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Benefits of Mobile App & Why you Should Invest in Mobile App

Why Should You Develop a Mobile App? When do you know that it’s time to build a mobile app? Mobile apps are a great way to reach out to your customers and even if you aren’t interested in building games or productivity apps, you sure can better the experience of your customers and employees with the right app. Giving the Initial Push Be it the new cafe round the corner or the salon in your town, a dedicated mobile app is what they have to offer with which they aim to take their marketing to the next level. Here are some major benefits of owning a mobile app and it is better to get one for your business today instead of staying way behind your competitors in the future. Increases visibility to customers Statistics reveal that a smartphone user spends more than 2 and a half hours on his mobile device every day and more than half of it is spent on apps. Having a mobile app will help increase the company’s visibility to customers as they scroll through and scan their device in search of the perfect app! Provides value If you wish to reward your customers, let them collect the same through the app! This will increase downloads and retain old customers easily. Direct marketing channel As an app has the ability to serve several functions such as providing information, playing games, audios and videos, offering news feeds, chat and more. Through it, it works as a direct marketing channel which provides your user with all the information you wish to provide them with. Push notifications allow direct interaction and remind customers of the products and services you have to offer. Helps build brand name Your brand awareness and name increases tremendously with a mobile app which works like a billboard sign. If your app has the perfect features and is beautifully designed, nothing can stop it from increasing your business by leaps and bounds. Gives way to customer loyalty Your mobile app will generate customer loyalty which is of utmost importance in today’s time. With excessive competition making its way in every field, having customers who stay loyal to your brand are a blessing in disguise and all that you need to make your business profitable and popular. A mobile app helps give that personalized touch to your brand and makes users feel connected to it at all times. Better customer engagement With a mobile app, your customers can easily reach out to you and communicate their needs, preferences, likes and dislikes. This makes your business a favorite amongst users. Rise above the competition Mobile apps are still not so common amongst small businesses and by owning one you can easily beat competition and rise above it. Why you should invest in Mobile apps? In today’s world, almost all the customers are on the move and are making use of mobile applications to stay in touch with their brands anytime of the day. Whether it is a mobile phone, a tablet or any other similar device, a mobile app offers all the information that a potential customer needs at the simple press of a button. Moreover, the apps which work on several mobile application platforms are the one that take away the cake undoubtedly. Regardless of the fact as to what kind of a business you run, a mobile app can be helpful in getting new customers as well as retaining the old ones. In today’s tech driven world, a customer who is in search of any kind of product or service first goes online in search of it and then talks to anyone else about it. Being available online will give your business a big boost especially if it is in the form of mobile apps where users can download all the information regarding your business on their mobile and make use of it whenever they want to. Your business in the form of a mobile app will be available at their fingertips to see, experience and purchase from when need be! Blog source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/benefit-of-mobile-app-why-you-should-invest-in-mobile-app/

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Quality Assurance – Does Your Mobile App Developer Guarantee It?

When an app developers develops a new mobile application, he must remember that Quality Assurance or QA has a vital role to play in it and never overlook it. An app can be successful only if QA is involved in all developmental stages be it the creation, concept, requirements for analyzing, test specifications, testing app’s early visions and also releasing of the final product. Most often, developers fail on carrying out proper Quality Assurance, a reason problems can happen after the launch of an app on the app store. Proper QA testing can help you to ensure that the apps are working properly. Let us analyze how QA plays a vital role in every phase. Phase of preparation This phase comes in action even before the development of the app has been commissioned. It gets completed before the app’s first assembly takes place. Some of the major activities in this phase are identification of target device, introduction of functional requirements, developing the test documentation and then preparing its environment. In order to determine the target devices, one must figure out which devices will be supported by the application, what is the OS’s earliest version that needs support and identification of popular models. Functional requirements Here, the developer must define whether the app can be installed or is browser-based, whether or not it is self-contained and whether it will interact with a database, a website, social networks or other apps. Test documentation Some apps require high-level documentation and the tasks performed are not complex but can be completed with some clicks. If this is the case, detailed instruction needn’t be created for testing. Feedback from users Apps which are an updated version in itself are quite helpful in analyzing user feedbacks and their reviews which are posted on the marketplace. The end users find and document the problems which later on help identify the app’s shortcomings and rectify it accordingly. This is how a new version helps to solve a specific problem which the app might be facing. During testing, end-user concerns should be listed separately and paid special attention to. Testing environment The required apps on the mobile need to be installed to create a test environment. Moreover, the required apps also need to be installed and configured on the computer of the QA engineer. Apps such as Android SDK and iPhone Configuration Utility might be included in this. The process then starts after the first assembly is integrated and ends when the product development gets completed. Multiple assemblies are tested at regular intervals. Such a testing helps a QA engineer to empathize with the user but with a detailed knowledge of the principles and settings of the device and app features that are being tested. Controlling phase The draft is prepared for release in this phase after the end of the product development. A detailed testing is carried out in this phase which helps to stabilize the app and do away with minor defects if any. Moreover, in this stage the app is tested for loss of auxiliary modules. In this stage, features can be added and settings changed which will not be visible in the app’s final version but are done so for testing and development purposes. However, before the app is made available to the public, the features and settings used to develop and test are taken away. Acceptance testing This is the final phase where the app is checked to match the acceptance criteria. A set of typical test cases are used to perform this test which are based on the requirements of the app itself. It is the results of these tests which help the customer decide whether the app is good enough to be accepted or not. It is only after all these test phases are carefully carried out while the app is being developed that the developer can be sure that he has ended up with a functional product and the app is ready to hit the market. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/quality-assurance-mobile-app-developer-guarantee-it/

