#guideandtips Archives - Page 2 of 8

How Do You Make a Visually Impaired Accessibility App?

Posted on 24/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Till a few years back there were around 285 million visually impaired people in the world a number that is now growing and is expected to reach 115 million by 2050.

On one hand, while the number of visually impaired is on a rise in this colorful world, on the other, technology has made a series of advancements to impart all the possible visual abilities to the impaired so that there is no difference in the digital experience that someone with a perfect vision and those who challenge on the front encounters.

However, if you look at the time that has gone by, while it is impossible to argue that revolutionary work has been done to make the visually impaired independent (such as voice-based user interfaces), the grim side of it all remains – out of all the mobile app user demographics, visually impaired are the ones that are rarely planned for (if at all brought out of the backseat).

But when you too, like those technologists who work at making the digital experience similar for both the user set, look at designing accessibility apps for visually impaired holistically, what you are likely to find a promising scenario. A situation suggesting that designing apps for the visually impaired is not just a humanitarian move but also your ticket to reaching that n – 285 million user base.

For those of you who are still sitting on the edge on whether or not to invest in accessibility apps development or if you are still unsure on the clarity if at all your user base is made up of any share of the visually impaired population, let us concur here that there are in fact ways to make your app accessible without having to ignore the 70% of world’s population.

In this article, we are going to look at the different ways you can inculcate accessibility in your app design to impart a memorable user experience to the millions of people suffering from visual impairments in the world.

But before we head there, let us step into the shoes of the visually impaired and see what they see.

Colour Blindness

The concept of color blindness does not automatically mean a situation where visual impairment sufferers see things in black and white. In most cases, users simply confuse one color with another for they cannot see any difference.

Apart from color blindness, a disease that every 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have in the world, there are a number of visual impairment challenges that you will have to attend to when you work on accessibility app development.

Let us now show you what different visually impaired people see by making you visually impaired for the next 2 minutes through the help of NoCoffee Vision Simulator Chrome Extension.

Now that you have stepped into the shoes of the visually impaired and have seen what they see when they visit a website on desktop, imagine how annoying would be their experience when the screen size reduces several inches and the device changes from a widescreen laptop to a palm-fitting smartphone.

And while you are imagining the irritability also note how low your app’s usability is proving to be with every passing visually impaired interaction.

With you now having stepped in and out of the same shoes as the million of your visually challenged users and witnessing their frustrations and your lackings first hand, it is time to look at the solution – How to Make Your Mobile App Accessible for Visually Impaired?

How to Design Mobile App Experiences for the Visually Impaired?

1. Use ENLARGED TEXT in Abundance

Sometimes, what your users need is a large size text. Now instead of relying on the zoom function which is notoriously famous for increasing the unnecessary time in the app session and spoiling the user experience, what our team of UI UX app designers, who excel in design for visually impaired suggests is giving a manual option to the users to adjust the font size of the text on the mobile application.

2. Use Alt Text for Images in Surplus

A number of structural elements like images can be a difficult area for people with very low vision. Now what happens is that the visually impaired people generally use in-built screen readers present in mobile devices.

In the case of images, these screen readers read out the entered Alt text, hearing which users imagine what the image is portraying.

In that context, it becomes of prime importance that you use a very descriptive text explaining what is happing in the image instead of 4/5 words when you design for visually impaired.

3. Be Wary of Contrasts

Deciding on a color combination can be one of the most difficult choices that you would have to take when designing accessibility apps, especially for the color blind user segments. Now, instead of limiting yourself to a Black and White combination, there are a number of other pairings you can use to show the difference in background and the front element or any two elements.

When deciding on the contrast, you should ensure that the contrast ratio is at least 4:5:1 between the text and background.

Also, there are some clear combinations that you should avoid at all costs to ensure that your app is not a nightmare session for your color blind users.

Green & Red
Light Green & Yellow
Blue & Purple
Green & Brown
Green & Blue
Green & Black
Green & Grey
Blue & Grey

4. Make Textures Your Friend

While the majority of your visually impaired users would have a problem with identifying the different color shades in the mobile application, using textures in place of colors to differentiate one element from another will help solve your purpose while helping your users have a memorable experience within your application.

In fact, it is not just your visually impaired users who would appreciate the usage of textures but also all the other users as usage of different textures can be very appealing, design wise.

5. Refrain From Using Just Colours to Give Out Information

Haven’t we all experienced the time when we fill in a form and accidentally put in the wrong information which makes the box turn red? While the whole situation has been in-built in our digital journey, imagine someone who has difficulty understanding colors facing the situation. Imagine how they would struggle not knowing what they are doing wrong simply because they can’t see a red margin box on the screen.

The solution to this dilemma is pretty simple and even aesthetically alluring – using icons, vibrations, and text to show every right and wrong action taken by the user within the application.

6. Make Minimalism Your Mobile Accessibility Apps Design Principle

Whether you are making Android accessibility app or one for iPhone, if there is one element that can make your mobile app a visually impaired user’s magnet it is Minimalism. The secret that revolves around giving the most minimum to the users design-wise, has a two-fold benefit – A. The visually impaired users have a memorable experience and B. Your visually strong users will also love working around the white space in the application.

7. Make Dark Mode Your Companion

This one element would come in most handy when you have a lot of texts in your mobile app. The low vision users will find it much easier to read the content in the Dark Mode as opposed to the Light mode on your app.

A thing to note here is that if you are making an Android accessibility app, you will have to implement the dark mode design, but if you are developing accessibility app for iOS, you will ensure that your team of developers is working on an app that is compatible with the Smart Invert Colours feature.

What is Accessibility Testing?

The process of testing whether or not your efforts to make your app design right for low-vision users was successful is what defines accessibility testing for visually impaired users.

As you are making accessibility refinements in your mobile app, you can make use of the accessibility scanner app available on the Play Store. But what our experience tells us is that accessibility testing for visually impaired users is more often than not incomplete until you take your application to real users. While the accessibility testing tools for mobile development can come in handy, you can never be too sure.

Also, instead of waiting for your whole accessibility app development process to end, conduct testing at every stage to prevent yourself from going too down in the wrong way.

Navigation, Multiple browser design, and perceivable content are just a few things that you will have to prepare your application for to ensure that ALL the users who visit your app, irrespective of whether they have a 20/20 vision or are colorblind, have a great experience.

Now that you have seen it all, there is just one thing left to do – shed the misassumption that these accessibility refinements in your mobile app will only attend to the low-vision users and understand that they will benefit all – as ALL your users will be able to have an easy on the eye experience in the application.

Well, there you go. You are now ready to launch your accessibility app in the market and reach all the users who were unconsciously left behind.

How Much Does a TikTok-like Mobile App Cost?

Posted on 23/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

If there is one thing common between Uber, Facebook, and Snapchat it is the fact that they are losing on their active user count and engagement rate.

And the brand that they are losing out to is one that has become inescapable and a major revolution of the entertainment world – TikTok.

The multi-faceted immersive mobile app that is present on both Android and iOS has not just ruled out its dominance in the world of the millions and billions of users around the globe but also thousands of businesses that are marking their presence in the platform to enjoy the many perks that the app has to offer.

Well.

The intent of this article is to help you join the short-video creation and distribution revolution that has been initiated by TikTok by helping you understand what it takes to develop a TikTok mobile app. We will look into the technical and monetary side of the app and in the end, the cost of video creation app development which is entirely TikTok focused.

Before we go on with the article and look at factors like the top players in the industry, the funding rounds that have been held in the segment, the technical aspect of the app and the costing element the application, let us first give time to looking at how TikTok managed to become the top-grossing application of the world.

The international version of Chinese hit platform, Douyin, TikTok took very less time to enter and rule the mobile entertainment industry. The app which allows users to lip-sync dialogues and re-enact their favorite scenes from different movies and music videos has become a go-to entertainment hub for almost every teen and pre-teen in the world.

The app which has Artificial Intelligence powering its every single move has defeated a number of hot-shot businesses of the world with its engagement and revenue numbers.

