Mobile App Development Archives - Page 3 of 3

How to build on-demand service apps?

Posted on November 7, 2020February 25, 2025 by admin

Given the recent socially distanced lifestyle due to COVID-19 pandemic, people are finding new ways of getting things done such as procuring goods & services online. And when it comes to managing supplies & demands online there is no better medium than on-demand service apps.

It’s all about safety guys and this is the main reason that on-demand service apps are popular amongst users. Be it ordering dog walking services or a pizza or even a repairman, everything can be done from the comfort of your home.

This is why on-demand service apps have become bread & butter businesses. If fact we don’t know what to say if you are still adamant about doing business from the brick & mortar store alone except, how huge of a consumer base you’re missing out on.

Now, creating an app is one thing and having an app that brings business from customers is another. Your on-demand service app must have the right features that simplify user-interface while highlighting everything that your brand has to offer. In this blog, we are going to discuss just that.

So let’s get down to it, shall we…

Highly Secure and Scalable

It is nearly impossible to determine whether any particular mobile app is secure or not. Any entrepreneur will want to keep its business’s data safe and secure while ensuring customer’s confidentiality. While choosing your customised mobile solutions, you can make sure that your app data will remain safe.

Unlimited business opportunities

To make the best use of your app. you must have a database which shows tabular information about your users right from their addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, interests, preferences or whatever that empowers your interactions. This amount of varied data can let you do many things:

Optimise your business practices through data analysis.
Enticing the audience towards any upcoming sales or offers.
Build ‘business-customer’ relationship to personalised communication.
Boost your conversion rates.

Affordability

Going for a cheaper solution now will only have you end up spending more in the long-term. Rather opt-in for a ready-to-use solution which will give results in the form of increased ROI for your business.

There might be an initial cost for the on-demand app development solution but it will greatly help you provide more value to your customers and stay flexible.

These are just a few of the benefits of On-Demand app. Now let’s discuss some of the key functionalities your Application must-have.

1. For the Customer app feature

Push notification

Notifications are a major aspect of any On-Demand service App. They let the users know about the status of their ordered product or service or even the special offers available.

Real-time tracking

This feature lets the app users track down the location of their order or service in real-time. Hence, ensuring a fast and efficient service to the customer.

Help and support

An integrated Help & Support Interface assists your customers in case of common queries. It boosts customer service by resolving their problems and takes the load off your customer service reps.

Payment system

Payment is one of the most key elements of any On-Demand Service app. By making sure that your payment system is streamlined, secure and reliable. Ensuring multiple payment options are highly recommended for user convenience.

Favourites

Lets the customers save their favourite service provider or product for quick reference. It helps them to sort them out quickly and saves their time searching all over again.

Reviews and ratings

It shows the customers that your brand cares. Recording and highlighting user experience serve as feedback for the service providers.

2. Service provider app features

Since the user side of the app is sorted out its time to decide features that help in managing internal operations so that you can provide the best possible service to your customers.

Order alert

With this functionality, the service providers receive notifications whenever a user accesses their service or product.

Accepting & rejecting requests

Gives the service providers the final authority on whether to accept or reject a request within a given time period so that they can set fair expectations.

Adhering to schedules

This functionality gives the service provider the flexibility to manage the schedules of their work hours. They can customise their work schedules and start working within that period.

3. Admin app

Unified Dashboard

Your business’s On-Demand app will be incomplete if it lacks a readily accessible and customisable Admin Dashboard that can easily navigate to all the sections of operations.

User Management

Using the Admin portal you can manage all customer’s activities such as payments, discounts, cancellation charges and resolving any customer escalated query.

Analytics & reports

Analytics provides key metrics such as no. of services availed, cancelled and repeated. This functionality also shows real-time key metrics that let you make quick business decisions.

Analytics is the backbone of your business as it acquires critical insights that help you avoid all the bottlenecks and to optimise your services.

Conclusion

As we mentioned before about given the current global circumstances, your on-demand service app. Will determine the rise & fall of your business in future. Which why it is crucial to make your application as robust as possible.

Developing a powerful app requires considerable planning and effort which why it is highly recommended to get your app. Developed by hard-core on-line app development agency. Please let us know in case you require any help in your app Development.

Android 11 Beta: Latest features and updates

Posted on June 25, 2020November 4, 2024 by admin

Google’s latest edition of Android 11 has arrived and with comes a whole new set of features and updates that are quite interesting. The Beta released recently and it can be downloaded with pixel 2 or higher pixel android device.

Well, we took a crack at the beta and started searching for new update and so far the new controls feel great. The best part so far is the accessibility and the latest media controls. However, functionalities like app suggestions and bubble will take some getting used to.

In this article, we’re going to be discussing our take on the newly minted features of Android 11 beta and all that we have learned in the beta so far.

Quick controls are the real highlights

First thing you’ll notice is that as soon as you start exploring is the fluid control screen that pops up when you long-press the power button. The screen provides quick access to other feature like Google Pay cards, boarding passes etc.

Now comes the best part the control screen even prove shortcut for smart home devices. You can connect to devices like Google Assistant, Nest Thermostat, Nest Doorbell.

You can easily edit these smart home devices from the menu by tapping on its grid and selecting the option of Add or Edit controls.

Bubble Chat Icons

This feature might seem similar to Facebook’s “chat heads” in which a bubble always on screen. Tapping the bubble opens a mini screen that lets you send and receive messages without the need to open the app. This functionality was supposed to come with Android 10 but got postponed by Google.

In this beta, the bubbles seem compatible with Facebook messenger but it is expected to work with all apps by Android 11’s release. To start off conversation you can use bubbles by tapping the bottom right bubble icon of the notifications.

You can also choose a specific bubble by long-pressing the notifications and set it as a priority. This enables the prioritised conversation bubble thread to pop up even if the “Do Not Disturb” option is activated.

App Suggestions

As soon as you open your Android 11 Beta you’ll be greeted with a message to enable App suggestions. If you answer “Yes” then you will find Android’s app recommendations on the bottom section of your home screen.

You can long-press to place any app in the App suggestion section or block them from showing up. To customise your App suggestions you need to long-press the home screen select “Home settings” and “Suggestions” option from there.

