% brightness saves upto 15% more battery life in dark mode compared to flat background.
The benefits surrounding the holy dark mode are too popularized now to be ignored. But what is less talked about are the ill effects of dark mode UI – one that is UNHEALTHY.
What makes up for an unhealthy dark mode?
When reading a white text on black background, iris opens up more and gets in more light and lens deformation develops a fuzzier focus at eyes. This is called Halation or Fuzzing Effect, a.k.a one of the biggest dark mode app design challenges.
Unhealthy dark mode tends to be very harsh on the eyes because of the high contrast and can strain them very quickly.
If your phone or laptop is on highest brightness, you would have felt how straining it is to read the text on the left image.
But isn’t dark mode supposed to help with extending the battery life? Well, to some extent, Yes. However, it only impacts the devices having OLED and not ones with LCD.
In OLED, every pixel gives out its own illumination meaning to show darkness, the pixel must not light up at all. But since most of the OLED panels are limited to 60Hz refresh rate, scrolling makes the pixels light up and because of the slow refresh rate, a jiggly effect is caused.
Users, when exposed to this effect, end up feeling tired and worn out of their digital experience very soon. This event is what brings in the need and prevalence of design for dark themes.
How to design dark theme for Android app?
Google comes with an extensive documentation support that helps designers get started with understanding how dark theme operates on the Android ecosystem.
The tech giant has established four principles that defines the dark UI design and gives a starting point for how to design dark mode –
1. Dark with grey
When designing a dark mode, use grey color instead of solid black for showing space and elevation in an environment with wide depth range.
2. Color with accents
Apply limited color accents in dark theme UIs, so the majority of space is dedicated to dark surfaces.
3. Save energy
When designing the dark mode in products that require efficiency (such as devices with OLED screens), conserve battery life by reducing the use of light pixels.
4. Enhance accessibility
Accommodate regular dark theme users (such as those with low vision), by meeting accessibility color contrast standards.
There are different properties they have fixed in the Google Material Design Guidelines for Dark color scheme and overall mode –
Elevation: In the process of designing dark theme, the components retain the same default shadow components and elevation levels as in case of the light theme. What differs is the illumination of the surface of elevation levels.
The higher a surface elevation, the lighter would be the surface. The lightness is shown through a semi-transparent overlays’ application. Overlays also make it possible to differentiate between the components and see the shadows.
Accessibility & contrast: The background in dark theme UI design should be dark enough to show white text. They must use a contrast of a minimum of 15.8:1 between the background and text. Doin this ensures that the body text passes the WCAG’s AA standard of 4.5:5:1 when added to surfaces at highest elevation.Colors: The dark theme UI must avoid saturated colors for the induce eye strain. Instead, designers should focus on using desaturated colors for they increase legibility. The choice of primary and secondary colors must also depend upon the consideration of both light and dark UI themes.
Light text on dark backgrounds: When a light text comes on dark background, it must use these opacity levels:
High-emphasis text has an opacity of 87%
Medium-emphasis text and hint text have opacities of 60%
Disabled text has an opacity of 38%
States: States communicate the status of interactive elements for dark theme layouts or components by using the overlays. In dark theme, states must use the same overlay values as the default light theme. There are two containers which inherit the state overlays: Surface and Primary.
Surface containers which use the Surface color must apply an overlay which match the color of text or icon. For the surface containers which use the Primary color, the state overlay must be white.
How to design an app for iOS in dark mode?
With dark mode, Apple has revisited the meaning of UI styling and colors in iOS. Let’s look into the changes that Apple has brought to help you with designing for dark mode on iOS 13.
Semantic colors
For standardising the look and feel of the iOS apps in both dark and light mode, Apple has come up with semantic colors for the commonly applied UI elements. These colors do not come with an absolute RGB value, they directly adapt to iOS interface style.
They have also introduced semantic colors for handling the text and overlay color in the dark mode.
System colors
In addition to the semantic colors, Apple has also come up with 9 predefined system colors which are dynamic and supportive of dark system-wide appearance. This means that these colors adapt to selected interface styles like the semantic colors.