Here are some statistics that prove how big the TikTok market is and how the app is ruling the world while setting new standards in the Entertainment app sector and how you can too whether you make TikTok app for iOS or build TikTok for Android

The latest TikTok statistics show a picture that TikTok has placed itself at the top of the market acquisition pyramid. Does it mean that a monopoly picture has been drawn in this specific entertainment sector?

Well, the answer is no.

TikTok, in spite of being the most installed and immersive of all the apps in the category, is not the only one that the users are following, there are a number of other similar apps in the domain that have been keeping the category up and running.

Also, the demand that the segment is seeing is something that has acted as a catalyst for other businesses, like yours, to enter the in-demand market segment. So, all in all, the list of TikTok competitors is not limited to just these names.

Fundings in the Segment

It is not just the market demand and emerging competitors count that has seen a rise ever since the TikTok app, earlier Musical.ly started witnessing a high demand from the world. There has been a sharp rise in the number of investors as well, who have shown their interest in putting their money into apps working around video creation and sharing.

Here are the three major funding rounds that hit the category between 2017 and now.

Bytedance – The parent company of TikTok received funding of around $3 Billion from the SoftBank group in October 2018. The use that they cited for this fund round is international expansion. The company plans on taking the Chinese platform across the globe.
Clip – The multi-lingual app which allows users to develop and edit videos alongside an active chat functionality, raised $6 Million in Series A funding round led by Matrix Partners, where the platform’s present investors Shunwei Capital, and India Quotient were also there.

While these are just two high-level funding rounds that the app category has witnessed, there have been a number of other funding sessions in the segment as well.

One thing and probably the sole thing that has been driving the attention of both investors and end-users towards the interactive video creation and sharing platform is the set of features that it comes with.

Let us look into it next.

While on a high-level the main feature of TikTok like the application is the ability to make videos and share them on the platform for other users to view and react to it. The app gives users the facility to lip-sync either some movie dialogue or some song or even the voice of other users.

But when you deep-dive into it from a business front which is looking to enter the same entertainment space as TikTok app and others in the domain, there are a number of other features that you have to attend to in order to make the whole experience immersive and entertaining for the users.

For the context of this article, since you are just starting up in the industry, what we would recommend is making an MVP first that would contain all the must-have features that have to be present in your app as it hits the store and become the answer to How to Create an App like TikTok. The features that you read here are what would go into answering ‘How much does it cost to make an app like TikTok’

Let us look at what they are –

The Must-Have TikTok Features

When you invest in TikTok app development, you don’t just invest in one application but two – User Side of the App and Admin Panel.

Let us look at the features which should be present in both the versions, individually that come together to answer how TikTok works.

User Application Features

Login

The first and supposedly the most attractive screens of an app – Login screen is the one that you will have to pay the most attention to. At this stage, you should aim for having a small form to make users enter the app also they should be given the facility to log in through their social media account to save those extra, unnecessary steps.

Video Section

Since the whole concept of TikTok like app runs around Videos, this has to be the one section that gets the maximum attention from both development and users front. Here, you will have to give users the option to not just create and share their videos but also save them in the draft to be published on a later time. The users are also given the facility to share their videos on social media.

Notifications

The app should send over real-time notifications to the users with respect to followers’ addition, the likes, and shares activity that they make on your videos, and when people they follow make a new update on their profile.

Settings

Under the Settings section, users will be able to manage their profile, change their password, manage blocked users, work around the app settings, and contact the parent company in case of any dispute.

Admin Panel Features

Admin side of the TikTok application will give the admins the facility of doing the following tasks – user management, content management, notification management, manage the flagged videos, and handle reports.

Now that we have seen one technical aspect – App Features let us attend to the other technical element that would help define the whole development process and ultimately the TikTok app cost – Technology Stack.

The Technology Stack we Base Our TikTok Application Development On

TikTok is one of the most innovative apps out there in the entertainment sector of mobile app development domain. The technology stack, in a scenario like this, has to be prepared to back this level of innovation and scalability.

Let us look at the Technology Stack that you can use to back your TikTok like application.

Now that we have looked at both – the Marketing and Technical side of TikTok like app, it is time to look at the business cum revenue side of the app.

Frontend- Native
Backend- Python
Database-Postgre SQL
Cloud- AWS, Google Cloud Storage, Azure
Media Server Configuration- HTTPS, RTMP & HTTP
Video/Audio Transcoding- FFMPEG, Amazon Elastic Transcoder

It has always been a very commonly searched question on the internet, which a number of users around the globe seek an answer to – ‘How do Brands like TikTok or Dubsmash earn money?’

So, next let’s look into the ways TikTok makes money and has managed to become one of the highest revenues generating brands of not just the entertainment industry but of the whole world, before we head on to revealing the cost to develop TikTok app.

How Does TikTok Like Apps Make Money?

While there are a number of ways video creation apps like TikTok can form their monetization model like Subscription and Influencer Promotion, etc. The models that TikTok uses to generate their Million worth revenue streams include –

A. In-App purchase

TikTok gives the users the option to buy stickers and emoticons to react to live videos that get streamed on the platform.

The in-app purchases themselves have got the brand around 275 percent in users spending and approximately 3.75x year-over-year revenue, bringing the revenue count to over $3.5 million globally.

B. Advertisement

In-app Advertisement also proves to be a great monetization method for the TikTok app and others in the same category.

In order to place their advertisement on the platform which is visited by millions and millions of users on a daily basis, brands tend to shell out a huge amount of money.

If you too are fretting over your app’s Monetization model, what we would recommend is either going for either of the ones that TikTok follows or start a subscription-based model, wherein you lock a few features in the app in return of some amount or you can charge the influencers for getting a placement in the platform.

With this, we have seen all – the state of TikTok like apps, the demand they are able to garner from the world, the other major players in the industry, the set of features and technology stack that makes TikTok like apps what they are, and lastly the monetization model that they carry.

It is now time to get on to the most crucial part of it – How much would TikTok like App Cost?

Well, here’s the answer to it.

What is the Cost of TikTok Like App Development?

The TikTok app cost lies in the valuation of a number of factors – features, allocation of resources, and the technologies to use.

Assuming that you are going with the exact set of features that we mentioned above, the TikTok app cost when you look at the MVP of the TikTok like the app will come somewhere around $80,000 to $100,000.

While this is the absolute base amount, it will increase as you add more features in the application like Artificial Intelligence, High-End Animations or Blockchain for handling the in-app purchase segment of your application.

With this, you have seen all that is required to get started with the entertainment revolution and what is left now is getting started, which has just one step in between – Getting in touch with our social networking app development experts who will hand-hold through the process.

Our Experience with TikTok Like App Development

Our team recently worked on to create a musical video app like musically that was based on the idea of TikTok, which took around 6 months to finish the whole ideation to the development process and is set to hit the app markets very soon.

While there were some challenges associated with the creation of app like TikTok in line with AI integration that we faced initially, the learning and application curve was fairly low and we were able to overcome them in very little time.

Keeping the technical complexities aside, there were some business model issues that our clients were facing in terms of finding the right demographics, the promotion plan to follow to take the limelight away from TikTok, and the revenue model selection – Solutions to which lied with our Business Analysis Team, who would love to pass them on to you.

Understanding the Internet of Things’ influence on Healthcare

Posted on 20/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Internet of Things in healthcare has more benefits than one can imagine.

The application of IoT in healthcare can improve the way things work in the medical world. From improved machine control to virtual medical assistance, IoT use cases in healthcare is the future. It can save the lives of patients with a fast diagnosis of diseases as well as finding an apt cure for it.

The application of the technology has become so far-fetched that there is hardly a question on What is IoT or how it works.

Like every new piece of technology, it has both advantages and disadvantages associated with it. IoT in healthcare has its own challenges and limitations which can impede the usage of the technology. But going by the joint advancement efforts of skilled IoT app development company and healthcare application development company, it can be ensured that we are reaching a time when the solution will remain safe.

Where Does IoT Fit in Healthcare?