InnovativeMusic controls

Instead of the old “Pending Notification” sort of look, the new music control Interface is placed in the quick setting panel on the top of the top your screen.

In case the music controls are not found when you start your Android 11, you need to take the following steps:

Enable the developer option by going to the “Settings”
Then go to the “About Phone” option.
Scroll down to “Build Number” and tap it
You’ll get a message “Congratulations, You’re Now a builder”.
Find the Developer option in the “System” section in “Settings”
Turn on the “Media Resumption” from there and reboot your device.

It might seem complicated but follow the above steps and you’ll find the music controls once your phone turns back on.

In-Built Screen Recorder

Now everyone needs to record some pictures or videos from their screen on the go. Be it a game recording or reporting a bug, all in all, its a very useful feature. And it’s available on Android 11.

The Screen recorder can be found in the “Quick Setting” panel. But in case it’s not there just click on the pencil icon to add it. The recorded video will be saved in your “Camera roll” and you can share it from there.

Lastly,

We hope that you found our take on the Android 11 Beta interesting recommend that you should try out the Beta yourself. We will keep you updated if we discover additional updates. If you have any question or need some assistance then please feel free to contact us anytime For android app development service in Perth, Australia.

Guide of 2020: How to Develop an on-demand app easily

Posted on February 18, 2020February 24, 2020 by admin

Let’s kick off with a cliche: The future of business lies with the on-demand app!!

We call this a cliche due to the prerequisite of the on-demand app for a business to grow in today’s online market. According to the Harvard business review, there are about 16.3 million consumers spending an average of 36 billion dollars online. How can an entrepreneur not take advantage of such a humongous market?

As of today, around 80% of businesses have on-demand apps developed for the sole purpose of fulfilling their target consumer’s requirements. Their aim is to get the users to install their apps so that they can reach their audience more effectively and quickly.

With the growing number of call phones (4.68 billion cell phone users: Statista), the number of on-demand is only going to increase. If you don’t have an app. For your business yet then you’re missing out on Big time.

More about On-Demand apps and their benefits

You can think of On-Demand apps as a linking layer between consumers and different businesses. These applications are readily used by the consumers to get their hand on multiple products or services which they wish to procure.

The scope of products and services can range from delivering groceries to booking a rabbi for bah mitzvah. This can pretty much cover everything that a user might require. Which is why businesses are clamouring to launch their application in the market.

Here are some of the other benefits:

Highly Secure and Scalable

It is nearly impossible to determine whether any particular mobile app is secure or not. Any entrepreneur will want to keep its business’s data safe and secure while ensuring customer’s confidentiality. While choosing your customised mobile solutions, you can make sure that your app data will remain safe.

Unlimited business opportunities

a) Optimise your business practices through data analysis.

b) Enticing the audience towards any upcoming sales or offers.

c) Build ‘business-customer’ relationship to personalised communication.

d) Boost your conversion rates.

Affordability

There might be an initial cost for the on-demand app development solution but it will greatly help you provide more value to your customers and stay flexible.

These are just a few of the benefits of On-Demand app. Now let’s discuss some of the key functionalities your Application must-have.

1. For the Customer app feature

Push notification

Notifications are a crucial aspect of any On-Demand App. They inform the users to about the arrival of their product or service or even the special offers available.

Real-time tracking

This feature lets the app users track down the location & status of their order or service in real-time. Hence, this ensures fast and efficient service.

Payment system

Payment is one of the most important elements of any On-Demand Service. By making sure that your payment system is fast, secure and reliable. Multiple payment options are highly recommended for user convenience.

Favourites

This functionality helps the customers to save their favourite service provider or product for quick reference. It helps them to find them out quickly and saves their time searching those all over again.

Reviews and ratings

It shows the customers that your brand cares. Taking note of user experience serves as feedback for the service providers.

Help and support

By integrating the Help & Support feature assists customers in case of common queries. It boosts customer service by resolving their problems and takes the load off your customer service reps.

2. Service provider app feature

Order alert

With this functionality, the service provider receives a notification whenever a user avails for its service or product.

Accepting & rejecting requests

The service providers must have the final authority on whether to accept or reject a request within a given period.

Track earnings

Helps them to get full accountability and plan their logistics in a more efficient way.

Work on your schedules

This functionality gives the service provider the flexibility of schedule their work hours whenever they want. They can select customise their work schedule and start working on that period.

3. Admin app

Dashboard

Your business’s On-Demand app will not be complete without a readily accessible and customisable Admin Dashboard that can easily navigate to all the sections that are managing both service providers and users efficiently.

The matching algorithm

It is the aligning logic that helps in matching a suitable service provider with their respective new customer request.

You can either opt for automatic matching where the alignment is algorithm-based or a manual matching in which case the administrator matches both the parties manually.

Manage users

With Admin portal you can manage all customer’s activities such as payments, discounts, cancellation charges and resolving any customer escalated query.

Managing service provider

With this feature, the admin can handle all service provider’s affairs from incentives, earnings to penalties.

Pricing and commissions

You can manage the pricing based on demand. Secondly, you can also set up the commission charges that will ensure smooth transactions and profit-sharing.

Analytics & reports

Analytics provides key metrics such as no. of services availed, cancelled and repeated. This functionality also shows which sector of the business is doing well and the one that is struggling.

Analytic form the backbone of your business as it acquires critical insights that help you avoid all the bottlenecks and to optimise your services.

Now that you have determined your must-have features for your app.

Let’s talk about some of the major steps involved in app development.

1) Determining the target audience

The target audience would be the people who are most likely to bring their business to your brand. They could be college students, family guys, other business owners, travellers, single etc.

Whoever they are, they must be in substantial numbers, willing and have common issues so that your marketing focus is in place.

2) Identify their common pain areas

Any business is started with the aim to supply the product or service that the people need. The more efficiently the business delivers to the requirement of the audience, the more successful it is.

Nowadays consumers need things to be delivered to them as quickly as possible. Which is where your On-demand app comes into the picture. During your app development, you need to focus on how user-friendly your application is and how easily it responds to the user’s pain area.

3) Test and launch

Test the app solution for consistency. Begin with the developers, Then the in-house testing team. Encourage your developers & testers to be creative and use the app in closed beta and eventually release it in public beta test.

