#UI/UX Archives

How Much Does It Cost To Create a Mobile App Design?

Posted on 09/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

In the mobile app sector, every effort you take to make your application disruptive and innovative ultimately boils down to its design.

There is a lot that rides on the all-encompassing term “mobile app design”. It single-handedly decides whether users would spend any time in the application and if at all your months long efforts would result into a profitable solution that the world would interact with.

For a process that the entire soon to be $311,249 million industry is dependent on, there are a number of things that a design-centric mobile app development company has to consider:

User research
Competitor analysis
User Experience design
Interaction design
Graphics design
Logo and app icons designs, etc.

These considerations, in turn, come with a cost. The cost of app design.

While lower than the engineering cost, the mobile app design cost nonetheless hold a good portion in the detailing of the overall mobile app cost.

In this article, we are going to look into the elements that make up for the mobile app design cost in detail.

Table Of Content:

The Importance of App Design in Mobile App Development Process
Phases of App Design Process
How Much Does it Cost to Design a Mobile App?
How to Optimize the Mobile App Design Cost
FAQs About Mobile App Design Cost

The Importance of App Design in Mobile App Development Process

Every design element is devised to solve specific issues. It doesn’t matter whether you are developing an application from scratch or redesigning an app, the end goal of every single process of your designing efforts should remain the same – solving an issue in the most minimal manner as possible.

A well-crafted mobile application UI and UX design usually provides the following benefits:

Simplifies the interaction with the interface
Converts users into consumers
Enables users to reach their objective faster
Streamlines the development part of the application

Phases of App Design Process

Idea Evaluation

This part of the mobile app design process deals with understanding the project to its entirety – what issues does the customers face and how would the app solve those issues for them. One method through which the idea can be evaluated is through the creation of a lean model canvas.

Problem: This part of the model defines the issues which the app solves.

Customer Segments: This is where you enter the details of your prospective users and create a segmentation.

USP: This is where you will have to fill in the details of what your application does best and most uniquely compared to the competitors.

Solutions: Here the probable solutions that the app can offer to the best of problem, customer type, and USP combination are identified.

Channels: this is where you should enlist the platforms where your users will be present

Revenue Streams: The goal of this section is to create a business model that seems to be an answer to your question around how much money you can earn money through an app.

Expense structure: Here, the expenses you will have to incur to develop the application are enlisted.

Key Metrics: These are the KPIs you will measure your app’s success against.

Unfair Advantage: This is the detail of advantages that your app has but not your competitors – a disruptive technology, financial aid, partnership, or something else.

Market Research

Analysis of the market your application is a three tier process – competitive research, market trends analysis, and customer analysis.

We start the market research process by first analyzing the competitors – not to copy them but to find out the opportunities in the market. Doing this gives a benchmark that we have to cross, on the features and design grounds.

Next, we study the market and find out what is in trend and what elements are users interacting with most.

Deliverables: Use case, user stories, and behavioral sciences

Tools: A/B tests, user persona, interviews

Mind map

This part of the mobile app design process takes you back to the lean model canvas components. It takes into account all the different requirements of your application to help you visualize the logical structure or connection between the main parts of the app.

When we create mind maps, we place the goal of the app at the center and create segments of the goal around it. Then, we create requirements/features for all these segments

User Persona

The next step of our mobile app design process is the creation of user persona. This section of the design details who you are designing the app for.

Ideally, the user persona portrait should be made of:

Their demographics
The social stature
Their behavioral model

This part of the mobile app design process have helped our development team numerous times to gather an understanding of who they are developing the app for and what all they would appreciate/ not appreciate.

User Journey Mapping

Once you have identified who your users are, you will have to gather the understanding of how will they use the application. This is where the user journey mapping element of the app design comes into the picture.

This app design deliverable deals with the creation of how users would move inside the app – the features they would interact with, where it would lead them, and the steps they would take if they hit a wall.

Prototype

The next part of the process is app prototype. Here, we structure the ideas into delightful experiences for users who would interact with the application. At this stage, it is ensured that the flow between features and screens should be so natural that users should not even notice.

In order to create an ideal prototype, it is very important that iterations are made until the flow is nailed on the basis of the feedback. The level of iterations is what defines the app prototype cost.

At Anteelo, our teams work on the prototypes collectively. Everyone: Developers, Business Analysts, and Clients work together to create an application which everyone can agree on. This, in turn, helps in identifying issues and confusions that could occur at the development stage.

Deliverables: App screen wireframe, interactive prototypes

User Interface Design

User Interface design is all about telling a story of how the user would feel as they move from one screen to another.

This is where the look and feel of the app is created – its colours, shapes, typography, elements, etc. Our mobile app developers do not just look into what the users will see when they use the app but also what they would feel. Thus, we concentrate our efforts on not just static design but also animated versions. User interface design primarily encompasses three elements – Logo, App Icons, and Screens. These are the elements which then get added into the numeric value of mobile app design cost.

Deliverables: App logo, app icons, screenshots for the stores, and animations.

How Much Does it Cost to Design a Mobile App?

With the need and stages of mobile app design part covered, let’s talk about the monetary part of mobile app design, a.k.a The App Designing Cost Breakdown.

The cost of app design is majorly dependent on three factors – Complexity of the app, the country wise app design cost, and the platforms on which it would be made live on. Let us dissect every part of what goes into app design cost in detail.

A. Cost of Mobile App Design on the Basis of Platforms

Platforms like Android and iOS differ in how they look and operate. While on one side, Android application has to be matched with different resolutions and formats, the same is not the case with iOS for everything is finalized. This is the reason why Android app design is more expensive than iOS app design cost.

Android vs iOS App Design Cost

Although the app design cost might not vary greatly between iOS and Android apps, there are some points’ difference.

There was a time when iOS app UI and UX designers used to charge because of the stringent store guidelines, the situation has changed. Google too has come strives ahead to ensure high quality in terms of what goes into the store and thus, they too have started following a stringent approval process.

So the comparison between iOS and Android application design cost has come down to the number of platforms and the device type.

Let us look at it from iOS App Design Cost front first:

iPhone only – The entry models doesn’t require designers to create images specifically for retina display. So, the approximate designing cost falls in the range of $3,000 to $10,000.

iPhone 6 Plus and ahead – Designing apps for iPhone 6 and ahead adds 25% to the cost. These devices come with retina display which call for high resolution files, which in turn, comes with an attached cost.

iPad – iPad app design adds 50% to the cost. They don’t just require high resolution but also product designing solution to meet the speed and size of the iPads.

Now talking of Android app design cost:

The Android devices are constantly changing and changing with them are the rules of designing in the Google Material Design process. The Android app designers constantly have to adapt to new frameworks and design ideologies to keep up with the changes, which comes attached with a cost.

Additionally, since the number of platforms that a designer has to work on is much greater than iOS, the Android app design cost automatically increases.

B. Mobile App Design Cost by App Complexity

Whether we talk about the mobile app design cost or the cost of mobile app development, there are three complexity levels that are considered when the app design cost estimate has to be drawn.

Simple Apps:

These are the applications which are maximum 3 screens long and use next to zero animations and interactive design elements. Apps like Calculators and Alarm fall under this category. These apps usually are not designed to meet the requirement of individual platforms for they look alike on all screens.

Medium Complexity Apps:

These apps are the one which make use of multiple interactive elements and animations along with several screens. They are usually designed individually for Android and iOS platforms and are made to meet the native look and feel of the platform and heavily relies on Human Interface design guidelines and Google Material design principles.

Most of the apps that you use on an everyday basis like WhatsApp and Uber etc are examples of what a medium complexity app looks like.

High Complexity Apps:

These are the applications which are highly dependent on designs to serve their purpose. Here, a lot of animations and transitions are used to help users move from one screen to another and ultimately convert into a regular user.

These apps make use of a huge number of screens and usually work on multiple screens – all demanding a device centric native UI design.

c. Mobile App Design Cost by Country

The work performed keeping the same quality intact might vary greatly between a designer in the USA and a designer in India.

For example, a USA based UI/User Experience designer might charge $200 per hour, while an eastern nation design might charge around $80 – $100 on average per hour.