A lot of times it happens that patients don’t get medical attention on time which can harm their health severely. The delay is caused due to many reasons- unavailable rooms in the hospital, traffic on the road, unavailability of extra doctors, delay in the identification of diseases, etc.

Most of the time, people have no idea that they are suffering from an illness. To identify any signs, a visit to the doctor is required. If heart rate checkups, blood pressure level, sugar level, etc. are regularly monitored then patients can be alarmed about any upcoming threats to their health.

Also, sometimes going to the doctor for something as simple as a stomach ache and paying a heavy fee is just not worth it. These could be easily solved if there was a way to connect doctors and patients virtually.

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a network of connected devices that collect data in real-time. IoMT is one of the key applications of IoT in healthcare and has the potential to solve medical issues. According to the IoT trends 2021, the IoT in healthcare market size was $22.5 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $72.02 billion in the year 2021. It will provide personalized care and individual data-driven medical solutions.

Not only will IoMT be able to prevent any upcoming diseases but also will be able to cure the ones that have already been caused. The technology has been made as wearables so that patients can be monitored easily without visiting the doctor.

The Internet of Medical Things has divided segments for each medical issue being faced by the healthcare industry. The on-body segment focuses on customer health wearables and other medical-grade wearables. Some products used in this segment are Fitbit, Samsung medical, etc.

The in-home segment aims at an individual’s personal health tracker solutions. This segment includes personal emergency response systems (PERS), telehealth virtual visits, and remote patient monitoring (RPM).

The community segment consists of five components: Kiosks that dispense products and provide services, mobility services to patients’ vehicles, emergency response intelligence, point-of-care devices that act like medical camps, and logistics that keep a record of all the medical equipment and goods.

Another segment is the in-clinic segment. This segment includes IoMT devices that can be used inside a clinic to provide services. The medical solutions of the in-clinic segment also provide point-of-care devices.

The last segment of IoMT is the in-hospital segment which includes various solutions for several areas of management. Asset management monitors, personnel management, patient flow management, inventory management, and environment and energy monitoring are some of the devices in this segment.

If we look at the role of IoT in healthcare sector at a stakeholder level, we can see the technology making an industry-wide impact.

For patients

Wearable devices like glucometer, heart rate cuffs, fitness bands, etc. give patients access to personalized attention. The constant tracking ability that these devices offer can have a major impact on people who live alone as it can send alerts to their family members.

For physicians

Through the mode of wearable and home monitoring devices embedded with IoT technology, physicians are able to track patients’ health a lot more effectively. The data gathered from the IoT devices can help doctors identify the best treatment and monitoring process for patients.

For hospitals

In hospitals, IoT devices embedded with sensors can be used for tracking the real-time location of medical enablers and equipment such as defibrillators, wheelchairs, oxygen pumps, nebulizers, and other similar monitoring devices. In addition to equipment, it also enables the analysis of the deployment of the medical staff at multiple locations.

These devices can also help with asset management such as environmental monitoring and pharmacy inventory control, for example, refrigerator temperature and humidity control.

Through its multi-stakeholder involvement, IoT solves a number of pain points that are prevalent in a healthcare ecosystem.

Inefficient patient care
Medical process mistakes
Supply chain management
Medical research
Rural healthcare management

What are The Benefits of IoT in Healthcare?

IoT in healthcare is helping the way hospitals attend to the patients. While the rapid population growth is not helping to control the increased illness, old age, and other health issues, the introduction of IoT in healthcare may do it. IoT can also reduce the cost of medical treatment to a great low. The following are a few of the most noteworthy advantages of the Internet of Things:

Simultaneous reporting and monitoring

IoT in the healthcare industry has enabled doctors to monitor the real-time conditions of a patient which can prevent any emergency situations like heart failure, diabetes, asthma attack, cardiac arrest, etc. The impact of IoT in healthcare has made it easy for doctors to attend to multiple patients in a matter of minutes.

The medical reports of patients including blood sugar levels, ECG reports, X-rays, etc. are stored in the cloud and can be accessed with a mobile device whenever needed.

End-to-end connectivity and affordability

The Internet of things in healthcare applications can allow a better connection and use of the latest technology to enhance connectivity and data sharing. With technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and other features, tracking and identifying illness becomes easy and less time-consuming.

This also reduces the overall time and cost of treatment. With technology, the cost of treatment will reduce by a huge sum, allowing patients to be treated easily.

Data analysis and data assortment

The use of IoT in healthcare involves storing massive data about the patient’s medical history. The IoT device also has to send data to other devices without any issues occurring in the process. Manually analyzing such huge data is impossible but devices can do it.

IoT devices can gather, analyze, track, send and receive data with the help of a cloud base. The cloud base is required as the size of data is huge and cannot be saved on the server. What can help make this adoption further and make it more efficient in terms of data storage and transfer is the Blockchain of Things.

Real-time tracking and alerts

Imagine how many lives can be saved with emergency alerts sent by patients. The Internet of Medical Things has made this possible. With the help of a device, a patient’s medical information is recorded in real-time and can be sent to the doctor. In the case of any threat, the doctor will be informed immediately and can provide assistance accordingly.

Check-up on the go

With the help of IoT healthcare devices, patients can easily contact doctors on their mobile devices and get immediate assistance. With the latest IoT devices, doctors can identify any ailments on the go all the while saving travel costs and time. IoT in healthcare will also be able to dispense medicines from machines as per their prescription. This will be done by connecting the patient’s device with the medicine dispensing machine.

Internet of Things (IoT) Use Cases in Healthcare

The Internet of things healthcare is being used for some great work in the healthcare industry. From monitoring the patients to virtually assisting them, applications of the Internet of Things are immensely vast and diverse. Here are some of the use cases of IoT technology in healthcare:

Remote patient monitoring

It is one of the most common use cases of the technology in healthcare that an IoT mobile app development company works around. The applications are built to collect health vitals like blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, etc from the patients that are not physically present in the healthcare facility. The algorithms can then help analyze the vitals and recommend treatment or simply create an alert.

Reducing wait time

Often a patient’s condition gets worse while waiting for things to be arranged or rooms to clear out in a hospital. With IoT in the healthcare industry, the waiting time can be reduced by more than 50%. When it comes to occupancy, IoT can track all the rooms and find the empty ones for the incoming patients who need immediate assistance.

Keep track of hardware maintenance

Every hospital has devices, machines, and equipment that are used to sustain human lives. Availability of these tools is necessary in order to save as many lives as possible. With IoT technology, hospitals can not only track the types of equipment but also be informed when a piece of equipment is about to fail. This helps the hospital in getting new devices before it’s too late.

Tracking employees and patients

A hospital has huge buildings and it becomes impossible to track where each and every employee or doctor is at a particular moment. It is the same for all the patients as well. With IoT technology, tracking the patients and the staff is easy.

This technology is also being used to track the assets of the hospital for security reasons. It is a highly efficient technology to track objects or people without any additional cost or efforts.

Drug management

Medicines are now being monitored by IoT devices to ensure the proper dosage and tracking of the effects of the medicine. It can also remind patients to take their medicine on time and in the right amount. If there is an overdose or underdose of medicine then the patient will be alerted.

Identification of chronic diseases

The Internet of things healthcare technology identifies any chronic illness a patient is suffering from. How that works is: a patient enters his symptoms and the device matches it with the already existing information to identify the disease.

Wearable devices like Fitbit are great trackers of heart rate, sugar levels, and blood pressure levels. Healthcare app development solutions for wearables and mobile apps have made people more health-conscious and aware of their medical conditions.

A few examples of the Internet of Things applications in healthcare

Healthcare IoT devices are specimens of technical brilliance. These come in handy with loads of benefits of IoT like minimizing the waiting time for emergency rooms, patient, staff, and inventory tracking, discipline in drug management, and checking that critical hardware is available at all times.