Repeat this scenario whenever a new feature is introduced or opt for an app revamp to make sure minimal bugs in the final product and higher customer satisfaction.

4) Finally, Publish

Once your On- Demand app is ready to go live, publish on the respective app stores. In case one of the apps get rejected, start working on the feedback received, resolve the issue, and re-publish.

Wrapping it Up…

We hope you like our take on the On-demand app development. In case you have any questions or need support in developing an application for your business in Perth, Australia or any country please feel free to contact us and our associates would be happy to help you out.

App Preview Guidelines: How to Sway Users to Download your App in 30 Seconds

Posted on December 20, 2019December 20, 2019 by admin

In the market swarming with countless apps, the main challenge that entrepreneurs face is how to get their business applications to stand out from the rest of the competitors. Although there are many marketing tactics to achieve this objective, the App Preview is a must-have when it comes to getting the users to download your app.

“The First impression is your Last impression”

While this may sound like a cliche, it doesn’t make it any less of the truth especially given the intense competition on the app store. You only a fraction of time to capture user’s attention and get them interested enough to download your app.

In this article, we’ll be going in-depth about the app preview feature in the app store and how to make the best use out of it. So without further adieu lets get started, shall we?

Let’s start with a quick introduction of App Preview

In short, an App preview enables your business to explain to the user what your app is all about and get them interested. It is a 30 seconds video that users can see on the app store when they come across your app.

Every App preview must have the following basic components.

Introduction to your app brand
Giving users an idea of how the app’s interface works
An overview of the app’s key features and values

All these parts in coordination with each other should convey to the visitors that your app is worth downloading. A successful App review should elicit an emotional response like excitement, while briefly explaining your app’s core functionalities & values.

Although the above points sound simple, however, the challenge lies in how to achieve all this in just 30 seconds. Let’s have a look at some of the steps you can take to make it possible.

Step 1: Identify your core values

It’s crucial that your audience understands why your app is valuable and unique after watching your App Preview. To hone that first make a list of your app’s most important features to highlight and value propositions.

Once you have outlined the main value propositions proceed further in prioritising which ones would make it into your App Preview. It’s advised that you use the value props based on their critical importance, engagement level, and ease of understanding through a visual interface.

It’s ok to leave out some of your app’s smaller value propositions if they’re more complicated to explain or not visually engaging. An App Preview just needs to get the audience excited enough to come and install your app.

Step 2: Aligning your visuals and value props

Not you need to communicate the value of your app to users and you need to give them a feel for how it works as well. Thanks to App preview’s 30-second time limit, the best way is to find ways to do both at the same time.

To accomplish this, take your list of core value propositions and compare them against your app’s features to find points of alignment or reinforcement. These points of alignment not only demonstrate where your user experience perfectly reflects your intended purpose but they also visually represent how your user will relate to those values.

Pro Tip: Instead of creating different video clips it’s better to leverage your in-app footage to showcase how a user might move through the app.

Step 3: Structure your story

After finalising your most important value props and aligned visuals, it’s time to lay these items out in sequence and move them around in a logical context.

While mapping out your concept, make sure to keep it simple. Story structure is important in App preview because it lets you map out what you want to say before you actually spend time saying it.

Since the App Preview is so short, that main challenge is that you don’t have enough time to tell the story you want. Rather than trying to shorten individual parts, see which ones you can combine or omit entirely. From our experience, it’s better to have a shorter but clearer story than one that is longer but confusing.

Step 4: Bring it all together in an AV script

An AV script is a proven, widely-used industry tool that is very easy to interpret in comparison to the traditional screenplay. Initially, you should map out not only what you want the audience to see and hear in the App Preview but also how the video transitions from one moment to the next.

An AV script helps in ensuring that there is clear communication about the App Preview across team members, and it is especially useful while hiring technical support. AV script accurately tracks timing, shot numbers, notes, and changes to all the moving components within your App Preview. It makes sure everyone knows what to expect across all elements and versions of your App Preview by clearly defining where audio and visual elements overlap.

Conclusion:

Follow the above-mentioned steps to create an app review that will make the users fall in love at the first sight of your app.

We hope you found our take on the app review creation useful but just in case you have any questions about app review or need any assistance with your application simply contact us and we’d be delighted to help you out.

How To Calculate ROI Of A Mobile App

Posted on April 16, 2019November 6, 2019 by admin

You must have the estimation of the return on investment (ROI) when launching a mobile app development and, the end product aims at adding to revenue of your business. Estimating ROI becomes more important when yours is a free app. And will serve a completely unfamiliar domain where not many successful examples exist.

In fact, the future success of a mobile app entirely depends on its ROI. There are many examples showing that apps are rolled back even before their first anniversary. One of the key reasons leading such decision is no or insufficient ROI generated by apps.

A smart approach to mobile app development is one that first includes the estimation of ROI clearly exhibiting whether the app would be able to generate enough revenue or not. Experts say that close to 65% of developers or app owners miss on hitting the right approach. And miserably fail with reaching the right revenue generation plan.

Experts also say that if developers or app owners calculate their mobile app development projects’ ROI by following 5 steps as a base.

Creating a Measurement Plan

The first thing that developers would need for creating an effective measurement plan is to consider implementing the app analytics. The key things to do include the planning to measure ROI, establishing performance and conversion trackers for different communication, and the app’s vending points. Also, start forming and implementing your ROI plans as early as possible because this provides a long stretch across all phases enabling to compare with performance and trends in better ways. Follow metrics to measure performance more accurately. In an e-commerce app, for example, create a measurement plan grounded on successful checkouts.

Google too has recommended steps for creating a measurement plan:
• Document business objectives.
• Recognize the strategies and tactics supporting objectives.
• Choose metrics basing KPIs.
• Decide how the data segment is needed.
• Choose targets for KPIs.

Calculating CLV

Measuring revenue of an app accurately also involves quantifying Customers Lifetime Value (CLV). It shows what you can expect to earn from users until they keep an app on their devices and use them. So, it’s based on how long a customer associated with an app contributes to increasing its ROI. To calculate this, the total amount of purchases made by customers on the app is added up.