How to Optimize the Mobile App Design Cost

There are a number of proven strategies we use for our startup clients, who are particular about quality but work with limited budget.

Work around a strategy – a set strategy can be a great way to cut back the app design cost.
Concentrate on the must-have features – we always recommend our clients to work on the must-have feature set of the application to start with instead of designing a full-fledged application which could be kept for the phase two of the project.
Use templates – while not ideal, using templates can be a great way to cut back high app designing cost for very minimal efforts are required from the designers’ end.

Mobile App: 7 Common UX Design Mistakes To Avoid

Posted on 08/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

Today, there is an app for everything, be it games, shopping, news, logistics, travel and many more things. As smartphones have become extremely affordable, mobile application development industry is booming and perhaps is one of the fastest growing industries. Analysts estimate that app revenues would triple by 2017. However, most of the apps go unnoticed and only a few of the apps are able to make their mark. So what’s the reason behind this? Well, there are a number of theories regarding this, but in this article, we would focus on UX design for mobile apps. Here are a few of the common hurdles that come in the way of success of any app:

1. Compromising UX to maintain consistency with web

Remember, mobile UX is unique and needs special attention and ux review when it comes to design. You just can’t implement your website design in the mobile application. It is true that branding is important, but putting all web UI elements into a mobile experience won’t be a good idea as it will confuse the users and put adverse effect on your mobile app.

2. User bombarded with tutorials

One thing that most of the mobile app developers do is – they provide detailed tutorials that mention each and every thing about the app on the first time itself. While it can’t be denied that user tutorials are important, but the written information should be kept at minimum. Rather, you should focus on the navigation of your app, and if the user of your app need to go through the extensive tutorials in order to acquaint him or herself with the functionality, then I must say that your app is a complete UI failure.

3. Apps that slow down

Speed of the app is one thing that certainly should not be compromised at any cost. Mobile users these days, multitask while using your apps. They want lightening fast speed and if your app does not match up to their expectations and is slow in speed, then they would go ahead with better options. You are suggested to avoid elements such as videos, heavy images that take time to download.

4. Apps that are confusing

App Stores are full of thousands of apps and the apps that are confusing in nature don’t attract much attention. Therefore, we would suggest you to use tried and tested methods and not to experiment unless and until it is extremely important. It is important to rigorously test design elements that are likely to confuse users.

5. Develop user centric apps

You are designing an app for your users and not for yourself. Choose designs keeping in mind your target audience. Try to know the user psyche and create a design based on your market research. Show your users what they want to and what they love to see. Consider feedback as one of the most effective methods in order to bring improvement in your app.

6. Forced sign-up

I would repeat this again, but there are thousands of apps available and one of the things that most of the developers do is they make the user go through a sign-up registration process or ask for other credentials in the beginning itself. Unless and until, you haven’t shown the benefits of your app, any user won’t put his or her credentials and ultimately it would lead to the abandonment of your app. Therefore, it is advisable to have the option of guest users in your app. You can keep sign-up for later stage when users begin to take interest in your app.

7. Industry Standard Guidelines

Both Google and Apple have laid down guidelines for app makers. Those guidelines are enough for any designer to follow and make a decent app. However, in the flow of creativity, designers tend to ignore the industry standards and end up making an app with overuse of hidden menus and unknown gestures. UX designers often compromise and get the basics of app design wrong. Designers need to do rigorous testing in order to avoid huge losses.

Anteelo is one of the most sought after app development companies in India providing top grade product design services across the globe. Anteelo boasts of the best UI and UX designers who create captivating designs and are well versed with latest guidelines of all the leading App stores as well.

How CI/CD saves up to 20% of mobile app development time?

Posted on 07/06/202107/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery has grown to become a software development practice which brings down not just the effort but also the app development cost that goes behind.

Through the CI/CD for mobile apps process, businesses can avail a plethora of benefits, straight from the one time setup: Automated builds, improved communication, automated shipping, and zero server maintenance.

In a sans CI/CD world, some mobile app development companies release their apps manually, by handing them off from one team to the next.

There is almost always a delay at every stage which leads to irritated teams and unhappy clients. And the app ultimately gets live via a tedious and error-full process which delays the entire revenue generation possibilities.

Now if you look at the continuous delivery pipeline illustration below, you will get a different picture.

It depicts how the developers write their code and commit them to a source code repository once/multiple times a day. Following which, testing, staging, and production happens inside the CI pipeline and is deployed to the customers directly.

What is CI and CD?

Let us first answer what is mobile continuous integration before moving on to filling in the details on what is continuous delivery and what is continuous deployment.

Now before we go on with defining what the approach stands for, let us put something out in the open.

Even though there are a whole lot of different mobile app development process sets operating in the market today, the answer to what is Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery in devops and what is CI and CD in agile would be exactly the same.

With that clear, let’s head out with the explanation.

Continuous Integration

Custom Integration or CI is the custom mobile app development practice where regular integration of code changes happen in a shared code repository. Usually, the practice happens at least once and maximum of multiple times in a day. This encourages committing of small changes often compared to committing of large changes less frequently.

Every commit then triggers a build in which tests are run which helps in identifying if something is broken.

Continuous Delivery

It is all about the capability to regularly deliver the integrated code to production. The end result of this stage is that you have green builds that are ready to be released in one click.

Continuous Deployment

This process goes one step ahead for it enables automatic deployment of every main branch change which passes the CI pipeline. However, it is better to avoid doing this, for you would need to perform testing which are not limited to automated.

Stages of CI/CD for Mobile Apps Development

The process of integrating CI/CD for mobile apps can be divided into seven sections or stages.

Code: Code is the backbone of any application. The process of writing them which starts with the development phase goes on to the maintenance phase. In the continuous integration and delivery approach, developers write code for CI components, which in turn, prepares it for automation in the next stages.

Build: This is the part where the app is built. Multiple developers work on the process happens every day. What is different in case of CI/CD for mobile apps is that once the developers have finished their work, they add them in the CI application.

The output of the stage is a URL.

Test: Once the code components are entered in the CI platform, the next step is to see how the app performs with inclusion of new updates. The CI software here gives developers reports on how the app is performing, in addition to some useful analytics.

Even though it is automated, it helps to involve someone from the mobile app quality assurance team in the stage to ensure that the changes are acceptable.

Package: Once the performance and quality tests are made, it is time to deploy the application. The stage is applicable both for the new apps and the existing apps whose new version is going to be released.

Release: The next stage of the incorporation of CI/CD for mobile apps is applying the new URL for the app on devices for release.

Configuration: The next stage is configuration of the infrastructure. You would need to format the entire coding and management tools, which would enable people to regularly access the CI platform.

Monitor: Once the app is running, you would still need to continue monitoring its performance. The developers, at this stage, ensure that any additional code written for improving the app has gone through the CI stages first. Doing this, lowers the chance of any bugs or problems emerging mid way.

Getting started with Continuous Integration and Delivery

It is not difficult to get up and running with Continuous Integration. Here are the steps that mobile app development companies generally follow to start using CI/CD for mobile apps smoothly.

How to Implement Continuous Delivery for Mobile App

Implementation of a version control of choice – SVN, Git, or Bitbucket
Writing test for critical elements in the code base
A suitable CI/CD service which would enable running the tests on every push to repository.

Let’s look deeper into what the implementation of continuous integration can offer to the everyday software development process. The realization of these advantages and the answer to how continuous integration and delivery helps translates into reduction of risks attached with building and paving the road to get the features out to the customers.

Business Benefits of Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery

1. Faster feedback loop

In application development process, not knowing can really hurt. One of the primal things that slows down the software development process is the lack of feedback on the impact of changes and the quality of work. It is easy to get disillusioned that you are moving too fast if you are commiting codes frequently and moving to other tasks without running any tests. While the reality is that it’ll get extremely difficult to figure out what changed in the code and by whom, when there is an issue.

CI/CD for mobile apps solves these issues by giving you prompt answers on the question if something broke in a commit.