Vibrancy and Blur Effects
With iOS 13, Apple has introduced 4 blur effects and 8 vibrancy effects, which automatically adapts to the iOS interface style.
Here are the blur effects in the dark and light mode:
Apple has also introduced 4 vibrancy effects in iOS dark mode typography suite, 3 in overlay and 1 for separator. Here they are:
SF Symbols
Apple, in their Human Interface Guidelines, offers a collection of more than 1500 symbols for Product developers and designers to use in their applications. They automatically look amazing in the Dark Mode for they have been optimized for both light and dark UI.
Tips for effective mobile app dark theme design
As you must have reckoned, the preparations to provide the users a healthy UI experience is something that both Apple and Google is focusing on through their dark mode design principles.
But as shared above, not giving dark mode design theme its fair share of attention can do more harm than good.
And thus, it is important to know the effective tips for dark theme design.
1. Avoid the pure black color
A dark theme must not be of white text on black background. In fact, it can be difficult to look into a high contrast screen.
When you add dark mode to your app, it is safest to use dark grey as the primary color for the dark mode components, as it lowers the eye strain and also it is a lot easier to look at shadows on a grey surface compared to black.
2. Avoid the use of saturated colors on the dark themes
The saturated colors that look great on the light surfaces can vibrate against the dark background, making the text extremely difficult to read.
You should use light tones for they have better readability and they don’t make the UI unnecessarily expressive, which saves unnecessary eye strain.
3. Consider the emotional side of your app design
When you design a dark theme for your app, chances are that you must be aiming for translating the same emotional feel of your light theme design in the dark theme as well.
But it is unwise to do so. Because, ultimately different colors project different emotions. As a result, your dark mode colors will evoke a different feeling. This is why it is necessary to find a common ground emotional set for both your theme UIs.
4. Test the design in both the appearances
Just like how your users would toggle between both the theme UIs at different times of the day, it is necessary to test the app two times of the day to see how it is functioning in different light conditions. And to ensure it meets your criteria.
5. Incorporate dark theme into animations and illustrations
If your app contains animations or heavy graphical elements, you will have to prepare for their adoption in dark theme as well. In case the illustration contains a subject and a background, it would be good to fully desaturate the background colors to help keep the attention on the subject.
With this, you now know everything there’s to know about designing the dark mode version of your app. The next actionable step is to talk to a team of experts who have implemented the UI in applications. You should see this as a way of getting closer to achieving your intent to offer a healthy experience to your end users.
Robotic process automation (RPA) has the potential to save companies significant amounts of money by shifting mundane, repetitive tasks, such as data extraction or data translation, from humans to robotic software agents. In fact, the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that half of the activities that workers are currently paid $15 trillion in wages to perform globally could be automated with current technologies. An example of RPA would be a robotic agent that automatically opens and reads word documents or spreadsheets, identifies and extracts the necessary data, and transfers the data quickly and accurately to the appropriate business processing system. When it works right, RPA can speed up business processes, reduce manual data entry errors and free up employees to be more productive. RPA is also the first step on the road to higher value activities like machine learning and AI.
Unfortunately, many companies that have launched RPA projects have been disappointed when the savings have failed to meet lofty expectations. Other organizations have achieved early successes with proofs of concept, but have been unable to scale beyond the “low hanging fruit” processes.
In order to avoid the pitfalls that have prevented companies from realizing the full benefits of RPA, there are several key points to keep in mind, particularly when it comes to deciding whether to deploy assisted or unassisted RPA.
The first mistake companies make is jumping ahead and trying to grab quick and easy wins before doing the necessary strategic planning required to support a scalable, long-term and sustainable RPA deployment.
For example, companies need to make sure they don’t try to automate processes that are inherently inefficient because simply doing the wrong things faster doesn’t help the company achieve lasting business process improvement. Companies also need to analyze business processes in a holistic, end-to-end way, otherwise speeding up one part of the process might just create a bottleneck somewhere else.