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Have A Mobile App Free? How You Can Make Money

Today, the mobile app market is heating up, particularly for free apps. We’re seeing that large numbers of mobile app developers or mobile app development both iPhone app development and Android application development companies are jumping into the market every passing day looking to make money on this big opportunity. So, if you can get users to pay for your free mobile app, then great. It’s a fact that there are numerous free applications already available for smartphones and tablet devices. But, free doesn’t mean you can not make money on your mobile application, and it means you need to be a little smart about your ad plan of action. There are mostly 5 pricing models (explained below) that bring in all the revenue and if you launch your mobile app using one of these monetization models, then you have a greater chance at making more money than any other model. These 5 monetization models are briefly explained below: Create a “Freemium” for apps and games Keep in mind that this is not only the most popular and favorite monetization derivative for apps and games, but the most revenue making one too. A freemium game or app is provided without charging anything to the consumers with limited features and content. Also, app users can access a premium version with extra content and feature through in-app purchase. The free game or app, with an in-app purchase takes away the price point as a barrier for mobile users to download an application and provides the mobile app developers the chance to show the value of their product. Also, they can provide premium content or offer elementary features for free that need the user to pay to use absolute functionality of the app. In addition, also provide a free basic version of your application to users to get a fast buy-in with less resistance and allow them to buy extra features for a monthly subscription or a fixed price once they’re dependent and get value in it. In-App Purchases(IAP) This monetization model lets users to unlock features or buy more of something. When you create an app, then you can set IAP to be a one time purchase such as I want to unlock that particular feature or an ongoing option like I want to buy 10 coins for $1), meaning you can buy that again and again. In addition, you can easily start gaining big amounts of revenue with the second (an ongoing option), but you need a fabulous app too that can justify it. If you were in the market of news feeds, then IAP’s can be subscriptions too. The Newsstand functionality within the Apple framework enables you to set up an in-app purchase that will charge every month automatically. Cost Per Install(CPI) It is a comparatively new marketing mechanism and is the mobile equivalent to cost per acquisition (CPA) in the web marketing world. Also, Cost Per Install is just what it sounds like mean you pay per install that you get. Playhaven and Chartboost are examples of this, and they are third parties that have software you install into your mobile app. Generally, their pricing ranges from $1 to $3.00 means that if you want to promote your application, then you have to pay Playhaven this amount every time someone installs your game. Also, if I get about $1 / install through Playhaven, so an app developer wants to promote their app will pay $3 to have a new user install it on their mobile phones. If I can give that installation, then I get paid $1 for that, which is really good money. Also, the profit is directly proportional to my download numbers and grows as your user grows. Additionally, there are thousands of Cost Per Install companies popping up nowadays and be sure to allow your app developer know you want to integrate them. Although, they are not too challenging to add onto an app or game, but is helpful to discuss early. Get a Sponsor There are plenty of non-game apps that don’t contribute themselves well to the freemium model, but are rather better suited to be monetized through ads. If you choose to provide your app for free, then there is still a leading monetization possibility and you’ll be depending on your consumers to engage with the ads to drive revenue. Getting a sponsor for your app immediately can get you the highest revenue and also lets for better integration of the app with the sponsoring brand. But, the app has to be a good fit with that specific brand. Also, developing and managing relationships with brands is difficult as well as time consuming, and sponsored advertising is expensive and so only best suited to big campaigns. Advertising Displaying ads to users of the app is a great app monetization technique. While prices for mobile ad inventory are much lower in comparison to traditional online placements, there’s still a key opportunity for apps that make a significant number of page views or provide access to a targeted audience. Know Your App Market and Users Check applications in the app stores, including your competitors, to determine best practices for monetizing similar apps. However, it is quite difficult to guess exactly how much money your competitors are generating through their apps, but you can identify the types of monetization models they use as well as how they frame their app content for ad impressions. So, inform yourself with your competitors’ methods and then ask yourself whether they’re missing a big opportunity or not. Besides, you should must note components of competitor apps in order that you can improve your monetization strategy or to make a better application with many advanced features. Conclusion So, Charge per Download, Partner With Mobile Ad Network or Ad Exchanges are not the only means to make money with apps. We’ve presented some other ways with which app developers can generate more revenue, but think creatively and I’m sure that you can