2. Increased visibility & transparency

When the CI/CD pipeline has been set up, the whole team would know what is going on with the builds in addition to getting the latest test results. This means, they would be able to plan their work in context and would get a clear idea of which changes tend to break the builds more often.

3. Avoidance of integration mess

If you look at software as legos where each of the pieces are created by developers individually, the whole software development picture becomes one where different legos meet to become one giant piece. What eases this process is the lack of friction.

Even if a lego piece is fine, you will still have to make sure that it fits well with the entire system – Continuous integration does exactly that by connecting the pieces of software together everyday.

4. Identification & solving of issues early on

An obvious phase of software development is bugs. Now, the more bugs pile on, the harder it then gets to identify and solve them. With different kinds of automated tests running in the continuous integration pipeline, you’d get to know what is to be fixed the moment a test fails.

5. Improve testability & quality

The easier it would be to test something, the more convenient it would become to test the quality. The simple rule is that the more your code is written in a way that it can’t accommodate writing tests, the more difficult it would be to make it bug free. The testability efforts ultimately depends on how easily the new builds are made available and the kind of tools you work with, plus the control you have on the test environments.

Top Mobile Continuous Integration CI/CD Tools

Jenkins

Founded in 2006, it is the top open-source continuous integration server. Developers have developed over 300 plugins for adapting Jenkins into different build, test, and automation based workloads.

CircleCI

The tool enables developers to release codes by automating the build, test and deployment process. It allows them to identify and fix bugs much before it reaches the customers.

Travis CI

It is another top mobile continuous integration tool operating in the market today. It is a distributed, hosted services used in the development and testing of projects which are hosted on GitHub. It also offers custom deployment of proprietary version on the client’s hardware.

Bitrise

It is a continuous integration & delivery Platform as a Service which focuses on mobile app development. The developers, through the tool, are easily able to automate the test and deploy phase of their apps within a few clicks.

Visual Studio App Center

The Microsoft backed tool brings different services, usually brought into use by developers in an individual, integrated product. It enables mobile app developers to build, test, and deliver, monitor their apps, while allowing them to create an installable app package with every push made to the repository.

While these are just five, there are a plethora of different continuous integration and delivery service providers available in the market. Here are a few things to consider when researching the choices:

How to select the best CI/CD tool for your app development needs?

1. Proprietary vs Open Source

On the basis of context, there can be instances where open source tools might be off the table for some clients. But at the same time, investing in proprietary tool can be a little costly side.

If going with open source tools fits in the context and budget, there are a number of options present in the market.

2. In the Cloud or Self-hosted

If you are willing to host the CI/CD service yourself and have the time and resources for setting it up, configuring, and maintaining it, you should go with Self-hosted services. But, if you are looking for crossing off build infrastructure maintenance off the work list, go with a Software as a Service solution.

3. Ease of setting up

A frictionless adoption of CI/CD is the secret to getting everybody on board. So, going with a tool that takes a lot of time in setting up can backfire your intention of choosing the approach.

Top IoT Trends that Every Entrepreneur Must Watch Out in 2021

Posted on 22/05/202102/06/2021 by Anteelo Master

IoT – the concept which started taking leap decades ago has today not just gotten mainstream but has also marked a presence, across industries and the globe.

With its market size poised to be 1.6 trillion by the time we reach 2025, entrepreneurs and businesses from all corners are finding opportunities to enter the segment.

In this article, we are going to look into the IoT trends and its advantages, which would act as a torchbearer for businesses looking for an area to expand into.

And since we are well past the stage where we address what is IoT and how IoT works, and what are the advantages of IoT, let us jump straight to IoT app development trends in the world.

But before that, here’s a quick synopsis of the IoT market to set the tone of the article.

18 Striking IoT Trends 2021 and Beyond

1. Rise in number & types of IoT devices

2017 ended with 8.4 billion IoT connected devices, 2018 saw the number increase to 9.2 billion. The 2021 number is all set to be 20.8 billion by the time the year ends.

It is not just the number of connected devices which is on a rise but also the types. Here are the different IoT device types that are expected to go mainstream this year:

Voice Assistants
GPS Trackers
Smart Bands or Fitness Bands.
Smart Locks
Smart Smoke Alarms
Amazon Dash button
Smoke Detectors
Child Monitor
Doorbell Cameras
Home mesh Wifi Systems
Fitness Devices
Wearables
IoT based Security Systems
Security Cameras

2. Consumer IoT (CIoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT)

CIoT is an IoT ecosystem that assists organizations with improving user experience by utilizing “insight” on users’ Internet-connected gadgets.

The customer IoT market is active for the last five years and is giving indications of slowing down. The Industrial Internet of Things on the other hand will start getting more attention as more and more companies start building modern industrial systems that want the adoption of IoT. Utilizing industrial IoT can decrease the probability of unexpected episodes in data transmission, information processing, or centralized administration.

3. Smart homes will become a norm

Even people who discarded smart homes as devices for pretentious youngsters are now finding it difficult to ignore the capabilities the technology comes with. While it started with a steady growth, the demand for connected home devices will see a sharp rise in the years to come.

This demand, in turn, will increase the need for the manufacturing of connected electronic devices.

4. Cloud & edge computing

For a long time, the IoT devices have been relying on the cloud for storing their data. But the IoT application development industry has now started wondering about the implications of utilizing storing, calculation, and analyzing data to limit.

They are demanding that instead of sending the data from IoT devices to cloud, the data should first be transferred to local devices which are closer to the edge of the network. This local storage helps in sorting, filtering, and calculating the data and sending a part or the whole data to the cloud, thus reducing the traffic to network.

Edge computing offers a series of benefits to an IoT application development company and developers, which makes it one of the key emerging trends in IoT technology –

Better management of large amount of data which every device sends
Lowered dependency on cloud helping apps perform faster with reduced latency
IoT based mobile apps consumes less bandwidth.

5. A greater focus on IoT security

With the adoption being on a rise, more and more devices are getting connected to the Internet of Things. And as the network is expanding, the volume of data is also expanding and there is more information which is at risk. In fact, the security vulnerability has also become a prominent answer of what are the challenges in IoT domain.

This greater use of IoT tools and technologies must be accompanied with a greater boost to IoT security awareness and training. The year to come will see machine to machine authentication overlapping, biometric logins becoming a norm, and technology combinations like IoT and big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence being used to eliminate data infractions.

6. Greater personalization

There would hardly be any industry left which has incorporated IoT in its offerings and is not taking advantage of personalization. With the help of beacon and sensors, the retail domain will be able to deliver next-level service offerings, through the use of IoT technology. Likewise, sectors like Healthcare and Edutech will also be able to deliver customized value offerings to their end customers.

This time can also be seen as a golden period for marketers looking to make a unique impact on their customers.

7. Incorporation of artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning

There was once a time when the goal of IoT was to collect data coming in from multiple sources. But today, the intent has become to not just collect data but also extract useful information from it.

Incorporation of next gen technologies like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning will define the trends and implications of IoT in the coming time.

Using the data analytics tools in the connected devices, businesses will be able to decisions around both predictive and preventive measures. And soon it will become a part of the latest IoT trends, both of the present time and the future.

8. Blockchain for IoT security and BaaS will become mainstream

Although an extension on the security section, the integration of IoT and Blockchain deserves special attention of Blockchain development companies.

There are some pestering issues that IoT faces which have been adversely affecting the overall IoT growth trends and its mass adoption – Scalability, High Cost, Security, etc. being a few of them. A majority of these issues can be traced back to the centralized network.

Being centralized, there is minimal to zero guarantee in terms of security, especially since the data is held by a specific party.

Blockchain, being decentralized eliminates the issues of lack of security and control being with one party. The plethora of benefits that the combination of IoT and Blockchain offers makes it one of the important trend in IoT technology.

9. Smart cities will start flourishing

What has been lying in the background for some years now, Smart Cities will become a thing of reality in the time to come. 2021 and the years to come will see the inception of several internet of things applications, which would be directed at improving environmental, social, and financial elements of urban living. The tech spending directed towards smart cities and the efforts to build IoT architecture, which is anticipated to reach $80 billion by 2050 will become a prime ingredient in the goal to improve the quality of living and sustainability.