For many companies, it’s tempting to implement unassisted RPA in which the software agent operates without human intervention. That can lead to early wins, but it can also lead the company into a dead end where they run out of projects that lend themselves to unassisted RPA.
Unassisted RPA requires processes that can be completed with simple decisioning, but it turns out that these processes are few and far between in the real world.
The real value of Robotic Process Automation will only be realized when companies adopt assisted along with unassisted RPA, combining the speed and accuracy of robots with the complex decision-making and creative abilities of humans. By working in tandem, humans and robots can achieve the efficiency goals that companies are seeking. And RPA, if done with the requisite strategic planning, can serve as the foundation for the organization’s business process automation journey to more complex, higher-value technologies like cognitive computing, machine learning and AI.
Cross-platform app development has its own merits which plays a major role in its current popularity. With the expansion of its reach, several cross-platforms app development tools and frameworks started to float in the market; slowly, and then all at once along with every other mobile app development company trying their hands at this interesting and one-of-a-kind technology.The result – We now have a sea of such tools and frameworks which you, as a developer, may find overwhelming. To help you out in your quest of finding the most ideal and exemplary cross-platform framework, here is a list of top 10 cross-platform app frameworks 2020 that are a sure thing.There are certain benchmarks that need to be cleared to declare something as “best” of that domain or category. In the same manner, while determining the best cross-platform frameworks, there were several prominent aspects that were considered, in order to truly see how every choice under inspection performed.However, before jumping on to the list, let’s get the basics out of the way.
What is a Cross-Platform Framework?
To be concise, cross-platform is a type of software that has the ability to run on multiple computing platforms i.e., Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry, etc. The apps built on this framework do not require separate coding for each platform, rather coding once will create the foundation for the app to run as efficiently on all platforms. It is one of the most popular methods in the app development domain today, which almost all the top mobile app development companies swear upon.
Note: To gather an in-depth view, read this guide on cross-platform app development.
1. Ionic
Ionic is one of the most remarkable and popular cross-platform app frameworks, based on AngularJS. It allows developers to use a combination of many languages i.e., HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS and Cordova wrapper to access native platform controllers.
Ionic enables developers to create an impeccably creative user interface along with adding user-friendly features into the app. Apps developed with this framework are highly interactive and native-like, making Ionic a perfect candidate for PWA development as well.
Features
1. It is an open-source front-end framework meaning it allows alterations in the code structure, suitable to each developer and saves a lot of time. This gives hard competition to its contender Ionic, in the battle of Ionic vs React Native.
2. Ionic is based on a SAAS UI framework designed specifically for mobile operating systems. It provides numerous UI components for developing robust applications.
3. Another one of its most-appreciated features is that it is based on AngularJS, making it easy to offer extensions to HTML’s syntax, core functionalities to imbibe useful yet attractive features and components into the app.
4. This framework uses Cordova plugins which allow access to devices’ in-built features including Camera, GPS, and Audio Recorder, posing as one of the major benefits of cross-platform tools.
5. The fact that Ionic gives a native-like feel to the apps is what makes it a favorite of developers. It helps develop cross-platform apps and allows them to perform perfectly on various platforms.
2. React Native
When talking about cross platform app frameworks, it is hard not to include React Native. It is a framework built on JavaScript and is used to write real code and give the native-like feel to mobile applications that work both on Android and iOS. Due to its remarkable features, it is not only a preferred choice of developers but businesses also trust React Native as the right platform for their apps.
React Native integrates the benefits of JavaScript and React.JS along with providing the advantage to developers to write modules in Objective-C, Swift, or Java languages. Moreover, by using the native modules and libraries in the React Native cross-platform apps, developers can also perform heavy operations such as image editing, video processing or some other operations which are not part of the framework APIs.
Features
1. It is a good thing that React Native is an open-source cross-platform app framework, the same as Ionic. Because of this, it has a large community to support it and improve it by fixing bugs, improvising and introducing features.
2. One of the advantages of cross-platform development is that it requires one-time coding (WORA) for developing apps for platforms as diverse as Android and iOS. This solves one of the biggest challenges of other frameworks – requiring developers to code separately twice for the same app on different platforms.