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What Are Steps To Make App Popular

You came up with an innovative idea, worked out your niche, hired mobile app developers & designers, and developed your mobile app. But, the development and execution are only half the battle, and the following step is to market your mobile app in a right way. Or else, it will get lost among the other apps available for users on their smart phones. Therefore, here we are providing 7 great tips on how to market your mobile app: ASO (App Store Optimization) According to Developer Economics report, “50% of iOS developers and 64% of Android developers are operating below the ‘App Poverty Line’ of $500 per app per month. So, if you are sailing on the same boat, ASO can be a Saviour for you. App Store Optimization is the process of optimizing mobile apps to rank higher in an app store’s search results. Also, “63% of apps are disclosed through app store searches” According to Forrester. Keep in mind that the higher your app ranks, the more visible it is to app users, resulting in downloads. App’s Icons & Colors The small picture that represents your app in the store is the first big chance for you to grab user’s eyeballs. This is because human beings are a visual beast, so what you pick out to represent your app matters a lot. To know what users like the most, you should take a look at some of the most best-selling applications in an App Store or Google Play search as well as take note of how they map themselves. Your App Title After your icon, another important thing your potential customers will see is the title of your app. So, it is very vital to make best use of the 255 character limit for the App Name field. Also, the app name must be in line with your app’s offering. Always choose those names that are easy to spell and pronounce. The name of the app (displayed in the App Store) can be a maximum of 255 characters and the name that will appear under your app icon (Bundle Display Name) on the phone can be a maximum of around 12 characters. Bear in mind that out of those 255 characters, only 25 characters appear in the search results. So, the most descriptive words must make the start of an app’s name. Besides, check the availability of the related domain name with social media accounts for your app in order to make branding consistent. Name Checklist or Knowem are very popular tools to check the availability of your future app name across all the favorite social media networks including Facebook and Twitter. Choose The Right Category For Your App Remember, one very crucial feature of discover-ability for the app is the category it appears in on the App Store. Also, categories allow apps users to browse through a wide collection of mobile apps. Ensure that you choose a category carefully that best fits the primary function of your application. iTunes Connect enables you to assign your app to two different categories, primary and secondary. 1) The primary category must be the more accurate description of the app, whereas 2) the secondary category increases the chance of your app discoverability. If you have the indulgence of choosing between lots of different categories for your primary and secondary categories, then go to the category which has less competition as it will increase your chances of coming up higher in searches. Make A How-To Video Making a video is a must for your app, and I would advise you to hire a professional company for this. If you are going to invest some amount in a video, then make sure it has subtitles for the local language. Translated you video into the common languages if you have the money, and it will do magic to your app download rate.make app video Reviews & Ratings Remember, getting a positive review or a high rating can be a blessing to your app downloads. Also, reviews by users deserve a proactive strategy. Discover whose critical review holds weight and seek for those publications or analysts. Incorporating social elements into an app is a really great way of increasing the chances that your app will go viral. Try to engage social media users and their friends, but ensure that there is a system within the app itself to get a person to engage their friends like through incentives. Your App Must Be Intuitive Suppose that your app is released and someone downloads it and then the user feels as if he / she needs an instruction manual to move ahead with the app, and it can be the greatest failure of your app. So, don’t make our potential users think what to do next and the application must be intuitive. Buttons, text input or other user interface components should be visible clearly when needed and disappear when not in use. Apart from this overriding default moves can lead to similar issues and these problems can make users feel stuck in a part of the application and forcing them to quit it. Conclusion These 7 points helped many app businesses to millions of downloads on their entire portfolio in a year. For this, make sure you have a great app development and marketing team. Some of the tips are really hard to implement, so you need to have dedicated, experienced and talented people around you. This is it from our side. feel free to provide new ideas, suggestions and comment. Any new ideas or suggestion for improvement will be appreciated from the bottom of heart. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/what-are-steps-to-make-app-popular/

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The Ultimate Guide To Focus Your Mobile App In The Right Direction