10. SaaS will emerge as a norm

It is impossible to talk about the technology without mentioning the benefits of cloud computing in IoT. By making data accessible in real-time, SaaS will find itself getting explored by a number of businesses as part of IoT trends 2021.

The time to come will see more cloud vendors coming in the picture for becoming an active part of the dependency that mass IoT adoption will bring alongside.

11. Unified IoT framework

The absence of a unified IoT framework is something that has been a major challenge for the IoT industry for a long time. The fact that not many companies work around a shared central platform, affects the adoption process to a huge extent.

Solving the issue through Blockchain will be one of the major IoT trends 2021. Blockchain driven ecosystem will bring all the data in one place with a decentralized operation model where the information will not be in control of any one entity.

12. Increased consumer adoption

One of the prime IoT market trends and the time to come will see IoT being used for not just personal or consumer based use but also industrial use. A validation of this can be seen in the numbers that the IoT connecting devices were set to grow to over 3.7 billion by 2019 and to over 50 billion by the time next year ends.

While the consumer based adoption of IoT is well talked about, we will look into the industrial internet of things in much detail in the next section.

As of now, the future of IoT lies in worldwide adoption.

13. Location tracking and wireless sensing will become a lot more relevant

One of the major IoT Mobile App Development Trends will be seen in efficient tracking of location and wireless sensing.

With 5G prepared to come on the forefront, apps will get new capabilities on these fronts. According to Gartner, wireless sensing will be used for the creation of drone and virtual assistants, in addition to being helpful in object recognition, and medical diagnostics.

14. Greater efficiency and personalization in customer service

There are several use cases of how is IoT shaping up the future of better customer service. Operative majorly at the back of IoT and Big Data convergence, customer experience is poised to become a lot more personalized in the coming time. The combination of both is what would help in achieving true omni-channel customer experience, which is a need of every modern day business, irrespective of what industry they belong to.

15. Voice will become the new mode of communication

Voice search, while already extremely hyped in the market, will see new demand flourishing this year. This time, it will be around IoT devices – for summoning them, connecting them with other devices.

This operation has majorly been done by algorithms, but from this year, you will see the operation becoming voice centric.

16. Predictive maintenance will witness a rise

The next-gen manufacturing tools will make use of built-in sensors and advanced programming for performing predictive analytics and forecasting the potential issues much before they actually happen.

This will not just lower the downtime but the data based predictive analytics will also eliminate guessing games from the preventative maintenance strategies. It will enable engineers to schedule and then initiate maintenance when the machines are dormant.

17. Automotive revolutionizing interaction between cars and people

The employment of IoT in the automotive sector has brought in a vast development in the field of fleet management, connected cars, maintenance systems, and in-vehicle infotainment and telematics.

An idea of auto cars is basically based on the establishment of the IoT, autonomous vehicles are about connectivity. This implies that the vehicle is remotely controlled by IoT and automated vehicles are a forthcoming entity.

IoT car support system assists an individual to take essential steps to prevent the parts of the vehicle/car from abrupt breakdown. Like dashboard indicators of a vehicle, this framework alarms the driver about the possible breakdowns. In any case, the alarms are sent to the driver’s phone, before the issue even happens. This assists the driver with making cost effective and efficient strides to evade component failure while driving.

18. Better workforce management

The use of headlights in recording the hours is expected to turn into an ordinary practice. Headlights are normally used to send messages to customers through smart phones. Decreasing the expense will expand the use of beacons in dealing with the work force. Beacons can be utilized to monitor personal and schedule tasks. All the information from these frameworks can promptly be used to populate the solutions of performance management.

Beacons can be generally used to screen the safety of the employee. This applies to circumstances where fitting safety equipment should be utilized. The health sector can utilize signals to screen the activities of doctors, medical professionals and nurses. This incorporates admittance to medical records and the use of medical equipment. IoT is quite possibly the most important subversive methods on the market.

These 18 IoT technology trends for 2021 that you just read are only the tip of the iceberg. The adoption of the technology would go above and beyond when it comes to changing the lives of millions, through connection.

On the note of changing lives, let us look at all the prospective industries IoT would touch in the coming year and how they would become new trends in IoT.

Industries That Will Get Affected by IoT in 2021

Although there are a plethora of industries which will witness IoT redefining their processes, there are a few which will play on in a front foot mode when the emerging trends in IoT are being defined.

A. Consumer electronics

The functionality of the IoT ecosystem depends entirely on the devices it interacts with. While there are already a number of IoT driven consumer devices operative in the market, there will be more to come in the coming time.

Here are some of the device types that will go mainstream in the coming time –

Next-gen locks to secure vehicles, home, and other personal belongings
Smart appliances which regulate power consumption
AI driven thermostats that adjust room temperature according to the weather outside.

B. Healthcare

The IoT trends in healthcare will touch every single aspect of the sector. IoT implementation in healthcare will affect not just the software but also the hardware systems of the industry.

Several new personal healthcare devices like wearables will enter the market, enabling consumers to monitor their own health. Another Internet of Things trends in the healthcare sector will be seen in several hardware coming into existence allowing medical officials to track staff and patients, while monitoring the medical equipment.

C. Manufacturing

The industry is one of the major sectors to become a part of industrial IoT trends 2021. Manufacturers from across the globe have already started investing in embedded devices for monitoring assets and equipment.

Commonly called smart manufacturing, Use of IoT in manufacturing improved the productivity and efficiency of operations.

D. Automotive

Majority of the IoT next six year’s growth will be seen coming from the automotive and industrial sectors, according to an IDC report. The two domains alone would highlight a yearly growth rate of 60% in the IoT sector, solely at the back of the growing number of complexities of sensors which capture data from machines, automobiles, and other industry based assets.

E. Financial service

With users opening up to the idea of conducting their financial services on different devices, the IoT trends in the financial domain will become too prevalent to ignore by financial software development companies.

The time to come will see introduction to smart cash points having connected vending machines that would allow consumers to take loan, accept deposits, transfer money, and undertake a plethora of other financial transactions straight from a device.

Apart from new financial models, the IoT trends in insurance industry will come in the forefront with the industry expanding their offerings to accommodate the risks and needs of connected devices and ecosystem.

F. Retail

The IoT trends in retail will see the industry seeing physical and eCommerce getting combined. Instead of visiting the stores, consumers will soon be able to try on outfits at home through the power of Virtual Reality. The grocery industry will also witness an overhaul with IoT changing food consumption, farming, and the overall supply chain.

The time to come will witness an Omni-Channel retail, powered by IoT app trends.

G. Energy

The incorporation of IoT in the energy sector will lead to the industry becoming a lot more efficient and streamlined in terms of energy management. The impact of IoT in the energy sector will majorly be seen in the following areas through the mode of smart cities and smart homes –

Cost Saving
Better energy consumption and management
New data source offering transparency in the system.

H. Education and training

The last but very impactful trends in IoT applications will be seen in the training and education domain. In the time to come, IoT will become a very important skill that a modern-day engineer or marketer should understand. Noting the heightened rise, we are going to see more courses lineup aiming at IoT specific studies.

We will also see businesses invest in boot-camp courses within offices to give their employees an exposure of the technology in action.

Challenges Of IoT

At present, there are four fundamental drivers of the IoT market: the ever-growing Internet connectivity, smartphone devices, and sensor devices with lower costs, great investments are filling the IoT. Also, there are four challenges for the growth of the IoT market: worries about cybersecurity, privacy, application process issues. Innovation is yet scattering.

The Internet Of Things is facing problems in many areas such as IT, Healthcare, Data Analytics and so on. Let’s discuss some of the challenges.

Scalability

Billions of internet-enables devices get associated in an enormous network where large volumes of information need to be processed. The system that stores, examines the information from IoT gadgets should be scalable. In the present period of IoT evolution everyday objects are associated with one another through the Internet. The raw information acquired from these gadgets need enormous information investigation and cloud storage for understanding helpful information.