The other way for calculating the total customer value is adding up the total sales attained from beginning to a specific date and dividing the amount by the total number of users the app currently has. In result, you will have an averages CLV value of all your users. Businesses already owning a website can estimate earning based on CLV for their mobile apps. It will help them effectively evaluate the role and impact of the planned app on increasing the lifetime value.

Make sure you measure some of your KPIs in dollars to make the task of CLV calculation simpler. Metrics used to track CLV are quite handier. It can also be used by subscription business for a long term forecasting. CLV will also help in concentrating on the efficiency of your business as you would be able to get more value per user.

Knowing the overall cost

When you are able to estimate the complete cost of your mobile app before you launch the development, you would be able to deal with various factors and propositions affecting the cost-benefits of an app. It also involves how much do you spend and will continue to spend to generate particular revenue. The spending calculated will vary from the needs of a business to others.

Analyzing cost also involves the primary cost of building an app and the operation & maintenance cost spent to curate, feed, update, and promote the app.

To calculate the cost, gauging and attribution tools can be used to reach more detailed and refined results. It’s a popular method among others available. It will help you make more effective ROI generation plan.

Understanding different users

To come up with the more reliable ROI calculation on your mobile application development, it’s essential that you segregate users on the basis of different incoming sources and varying consumptions patterns. Customers with previous purchasing history in your app visiting directly are more valuable than those being driven through Ads or social media platforms.

Customers, who have been using your website until recently, downloading your app are more promising than those who have connected you via the app just now. Mark these visitors separately to have a clearer estimation of ROI.

Putting matrix in action

Once you have metrics set to measure performance, they should be put into action now. Of course, you will soon feel the need for refinements, and you should do all changes to get those refinements and then gauge results out of metrics put in the action.

If you have multiple metrics in hand, keep tabs on how they perform relatively and then club results from all sources to reach a single, best decision. Apply A/B testing if you have one single metric to ensure that you are getting the maximum of it.

Mobile Application Development Trends To Watch Out

Posted on May 30, 2017November 6, 2019 by admin

Mobile devices like tablets and smartphones have become an inseparable part of everyone’s daily lives. From the early morning when you wake up till the night when going to bed, how many times you use your mobile phones? For reading news, checking emails, staying in touch with friends, colleagues, and families through social media, listening music, reading eBooks, and for many other routine activities, you use your mobile phones and inset mobile applications. Moreover, the ever-increasing popularity of Android and iOS shows how mobile usage is growing by leaps and bounds. As a result, there is a bright future for the mobile application development market.

Gartner’s prediction narrates that over 268 billion mobile downloads will generate an income of $77 billion in 2017

This blog is going to enlighten you on the best and not-to-miss Top 13 mobile application development trends for the year 2017.

Most prominent mobile application development trends

Last year we had already talked about what top 13 trends were projected for the year 2016 for the mobile application development market. All those mobile application development trends are going to stay in the year 2017 as well, along with new additions. Let’s walk through each one by one:

1. More Spotlight on Security and Privacy In Apps

Along with growing mobile usage and mobile application development, the necessity to adopt best practices in data security, app security, and privacy are in the spotlight.

In accordance with the prediction by Gartner, 75% of mobile apps would not pass even basic security tests.

Hackers, in order to steal sensitive and confidential information, will learn to carry on with the tendency of misusing recognized security gaps in mobile apps. This was the greatest concern last year as well. Furthermore, this negative mobile application development trend is predicted to continue in the year 2017. In addition, one of the studies conducted by HP also mentioned that 70.6% of mobile apps can access to external storage and 94.7% mobile apps include logging methods.

However, there are some JavaScript frameworks that can help you develop a secure and scalable mobile application.

Security-and-Usage-in-Mobile-Application-Development

2. More pleasing User Experience (UX)

Trends have changed in almost all fields. Be it website designing and development or mobile application development, the main focus is better user experience (UX). Effectual display of data and content on your mobile user interface is important for a sound user experience. In the year 2017, industry experts have projected an innovative enhancement in this feature in a sensible manner. Various Android Apps and iOS Apps should make use of technologies with novel features such as interactive content layers, circular design pattern, cards and manipulation of content. Mobile users find it very easy to operate mobile apps. If those apps are not user-friendly, users will not wait for an update. They will straightaway quit its usage. Hence, the primary focus is on the more pleasing user experience of all mobile application developers, for both Android and iOS.

3. Shifting landscape of web-based app due to Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

AMPs have become the common talk of the town for more than a year.Google has announced that there will be a separate search index for the mobile web. This announcement is been considered as one of the revolutions in the field of development in digital marketing. It has a significant impact on your SEO and rankings. Web-based apps that are supported by Google AMP will load much quicker on mobile devices. It will, hence, reduce bounce rates in a huge quantity. Publishers will also get the benefit of increased ad visibility and more website visitors. Hence, this trend in mobile application development is definitely expected to the rock the entire year 2017.

AMP Benifites - Mobile Application Development

4. The Trending of Chatbots

Chatbots are computer programs that imitate a conversation with users using artificial intelligence. Chatbots are getting a huge attraction to mobile apps. The most popular chatbots include Allo, Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, and Siri. Most mobile app developers are motivated to comprehend how chatbots work. This year, in 2017, trends indicate that most of the Android developers and iOS developers will work towards developing Chatbots. They’ll resemble human beings in the style of speech detection and personalities that lead to smoother interactions.

5. Growing Cloud-Driven Mobile Apps

Cloud computing is a pretty familiar term for almost everyone, from customers to tech professionals. Nowadays, cloud computing has marked its presence in mobile applications also. Users can expect a great upsurge in powerful mobile apps that can directly acquire data from the cloud and take minimum space in your smartphone internal memory. The Android, iOS and Windows Phone apps all have automatic photo uploads, meaning that when you shoot a photo with your phone, it’s automatically saved to your account.

Google Drive, launched in 2012, has apps available for Windows, OS X, Android, and iOS. Dropbox, launched in 2007, has apps available for each major platform and some smaller ones like the Blackberry, Linux, and Kindle Fire. OneDrive which launched in 2014 is also incorporated compactly with Microsoft Office, and it’s built into Windows 8 and Windows 10. It’s available on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box are just a baby step towards it. A vast ocean is yet to explore in cloud storage realm.

Based on Cisco research, cloud apps will drive 90% of total mobile data traffic by 2019, and Mobile cloud traffic will be 11-fold with compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 60%.