No secret that the app economy is roaring, but if your app doesn’t work right or any other app does it better, then you’ll wind up being erased or worse yet negative reviews on app stores. Therefore, we are providing this ultimate guide on how to focus your mobile app in the right direction: Designing Your App Regardless what type of application you are creating, the design phase is the foundation of your app and everything comes after that. What would happen if every function you could think of into an app? A large mess. There are four criteria that form the base for whether your application will successfully meet the user’s expectations or not. Your mobile app must have a core idea, a great plan, a layout, and of course great functionality. The Core Idea Every entrepreneur needs to be driven by a big and good idea, and the best effective way to come up with that idea is to host a brainstorming session with your colleagues. For this, divide everyone into subgroups of 3 to 5 members and deliver specific ideas to each group in order that the session is productive and does not end up with everyone being perplexed on one or two ideas. Listing, Mapping and Outline are the 3 best ways you can do productive brainstorming. Plan Before Starting App Designing / Coding Once you have an idea for a mobile app, you should plan it before you start to do any design or coding. You need to consider whether you want to create an app, which will have a lot of different working elements, or just an app, which will focus on a key feature. The developing process of an is time consuming as well as costly, thus it’s very vital to ensure you plan ahead, so that you will be able to account for everything that you will need during developing. Your budget, User need, Features and Mobile app platforms (Android or iOS) should be considered while developing the app. The app need to be as simple as possible, and focus on getting it to do one thing or a few related things. Designing You App Layout Carefully Designing the layout of any app is something like packaging of products as it is what your users are going to see directly. So, there are some, but important factors one needs to consider that will make sure an enjoyable user experience: These factors include Clarity, Consistency, Functionality, Navigation, User and Brand equity. App Functionality Your app development completed about 50 to 60 percent at this point. Now, what is needed of you is to make a point that the app features integrate with each other as well as do work smoothly as a bundle. This is an important element when developing an app, as you don’t want users to question if the application is not working properly. So, take your time in checking your app functionality, find the bug and fix it in order to make sure that the product functions properly. Promote Your app You have created an amazing app, now it’s time to let people know about your app and make it viral. Keep in mind that creating an amazing app that runs flawlessly is not enough, because it won’t get the attention it deserves without the proper marketing. There are some strategies you can use to ensure that your application is reaching your target audiences. For example, Submit For Reviews, Promote through Free Content, Create Free Trail and Paid Versions, Start a blog, Use social media, Define your landing page, Create a video intro to your app, Create and share interesting infographics and many more. Market to the right audience As a mobile app owner, you must know your target audience’s mobile usage in order to make sure that they can find you when they are searching for your business on their cell phones. Remember, segmentation has always been an important factor when it comes to marketing success. In addition to this, if you market to the wrong audience, then you will not get your wanted results, that’s why it is very important to acknowledge your audiences and market to each segment rightly. While considering promotion of the app, you need to pick up the right audience and for this consider Age, Lifestyle, Attitude, etc. Present The App right way Once you have found out that who is your target audience, now you have to figure out the best way to present your business app to them. Apart from this, you also need to ensure that the app is being marketed in an excellent way that best suits your audience and doesn’t cause them to lose interest. A few suggestions for the right channels to carry out the app promotion is use popular social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Additionally, make your content engaging. Creating unique blog posts regularly are another great way to engage your users with great content as well as to share your most exciting updates. Do Not Design Expensive App There are many apps available in the play stores Google Play and iPhone play stores that are in competition. Therefore, it would be good to keep your app at a lower price. This is because if the pricing is more than what the users wants, then you may not be able to convert your traffics into your customers, hence if you promote your app as well, then it will definitely take you in the right direction. Also, you will be able to drive more traffic, more visitors and successively more customers. Thats all from our side and I will be very happy to hear from you more ideas that you feel are very important while designing and developing an app. So, do leave a comment. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-focus-your-mobile-app-in-the-right-direction/

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Android App Development-Effective Tips for Beginners