3. One-time coding instantly reduces the development time of the app along with keeping the React Native app development cost to its lowest.
4. Impressively, React Native is highly compatible with third-party plugins, such as Google Maps.
5. React Native focuses on UI to a great extent rendering a highly responsive interface. What it means is that the React Native environment eliminates the time taken in loading and delivers a smooth interface to the applications.
3. Flutter
Google introduced an impressive cross-platform app framework named Flutter back in 2017. It is a software development kit designed to assist in the expeditious Android and iOS app development. It is also a fundamental and primary method for developing Google Fuschia apps.
Flutter offers apps that easily and effectively run on multiple platforms with uniformity and dynamicity.
Here are some of the remarkable features that make Flutter an ideal cross-platform framework among developers.
Features
1. Flutter promotes portable GPU, which renders UI power, allowing it to work on the latest interfaces.
2. Flutter does not require updating the UI contents manually, as it possesses a reactive framework. Flutter app Developers are only required to update the variables and the UI changes will be visible after that.
3. Flutter cross-platform app framework poses as a perfect choice for developing Minimum Viable Product (MVP) as it initiates an expeditious development process and is also cost-efficient.
4. Xamarin
Xamarin cross-platform app development framework is significantly different from the frameworks we have discussed so far. It is a streamlined framework used for developing apps for Android, Windows, and iOS with the help of C# and .Net, instead of JS libraries and HTML. It allows the developers to use 90% of the code for building an app for three distinct platforms.
Xamarin delivers applications with aesthetics like a native app with the help of its amazing APIs, something which makes the decision making a lot harder between Xamarin vs React Native. Here are Xamarin’s features explaining why it is one of the best choices of cross-platform frameworks for Mobile Development.
Features
1. Apps developed on the Xamarin framework are built using C# – a modern language having leverage over Objective-C and Java.
2. The developers get native-level app functionality with Xamarin. It reduces hardware compatibility problems to a great extent with the help of plugins and specific APIs, that work with common devices functionality.It also promotes linking with native libraries, allowing customization and native-level functionality. The feature alone, makes it one of the top Android app development framework.
3. Xamarin supports a direct inclusion of Objective-C, Java and C++ libraries. This allows developers to reuse many third-party codebases encrypted in Java, Objective-C or C++, making it one of the considerably preferred cross-platform frameworks.
4. Xamarin reduces the time and cost of mobile app development for it supports the WORA ( Write Once, Run Anywhere) and has a humongous collection of class libraries.
5. Xamarin offers robust compile-time checking. Because of this facility, developers witness fewer run-time errors and get well-functioning apps.
6. Xamarin has an astounding native user interface and controls assisting and allowing developers in designing a native-like app.
5. NativeScript
NativeScript passes as an amazing free cross-platform framework based on JavaScript. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that NativeScript is a preferable choice of developers looking for WORA functionality.
NativeScript also offers all native APIs, rendering an ability to the developers to reuse existing plugins straight from NPM into the projects.
Features
1. NativeScript renders beautiful, accessible, and platform-native UI, and that too without the WebViews. Developers are only required to define once and let the NativeScript adapt to run everywhere. They can even customize the UI to specific devices and screens.
2. As opposed to React Native, NativeScript provides developers with a complete web resource that comes loaded with plugins for all kinds of solutions. This inevitably eliminates the need for third-party solutions.
3. NativeScript gives the freedom to easily access native Android and iOS APIs, meaning developers don’t need any additional knowledge of native development languages.
4. It uses Angular and TypeScript for programming purposes.
6. Node.js
Node.js is an incredible framework for developing cross-platform apps. Essentially, Node.Js is a JavaScript runtime framework built on the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine. It is an open-source environment that supports the development of server-side and scalable networking apps. Node.js cross-platform apps are inherently highly efficient and responsive.
The framework is capable of handling several concurrent connections together. It also comes loaded with a rich library of numerous JavaScript modules that help in simplifying the development of web applications.