Cloud Mobile Apps - Mobile Application Development

These statistics clearly demonstrate that the mobile application development trend related to the cloud will be prominent in the year 2017.

6. Internet of Things (IoT) Will Be Much Bigger

The rapid adoption of cloud-based apps brings us to one of the latest mobile application development trends that have irritated mobile developer interest in 2016 – the Internet of Things. It’s fair enough to say that the Internet of Things (IoT) is still in its infancy. However, the way IoT is growing, it directly impacts the mobile application development trends since IoT devices are majorly controlled by Smartphones and mobile devices. Currently, the IoT is gaining traction in the fields like security, health, education, smart homes, and automobiles.

IoT integration of mobile apps will unquestionably flourish and it will be a grand move in the year 2017.

7. Artificial Intelligence Is Real Now

Based on the research of Gartner, there will be a more than 300% increase in investment on artificial intelligence in the year 2017 as compared to the last year.

Artificial intelligence (Ai) is expected to provide access to powerful insights to the business users which weren’t available earlier. This access will be provided with the use of advanced analytics, cognitive interfaces into complex systems, and machine learning techs. Giants like Google, IBM, eBay, Facebook have started acquiring startups those who are proficient in Artificial Intelligence.

Facebook-in-AI Through Mobile Application Development

Already we have seen some wonderful AI apps such as Siri, Alexa, Tesla, Prisma, and Google Now. Much more is expected in 2017 keeping the AI mobile application development trends in one piece.

8. AR & VR Will Show Some Magic

In the world of modern mobile application development trends, Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR) apps are getting universal for all.

Market research analysts at Technavio predicted that the global mobile AR and VR apps market will grow steadily in terms of downloads at a CAGR of more than 74% during 2016-2020.

Both AR & VR have been avant-garde in gaming & entertainment industry in the last year, 2016.

Popular examples of AR games include Pokemon Go, Zombies Run, iOnRoad, Sky Siege, Ingress, and myNav. On the other hand, VR devices that are gaining popularity include Oculus Rift, HTC Vive VR, Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard and PlayStation VR among others.

Based on the trends and growth in the mobile application development market, AR and VR both are expected to show some magic in the year 2017.

9. Wearable Devices Are Getting Attention

Wearable technology is one of the most exciting areas of interest for consumers. This has boosted improvements in mobile application developments.

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the market for wearable devices is going to experience a composite annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.3%, leading to 213.6 million units shipped in 2020.

There are some amazing wearable devices which gained huge traction from consumers and audiences in the year 2016. Such wearable devices include but are not limited to Apple Watch Series 1, Xiaomi Mi Band 2, Google Daydream View, Pebble 2, Garmin Vivomove, Fitbit Flex 2, and others.

Application of wearable devices in Mobile Application Development

These wearable devices have proved that now they are not restricted to the health and fitness sector. They have also progressed in other sectors and will definitely gain more prominence as a mobile application development trend of the year 2017.

10. M-Commerce – a growing bud in Mobile Application development realm

Instead of swiping debit cards and credit cards, nowadays, most of the customers prefer to pay through other options. Such options include the transfer of money through Apply Pay, PayTM, Google wallet and other cashless options. In short, mobile apps are slowly replacing plastic money. This is acting as a driver of M-Commerce.

Moving m-commerce from e-commerce in Mobile Application Development

Furthermore, along with the growing market of wearable devices, M-Commerce payment options will take a distinct form in the year 2017. As predicted by experts, wearable devices will play a prominent role in the future of Mobile Application Development.

The following stats throw light on the prediction of mobile app development trends.

m-commerce Market in Mobile Application Development

11. Usage of real-time geo-data from a mobile device for LBS

In order to determine your tentative location, Location-based Services (LBS) allows apps and websites (including Maps, Camera, Weather, and other apps) to use information from cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Global Positioning System (GPS), and related networks. Integrated LBS mobile applications like Apple’s iBeacons and Google Beacon are trendy. This highly developed technology gives a foremost scale to tailored mobile app marketing.

12. Swift language – ahead of other programming languages

Apple’s programming language, Swift, was first introduced at Apple’s 2014 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). As a multi-paradigm and compiled programming language, Swift was developed for iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS & Linux.

It was included in Xcode since Version 6. This programming language gives comfort to all mobile app developers since it is built on the best of C & Objective-C minus the compatibility issues of C. Swift possess some robust features that will transform the mobile application development process. Such attributes are mentioned in the below chart:

Swift 2 offers a host of new and developer-friendly attributes; this latest programming language is undoubtedly going to stay in the year 2017.

13. Enterprise mobile apps and micro-apps – a way to a go-ahead

Over and above, these Top 12 mobile application development trends for the year 2017, experts have also anticipated that enterprise mobile apps and micro-apps will further advance.

According to Natalie Lambert, VP Marketing at Sappho, “with more than 2 million mobile apps to choose from, most of us have installed at least 40 of them on our smartphones. Downloads from the Apple App Store alone surpassed 100 billion last years, and that number is expected to double in 2017.”

Enterprises mobile application aims to assist you to streamline, restructure and deal with critical business processes on the go. While the prime motive of a micro-app is to meet the requirements of highly targeted operations in lesser load time. However, both have gained success in the field of Mobile Application Development.

CLOSING THOUGHTS – FUTURE OF APP DEVELOPERS

Looking at the potential of mobile application development and its trends, skilled app developers perhaps need to get rid of outdated tools and trends at the development stage. Both Android app developers and iOS app developers can augment their development skills better provided they have insight into the latest mobile app development trends. Following these TOP 13 trends, certainly app developers will benefit themselves for their business.

Top Android Libraries: for Every Android App Developers

Posted on December 1, 2016November 6, 2019 by admin

Android apps are all the rage right now, considering how commonplace smartphones have become. At the same time, one needs to be constantly in search of novelty as far as such a fast-evolving industry is concerned. In such a scenario, it becomes important to know and adopt crucial hacks to increase the efficiency of the process of application development. One of these hacks includes gaining access to Android libraries, which can considerably help in giving a new edge to the process.