Hearables

The hearing aid has been around for ages thanks to the genius of Miller Reese Hutchison. With time, these devices underwent massive changes and are the ones currently powered by IoT have transformed the manner of interaction for people with hearing loss. These hearables are synced with smartphones via Bluetooth. Sounds can be filtered, equalized, and tailored to create real-world sound.

Moodables

Stress can often cause declining mental health and there are times when patients with mental disorders or neurovascular problems need to uplift their moods. They are wearables mounted on the head that pass low-intensity currents to the brain. These electrical impulses help to alleviate the pain and lighten up the mind.

Smart pills

Smart pills are edible IoT pills that are used to monitor our body functioning and alert if any anomaly arises. They have micro-sensors that are ingestible and dissolve in the stomach. The body too is attached to a device that accumulates the data transmitted via the sensors. One can easily access the data through their smartphones. This is one of the IoT advantages which proves how powerful the technology is.

Healthcare charting

Patient charting by doctors requires a lot of time and effort. It’s a fascinating thing to know how IoT is implemented and through voice commands, doctors can summon a patient’s vital clinical information like medical history, demographics, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, progress notes, immunization plans and schemes, allergies, tests (X-Ray, cardiology, radiology, urine, blood, etc.) and the results. Augmedix is one such device that does that.

Computer vision technology

A major development of IoT in healthcare projects is the drones which have proven to replicate visual perceptions ergo influencing decision making. These drones are powered by AI and have been known visually impaired people to alert about obstacles and avoid them.

Challenges Faced in Internet of Things (IoT) Based Healthcare System

Even though IoT is being helpful in the healthcare industry, it has its limitations and challenges. Let us look at the adoption challenges of IoT in healthcare:

Privacy and security

Though the IoT benefits in healthcare are many yet we cannot ignore the challenges it is facing. The biggest threat to healthcare in IoT is data privacy and security. The massive data that is being transferred and stored on a regular basis can be hacked and used against the patient and the doctor.

Hackers can create fake IDs to buy drugs and medicines only to misuse them further. A solution to this pestering issue, however, lies in following the compliance set up by the government for healthcare application development USA.

Multiple devices and protocol integration

Everyone owns a different device and this difference in devices is causing problems with the performance of the technology. The internet of medical things has yet to find a solution regarding the compatibility of different devices with the Internet of Things network. The connectivity of different devices slows down the entire process of data transfer, analysis, and retrieval.

Overloading and inaccuracy

Storing patient data means storing an impossible amount of data. Even with the internet of healthy things, the huge amount of data is becoming difficult to manage by the doctors. If this continues then the decision-making will be affected putting many lives in danger all at once. The more devices being connected to the network, the more will be the inflow of data.

Cost of the technology

It must be a surprise to see Internet of Things cost in the challenges section. But the truth is IoT can reduce the treatment cost for a common man but hasn’t been able to do it yet. The Internet of things and healthcare have yet to make things cost-effective and it will take time. It has created the medical tourism situation where people travel to developing countries to get the treatment at a much cheaper cost. The cost of IoT app development is also higher than the usual cost of mobile app development.

The Future Scope of Internet of Things in Healthcare

IoT has a lot of potentials and it’s not only in healthcare. Many IoT healthcare companies are working on new ways to use this technology to help our medical world. According to the IoT healthcare market trends, the industry is expected to grow to $8.9 trillion in the year 2020.

Even though IoT has challenges and limitations, it will not stop the technology from growing. The need for IoT in healthcare is huge and it can help the industry immensely. It can reach every patient from all over the world and connect doctors with patients. There is no denying that IoT has already made a huge impact and is only set to grow further.

It is a matter of time when the medical industry will be run mostly by IoT technology and will be treating patients in less time and low cost of treatment. Google and Apple are companies trying to make IoT and healthcare success and soon we shall see iOS and Android devices interacting with our medicines.

We at Anteelo have IoT app developers in New York and India that are ready to help you with your app idea. We have a proven track record for making IoT real-time applications. Contact us today!

Are Micro Apps the Future of Mobile Applications?

Posted on 18/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

The purpose of the mobile app, since its advent, has been to offer quick solutions to users, which they won’t have to browse websites for. But, the pressure to remain above the competition of thousands of similar apps, have taken brands away from offering to the point solutions to providing them with a wholesome feature rich mobile app. While, there is no way to judge which approach is better, but over time, we have been observing that offering quick solutions has become the new mantra to app success. And if there is one concept that we have been focusing on for just this, is – Micro Apps Development.

In this article, we will be looking into the concept in detail, focusing on elements that brought in its need and what makes them the future of Mobile Apps.

What are Micro Mobile Apps?

Micro Apps are HTML based, customized applications that are built to solve a specific purpose. They may or may not be a part of a bigger mobile app. For example, while Facebook Messenger app is a part of Facebook, Google Weather app acts as a standalone micro app in form of a card in the device’s Google Page.

Now that you know what Micro Apps mean, you must be wondering, why people are resorting to these apps, when they have the option to work around a bigger, all inclusive application? The question is the exact reason why users are making the shift.

Let’s delve into this a little further.

Why the Sudden Rise in Demand for Micro Applications Development?

1. Mobile Apps have become Irksome

In the race to offer more value than the competitors, brands continue to add in more features in their mobile apps, making them large in size, slow to load, and more storage space consuming. All of this pulls the consumers into a large, complex structure, which more often than not takes them away from the simple task that they intended to do when they launched the app.

2. Lack of an in and out experience

In continuation of Mobile Apps becoming irksome, the other thing that has happened is that the in and out experience is lacking.

One of the main reasons why users install mobile apps in the first place, is to save time browsing ahttps://anteelo.com/ website or working around its functionalities. But, by offering a mobile application as the miniature version of the websites, brands take away the purpose users first came to them.

3. Soaring Mobile App Development Cost

While it is easier for the bigger brands, small and mid-size brands usually end up staying and then opting out at the development phase itself. The lack of budget for developing an app that is at par with the top rating ones in the category, is the number one reason why most app idea never see the morning sun.

These three are the reasons why the world is now seeing a gradual shift from the heavy, all functions inclusive mobile applications towards a new found demand for Micro Apps Development.

But, where does Micro Apps fit in these issues? Let’s find out.

All of the above mentioned issues can be easily solved by the advent of micro-apps. Short in app size and device resource usage, micro-apps allow users to be in control of doing what they intend to, without any distraction.

Micro Mobile Apps come in the picture of struggling mobile app development market, with their USPs specifically focusing on providing –

– Simplest Form of User Experience

Designed to address a specific issue faced by the users, Micro Apps come with a no-nonsense, direct user flow.

– Development with Limited Resources

Being focused on a specific task, Micro Apps Development do not call for complex technological processes. It helps cut down the app development cost to a great extent.

With features such as these, Micro Apps have emerged as the rightful solution to the dwindling user retention issue. By offering to the point features to the users, they serve the purpose of what the Mobile Application industry is based on.

It’s time to add a Micro App as a part and parcel of your high value embedding application. Talk to our Mobile App Experts and know where to start.

Mobile Apps Trends that will Dominate 2018

Posted on 18/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

2017 was a phenomenal year for Mobile Application Development.

The industry saw a new programming language, Kotlin, becoming Google’s Official Language. We saw Apple making partnerships to rule the AI industry. AR/VR strengthened its position in the industry.

Among this all, we saw the application of one of the most disruptive technologies of our time, come into existence –

1. Mobile Payment

This year, more users will turn to their mobile phones to make daily payments as people are less likely to carry cash. If you haven’t considered offering mobile payments to your customers, it’d be a good move for 2018 to discuss this with your mobile app development company.

By 2020, the world will see Mobile Payments reaching out to become a $503 Billion industry – amounting to 80% annual growth percent from 2015 to 2020.

While there are already a number of mobile payment applications operating across the globe, the number is only going to increase: especially since the value of Annual Transaction made through mPayment apps is on a high in the US and globally.

Even if the app you are planning is not a Payment App, in itself, incorporating mPayments feature in your mobile app will bring yours in the list of convenient apps.