Interoperability

Technological principles in many regions are still divided. These technologies should be joined to help us in building up a typical structure and the standard for the IoT gadgets. As the standardization cycle is still lacking interoperability of IoT. This absence of interoperability is preventing us to move towards the vision of associated everyday interoperable smart items.

Connectivity issues

In its present form, the IoT uses a centralized, server-client model to give availability to the different servers, workstations and systems. This is very productive, since the IoT is yet in its earliest stages, however what happens when billions of devices are all using the network simultaneously.

According to updated reports from Gartner, more than 20 billion individual units will connect to the IoT by 2021. It’s just a matter of time before users start to experience significant bottlenecks in IoT connectivity, efficiency and overall performance.

Conclusion

While these above mentioned emerging IoT technologies trends will be a good starting point, you will still need someone to help you with getting started with a full-fledged business in the IoT sector. And so, the next thing to follow after being accustomed with what is the future of IoT is getting in touch with an IoT app development company who would hand hold you towards future and next-gen offering.

You can also opt for companies in your area like IoT app development company USA, if you live in the US or any other area where you reside. But you have to be careful while choosing a company or developer to get quality results. Check the expertise and knowledge of the blockchain development company before finalizing any prospect.

UX Designer Role and Duties

Posted on 19/04/202131/05/2021 by Anteelo Master

The UX designer role occupies an exciting place in businesses today. In today’s marketplace, the customer is the KING! Every business needs to ensure that its customers are having the time of their lives with their products and services. The User-Experience domain is continuously climbing up on the ladder of priority of organizations. This has given the UX designer role a very prominent place in the industry. It has become one of the most sought-after jobs and has opened the gates of enormous scope for anybody who can shine in this niche. However, the definition of how a UX Designer should be like differs from company to company as each of them has different requirements and different customer bases. Nonetheless, the primary aim of a User Experience Designer is to ensure that the customer is not just satisfied but delighted with their services/products. They work towards improving the overall experience of the customer with the brand. It comprises of improvements like making the product more intriguing, engaging, and user-friendly. User-Experience designers think from the perspective of the customer to create the finest UX and solve any problems that a customer might face will indulging with the brand. Although the expectations from a UX Designer can vary from company to company, the general duties of the UX Designer include the following:

User Experience Designer Role:

Generally, the duties of a User Experience Designer includes the following:

1. Finding Innovative Ways To Solve Common UX Problems

A good UX designer is expected to think and move as a user would. He is responsible for figuring out the general issues that a user might face while using the product or indulging with an app. For instance, if the font is too small on your website or if the sign-up process of your mobile application is just too long and tedious. All these parameters come under the UX Designer role.

2. Product testing

A very crucial part of a UX designer’s job is to test various products to see how they are working with the users. A UX designer can conduct multiple surveys, interviews, usability tests, or take thorough feedback from the customers regarding their experience with the products/services and then gather the data and analyze it accordingly. The whole process of being with the users while they use your products creates a better sense of understanding and gives an in-depth knowledge of the customers’ experience with the product.

3. Conducting Comprehensive Product Research

This step is the most initial one while beginning a project. Detailed product research makes a firm ground for the designers to start building their projects and avoid assumptions and work with more factual data. This research enables designers to understand exactly what a user is looking for. It provides them with information about market requirements, customer expectations, and customer behaviour. It helps UX Designers to fathom industry models and perceive prospects for the product/service in a given region. It additionally boosts the planning and prioritizing of various parts of the products.

4. Describing Information Architecture

The primary task involved with Information Architecture is organizing the data and information athwart the product in a way that enhances the whole user experience. They ensure that the information is displayed across the product in a manner that is easily comprehended by the users. IA is the development of a framework for an application, site, or whatever that product/service that empowers users to know where they are on a site or an application, and data about the present location the user is. IA brings about the formation of routes, arrangements, and hierarchies.

5. Wireframing

Wireframing is essentially a mock display of how the final product will look like. This strategy is very crucial to envision the product design and augmenting the entire UX. Wireframes depict each and every phase of the product and give comprehensive information about what a user might go through while interacting with the product. It provides an upper hand to the brand as it can figure out the drawbacks without actually presenting the product to the users. It saves time and maintains the brand’s reputation. However, wireframes are not used for actual product testing.

6. Designing

UX designers sketch the item’s plan dependent on the persona made toward the finish of exploring the target client. In this stage, the UX designer structures the substance per the situations/scenarios. Scenarios are narrative methods for speaking to the client’s excursion or a day in their life. They clarify how the item (regularly a site or application) fits into the client’s life. It is essential for a UX designer to precisely consider every phase of the client venture. In such a manner, UX designers regularly utilize the design practice of information architecture.

7. Testing

At this stage, UX designers find out about any issues that may emerge when clients connect with the product/services. Product testing might be as straightforward as observing clients or it might incorporate complex test strategies, for example, exhibiting differing renditions of the product to realize which performs the best. Designers may likewise conduct overviews and polls. Additionally, UX designers may talk with clients on the off chance that they recognize issue territories. The least difficult of all the client testing techniques is watching clients while they connect with the product/services.

8. Implementation

On the off chance that you’ve not had a lot of experience working with web developers, at that point, it’s critical to think about this pivotal part of the job. During implementation, you will be working personally with engineers to arrive at your ultimate objective for a venture. The engineers will be striving to change your thoughts and ideas into a genuine, working website; how you approach this relationship will decide the achievement or disappointment of your task. Keeping your engineers tuned in all through the procedure will make this last stage simpler for everybody included; you as the UX designer will have realistic expectations of what the developers can deliver (and in what time period) and the designers won’t get any terrible stuns ultimately.

A UX designer is answerable for this whole procedure, and its execution. In any case, bigger organizations will segregate this task into a couple of smaller jobs so that that attention is not divided.

Conclusion

UX Designing is a very vivid field as it does not just cover developing a product or selling it; it involves the through-out journey of a user with the brand. A different approach to the UX Designer role is to ensure that when a user uses the services/products, each component should be efficiently optimized and emerge as extremely easy-to-use and very practical. A company depends on its users, and ensuring that they have a pleasant experience is a serious business. Being a multidisciplinary field, UX Designing has an extensive scope. UX designers come from diverse backgrounds like psychology, engineering, designing, and even hospitality. To structure for human clients also implies that you need to work with an elevated degree of responsibility in regards to as inclusive as possible and consider the limitations and expectations of the masses. A User Experience (UX) Designer must have a solid comprehension of user conduct and business objectives and must be equipped for a wide assortment of aptitudes, going from psychology to structure and innovation. Even though UX designing is a field that feels essential to product improvement, its inherent capacity stays unidentified to numerous in light of its relative freshness.

CREATE WONDERS IN A DASHBOARD UI? HERE’S HOW!

Posted on 01/02/202114/05/2021 by Anteelo Master

The world that we’re living in today, is almost entirely technological. And it is evolving every day with the wonders of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business Intelligence, BlockChains (like NFT), etc. In order to make people’s lives easier, these smart technologies use complex algorithms and theories to quickly compute and summarize data. This data is then provided to users in the name of ‘useful information’. But a question that needs to be asked here is that what is the point of this data if the users can’t understand it? And if so, they might not even find it beneficial for themselves or their purpose. Hence, this is one of the most important reasons as to why dashboard design has grown significant over the last few years.

One of the first things to understand is that as much as UX of the dashboard is important, so is the UI of the dashboard. They are both equally essential. Before jumping into our main motive, let’s take a quick sneak peak into the most prominent features of a great dashboard:

A good dashboard allows its users to interpret, analyse and present the key pointers, or say insights.
What an efficient dashboard do is present the user with useful information that can be put to use. As well as compile a visual representation of the otherwise complex set of data.
The desired dashboard will always be customizable and it generally is quite intuitive.
As an additional point, they are always organized when it comes to use of space. There might be a lot of data on the dashboard but it won’t seem like a mess that is cluttered all in one little space. Rather it looks neat.