Here is a list of Android libraries every android app developers: rookie or expert should know:

JSON:

If your app uses Java, which it definitely might, then JSON is a must for you. It converts Java objects into the lighter JSON format. JSON is abbreviated as JavaScript Object Notation and is used to signify a particular type of format which is considerably more convenient to read and write. Once the data transfer is complete, the same can be utilized to de-serialize JSON back to the Java format. This will ensure a more efficient and quick transfer.

// Serialize
String userJSON = new Gson().toJson(user);

// Deserialize
User user = new Gson().fromJson(userJSON, User.class);

Retrofit:

Retrofit works to convert your REST API into Java format. This nullifies the lengthy coding required for the conversion. As far as finding hacks to make the practice of coding more accurate without compromising on time and energy, Retrofit is a fine hack. The updated version of Retrofit has annotations which make it easy to add the header, request body and query parameters, along with making changes to the URLs.

public interface RetrofitInterface {

// asynchronously with a callback
@GET(“/api/user”)
User getUser(@Query(“user_id”) int userId, Callback<User> callback);

// synchronously
@POST(“/api/user/register”)
User registerUser(@Body User user);
}
// example
RetrofitInterface retrofitInterface = new RestAdapter.Builder()
.setEndpoint(API.API_URL).build().create(RetrofitInterface.class);

// fetch user with id 2048
retrofitInterface.getUser(2048, new Callback<User>() {
@Override
public void success(User user, Response response) {

}

@Override
public void failure(RetrofitError retrofitError) {

}
});

Retrofit already uses GSON as default, so the combination of these won’t require additional parsing.

EventBus:

This library is an incredible resource to code the way in which different factions of your app interact with each other.

public class NetworkStateReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

// post event if there is no Internet connection
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
super.onReceive(context, intent);
if(intent.getExtras()!=null) {
NetworkInfo ni=(NetworkInfo) intent.getExtras().get(ConnectivityManager.EXTRA_NETWORK_INFO);
if(ni!=null && ni.getState()==NetworkInfo.State.CONNECTED) {
// there is Internet connection
} else if(intent
.getBooleanExtra(ConnectivityManager.EXTRA_NO_CONNECTIVITY,Boolean.FALSE)) {
// no Internet connection, send network state changed
EventBus.getDefault().post(new NetworkStateChanged(false));
}
}

// event
public class NetworkStateChanged {

private mIsInternetConnected;

public NetworkStateChanged(boolean isInternetConnected) {
this.mIsInternetConnected = isInternetConnected;
}

public boolean isInternetConnected() {
return this.mIsInternetConnected;
}
}

public class HomeActivity extends Activity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

EventBus.getDefault().register(this); // register EventBus
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
EventBus.getDefault().unregister(this); // unregister EventBus
}

// method that will be called when someone posts an event NetworkStateChanged
public void onEventMainThread(NetworkStateChanged event) {
if (!event.isInternetConnected()) {
Toast.makeText(this, “No Internet connection!”, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}

}

Active Android:

When you are using coding hacks, the key is to code less while getting the most out of the same. ActiveAndroid is an object-relational mapping tool, which replaces the lengthy structured query language on the database:

INSERT INTO Users (Nickname, Name, Address, City, PostalCode, Country) VALUES (‘Batman’,’Bruce W’,’Palisades 21′,’Gotham’,’40000′,USA’);

To a small little piece of code like so:
user.save();

Use GreenDAO and ORMLite as an open source alternative to ActiveAndroid.

Universal Image Loader (UIL):

Pictures or images are an important addition to the app. Many developers use Picasso for adding images. While this is an amazing app, it lacks specific configurations that are necessary for it to function efficiently. UIL remedies this problem easily and in a convenient fashion.

Coding can be quite a cumbersome task and therefore gaining access to Android open source libraries makes the process easier and more proficient.

Other than the above-mentioned libraries, here are some alternative libraries that you could use:

RxJava:

android development with java rx by qltech

RxJava is the Java version of ReactiveX API. This library can be used to modify and manipulate value streams within the functioning of the Android app by using three different patterns of coding, namely Functional Programming, the Iterator pattern, and the Observer pattern.

There are two main elements that form a part of the RxJava extension; namely Observable and Subscriber. The element known as Observable is the one through the stream of data in the functioning of the app originates from. The Subscriber is the part of the extension which makes changes to the stream of data originating from the Observable.

Glide:

Glide is an alternative to extensions such as Picasso and UIL, if neither works for you, Glide is another efficient option.

ImageView imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.my_image_view);

Glide.with(this).load(“https://placekitten.com/1920/1080 “).into(imageView);

Butterknife:

Butterknife is an amazing resource that can ease your coding troubles by reducing strain that originates from writing long strings of code. This is especially useful for the onCreate method as well as the onCreateView on Activity Fragments.

class ExampleActivity extends Activity {
@Bind(R.id.title) TextView title;
@Bind(R.id.subtitle) TextView subtitle;
@Bind(R.id.footer) TextView footer;
@Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.simple_activity);
ButterKnife.bind(this);
// TODO Use fields…
}
}

Android activities are specific components which are responsible for the creation of the UI of an application. Several activities come together to create an application. The onCreate command is used to initiate an activity and hence is the beginning point of the same.

Now that you have a list of good Android libraries and open sources for Android development, the question is how to incorporate them into your Android Studio.

Well, most of the apps can be incorporated using Maven, all you need to do is code the dependencies into the build.gradle file like shown below:

dependencies {
compile ‘com.google.code.gson:gson:2.2.4’
compile ‘com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp:1.3.0’
compile ‘com.squareup.retrofit:retrofit:1.3.0’
compile ‘de.greenrobot:eventbus:2.2.+’
compile ‘com.nostra13.universalimageloader:universal-image-loader:1.9.1’
}

Even though coding is an intricate practice, there are several ways in which the process can be made more interesting and efficient. Android libraries can be a huge contribution to the ease and efficiency of the process. Moreover, following developers and development trends on Facebook and Twitter can be a considerable help as far as creating a more proficient coding practice is concerned.