2. Blockchain

9 in 10 government firms are planning to invest in blockchain for financial transaction management, asset management, contract management and regulatory compliance purposes. One-third of banks are expected to adopt commercial blockchain in 2018.

While Bitcoin, an important element of Blockchain has already held its position in the technology world, 2018 will push Blockchain further from digital payment. With the technology getting more and more investments every passing day, industries would now be using it for so many other uses than just Cryptocurrency transactions.

There are already brands that have started offering the technology to serve their smart contracts feature for real estate industry and then there are others that have made Blockchain Mobile Apps to add on security feature in supply chain management system.

3. PWA

PWA is not something that you have to install from the app stores. It comes with a diverse range of innovative features like quick updates, faster navigation, offline working mode, push notifications, and so on.

Factors like reliability, speed, engagement, reachability, and cost effectiveness, among many others, have bringing Progressive Web Apps in line with their Native Apps counterparts. Although Native Apps still had the upper hand in 2017, the changes that are planned for PWAs in 2018, will make more brands adopt it.

4. IoT and Wearable

Analysts predict that IoT will grow from $157.05 billion in 2016 to $661.74 billion by 2021 and we’re just at the beginning stages of this growth.

Users’ demand for wearables that go beyond satisfying their medical needs is on a surge. The need of the hour is to add innovation in what one can do at the click of their watch button or by adjusting their glasses. And, this is exactly what they will be getting in 2018.

Every IoT and Wearable related discussion that happens in 2018 will be incomplete without the mention of Smart Homes. The year will see greater adaptation of technologies like Alexa, which help users control their smart home devices like door locks, camera, lighting, entertainment system, and thermostats, etc. The technology, which is already a billion dollar market, will continue to rise with time.

This year, you will be able to connect your life much more with the minimal devices that you work around with, every day.

5. AR/VR

The next-generation apps especially the gaming apps are all about AR and VR. The tech experts have predicted to generate revenue of $150 billion by the year 2020.

While the technology was restricted to mostly gaming and retail industry in 2017, 2018 will see its adaptation in a number of otherwise deemed traditional industries as well. Such as – Real Estate, Healthcare, and Education etc. The foundation that AR/VR had set for itself in 2017 will grow its roots to a much deeper level in 2018.

The elements that are making the revenue chart of AR/VR are not just restricted to AR Voice or AR Games and VR Games and VR Theme Parks, the $120 Billion market of AR and $30 Billion market of VR can be divided into a number of other elements, with each of them holding their piece of share in defining the future of AR/VR in the world.

Introducing AR/VR in your mobile app this year will not just solve your app engagement problem but also will help increase your conversion rate, if yours is an eCommerce app.

6. Enterprise Apps

An Adobe study says that 77% business owners found enterprise apps advantageous and 66% are increasing their investment further. Also, 430 billion enterprise app markets are expected by 2021.

The reasons that enterprise Apps have found a place in this list is because in today’s corporate scenario, the need of fixing a seat for people to sit and work in has become a thing of the past. In the time of virtual employees, companies’ needs to have all their employee working in one place has become negligible.

The scenario in 2017 was that nwere employing the enterprise apps that adhered to the standards set by their industries. But with greater focus on being different from competition, in 2018, companies will be looking for platforms specific to their business, which only have the elements that their team works around.

7. On Demand

In 2017, users spent 98% more on on-demand entertainment apps compared to 2016. It also expands to users wanting other on-demand services such as haircuts, food, laundry, and so on. The number that is only to increase by manifold in 2018.

The average annual spending for different on demand industry services is also going to see a jump this year when compared to what they were in 2017.

The need to be satisfied instantly for every need is what has brought in an increase in the demand for the technology. While, on demand services has already seeped itself into a number of industries, many more brands will see its inception in the coming time – B2B setup will soon start using the on demand economy to verify their new employees’ background information or getting their hand man jobs done. Even the current industries will have to find new innovative needs of on-demand facilities to stay on top of their competition.

8. Instant Apps

Instant apps are very convenient and that works majorly in attracting more users. The need of app installation is eradicated here which eliminates the barrier between apps and web. The easiness that Android Instant Apps will lead to its greater adaptation in 2018.

Instant Apps is that feature of Google Play Store, which allows you to use an app without having to completely download it on your phone. All one needs to do is find them in the Store and then click on ‘Open App’. The apps even allow you to perform a specific activity inside an app that is not installed in your device, with only a click on a URL.

By allowing users to use the apps without putting an effort and losing even an MB of their precious phone storage space, is what has made Instant Apps a hit in the mobile app world. While only introduced to a limited few apps of Play Store, 2018 will see the “Try it Now” option in more number of apps, increasing your chances at brand visibility.

9. mHealth Apps

With over 100,000 health apps in the market and with a forecast of 1.7 billion downloads of mhealth app on iOS and Android by 2017, there is plenty of room for more apps with better and personalized outcomes.

Gone are those days when the mHealth apps were only related to showing the number of steps a person has taken or to book an appointment with their doctor. This was all a thing of 2017. The mHealth industry has now evolved, entirely.

This year is about Electronic Medical records (EMR) Apps that helps in keeping records of your medical history, handle your medical bills, and keep a check on serious health issues like Asthma, Diabetes, and Cancer on phone.

While, this is for the patients, doctors will also move one step ahead from their usual application related to accepting appointment and viewing patient history, to practicing serious operations using the Virtual Reality based apps.

10. Cross Platform Apps

Wide user reach, improved marketing, cost-effectiveness, and increased revenue are just some of the factors that have been pushing the app development world towards Cross-Platform Apps.

With the audiences on both Android and iOS rising neck by a neck in 2017, brands will tweak their strategy and get inclined towards creating an app that works on both platforms. There are a number of issues that will be solved by investing in Cross Platforms apps, such as – High costs associated with developing apps individually for Android and iOS, having different-looking products on different platforms, and limited reach amongst others.

Now when we talk about Cross-Platform Apps, there are a number of issues that can come up, with the main ones being bad UI and speed.

To remove the glitches that Cross-Platform Apps come with, React Native App Development is the framework we swear upon.

While there are other frameworks like NativeScript and Xamarin, React Native single-handedly holds the wagon to be the best cross-platform tool the mobile app world has the offer. Here are the issues that React Native solves –

The knowledge of JavaScript is enough to develop a whole Cross-Platform App.
React Native Apps are fluid and are highly responsive.
Relies completely on Native Controls.
It allows the developers to reuse their codes.

11. Chatbots and AI

Users are searching for more effortless interactions with brands and are now expecting channels of communications to be open 24/7. 52% of consumers prefer to interact with businesses via a messaging app rather than over the phone or in person.

While Chatbots will continue to do their function of answering users’ queries as a bot in 2018 as well, but with AI, they will now answer questions that are not even asked yet. Or even better, they will give alternate solutions to the mobile users, removing the chance of knowing who is behind the screen, a bot or a living, breathing human.

Chatbots have already found their place in a number of industries, globally.

Chatbots will take customer service to a whole different level in 2018, by not just being available to them 24*7, but also by solving issues that were kept on hold till a representative was available, in 2017. This combination of AI and Chatbots will also start making its remarkable presence felt in the apps dealing with mental health.

Are you prepared to see your device get cooler, more useful, and thousand times more active this year?

Test Android App: Role of Android Espresso & AWS Device Farm

Posted on 18/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

AWS Device Farm is a service that allows you to test your Android and iOS-based apps on real devices and not by using any simulators and using AWS Cloud.

A fierce competition exists in the mobile app development market as the competitor companies are trying hard to get recognized by showcasing their products in the App Stores. After developing an app, one key factor that is remembered is that you should never be in a hurry to upload an app in the App Store. This is where lies the importance of the reviews from the various customers. If by any chance, you upload an app that is unstable, there is every chance that the app will be outright rejected by the users. So, the success of an app depends mostly on this review.

There are many reasons on account of which the apps simply crash and these are network problems, bloatware on the device, inadequate error and exception handling as well as memory issues. Herein lies the need for testing the apps, on multiple platforms and devices as well as on different networks.