Apple had triggered the onset of the mobile era with the release of iPhone SDK, but Google had taken over it by releasing open source Android platform later on. As ensue, Android marketplace Google Play had outnumbered the Apple store in terms of numbers of the apps and total downloads. App entrepreneurs and businesses are running after Android, seeing its brighter prospects, and promising future. It has boosted the interests of developers into the Android programming and geeks are seriously sweating to learn Android app development from the ground Zero. However, learning Android app programming is not tough at all, but demands some care and planning upfront to achieve desired results quickly, so we have initiated this post in favor of the beginners who are going to establish lifelong affairs with Android. In due course, following tips and tricks may help the startup programmers at good extent. Refine Your Programming Language Expertise Google has adopted Java at the base of the Android programming and refined the latest Java libraries as Android libraries with required modifications for the mobile platform. Therefore, familiarity with Java syntax is mandatory to step into the Android development. Fundamentally, Java is one of the best objects oriented programming languages so your OOP concepts should obvious and you should know the best coding practices to create clear, compact, and comprehensive programming documents. Besides these, you should be fair about packages, objects, classes, strings, interfaces, numbers, generics, collections, and concurrency like programming fundamentals for the best Android programming performance. Another programming essentiality is the grip over XML, as it will prove your best friend for robust interface designing. Therefore, Android Studios provides a list of functions in for XML programming to bring innovations and uniqueness in the app features as well as functionality. Sharp Your Tools Skills Programming skills alone is not sufficient to embark on the rapid development process, adequate flairs in the use of tools and techniques are vital. Today Android Studios is amalgamating most of the essential tools used previously in Android programmings such as Eclipse and Android SDK so learning Android Studios eliminates to run after those tools. Other IDEs such as IntelliJ and Netbeans are useful, but Android Studios possesses the same functionality and offer similar tools as one-window shop when the selection of IDE and development environment is in question. For testing purposes, inbuilt Emulators are available in Android Studios, but you can take help of other out-of-box free and paid Android Emulators granted for excellent results. Of course, you must be familiar with GitHub like SVN repositories and their usage in programming with an active account on it. Learn to Beat Fragmentation Google and Handset Alliance have released Android OS as an open source platform for mobiles. Thus, unlike iOS, any mobile device manufacturer can use Android as OS in the products and modify it as per needs. Moreover, any user can install and keep any version of Android OS until it supports the device hardware. This democracy is good for the manufacturers and end-users, but a headache for the Android app developers, particularly when compatibility and user experiences are priorities for the clients or businesses. Therefore, startup Android app developers have to learn the tricks, tweaks, and techniques to beat the high fragmentation relevant issues during the designing, coding, and testing like vital steps of Android app development process.The hands on expertise on Android Emulators help a little, and developers or Android development companies have to invest in a wide range of Android devices according to their target audience. Moreover, not testing on various devices is only consume considerable time but also demand different pieces of code too. Solid knowledge of Android application components such as Activities, Services, Broadcast Receivers, and Activating Components are significant. Optimize Application Optimization of the app is essential for the better performance of different devices and OS version environments. Good optimization practices include optimization of graphics, multimedia content, code, and animations as well as interactions. If your target speeds in loading, the size of the app and its loading approaches play significant roles. If your target is user experience, tons of factors need considerations including UI designing, smart UI elements, interactions architectures, information architecture, navigation, and a lot more. Conclusion: If you passionately have decided to jump on the Android app development bandwagon and would like to know few real tricks, our seasoned Android app developers are ready to help you out willingly. If you opt for a reputed Android App Development Team with extensive experiences and superior expertise, Mindinventory is a name to refer. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/android-app-development-effective-tips-for-beginners/

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Which is Better for Mobile App Development: In-House or Outsourcing?

Modern mobile technologies churn out complex apps and new hi-speed games regularly, for the benefit of users. From personal use apps to professional inbuilt services; mobile phone companies compete with each other to provide the best features for the end users. People use mobile apps for multiple purposes such as chatting, watching videos, listening to music, enjoying movies, messaging, reading news, reading updates on social platforms, playing games, social networking, checking on sports updates, searching for quality travel services, booking hotel rooms, buying goods and services, selling goods and services, checking on the local weather and many such useful services. There are literally millions of mobile apps for the use of smart phone users on various e-stores and mobile stores. Every mobile app helps users find specific solutions. Users can conveniently download mobile apps that suit their mobile phones and meet their requirements, from any of the reputable online stores. Everything is slowly becoming mobile-attuned. Consider banking for example; nowadays no customer would be interested in opening a bank account that doesn’t offer mobile banking services. From monitoring a marketing campaign to posting a good content for a blog site, everything can be done through a smart phone. There are two sides to mobile app development i.e. in-house or outsource development. Let us evaluate the pros and cons of both, to help you make the correct decision. In-House App Development Companies choosing to go the in-house way with mobile development believe that it is much cheaper, quicker, simpler, efficient and adept. In-house app development can be controlled by the parent company to look after the development operations as per their liking. In-house App Development Advantages: It brings in transparency in operations during the development process. You can choose for quality developers at affordable prices. It offers total control over the development project. Lots of options are made available while selecting the latest technology. In-House App Development Disadvantages: Starting costs are very high, especially to set up infrastructure. Certificates and licenses that are necessary for buying app codes and software tools are obtained after paying exorbitant fee. There is risk of running additional costs, if your developers get stuck mid-way and external consultants have to be roped in. Outsourcing Mobile Application Development Handing your mobile app development project to a professional mobile app development company is an wise step, if you wish to save considerable time and money and have a superior quality app that truly delivers value. Mobile App Development Outsourcing Advantages: Instant start of operations and no time wasted on market formalities Minimum risk involved as mostly the cost of development and delivery are fixed Expert mobile developers get the job done faster with their superior resources and working experience Helps the company to divert their attention elsewhere on other important business operations Mobile App Development Outsourcing Disadvantages: No control over the whole development process and drain of intellectual capital Being dependent on another business enterprise for planning your core business operations Complicated nature of services and even small negligible changes add to the overall costs Price rates are determined on per hour basis for outsourcing development services Mobile apps are one of the most commonly and popularly used features in smart phones. Mobile applications also form the centre point focus of tablets. These apps are used by worldwide customers, businessmen, employees, students and general public at large. Primary Features of Mobile Apps are as Follows: Easy functionality with wide variety of choices Great communicative abilities and high productivity rate Custom made apps are best for monitoring distant employees Branded apps help to increase the fun quotient for users and aid in gaining brand popularity Choice in building in-house app or outsource app according to your requirement The final decision is usually based on the cost factor and your chances on risk taking. In today’s technologically advanced world, businesses are always under great pressure to compete with each other and gain a noticeable foothold in the mobile app industry. While most of you would love to maintain the mobile development in-house, it can prove to be a case of static loss factor without the inclusion of outsources in mobile development phase. Changing Phases in the Mobile App World The ever changing scenario of mobile applications world makes it difficult for mobile developers and companies to decide on a particular development method. For most companies, it is an evolving journey, wherein they start with outsourcing and later bring their mobile development back to where it belongs- in-house. There are businesses that experiment with both techniques and sometimes settle for a combined package. Some try the do-it-yourself approach, but without trained resources and software tools, it doesn’t get them too far. According to news sources, mobile application developers command high income salary package. Fresh iOS and Android app developers can easily earn a decent salary of $100,000 on a yearly basis. Due to shortage of app developers in the market with such development skills, they are much sought after by multi-national companies. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/mobile-app-development-inhouse-or-outsourcing/