Features
1. All of the Node.js APIs are asynchronous, signifying that they are non-blocking in nature, meaning servers based on Node.JS do not essentially wait for data from APIs. It immediately moves on to another API after calling it. A notification mechanism for Node.js allows the server to get a response from the previous API call.
2. Node.js library is impressively speedy in its code execution process, for it is built on the Chrome’s V8 engine.
3. Node.js cross-platform apps do not buffer, instead, the applications output the data in chunks.
4. To deliver smooth and perfectly functioning applications, Node.js uses a single-threaded model with event looping functionality. This event mechanism enables the server to reply in a non-blocking way, making them scalable.
7. Appcelerator Titanium
Appcelerator is one of the many cross-platform app development tools designed to assist in smoother and easier mobile app development. It is a great way to create cross-platform apps with just a single code base. Its primary focus is on streamlining the app development process with the help of native components present in JavaScript code.
Features
1. Appcelerator offers various tools for rapid application development. This indicates that a prototype can be created with much less time and effort to evaluate user interaction with UI.
2. It has ArrowDB- a schema-less data store that allows developers to deploy data models with no additional efforts for setup.
3. It enables the integration of existing continuous delivery systems such as SCM solutions and more.
4. Appcelerator possesses pre-built connectors available for MS Azure, MS SQL, Salesforce, Box- the list is tediously long.
8. PhoneGap
Phone Gap (Cordova) is one of the impeccable cross-platform frameworks for mobile development that makes use of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML5. It also offers a cloud solution to developers providing them the choice to share the app in the development process for feedback from other developers.
It develops impressive apps by leveraging existing web technologies. Another great advantage of PhoneGap is that it entirely supports in-built device features such as GPS, Camera, Phonebook, Storage, and so on.
Features
1. PhoneGap is considered an impeccable cross-platform framework as it enables developers to create cross-platform apps using existing web technologies such as HTML 5, CSS3 and JavaScript.
2. Being a cross-platform framework, PhoneGap supports the use of a single code base to create apps for different platforms namely iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, etc.
3. It follows an architecture that is plugin-able in nature, meaning it is possible that the access to native device APIs can be extended in a modular way.
9. Sencha Touch
Introduced nearly a decade ago, Sencha Touch helps in developing web-based cross-platform apps and is typically used to create efficient applications that use the hardware acceleration techniques. By using Sencha Touch, developers are able to create well-tested, securely integrated UI components and libraries.
In fact, it is possible to develop large business apps and maintain them effectively and easily. Some of the remarkable features of it are:
Features
1. It is famous for providing built-in native-looking themes for all of the major platforms like Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, etc.
2. It comes with an effective agnostic backend data package for working with data sources.
3. One of the most celebrated features of Sencha Touch is that it supports Cordova integration for the native API access along with the packaging.
4. It offers code compatibility between new and old ones.
5. It comes loaded with customizable and 50+ built-in UI widgets. It also has a collection of rich UI like lists, carousels, forms, menus, and toolbars, etc., created specifically for mobile platforms.
10. Corona SDK
Corona SDK enables programmers to develop 2D mobile applications for all the major platforms, including Kindle and Windows.
It proffers to give 10X faster mobile and game app development. The framework le delivers remarkable results at the back of its backend framework’s reliability on Lua which is a lightweight and multi-paradigm programming language. The language focuses on the main elements of the development which are the speed, portability, extensibility, scalability, and last but not least, the ease of use.
What is more, it is a free-of-cost framework working both on Mac OS X and Windows while supporting real-time testing.
Features:
1. It has over 1000 APIs that give developers the ability to sprite animations, audio, and music, Box2D physics, object tweening, texture management, native elements, data- the list can go on for pages.
2. It responds to the code changes almost instantly while giving a real-time preview of the app’s performance as it would on a real device.
3. It supports almost 200 plugins including in-app advertising, analytics, media, and hardware features.
After considering all of the best options that a competent cross-platform app development company is looking for in this domain, there is nothing left but to wait and see how these frameworks compete with each other to stay in the competitive market, and how well they bode against the new frameworks entering the market as we speak.
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