Swift Best Practices and Tips by Toptal Developers

Posted on November 4, 2016November 6, 2019 by admin

Swift as a programming language was brought to the limelight in the year 2014. Swift has transformed the complex practice of programming mobile app development into an easy to write, learn and understand proposing the up to date features. Designed by Apple INC, Swift is specifically developed to facilitate iOS programming for products running on iOS platform. It is loaded with LLVM compiler that features C, C++, Objective-C and Swift code to run within one program. Swift is very friendly to program developers as it supports backgrounds, a unique which feature which allows the iOS developer to edit the script codes and generates result immediately without running the app again. Google has also announced her intention for using Swift as a first-class language for its Android app development. Here we present you some of the practices and tips followed by Toptal developers to make iOS app development easy.

A Dose of Insight: “Toptal is a community of designers and designers who are dedicated to exchanging services to companies, to each other as well as to the community as a whole. The members of Toptal are considered as the top 3 percent amongst all the designers and developers in the world.”

Before we delve into the world of Swift development, one needs to understand the defining elements as well as the differences between objects, interfaces, and model classes.

QL Tech Trivia 101:

Object: In the world of software development, an object is an entity within the coded structure of an application. It is a group or arrangement of data and functions that help in defining specific aspects of the functioning of the application.

Class: The methods along with the variables that are a part an object make up the class of the object. They can be divided on the basis of the methods and variables that are considered.

Interface: This is the part of the application in which only the declarations from the object are visible and utilized. This means that an interface essentially displays or makes use of the output born from objects and the arrangement of classes in an application.

In the above image, more than one object has same common binding to accelerate the working efficiency. The reuse of the same code is a sensible idea, as introduced by Swift. For example using a verbatim code language Protocol Extensions to Bind Model classes with interfaces can be understood as under:

Let’s suppose we have a ‘User’ class:

class User {

var name = “”

var email = “”

var bio = “”

var image: UIImage? = nil

init(name: String, email: String, bio: String) {

self.name = name

self.email = email

self.bio = bio

}

Gradually a protocol will implement all the interfaces together that would be bind with the ‘User’ instances calling it ‘UserBindable’.

protocol UserBindable: AnyObject {
var user: User? { get set }

var nameLabel: UILabel! { get }
var emailLabel: UILabel! { get }
var bioLabel: UILabel! { get }
var imageView: UIImageView! { get }
}

Here ‘User’ as an individual variable is a user (operator) to bind and all other ‘UIView’ the subclasses use to bind the user. The image below will clarify the above code understanding:

Now, let’s we create a protocol extension:
extension UserBindable {

// Make the views optionals

var nameLabel: UILabel! {
return nil
}

var emailLabel: UILabel! {
return nil
}

var bioLabel: UILabel! {
return nil
}

var imageView: UIImageView! {
return nil
}

// Bind

func bind(user: User) {
self.user = user
bind()
}

func bind() {

guard let user = self.user else {
return
}

if let nameLabel = self.nameLabel {
nameLabel.text = user.name
}

if let bioLabel = self.bioLabel {
bioLabel.text = user.bio
}

if let emailLabel = self.emailLabel {
emailLabel.text = user.email
}

if let imageView = self.imageView {
imageView.image = user.image
}
}
}

Here the extension is divided into two parts:

Default Value created that allows some exclusion and some inclusion.
All the values of user properties and fix to view.

Presenting a user list, create a ‘UITableViewCell’.

class UserTableViewCell: UITableViewCell, UserBindable {

var user: User?

// we can set the labels in interface builder or with by code.
@IBOutlet weak var nameLabel: UILabel!
@IBOutlet weak var emailLabel: UILabel!
}

The above image indicates that the cell is binding the user through the use of the UserBindable protocol. This binds its interface to the user object.

In the UITableViewDataSource protocol, we can see the following object classes:

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(“Cell”) as! UserTableViewCell
let user = // find the user from your array or whatever
cell.bind(user)
return cell
}

If we want to show the detail of this user after touching it, we can have a view controller like this:

class UserDetailViewController: UIViewController, UserBindable {

var user: User?

@IBOutlet weak var nameLabel: UILabel!
@IBOutlet weak var emailLabel: UILabel!
@IBOutlet weak var bioLabel: UILabel!
@IBOutlet weak var imageView: UIImageView!

override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// here we suppose that we have set the user value before the viewDidLoad
bind()
}
}

Thus, the above example codes shown the efficient use and output of reused binding code in android mobile app development.

Use `NSDateFormatter` efficiently

Creating NSDateFormatter is a tedious job for any android programmer. But one thing that is to be notified here is that all the formatters to be used in the app are static constant. They can be reused and no need to create them again and again. The image below is an example of showing static constant:

Here in the above image the day changes but the formatters remain constant. Like the name of days, 12-hour format, the name of months and numbers from 0-9.

The example of the code is as follows:

extension NSDateFormatter {

@nonobjc static let shortDateAndTime: NSDateFormatter = {
let formatter = NSDateFormatter()
formatter.dateStyle = .ShortStyle
formatter.timeStyle = .ShortStyle
return formatter
}()

@nonobjc static let dayMonthAndYear: NSDateFormatter = {
let formatter = NSDateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = “MM/dd/yyyy”
return formatter
}()

@nonobjc static let monthAndYear: NSDateFormatter = {
let formatter = NSDateFormatter()
formatter.setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate(“MMMyyyy”)
return formatter
}()
}

Now in the above code, we can make out @nonobjc attribute. This means that the value is supposed to be added in the cell. A complaint of ‘A declaration cannot be both ‘final’ and ‘dynamic’.‘ is seen. If the formatter has applied for “DD/MM/YYYY” format, then the date should be “01/01/2000”. No object can be added (“001”) nor can be deducted (“1”). Similarly, notice that adding the @objc will make your extension incompatible with Objective-C.

Next, let’s we create an NSDate extension to make a simple API convert to strings and back:

extension NSDate {

/// Prints a string representation for the date with the given formatter
func string(with format: NSDateFormatter) -> String {
return format.stringFromDate(self)
}

/// Creates an `NSDate` from the given string and formatter. Nil if the string couldn’t be parsed
convenience init?(string: String, formatter: NSDateFormatter) {
guard let date = formatter.dateFromString(string) else { return nil }
self.init(timeIntervalSince1970: date.timeIntervalSince1970)
}
}

Let’s call the NSDate extension methods.