NOW WE’RE AT THE HERE’S HOW SECTION

CONSISTENCY MAKES IT EASY

The dashboard should always be consistent. Considering that the users access the dashboard through different devices that also vary in screen size. It is important that the design looks consistent, whether it’s with respect to the colours, font, style of charts or navigation. The user should not get distracted because of the inconsistency in the dashboard design and so sheer attention should be paid to how the design dashboard looks on multiple screen sizes. The key is to start with smallest screen size and then move up along the way. This way of approaching the design is a golden rule, this helps in creating a visually appealing dashboard, which gives both a great UX and a great UI.

SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION APPEARS FIRST

Let’s talk about the heart of designing a dashboard, ‘content hierarchy’. Although this goal is achieved at the UX stage of designing, but is essentially through visual design that conveys the most important information in the most efficient way. This not only guides the layout but also the design guidelines. A couple of things to note here is that; (a) Centre alignment is the most recommended as found out from the users’ behaviour pattern on the dashboard. They acquire that part of the information in the first place ; (b) Another thing is that 18 pixel font is the maximum to be employed and information should be highlighted through the use of distinctive colours.

COMFORTABLE CUSTOMIZATION

Never use the ‘one size fits all’ approach. There are different users with varying business needs and requirements. Designs should be scalable, so that the user experiences customized dashboard. Now this in turn will empower the users, which is the designers’ ultimate goal. Users should feel that they can adjust their fit in consideration to their individual business requirements. This can be as simple as adding or deleting a column, or even adding a whole new table or sheet. The things to remember here are: (a) Always allow for easy modifications like addition/deletion of modules; (b) Give different yet comfortably usable options for viewing and deleting data separately; (c) And lastly, try using easy drag and drop interaction for the users to experience customizable dashboard design.

CHARTS? LESS IS MORE!

When it comes to presenting data visually, i.e., via pie charts, bar graphs etc., they should always be put in simpler form. Cluttering the charts with heavy tools and representation techniques only hinders the user from understanding and using the said data. Instead of using 3D graphs and animation, using flat-laid charts and graphs makes it a lot more comfortable for the users. Colour differentiation although, is sheerly appreciated, since it allows the users to understand the separate sets of data clearly.

ICONS CATCH THE EYES

What is generally ignored in the process of designing a dashboard UI is the ‘icons’. The best dashboard designs always include icons that are familiar to the users. For example, the pen/pencil icon is usually the edit tool. Likewise, the trash icon is for the option of deleting anything. This way, the user would have less time wasted in processing what the icon means and would have more utilized time in wrapping up their work. Thus, familiar icons help create great UX and UI.

RIGHT FONT REMAINS IMPORTANT

Employing the right style of the font and its size is equally important in both the UX and UI designs. It is advisable that while designing, not more than two fonts shall be employed. This is done in order to maintain a clean dashboard design. Creating a visual hierarchy by employing the inverted pyramid style in all the written content is quite significant. This can be done by putting the most important sets of information in the largest and the not-so-important sets of information in the smaller font, along with a hint of colour differentiation.

FILL COLOURS IN DESIGN AS MUCH AS IN LIVE

The concept of colours is such that, it might seem simple, but it also has a complex side. Different colours signify different things. Just like red colour is usually employed to denote danger and green colour is used to denote ease and agreement. Now, imagine if their use is reversed, won’t it be confusing? Therefore, designers are required to be really mindful whilst working on the colour palette of their designs. Besides, it is best not to go overboard with the colours, even if you’re tempted to do so. A good start would be picking two colours in the initial stage, that too something like contrasting contemporary colours.

MAKING THE FINAL POINTS

All of this would be worthless if you don’t know your users’ preferences. Whatever the studying concept maybe, if you don’t have the emotional connection with your users and if you don’t know their choices and requirements, then the whole work would just remain pointless. Therefore, besides knowing the tips and right ways of employing the tools to create a great dashboard, you should also know your users. Research, understand, analyse and imply your methodologies and tools.

Taking your leave with,

“Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.”

– David Carson

UX Designer vs UI Designer vs Web Designer

Posted on 16/01/202124/05/2021 by Anteelo Master

To the laymen, digital design can be a puzzling world of systems, acronyms, and programs. Web creation is not just about making a landing page and adding content anymore but a complex world of coding for site function and protection. It is also a fun and artistic adventure to create something visually alluring. If you combine this with the psychology behind all the systems of a webpage, and you have the basics of web development. Sounds simple enough, right? Not for everyone. The software industry has skyrocketed, and many people are still trying to understand key differences in standard terms. Terms like UI design, web design, and UX design are often thrown around and are incorrectly interchanged. However, following the aim of each tool is as simple as knowing the various parts of a house. Web design is the base or the foundation, UI design is the architecture, and the UX design is the electric, plumbing, and other wiring needed. Before we get into defining these terms, we can say there can be a lot of overlap between them. UX, UI, and Web Designer difference is nothing but a fine line but can have great impacts on your project. However, to excel in any of them, you must have a comprehensive knowledge of all three of them.

UX, UI, and Web Designer differences:

Web Designer	UX Designer	UI Designer
A web designer is a professional who generates content for a website following the latest trends. They are responsible for designing the layout of the website, along with its aesthetics, utility, and functionality.	UX is the abbreviation for User Experience. It brings in creativity. A UX designer handles the whole procedure of obtaining and coordinating a product, including parts of marking, development, convenience, and utility. It is a process that starts before the product reaches the customer.	UI stands for User Experience. A UI Designer is responsible for creating the interfaces between the user and the product and ensure that the interaction between the customer and the product is a seamless one.
The role of the web designer is to compile everything, including the UI and UX, and turn it into a highly-functional and efficient website that people can easily interact with using their smartphones or computers. A web designer might emphasize more of the aesthetics of the site rather than how a user might deal with it.	UX design is all about having a deep understanding of the customer, which includes their preferences, behaviors, habits, requirements, and feelings. UX designers must comprehensively understand the issue along with the client whom they are working for so as to design an optimal and streamlined solution.	The UI design is the complement of UX Design. UI designers work on the point of interaction between the user and the service/device and try to improvise the product in a way that is user-friendly and adds value to the users. UI designers work on the look, design, and especially the feel of the product.
A web designer must have in-depth knowledge of programming languages like HTML and CSS, Scripting languages like JavaScript and PHP, web designing packages like Flash, Photoshop, etc.	A good UX designer is expected to have fluent communication, agile and lean development skills, rapid prototyping, revising skills, crowdsourced designing, and relevant soft skills.	In contrary to UX designers, UI designers are in charge of making UX designers’ dreams a reality. Numerous UI designers have a decent comprehension of front-end development along with some coding abilities.
Contemporary Web designers are usually modern era graphic designers trained in visual design to be experts in: Color theory Creative conceptualization Diagrams Interactivity, rollovers, drop-down menus, digital slideshows, call-to-action-buttons, and forms. Icon development Info-graphics Typography	A UX Designer plays a very crucial role in an organization. They have to make sure that a customer is having a good time with the brand. They primarily focus on: Understanding user psychology Comprehending product specification Finalizing the right interaction model Create personas through user surveys Collaborate with UI designers to create attractive and useful designs	A UI designer primarily focuses on: • Color and typeface choices. • Designing the monotonous but necessary stuff: buttons, icons, sliders, and scrollbars. • Forming a style guide for the app or website to ensure consistency for the user. • Responsive designing • The interactive parts • The layout of each screen
Website designers might be visual designers or engineers who have built enough aptitudes to make beautiful and aesthetic websites or applications. Website designers do not tend to adopt the human-focused strategy of UX design. Most website designers don’t dive as deep to consider every element that a UX designer remembers. A website designer will, in general, be less iterative, while UX design is tied in with coordinating persistent enhancements by interacting with users.	UX applies to whatever that can be experienced—be it a site, a cup of tea, or a visit to the supermarket. The “client experience” part alludes to the connection between the client and service or product. UX structure, at that point, considers all the various components that shape this experience. A UX designer considers how the experience makes the client feel and how simple it is for the client to achieve their ideal errands.	UI design is simply a digital approach. It considers all the visual, intuitive components of a product interface—including buttons, symbols, checkboxes, typography, color scheme, and responsive design. The objective of UI design is to outwardly guide the client through an item’s interface. It’s tied in with making an intuitive encounter that doesn’t require the user to think excessively! UI design delivers the brand’s qualities and visual resources for a product’s interface, ensuring the design is predictable, intelligible, and tastefully satisfying.