Testing an Android App: Role Played by Android Espresso and AWS Device Farm This service enables you to provide the solution that you are seeking to test the app in the right way. You can upload your apps in the Cloud and run Fuzz tests for the purpose of simulating random activity or utilizing the built-in app explorer.

AWS Device Farm will crawl your app and helps to capture screenshots as well as performance metrics and logs. The advantage that it offers is easy to use and quick. You can track the issues that will be faced by your Android app if you use Espresso in AWS Device Farm, much before the app is displayed on the App Store.

What is AWS Device Farm?

There is no need to get distracted by the issues that are faced while testing your Android app like constructing automation infrastructure, building expensive device labs, or even gathering different types of devices and above all ensuring that the devices are available in stable conditions, whenever they are required. The importance of AWS Device Farm lies in the fact that it handles everything most efficiently. In a matter of few minutes, you can test the app on a wide range of devices. Moreover, not only does it allow you to choose the devices, but you can also choose the make and model of the chosen Operating System. It is capable of testing various carrier connections as it can simulate the connection type and conditions.

What is Android Espresso?

Android Espresso is the most popular test automation framework for testing Android apps. Testing is often done with the help of running testing scripts by the developers, Google has now come with Espresso Test Recorder, a tool that helps to create Android apps tests, easily and quickly. So, the advantage lies for those people who do not have any background in coding or building test scripts, generating automated user interface tests for their apps to run on AWS Device Farm. So, the efficiency of the app developers is enhanced, and also the quality of the apps.

How are the Developers Utilizing the AWS Device Farms?

Android Espresso actually helps the developers testing the apps locally as well as the Cloud Setup like AWS Device Farm. AWS Device Farm is used by the developers for the purpose of testing iterative changes through the development process. The functionalities are also tested so that they work well on the various targeted devices. That the applications are running well with the backend system is done with automated canaries running periodic tests using API. It also generates test reports that are of immense help to the developers. It offers the best place to produce issues related to mobile analytics.

Finally, Android Espresso and AWS Device Farms help to ward of app issues, so that only the high-quality apps get displayed on the App Store, not the unstable ones which will fetch the best of reviews from the users, a crucial requirement for building a highly successful app.

Prepare your workforce for the future- 4 steps

Posted on 14/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

What’s the best way to prepare for the workforce of the future? With news of Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and others investing billions in training, you’d be forgiven for thinking the answer is simply “reskilling the workforce.”

And yet, reskilling is only one part of the solution. Creating the workforce of tomorrow requires a holistic approach to learning that enables the continuous development of new skills, a higher level of engagement, and an agile and thoughtful response to ongoing change. This, in turn, requires putting learning at the very core of the entire organization.

Vanguard organizations are already preparing the workforce by making learning foundational. Your organization can begin to do the same by taking these four action steps:

1. Make learning opportunities available to everyone in your complex demographic landscape.

Today’s workplace demographics are complex, composed of multiple generations with varying experience levels, specialization, tenure and learning preferences. HR practitioners must now determine how to leverage people, process, and technology around this workforce.

Globalization also affects employee learning and development. Workforces in different countries may need instruction that is sensitive to varied cultural and language preferences; remote employees need access to mobile learning and development tools. Similarly, the rise of part-time and gig employees requires organizations to think beyond traditional, synchronous, and on-location training.

Action: Increase engagement and productivity—and facilitate a valuable sense of community and collaboration—by providing training and career development opportunities to the entire workforce, including in-house, remote, global, part-time, and even gig workers.

2. Democratize talent with teams.

Today, an organization’s ability to pivot in the marketplace depends on agility—and agility requires a workforce that is networked and collaborative, i.e., team-based. Teams, unlike the traditional (and rigid) corporate hierarchy of the past, can form, dissolve and morph as needed to meet new and changing business needs.

Team-based structures also more effectively harness the expertise and wisdom of all employees, at all levels. In a team-based structure, someone may have only one year of experience, but they may also have the right expertise to contribute to a team’s success or even lead a team. And that’s the big “Aha!” moment, realizing that anyone can step up to contribute or lead.

Action: Democratizing talent means giving all employees an opportunity to contribute, regardless of tenure, assuming they have evidence-based knowledge and insights to share. Don’t dismiss employees’ perspectives or ideas based on age, tenure or role.

3. Understand and enable “learning while working.”

How can workers continue to be relevant amid the increased use of AI, cognitive technologies and other disruptors to traditional workflows? By engaging in continuous learning. For organizations, this requires making learning available within the flow of work, moving development from the periphery of the employee experience—day-long courses, five-minute videos, synchronous and asynchronous e-learning—to its core. You deliver learning opportunities directly to employees and make them conveniently accessible at all times. The right technology can make learning a natural part of everyday tasks and eliminate the time employees are physically or cognitively separate from work.

Action: Use tools designed to make learning integral to everyday work life. Consider technologies that not only ensure content is relevant for each individual but also integrate learning opportunities directly into daily work tools, e.g., Microsoft Office, Slack, and Salesforce.

4. Apply programs, solutions, and technologies designed to optimize collaborative learning.

Collaborative learning, when done right, accelerates the collective intelligence of an organization—a potentially powerful competitive differentiator in an era of constant change. When people come together to solve a business problem, you gain greater organizational intellectual property and intelligence than if you were to ask each person to solve the problem individually. It’s the same with learning. When people learn together, they become collectively something greater by hearing and responding to each other’s insights and informed observations.

Action: Better manage and distribute informal knowledge and employee insights. Employ collaborative learning technologies to make individual experience, wisdom, and insight available to a large, distributed learning population.

How can react Native App Development help you Save Money?

Posted on 09/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Being so highly exposed to social media channels, it is not possible for us to turn a blind eye to just how many Start-ups are rounding up around the world every day. The numbers are in hundreds of millions and the only way these startups dodge the exit from the world is if they have an amazing mobile application that is exceptionally successful with the audience.

But according to simple math, there are only close to about 2.6 million apps on Google Play Store and, as mentioned above, the number of startups are in hundred-millions. So what is it that is not allowing these numbers to add up?

We know! Money. There is, of course, high demand for mobile apps among startups but the follow-up on the idea is low because of high mobile app development costs.

In such a scenario, there is an urgent need to bring in a cost-effective way of mobile app development that can accommodate more startups for everyone’s benefit.

One such cost-effective measures found to aid the ailing of the world is the guide to Cross-platform mobile app development.

What is Cross-Platform App Development?

Cross-platform App development is the development of mobile application or softwares for multiple platforms. That is by accommodating various platforms in one round of coding.

And what makes Cross-Platform app development a cost-efficient measure for mobile app development is that it is the only way for relatively faster development of the application at a substantially lower price.

But How does Cross-Platform App Development helps one in saving the cost?

A few years ago, whenever someone went to a mobile app development company with an idea for an app, the immediate follow-up question used to be – Which would be the first platform for launch – Android or iOS? And the cost of development for both the mobile app platforms would come out to be very high with double the annual maintenance charges.

But if we roll out today’s calendar, we would see a number of options to help us avoid those high costs of native mobile app development. The biggest change that came upon the world for this was the invention React native app development.

But how does this impact the React native app development cost?

Reusable code: Cross-platform app development, the code for the mobile application can be used for the desktop web views.
Easier team management: When all your development team members will be required to be the masters of only one language for both Android and iOS app development.
Easier Maintenance: Since there is only one code base, the majority of the problems can be solved on that commonly.
Cost-cutting: Since there is no need of building apps for individual mobile platforms, the cost of development reduces substantially.

But to learn more about the benefits of React native app development, we need to know which is the best platform for us to explore react native web apps and mobile apps.

The Evolution of React Native:

Ever since there has been programming in the world, people (Programmers and non-programmers) know that coding a programme is a tough job. And with the abundance of different programming platforms and languages, the job only becomes more complicated. In such scenarios, Developers prefer that they have to learn a single or only a few languages which can get them maximum outreach an exposure.