To create a String from a NSDate:

let date = NSDate()let string = date.string(with: .shortDateAndTime)// let string = date.string(with: .dayMonthAndYear)// let string = date.string(with: .monthAndYear)

To create a NSDate from a String

let string = “06/17/2016”
let date = NSDate(string: string, formatter: .dayMonthAndYear)

By looking at the several techniques and coding customizability that Swift provides, developers can have a field day with the process of iOS application development. This article barely gives a glimpse at the gates of the opportunity that Swift throws open for developers and designers. Would you like to know more, or would you be feeling the urge to share your inputs? Let us know so that we can explore the realm beyond the gates of opportunity together.

The 9 Most Common Mistakes That Ionic Developers Make

Posted on July 15, 2016November 7, 2019 by admin

Are you an ionic developer? Are you facing setbacks despite apparently doing everything right? Do you want to learn from the mistakes made by your peers? Or do you, as a computer geek, wish to gobble up anything and everything on the subject? If you fall in any of the above categories, then you should be aware of the mobile app framework, Ionic. For the rest of us, the lesser mortals, we will first understand what Ionic is and then we will look into the 9 most common errors than Ionic developers make.

So, what is Ionic?

Ionic is an open-source source-development-kit used for developing mobile apps. It was released in 2013 and has become a global platform in just 3 years. It is extremely popular and has been instrumental in the development of more than a million apps. There have been significantly updated releases after the initial launch and web technology has since then evolved significantly.

Why this list?

This list is to place emphasis on the common mistakes which act as ready reckoners for developers which one can refer to and avoid the fundamental problems that hinder the building of a robust and scalable framework.

Common Mistake#1: Forgetting to enable Native scrolling

Native scrolling enabled the use of infinite rolling and pull to refresh features without JavaScript scrolling. It also allows the framework to listen to scrolling events on supported web-views. It made a remarkable difference in the performance and user experience of the application.

Native Scrolling is enabled by default on Android since Ionic 1.2. Unfortunately, in the absence of events on iOS the “native scrolling” is not functional for the previous versions of the platform yet.

If you are using a version prior to 1.2, do not forget to enable Native Scrolling for Android using the Ionic Config Provider:

<pre><code class=”language-js hljs”>// Enable Native Scrolling on Android
$ionicConfigProvider. platform.android.scrolling .jsScrolling(false);</code></pre>

If you wish to enable/disable native scrolling on one particular page, just use the following directive

in ion-content:

<pre><code class=”language-html hljs”><!– Disable Native Scrolling on this page only –>
<ion-content overflow-scroll=”false”></code></pre>

Common Mistake #2: Missing out on the Ionic CLI

Iconic CLI has great features like, platform and plugin preference, which it adds to Cordova CLI. The problem with Cordova CLI is that the features are machine specific and while sharing the same environment, platforms, and plugins, it is difficult to keep the project in sync between the systems. Iconic CLI helps to resolve these issues by helping the machines to remain synchronised.

Platforms and plugins are stored in Cordova platforms and cordova Plugins properties like this:

<pre><code class=”language-json hljs”>”cordovaPlugins”: [
”cordova-plugin-whitelist@1.0.0″,
”cordova-plugin-inappbrowser@1.0.1″,
”cordova-plugin-splashscreen@2.1.0″
],
”cordovaPlatforms”: [
”android”,
”ios”
]
</code>

Common Mistake #3: Thinking Performance can be an issue

Ionic is based on AngularJS, and performance is always a doubt. However, we think that is a myth and very good performance can be achieved through Ionic.

Several successful Apps have been developed through Ionic, some of which has a 9M+ user base, 7M+ downloads and an average of 4.5 stars on Google Play.

One can use $Watch and Track By to get better performance.

Common Mistake #4: Confusions with ‘View Cache’ logic

Does your app create cache? It is a very difficult question to answer for the novice developers. With Ionic, 10 pages are cached by default. This helpful feature can be of trouble to us if we are unable to understand the dynamic of cache pages.

The problem is that when the user returns to a cached page, the controller is not re-instantiated again, and everything is like the same as when you left that page. You can update the cache by using these particular lines of code, which can be both for global as well as per platform basis:

<pre><code>// Globally
$ionicConfigProvider. views.maxCache(5);

// Per platforms
$ionicConfigProvider. platform.android.views. maxCache(5);
$ionicConfigProvider. platform.ios.views. maxCache(5);</code></pre>

Common Mistake #5: Not knowing the capabilities of Crosswalk

Every Android version runs a different WebView. The performance of the OS varies from one device to another. In order to resolve the issue and deliver a similar performance on any of these versions, you can install Crosswalk. It works to create a sync between the working of your application and the latest Chromium browser. The crosswalk can be installed simply using Ionic CLI or Cordova CLI.

You can install Crosswalk simply using Ionic CLI or Cordova CLI:

<pre><code class=”language-bash hljs”>ionic plugin add cordova-plugin-crosswalk-webview</code></pre>

Common Mistake #6: Running Cordova plugins inside the browser

Most of the developers out there create Apps to run on iOS or Android. However, they make the elementary mistake of testing the same on the web browser. Well, you could, but only after you install the proper browser platform. It is not compatible with all plugins. One can debug very easily in Android remotely.

Common Mistake #7: Mismatching the Architecture and Application scale

Most people make the critical mistake of using a basic architecture in developing advanced applications. People face scalability issues which are not easily modifiable.

Common Mistake #8: Binding Events ton scroll, and Forgetting About requestAnimationFrame

One should be very careful while selecting or writing codes, the codes usually make or break an App. One should take care that anything that triggers a digest loop should be deferred and not triggered together with heavy painting, which also is the effect of scrolling.

Many things that can be achieved by binding to scroll events, can also be developed using a different method. Behold requestAnimationFrame

Common Mistake #9: Using Ionic Applications frameworks mechanically

There are several options available to developers like, Ionic Creator, which has a very helpful drag and drop feature, which can help reduce development time greatly. We should be using them rather than doing everything manually.

Conclusion

Ionic has changed the way mobile app development was done. It has brought about revolutionary changes and is still evolving. While adapting to different platforms will always be a challenge, the ability to function across environments is slowly becoming a prerequisite. However, this journey can be much less daunting if one accesses the plethora of resources available online. We hope that this post has removed some of the obstacles you are facing while working on Ionic.