CONCLUSION

So a UX designer chooses how the UI functions while the UI designer chooses how the UI looks, and the web designer puts it all together into a cutting-edge website. This is a community-oriented procedure, and these three domains will, in general, work intently together. While the UX group is working on the flow of the application, how buttons guide you through your website, and how the interface effectively presents the data that the client’s need, the UI group is chipping away at how these interface components will show up on the screen and the web designers are integrating it all.

If Web Design is the umbrella, then UX and UI design are specialties and focuses on it. Anyone who regards themselves as a web designer should be well-versed in UX and UI. These terms are also industry-specific. Startups and tech companies mostly hire specifically for UI/UX roles. Every so often, a UX role will focus more on research and information architecture. Occasionally, a UI role will include UX. Sometimes, companies are looking for a web designer who can do it all. It’s all a bit of a mess unless the aim is precise. Whichever direction you take, it’s vital to remember that design is not just about making things look pretty, but it’s about problem-solving communication and people.

Deep Linking in Mobile Apps in 2019-2020: A Complete Guide

Posted on 27/10/202011/06/2021 by Tushar

Not many people are familiar with the benefits of mobile app deep linking but the truth is there are benefits.

The technique not only provides better user engagement but also helps in tracking the most effective campaigns.

In this blog, we will talk all about deep linking in mobile apps and much more. Let us begin with a general idea about deep linking in mobile apps and then move on to further segments.

What is deep linking?

Technically, a deep link is any link that takes a user to any specific content. Deep links are used within mobile applications to locate specific content. Almost all the web links are deep links. Deep links will not only open your app but also will use the information in the link to perform a specific action.

For instance, if the link to your Facebook profile is fb://profile/, then the Facebook app will be launched and will open your profile. This is how deep linking functions. It does more than just launching an app when a link is clicked.

What are the different methods of deep linking in mobile apps?

Deep linking apps may have more than just one method. Deep links with apps provide a solution to the problem that has been bugging the users for a long time now. So basically, web links didn’t work with native apps and whenever the link to a certain product from an app was clicked, the web browser was launched. But when mobile deep linking is done then the link straight away launches the app on the specific page.

Here are some different ways mobile app deep linking is done:

1. Traditional deep linking

Traditional deep links work as long as the app is already installed when the link is clicked. When a user clicks on the link, the device will open the app and not the web browser. If a user does not have the app installed already then the result will either show error or an alternative page.

2. Deferred deep linking

As the word ‘deferred’ suggests, this method of mobile app deep linking directs the users even when the app is not installed. With deferred deep linking when users without the app, click on the link, they will be directed to the app in the Play Store or App Store. Once the app is installed then the user will be taken to the specific content immediately post the first launch.

3. Contextual deep linking

Contextual deep links have all the functionality of deferred deep linking and more. In this method of deep linking app, information about the users’ desired actions is stored. Information like where the user wants to go next, who was the original sender of the link and many other custom information is stored.

This type of linking is great for both users and developers. The developers can build amazing content with personalized messages and the users get better user experience.

4. Custom deep links

Custom deep links or custom URI schemes were the original way of deep linking. These links act as a private internet for the app, giving users a better experience. The advantages of using URI schemes is that they are easy to set up and most of the apps already have it.

URI scheme deep linking is still used for deep linking Android but for iOS app deep linking is no more done with this method. Apple blocked this method in 2015 when it launched the Universal Links for deep linking iOS apps.

5. Apple iOS Universal links

The custom URI schemes had a lack of proper fallback functionality which is why Apple blocked in 2015. With iOS 9, Apple launched Universal Links that locate the content on a web page or in the app. What iOS does when a link is clicked is that it checks for any apps associated with the link. If yes, then it launches the app and if no, then the link is opened in Safari. In a study, it was found that Universal Links have increased the conversion to open by 40%.

6. Android links

Google also created App Links to match the iOS Universal Links and has somewhat the same functionality. The link leads to both webpages and apps depending on the presence of an app in the device. But since Android still has URI schemes running quite well, developers aren’t adopting the App Links that much.

There are innumerable benefits of using deep linking for your app and by now you might have already figured out some of them. Even though the adoption of deep links was quite slow in the past because of its unknown benefits yet it was still being used. And today the benefits are said to be the reason why deep linking is even considered for mobile apps. Here, we will lay down some benefits of deep linking app.

Why use Deep Linking for your app?

1. Enhancing the user experience

It wouldn’t be a surprise to know that deep linking plays a part in enhancing the overall user experience of an app. As much as the UI is important for an app, deep linking is an integral part of it. Users have the freedom to access content via deep links on the app or the web page.

2. User retention, usage, and engagement

What is a deep link to an app? Speaking non-technically, it is a way to bring in more engagement, ensuring high retention and high usage. As seen in the graph above, apps having deep links have more activation rate and more app visits. When compared to apps without any deep links, users are less active and the app has a low engagement rate.

3. User onboarding

Deep links with apps help developers in personalizing the onboard experience. If we take the case of contextual deep links, a developer can easily create personalized application invitations or may as well include some incentives in the user onboarding flow.

4. Re-engaging users

It is very important for an app to have active users but sometimes there are inactive users. With deep linking, you can direct those inactive users to specific content or page on your app which will result in more active users. Sending deep links with push notifications is a great way to do that.

5. Marketing benefits

Deep linking can help in increasing the sales and revenue of a company. The thing with deep links is that they can direct users to any page of content from the app and that is why this can be strategically used to generate more sales. An e-commerce app can use deep links to send notifications about the latest deals and offers and direct users to the offers section.

6. Effectiveness of campaigns

As we saw earlier that contextual deep linking stores custom data about users and their behavior on the app. This information can be used to see which campaign and sources are most fruitful for driving audience or increasing engagement and sales.

When you shouldn’t go for deep linking apps?

Is deep link service for everybody to go with? Well, the benefits are compelling enough to go for it. But it does not mean you should always go where the benefits have an edge. Deep linking may not be the wisest choice for many app owners.

The reason why deep linking apps may not be the right choice for you depends on the app you have. If your native app has poor UI/UX or has a lot of glitches, you can spare your users the trouble of going through such an experience.

The only reason you should be using deep linking in your app is if the app experience is better than the web experience. If not, then it will not be the best decision.

Apps that are totally focused on the industry it is in and has the need to push notifications, filtering search results, etc. should have deep linking. It will be of great use if users find more comfort in shifting from a webpage to an app and that can only happen if the app is worth it.

So, how to use deep linking in mobile app?

Deep linking can be used in both iOS and Android apps. The condition for iOS apps is that deep links are supported in iOS 9.0 and above versions whereas all versions of Android support deep links.

Let us show you the different ways deep linking is done.

1. Mapping out URLs from the website for the app

The first step is to map out the URLs you will be using in your app. You have to make a match of which specific URLs of your website will represent what pages in your app. Also, keep in mind that not every link needs to be mapped.

For instance, if your website has a Blog section then you don’t need to direct users to app for reading a blog. Whereas, you can direct users to your app if they search for any products. It is very important to understand here that users should not be forced to visit the app.

One thing to keep in mind is that the users should only be directed to the app if you can show what they have been looking for. There is nothing worse than an annoyed user who may never return.

2. Universal Links for iOS

By now you know that Apple uses Universal Links for deep linking iOS for version 9.0 and above. The Universal Links not only provide a better user experience but also has good compatibility with the iOS 9.0.

It is recommended that you don’t implement the support for iOS 8.0 and below since it’s not going to be worth the effort. This clearly means that deep linking won’t work for any user having iOS 8.0 or below. However, Apple reported that 83% of iOS users have upgraded their iOS to 12.0 so it shouldn’t be much of a loss. In fact, this number is growing rapidly in the US and Europe.