Often, the code of complex mobile applications needed to be “fixed” with the help of Native Coding, Which was making the process longer instead of faster.

Realising all of these points, in 2015, Facebook created React Native. React native was developed after the failure of multiple cross-platform app development technologies as they were all creating weird-looking interfaces which were not fully compatible with all the devices.

React native is an open source framework particularly which is used as it allows the mobile app developers to code in Javascript and deploys the app on both, Android and iOS platforms. It is very important to judge when to use Native or React Native apps, but the best thing about React native apps is that they are as good as Native apps.

Over the years, React Native has gained popularity for all the good reasons and it won’t suffice to end it there; so, let’s move forward to look at the properties of react native that make it the best choice of programming languages.

Properties of React Native:

If we count the advantages of React native, the cost efficiency will make it to the first spot every time. The cost-saving benefits of React native are the result of the other advantages that the platform posses for mobile app development. Although, to create a react native app means that the developer has to take account of multiple platforms to guarantee the best performance of the app, it still saves time and resources.

Let us take a look at the properties which make React native the best platform for mobile app development and how it benefits the mobile app developers.

Slashed Costs of app development

There is no denying the fact that building a cross-platform mobile application is comparatively much more cost-efficient than building native mobile apps or even web apps. This is because there is no need for programming for individual platforms. Besides, with the rising competition in the app development world, the focus has centred around the market of the application more than the development. And such a scenario, cross-platform applications are able to deliver high quality of mobile apps in a substantially lesser amount of time for more number of platforms which gives the marketers more time to strategise the launch and marketing of the app.

There are collective libraries of many app development frameworks available, like PhoneGap and Xamarin, which allows the React native mobile app developers to work and deliver much faster than native mobile app developers saving both, cost and time.

React Native is all about the UX and UI:

Those who have dealt with a non-optimised app can very well recite the pain of scrolling horizontally for seeing the full page of an app on their mobile devices. cross-platform applications built with the help of React Native eliminate this flaw and let the react native app builders make a fully optimised and compatible mobile application with numerous devices.

React Native cross-platform Apps are not only known for their ability to display data faster an adjust to the screen configurations promptly but also fixes the problems of fluctuating data streaming.

Apart from this, React native cross-platform apps can support a high definition of app graphics and contents because they’re very lightweight.

Easy integration:

cross-platform mobile apps, just like native apps, allow seamless integration and synchronization with other compatible apps. This is because the cross-platform apps also influence the internal programming of the mobile devices. This kind of working reduces the extra integration work for mobile app developers and the cross-platform apps still work well with the devices default applications such as GPS, Camera, etc.

Easier App Maintenance:

A cross-platform mobile application works just like a native mobile app and therefore they are well equipped to make use of all the device applications. The difference between the two is that a Native app is much harder to maintain, on both, the developers’ and the users’ sides. That is so because native applications require regular updates but cross-platform apps can easily avoid versioning and this makes the maintenance of the apps much more simplified. This flexibility provided by cross-platform apps gives the required scalability to the enterprise apps.

Offline Working:

cross-platform mobile applications work by storing the mobile device’s API, which saves the app data offline and hence results in a much faster-working app. It proves to be of great help at the times of adverse network conditions by providing uninterrupted access to data. This is even cited as one of the best performance capabilities of cross-platform apps and puts them a level above native mobile apps.

Scaling and Availability:

Being a cross-platform app, it can be made available at multiple online market platforms such as Google’s play store or Apple’s AppStore. This is the best way to expand your reach and maximise your customer base. Also, cross-platform applications are basically cross-platform apps, capable of working flawlessly with different Operating systems and platforms. And since the code for these apps can be easily reused, they become extremely simple to scale and develop.

As we are now through with the best advantages of React Native, Let us move on to the factors contributing to the overall costs of mobile app development.

Factors Contributing to the cost of development and How React Native minimises it:

From the Operating system to App Design elements, everything adds up to a certain cost in the overall app development process. Although the costs of development for the native apps and the cross-platform apps can be distinguished easily. Let us see how these factors affect these two kinds of mobile app development processes.

Operating system: The fundamental support required for updating older versions of operating systems is difficult and rather, time-consuming in the case of native mobile apps. However, in the case of cross-platform apps, versioning can be easily avoided which makes the maintenance of the app much easier and therefore, cost-effective.

Hardware: Along with supporting various Operating systems, the programming required to support the dimensions and orientation of various mobile devices. And making a native app compatible with different generations of a device can turn out to be highly expensive on the development front. For instance, the older iPhones had much smaller screens and the newer ones have larger screens but all the devices successfully accommodate and support the same mobile applications. This means that these native apps were specially optimised for the device type and hence added highly to the cost of development. Whereas, React native cross-platform apps work with all digital ecosystems and are pre-optimized to accommodate a maximum number of devices for the mobile apps. This, in turn, saves the time of development, thereby saving the overall cost.

Maintenance and support: the maintenance for native apps is quite complex because it takes the aftercare of two platforms at once, which includes regular updates, troubleshooting, patching etc. And thus, it takes almost twice as much time and resources to keep up with the maintenance of both Android and iOS device versions of the native app. And a cross-platform app can be easily maintained by a single app developer and thus the total app development costs are substantially slashed.

Application Design: It is unarguable that the cost of UI and UX design for an app is an added cost for a native app. Every app requires a flawless user-experience which account for nearly one-third of the total app development cost. Although, cross-platform apps made with react native are known for their uniformity across devices which accounts for great user experience.

Other factors, such as Data security costs and external APIs (Application Programming Interface), App hosting are the factors that work more or less in a similar way for native apps as well as for React native apps. However, the other factors mentioned above result in a significant reduction in the overall cost of mobile app development and still build high-quality apps which are no less than native apps.

The cost-saving benefits of using React native are long since proven that is why a number of businesses are bringing their applications over React native Platform. React native Apps in the market like, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Skype, Tesla, Uber, Walmart, Vogue are a few big names which are validating the benefits of React native app development.

Although cross-platform app development is easy and takes lesser time and resources which results in lesser development costs, there are always pitfalls associated with every technology.

Besides, the time and prices are always governed by the difficulty and complexity of the task at hand and this complexity decided the final cost of the project.

And though it is true that cross-platform apps cut short the time of development, it still takes time to create React native apps and optimise them for different devices of both iOS and Android platforms, which is a difficult and time-taking task. To hire a react native developer means hiring a developer who can successfully handle the creation of an app for every possible mobile device, which is a speciality in its kind and has a good cost.

In the end, there are a lot of contributing factors which play their part in deciding the final cost of development in the case of both, native, as well as, cross-platform mobile application. And for every app, it will be a different scenario and the last decision is yours to make if React Native is the right platform for your App. However, the general factors, as discussed in the article, are in favour of React native and show us the benefits for React native app development and React Native app development companies.

Key Features to Include in a Personal Trainer App

Posted on 07/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Today, everyone is talking about health and fitness. The whole world is trying to get into better shape and thus, going to the gym is a norm for almost everyone. However, in most of the cases, it is seen that people don’t have time for going to the gym. Due to this, the demand for personal trainer apps is growing by leaps and bounds. Sensing this demand, several companies are coming up with high-quality personal trainer app development services.

The best thing about this app is that you only need a wall, chair, and your body weight. It gives users the access to 72 different exercises and additional 22 workouts, allowing them to find the suitable program. If you are engaged in providing personal trainer app development services then have a look at all the main features of the 7 Minute Workout app and the way of implementing them.

In other words such agencies are engaged in offering world-class fitness apps at affordable rates and within determined timeframe. Talking about fitness apps, Official 7 Minute Workout by Johnson & Johnson. This app has managed to acquire more than 5 million downloads on the Google Play Market and over 2 million downloads on the Apple App Store.

Amazing features and their implementation

Voice control

With this feature, users can pause and resume training at their convenience. They have the chance of switching between exercises and controlling music. In order to make voice control possible in your personal trainer app, you can integrate Siri for iOS or Google Now for Android.