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Most Common App Development Mistakes to Avoid

Developing a dynamic mobile app is no longer a complex process, though attaining perfection is quite challenging. The smallest mistake can pose huge problems and risk hard-earned money apart from loss of valuable time. The main aim of any app development agency is to make sure they can identify the potentially poorly performing apps. The ones which do not really succeed in living up to the expectations of clients and results in disappointed or deflated users. App development market is developing and maturing by leaps and bounds. As a result, you can see some really good examples of exceptionally performing apps apart from a plethora of ill-performing ones too. The latter, however are often difficult to recall as they are forgettable for the failure to leave any impact on users. Top App Development Mistakes to Avoid App developers may unintentionally end up making some small mistakes in the process of development, which ultimate leads to complexities. In order to avoid those mistakes, it is important to know what these problems are. Noted below are some of the small and big mistakes of app development and ways to avoid the same: Keeping Your App Development Idea a Secret If you believe that a secret mission can do wonders to your app, think again! Any app, no matter how good it is, cannot become successful overnight. Whilst there may be some benefits of launching an idea for the first time in the market, you have to balance the secrecy of your ideas with some of the benefits you expect when the information is released to a selected group of people, in a closed and controlled way. Experts believe that you should open up your idea to some close or trusted friends and advisers who have been helpful in the long way. They can provide valuable feedback during the phase of testing so that it doesn’t fail. You should even considering running a pre-launch campaign to set up a market for your app. Though you don’t have to unveil your intellectual property, you can always tease your potential customer base and drive them to your app. Having Ambiguity over Device and OS Support Providing little details about your proposal can jeopardize the relationship you wish to build with your clients. If you avoid specifying your estimates including iOS development alone, for instance, your client might expect that the costs include Android. If it isn’t meant to work for iPad, it is your responsibility to fix it, free of cost, without deviating from the contract. Now, that can kill the project outright, regardless of how close the deal is. Hence, you have to make sure that the contract indicates version, OS, and device support. You can simply set clear goals and expectations about cost of development right at the beginning, which includes breakdown by OS, version, and device. Not Giving Importance to User Experience Apps are made for users; so, user experience is the key factor that determines the success or failure of an app. There are several seminars, annual events and conferences help over this common topic. However, add developers often fail to place enough emphasis on this crucial factor and intuitive design. Before finalizing an app, run usability or user acceptance testing (UAT) several times to check how it works on the mobile platform. Such testing can give you better understanding of user experience and persona, and even how people would like to interact with the app. To ensure this process works smooth and fine, wireframe the entire designing process. Overuse of Too Many App Functions Of course, your app means business but, that doesn’t mean you should over-stuff the app with too many features and functions. An app that performs multitude of mediocre processes instead of focusing on doing just one or two things well is a failure. Even if the app gets plenty of downloads, statistics reveal that confused marketing doesn’t survive in the long run. Trying to do too many things at a go and over-stuffing with more functions than a user can handle, is not a good idea. You need to have a roadmap for the app, keeping some elegant and simplistic functions with the aim to perform the targeted functions brilliantly. That way, your app would provide a fine basis of working and may be considered for valuable additions. Having an App That Lacks Clear Purpose If your app lacks a purpose, whom would you target? Not having a well defined purpose for developing an app is the biggest mistake. Too often, apps are created as competitive tools to generate some curiosity just because others are doing. However, an app without a genuine reason is no recipe for success. It only indicates surefire failure. Only when your app serves some genuine concern can it succeed and termed purposeful. When your app is unique and useful, it can serve as an ultimate bookmark especially for loyal users. Incorporate QA throughout the development cycles instead of leaving it to the end. Check the objective of the app against development process and run concurrent tests throughout development so that errors can be avoided. Not Marketing Your App Effectively Marketing is the one and only way to make sure your app reaches a large user base. Marketing strategy should be planned and social media accounts should be created to promote and outreach the app. Don’t forget that irrespective of some apps getting massive download figures, there’s fierce competition on Play Stores and Apps. In fact, more than 1.2 million apps are available on the App store itself. Thus, your mobile and app marketing strategy should be the best. You should have a targeted sales plan and omni-channel marketing strategy. Additionally, you have to look at the demographics and focus on a wider customer base. Setting Wishful (Read Inaccurate) Time and Cost Expectations One may be tempted to offer optimistic and wishful development estimated for complicated features like notifications or CMS. However, this momentary happiness can lead to contention once your