To implement the iOS Universal Links, follow the steps:

Decide what links will launch the iOS app and represent what products on it. For this, you have to create a file on your website such as https://www.example.com/.well-known/apple-app-site-association. This basically informs Apple that the app is yours and therefore it should intercept all the links to products and pages.
The second stage will be updating your iOS app so that it can respond to all the changes being made and can receive the links.

And voila! Your iOS deep linking into the app is done.

3. Android App Links

Android has been using the deferred deep linking Android for a long time. But they launched the App Links in Android Marshmallow 6.0. To implement the same in your follow these steps:

To get your website verified by Android, update your AndroidManifest.xml file.
Create a file on the website such as https://www.example.com/.well-known/assetlinks.json which will prove to Google that the app is yours.

And the deep linking for Android is done!

The last and most important step is to promote your app as much as you can. Users will be directed to your website if they don’t have the app therefore, promoting the app becomes the primary job once deep linking is done.

This is our take on deep linking mobile apps as an app development company. Contact our team of developers at Anteelo to know more.

Strategies to Reduce Mobile App Development Cost for Startups

Posted on 26/10/202012/06/2021 by Tushar

The competition in the app market is too high for you to compromise with the quality of your app. But with high quality comes high costs and when we say high costs, we mean it. This may be a reason why most people avoid app development altogether – which, in turn, does more harm than benefiting.

The world is going mobile rapidly so it becomes important to make your place in the same world. Businesses have doubled their revenues and sales with the help of their mobile app. So, when you see at the long term benefits, these initial investments seem quite worth it.

However, mobile app development cost can still be high for startups since the capital is limited and there is not much to offer. But that shouldn’t stop any startup from reaping the benefits of having an app. For the same, we figured out some great strategies to help you reduce app development cost.

We will discuss the mistakes you can avoid to reduce app development cost and some strategies to reduce app development costs.

Mistakes to avoid to reduce app development cost for startups

According to many researches, the cost of actual app development almost always exceeds the budget allocation for the project. There are some hidden costs in the entire app development process that needs to be identified and removed to reduce app development cost.

We tried to find some mistakes that can cause the cost of app development to rise. Let’s see if you are aware of any of them.

Mistake 1. Wrong UI/UX and QA Testing Cost estimates

This would probably be the first mistake that you can make. The cost of UI/UX depends largely on how many devices, OS and features are involved in your app. It also involves the type of designing an app will have. Simple designs and features are less costly than complex designs and too many features.

Another place where the costs increase is the testing stage. For every device and every OS, independent testing is done. For this, it is advised that a conservative number of testing should be done before launching the app. Once the app is launched, the feedback can be used to decide whether further testing is required or not.

Mistake 2. Not Taking into account the cost of updates

There is a common misconception that you only need to launch updates when something needs to be changed. In reality, the mobile app needs updates for improving the interface and fixes any bugs. There are also UI tests that need to be run so that the user experience is enhanced.

As per the AnyPresence survey conducted for enterprise apps, it was revealed that 80% of the apps were updated twice a year and some of them were updated twice a month. These apps show great performance and have a high rate of active users.

The mistake made here is that most app startups don’t consider the costs that incur post app launch. So planning for these big and small updates are some ways to reduce app development costs for enterprises.

Mistake 3. Not Being Able to Decide Between Native and Hybrid app development

As a startup, you may not be aware of the difference between a native app and a hybrid app. And when going for app development, knowing the difference between these two types of apps is important. Once you know the difference you will be able to decide which is better for you, hybrid vs native apps. Also, the cost of app development is different for both types of apps.

Well, a native app is built from scratch and is developed for a particular platform. This means that the cost of development will be charged twice, one for Android and one for iOS. But the native apps have high performance and provides the better user experience.

Whereas a hybrid app is built for multiple platforms and gives more of a web app feel. The quality of apps differ from native apps since its built for multi-device and developed at the same time. The one-time development method reduces app development cost for hybrid apps.

In this situation, you must be aware of what’s going on with your app. You should be aware of the type of app that you are getting and the costs involved in the development process.

Mistake 4. Ignoring The cost of Adding Latest Features

Sometimes there may come a need to add some latest features to your mobile app and then you will be the inventor of the feature. You can resell it to many companies after licensing it and earn huge profits. But that may also be costing heavy. Of course, the benefits are going to be there but there again comes a factor of cost.

If you ask your developers to build something that hasn’t ever been built in the market before, you are putting yourself in a position of cost overrun possibility. Here comes another issue that the developers can cause. Most developers would not warn you if you are unknowingly adding cost to your app development project.

This is why working with a genuine app development company is important. There are many companies like Anteelo, that help in finding ways to reduce app development for enterprises. These are the companies any startup should be working with for their app development.

Mistake 5. Not Considering Implementation costs

Even after identifying all other costs, you may forget the cost of implementing everything. For an app, there are different features that need to be added and this depends on the type of app it is. For instance, an e-commerce app will have features like payment gateway, the category of products, wishlist and a lot more. All of these features will have to be implemented, maintained and improved.

To ignore implementation costs will be a serious issue since it comes under the hidden costs of app development. To reduce app development cost, keep in mind that these factors also contribute to the overall cost of app development.

These were some serious mistakes to avoid to reduce app development cost for startups in 2019-2020. Now we move on to the strategies or tips to decrease mobile app development cost.

Strategies to reduce app development cost for startups

Almost all the startups planning to go mobile have been asking ‘How to reduce app development cost?’ Even though the cost of app development cannot be slashed 50% yet there are some ways we can reduce it enough to make it affordable. Here we will see some incredible ways to reduce the app development cost.

MVP

Minimum Viable Product or MVP is built with fewer features and at low cost than the original product. You can get an MVP built and release it publicly. You can avoid wasting time and money on building the original app in the first attempt and use the MVP to raise money for your app. Once you do that you will gain profits and feedback to work with for the original product.

Readymade templates

How to reduce app development cost? Go for readymade templates. As good as building things from scratch is, it’s not very cost effective. There are many templates that are present online for use and would fit perfectly with any app. Using these readymade templates will reduce the time and cost of the app development process.

Regular troubleshooting

Even after the launch of the app, it will require constant improvements and fixes. Hiring an expert for that would a good idea since they can provide tips to decrease mobile app development costs throughout the process. Keep in mind that if you hire cheap freelance developers from far away places then you might have to spend a whole lot of money in redoing the app in case things go downhill.

Access Mobile-specific features

Every device has some built-in features such as the camera, GPS, call options, etc. Employing them into the app may seem a good idea but there are two issues to face. First, not every device has the same features which mean the app may not function for some users. Secondly, adding these features incurs a cost which can be simply avoided if there is no need for those features. For instance, a news app does not need to access the GPS so it can be skipped.

Regular communication flow

We cannot stress enough on the fact that regular and continuous flow of communication between you and the developers is essential. This regular communication will make things more clear for both you and the developers. It also helps in keeping a track record of how the process is going.

UI/UX Simplicity

One of the strategies to reduce app development costs is to go for simple yet elegant designs. A simple UI design is very important especially for new users since adaptation becomes easy. Most apps and websites are opting for a minimalistic design which is extremely cheap to design. Complex designs and too many features will not only confuse the users but also will add unnecessary costs to the project.

Hire skilled testers

If you want to save cost and time then hiring an expert team of testers is the best investment. At Anteelo, we practice an agile testing process so that there are less cost and less time in the testing process. This is one area you should invest in properly since it will only enhance the over app experience for the users.

Don’t hurry the process

Most of the times developers hurry the client in order to finish the project early but that may not be the right way. Unless and until you are working with a team of experts, you cannot hurry the development process. The reason is that in case of any mistakes, there will be an extra cost incurred. It will be a wise choice to go slow and deal with each part of the development patiently.

Outsource app development

One of the biggest reasons why businesses outsource is to lower the mobile app development cost. You see, when you get an app developed in eastern nations like the USA or Australia, the average hours of development is in the range of $100 – $120, while in the case of eastern nations it is $60 – $80 per hour. The difference is very massive.

So this was our take on how to reduce app development cost for startups. Want to get an app developed by us? Contact our team of developers.

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.