Smart workout

This feature forms the most appropriate training for users according to the level of preparation as well as their preferences. After the complete workout, users can determine the difficulty level of the exercise and can indicate which they prefer. This allows algorithm plan an effective workout. If you are planning to teach your app to form workouts, then you have two ways. In this regard, you can write an algorithm for building training by yourself. You can use marketplaces for algorithms.

Timer

This feature is perfect for calculating exercise time as well as rest intervals. To implement this feature for android, you can use CountDownTimer class, whereas for NSTimer for iOS. This way you can offer great personal trainer app development services.

Music

This app is perfect for listening songs during a training session. By using AVAudioPlayer class, you can implement this feature in your iOS app. If you want this feature in your android app, then use the multimedia framework.

Wearable edition

This 7 Minute Workout app has an edition for wearables. There is no denying that synchronizing an app with a wearable device is perfect for tracking the efficiency of exercises. In addition, the collection of data like heart rate and calories burned to name a few can be easily done.

Video player

It is good to provide guidance with video explanations. With Android multimedia framework in an Android app, your app can play audio and video files from standalone apps in the filesystem or over the network.

In conclusion, all the above-mentioned features are perfect for bringing a revolutionary change in the app development sector Hence, you have to make sure that you are incorporating all the aforesaid features in your app.

Top Silicon Valley Agency’s UI/UX Design Deliverables

Posted on 29/09/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

INTRODUCTION

“If you work in Silicon Valley, you come from the future”

Firstly, what are UI UX design deliverables, and Why are they critical to your success?

It is a document that usually communicates ideas, various research outputs, and sets a direction for other designers and developers. Now, for design professionals, these deliverables are a tangible manifestation of the evolving design direction & communicate how that direction can be achieved. Each deliverable is structured in a way that helps provide solutions for the next phase. But not everyone understands this term often when discussing or presenting ideas during various phases of a design process. Thus, UI UX design deliverables are very much useful to break down complicated ideas or functionalities and thus making them easier to understand for everyone in the room.

What are the types of design deliverables?

In the initial stages of design, the focus should not be on high-quality UI, rather effectively communicating the initial ideas for the design solution. At every stage of the design process, the type of deliverables varies to an extent. With a view of adopting the best way for information transfer, there are three types of deliverables.

Creation deliverables – Used to provide low-fidelity ideas during the early stages of the design process.
Communication deliverables – Adopted to communicate everything that we learn from each design session to keep the team aligned.
Validation deliverables – UX deliverables that were used for research & findings to validate any reason.

Lollypop Design Agency in Silicon Valley is often asked by potential clients and design evangelists about various design deliverables that we and other design giants offer to meet business goals, keeping in mind the user needs and expectations.

No matter what industry we work for, from small startups to established companies, the deliverables for any project following the design process are more or less the same and vary according to the available resources, requirements, timelines, and budget.

Here are some of the major design deliverables that various Silicon Valley design agencies practice for their different projects as a part of their design methodologies.

1. Discovery & Research

Stakeholder interviews takeaways
User research document

2. UX Design stage

UX Audit
Information Architecture
User flows
Wireframes

3. UX Design stage

Visual designs
Animations
Design systems
Visual design specifications

Let us now understand these items one by one and their significance in the whole process.

Stakeholder Interviews takeaways

It is always a priority to understand brand perspectives, varying user behavior to compliment the importance of competitive brand stake in the marketplace & identify differentials. Also, stakeholder interviews play a pivotal role to help guide the flow of the entire project considering the business goals, technical constraints, usability problems, and what customers expect out of a final product or service.

User research document

User research is the most important part of the design process that encourages us to precisely discover how our target customers feel while collaborating with the product that is designed to meet their objectives. User research is done to gain the sharpest possible insights into the needs and pain points of the users while stakeholder interviews give us insights into the business goal of a product.

UX Audit

UX audit uses methods to expand an existing situation and offer heuristics-based recommendations for improvements or user-centric enhancements. Ultimately, a user experience audit helps us understand how to boost conversions by making it easier for users to achieve their goals on your site or software along with pointing out critical, mid-level, and major issues and how to prioritize issue resolution in any product. UX audit is a method to make sure the brand communicates consistently across all customer experience touchpoints.

Many of our Clients find this to be an invaluable investment with strong ROI in future development as this audit process helps to vet and validate the product roadmap, ensuring a highly successful product launch without costly redesign or redevelopment.

Information Architecture

Information architecture and wireframes are all about organizing the content and flow of a website or an application so that users can complete their tasks and achieve their goals quickly. The focus is on creating usable content structures out of complex sets of information.

User flows

User flow can be considered as a series of user actions or simply the various states that the user needs to go through to achieve any expected goal. The main goal of any user flow is to provide designers & developers a detailed description of all the possible flows, including edge cases, errors, and various states. User flows also help businesses have a high-level view of the product and make sure their features, technical jargon, and workflows don’t confuse the user.

Wireframes

Wireframes generally give the first impression on how a website or app might look by incorporating the Information Architecture and arranging elements to best accomplish a particular purpose. Since it is the first phase of the version there is a scope of changing plans and ideas. These high-fidelity designs can be used for usability testing, and serve as an excellent reference for developers to get a good idea of the final product. Wireframes help connect the site’s information architecture to its visual design by showing paths between pages. It also helps prioritize content through the determination of how much space to allocate to a given item and where that item is located.

Visual designs

The visual design may be considered as the “final coat of paint” on the product but it’s not just that: visual design can greatly affect the UX of a product, and therefore must be approached very carefully. Hopefully, a lot of interaction design and usability heuristics were worked out during prior steps of the UX design process so that the designers can focus on the visuals. It’s one last opportunity to take the product to the next level. Visual design is the last step before handoff to developers and the phase where a style guide and final specs are crafted. It’s not just about “making things pretty,” but also an opportunity to strategically define & implement the brand’s identity into color schemes, usable layouts, creating contrast, and visual hierarchy.

Animations

Animations are used purposefully to enhance the overall user experience and guide users along the way. They are used for various purposes like feedback, continuity, directing attention, etc. These animations in the form of GIFs, videos, or Lottie files are used by developers to implement into the final product. When animation is used subtly, it can help users build mental models about how the system works and how they can interact with it. UI animations are subtle, unobtrusive, and brief micro-interactions, they can improve the user experience and can communicate feedback and state changes, prevent disorientation, and strengthen signifiers.

Also, animations offer a level of sophistication to an experience and help diversify the product experience in the marketplace.

Design system

A design system can be considered as a set of design-specification documents that are intended to be one single source of truth that groups all the digital elements for any brand/product. Style guides, rules for typography, colors, responsive behavior, photos, and visual designs as a comprehensive design system are usually the ultimate handoff to the clients and the developers. Some style guides and specifications are put together manually, and others are generated automatically. This design system can be thought of more like “bibles of style” on the shelf that everyone on the team can refer to.

Design Systems will also influence and compliment brand identity within digital marketing efforts by extension which is a value add to clients & marketing/product teams!

Visual design specification

The final step in the design workflow is to create specifications for development teams. Margins, padding, assets, element measurements, color codes are various small details that need to be considered while building any product. These minor details if missed can impact the overall user experience of the product.

How hard will it be to add some new deliverables soon?

Design deliverables as mentioned, communicate how a direction can be achieved to lay that final product. Changes in these deliverables are expected over time according to the shifting user behavior and variance in business needs. Now, adding new deliverables is pretty easy but ensuring its consistency, accuracy, and quality is the most difficult part. Most importantly above and overall, is validating and carefully considering whether that deliverable is truly adding value to the entire project or the workflow to be specific.

Conclusion

UI UX design deliverables again vary according to the needs of the client and project priorities.

The deliverables and the way they are handed off, the methods per se are more than enough as a whole. Some parts of the documentation can be done parallel to the process or some are done before or after the process. Now the tools used for these deliverables can vary to an extent, but that’s a topic for another article.

Thank you for reading this blog & stay tuned for more articles on thought leadership.