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AngularJS and Ionic for App Development: The Ultimate Combination

As mobile apps have already transformed our work habits and browsing patterns, the ways of app development has also been through a lot fresh changes. Of late, there are a lot of cutting-edge tools, frameworks and platforms that have eased the task of developers. Designers can now create incredibly useful and high-end mobile apps easily. Consequently, it provides plenty of user-centric and helpful app to organizations as well as businesses to improve their overall business presence through their mobile app. Ionic is a new entry in the range of hybrid mobile app development platforms. Basically, it is a front-end SDK that is built on top of the most useful AngularJS – a very popular JavaScript library. Whilst native apps still need separate codes written for individual platforms across mobiles like Windows, Android and iOS, hybrid applications offer an added advantage. It requires lesser efforts of development and reduces maintenance costs too. In addition, Ionic applications also provides companies and developers an array of benefits one single development code across several mobile platforms with the help of the most popular JavaScript framework called AngularJS. There are several features of this winning combination of AngularJS and Ionic, which includes: One App Many Platforms Technology has advanced and experts have come up with new ways to create interactive and customizable mobile apps for excellent user experience. Until recently, there were over 4 million developers worldwide having used Ionic for building more than 2 million apps. In fact, it is the most comprehensive SDK available for HTML5 mobile app development framework. It offers plenty of advantages than most native apps. With built in Sass and AngularJS optimization, Ionic also offers an entire library of optimized HTML, JS and CSS tools and components for mobile. It reduces code writing for several platforms. So, one single app can actually run on all mobile platforms like Android, Windows and iOS, without any additional efforts or development time. Ionic Benefits and Features You cannot just ignore Ionic! It is the best platform for debugging, UI, build and performance. In fact, Ionic is one platform with over a dozens of useful components and extensible options. In addition, the quality of each of these components is exceptional and offers seamless interaction. With the latest version, application layout now depends on the type of device and the platform, Ionic, follows certain guidelines on receptive platforms for perfect element display. It also follows the intricacies of transition, platform-specific behavior and transition styling. Component Creation with Ionic Most app developers complain about the efforts needed to create splash screens and icons for most hybrid apps. It is vital to consider individual parameters like height, density, width, type of device, and host. Moreover, to complete the job successfully, icons with multiple splash screens should be created. Ionic makes this job relatively easier; you need to create 2 simple files with .png, .ai, or .psd extension within the main resource directory, state the template, and sorted! AngularJS and Ionic – The Deadly Combination Experts opine that AngularJS and Ionic is one of the best matches that could have ever existed. It is a winning combo for developing one of the finest and robust SDK apt for building powerful and rich mobile apps for several app stores, which includes Google Play, Apple Store and Windows. Ionic comprises a few dozens of components extending to different functionalities. JavaScript portions of the hybrid mobile apps can be built with the help of AngularJS, and Ionic is built using Angular 1.0. Likewise Ionic 2 works together with AngularJS 2.0. Major Advantages of Choosing Ionic and Angular JS Combo Ionic, when combined with AngularJS, is a recipe for remarkable transition in the field of mobile app development. Using AngularJS front-end JavaScript framework makes it possible to build fast and scalable applications, offering various services like analytics and push notifications. There are a plenty of advantages of Ionic and AngularJS as a combination as Ionic adds to the widely preferable Angular JS features. Ionic provides one of the finest ready-made components for mobiles with extensible and beautiful themes with beautiful typography adapting to different platforms. There are plenty of JavaScript components and default CSS tools like Form Inputs, Buttons, Navigation, Sliding Menus, Tabs, Buttons, and Prompts etc. These styles are simple, functional and really stylish. Ionic has been perfectly modeled for standard development SDKs. It emphasizes more on the native apps running inside Cordova or PhoneGap to deploy apps natively. Likewise, AngularJS is easier to use while interacting with external data sources and backend services. One of the major advantages of using Ionic is the most potent CLI function that helps developers to build, create, test as well as deploy an app onto any platform using a single command. Some amazing features such as Live Reload and Logging also enhance experience. In fact, one of the potential advantages of using Ionic is to assist the existing web developers to build mobile apps conveniently and easily, and with a lot of agility. In this way, it saves money and time for businesses owners as well as companies in identifying mobile-savvy developers. Undoubtedly, hybrid mobile app development is all set to lead the mobile app development market, and even dominate it, to become better in years to come. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/angularjs-ionic-for-app-development/

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Tips to Prepare for Dealing with iBeacon App Development Challenges

Over the years, technology has become a vital part of every aspect of business, including marketing. With rising use of smartphones, use of technology amongst relevant online traffic. For this purpose, there’s a ready solution – the iBeacon. However, there are certain things to know about iBeacon before you begin: iBeacons are a better choice than Beacons. While Beacons broadcast unique identifier umbers, Apple supports iBeacons by recognizing those numbers and knowing the range. Make all features really compelling so that users turn on their Bluetooth devices and location service. You have only one change to ask for user permission. So, be wise. iBeacon comes with a battery efficient monitoring feature, though the tech media begs to differ. Ensure that the app clearly indicates battery efficiency and even encourages them to keep the Bluetooth feature turned on. Protect user information and data. Beacon regions are counted as location. Bluetooth beacons are generally radios, often messy and time-consuming. Test the signals and calibrate to make sure you get the best signal. While the aforementioned points are only a few challenges developers and users might face in beacon-enabling apps, there are more to it. Even the most experienced iOS developers are encountering challenges with iBeacon because of its unique traits and features. Choice of Features Beacon technology is unique; it allows the app to approximate the physical distance to the broadcasting beacon. In case if the beacon is at its known location, you can possibly get a fair idea as to where the user is located within a certain radius. Beacons can even be tied to other devices or fixtures like train car, balloon, stadium etc. If the app recognizes the user, it can map the user and its beacon. With backend coordination for mapping, you can even link information related to the beacon, its user, the real world context, and aggravate specific context to user – a precise time, location, and app context. So, during iBeacon app development, you have to carefully weigh the elements that can possibly enhance user experience, though not overwhelming. Likewise, you must consider factors that can protect user privacy without crippling an app in case if the beacon is not within range. The Challenging Permission Matrix Another major challenge of using iBeacons is its permission matrix – the user must grant location permissions to use this feature. In addition, the app should be aware that only a few devices support beacons and the Bluetooth feature has to be turned on. This clearly indicates that there are different states of the app to be checked before beacons can be used successfully. In certain cases, it is best to wait and watch until the last moment to ask for permissions, rather than blasting users even before they have tried the app. Likewise, it is equally important to offer information to users proactively to explain the value of privacy and how data is secured. Issues with Hardware and Signals Many apps have been developed as closed and well-behaved systems. But when beacons are concerned, you must be prepared to deal with external signals and radios. Luckily, the iOS SDK deals with some of the intricacies involved in detecting signals, error correction, decoding and much more. In addition, the Bluetooth LE, or Low-Energy, spectrum lies in the same spectrum band as the Wi-Fi interface, which can hinder the signal. The signal quality may vary wildly among different iBeacon hardware manufacturers. In fact, beacon signals are often affected by device power, temperature, polling intervals that often vary according to broadcasts. Precisely, signal accuracy varies and that indicates that the app should be designed to make choices depending on the type and variable information that has been received. Triangulation and Tracking Between iBeacon and any app, there cannot be a two-way communication as there is only one-way radio. They do not recognize client devices that receive their broadcasts. There are mainly two ways to this. Firstly, only an advanced iBeacon can theoretically open a new, or second, channel for communication with mobile devices and transmit the same data back to the server using constant network connection. Nonetheless, this functionality isn’t a part of the specification of iBeacon and it would surely drain the battery of your device significantly. So, the other easier way to go about is to it fake it by allowing the app to work it out. The app can be connected to a backend, and it can update any record to register the real-time presence of the user and personalize the app and/or real world experiences. Server Piece Considering all the range of variables encountered by the iBeacon app, it is important to have business logic scripts. For instance, the app should be able to collect data related to beacons like UUID, both major as well as minor numbers, and location on the floor plan. As soon as the app encounters any beacon, it would access the business logic script and get a complete list of all the users at that beacon. The script gives filtered data for privacy and even attempts to interpret what it means; this can be tricky considering that updates at any event may or may not be recorded in the real-time. In some case, the device might simply drop out of the range of a beacon. There is a solution to this – developers can use time-based heuristics for guessing if users are still present. They can also use other business logic scripts to observe trends, for statistical analysis, and to draw conclusions. Navigating the App Store Navigating the app store is the final challenge one has to face. The process is a learning experience and here’s a crux: It is imperative to clearly explain what a particular app is supposed to do, or doing, both in public description and in review notes. Show a demo video and explain app functions. Provide demo account and beacon UUIDs in review notes. Include battery disclaimer in the end of the description. A Concluding Note Building

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