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The 5 Steps That Are A Must When Building an App

Sometimes, entrepreneurs and developers flounder on the basic steps, making an easy task seeming a lot more demanding than it actually is. Got the perfect idea for a superb app which will be loved by millions? Can already imagine your users using it happily and blessing you for it? It’s About Implementing! Regardless of the fact as to how brilliant or unique your app idea is, if any given app is not built well, it will become quite difficult for it to become a success. With the mobile app marketing increasing tremendously and becoming extremely competitive with every passing day, it is essential that your app is built right and reaches its target audience easily. The 5 Steps Here are the 5 basic steps for building a mobile app and getting it right! Identify the need In order to build the perfect app, it is important that you come up with a solution to solve one of the many problems being faced by today’s users. Once the need has been found, you need to validate your idea with the help of Google Keyword Planner and check how many people are looking out for your idea so you know that your app will be in demand. Another idea would be to come up with a landing page with your apps idea and ask users to give in their views on the same. Work on the features and the flow After the app is validated, you need to focus on the documenting of the app preferably with a wireframing tool. Be thorough with details as you put down your idea on paper, its navigation and features. Once the basic is complete, work on the features that can be done away with so that you are left with the app’s core value. Added features can be included in the app as an update. This will not only help reduce initial development costs but also allow the app to reach the market rapidly. Make design/designing your priority Your app is all about its design so never settle for a basic one. A good developer will always put design which comprises of graphics and user experience first and work really well on it. Moreover, when selecting a development company, always opt for one which boasts of a good development team and design talent as that it what will make your app sell and make it popular in the first place. Also check the development company’s credibility before starting work with it. Explore the competition Once your app is ready to be launched and all the work is done, you need to explore your competitors. Though you might find it difficult to make your own place in a huge market, having good competition ensures that your app has good opportunity and can reach out to a good number of existing users. Ask yourself what is different in your app that the users will turn to it instead of your competitor. You must also analyze whether your app will be able to sustain in the market even if it is a late entry. Make use of analytics so that you can keep a track of the number of downloads, app retention and user engagement to improve it in the future. Say yes to change When the app is almost ready, take the help of beta testers to check on the production as this will help ensure that your app will live up to the customer’s expectations. Also, if the app fails to do so at some point, you must be ready to make the necessary changes without delay. An app coding must meet user preference and in order to achieve this, test the app completely before it is launched. Finally, create developer accounts with Google Play Store and the App Store which will allow you to sell your app through these platforms. It’s important to be careful. You will do great to ensure that you’ve the right app developer complementing you, who can guide you through the process. An experienced app development company like Mindinventory can help you to get the right app out there, in the right way and ensure that you do not make any basic mistakes that can cost you in the longer run. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/the-5-steps-that-are-a-must-when-building-an-app/

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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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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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Must Have Builds and Needs for An Enterprise Mobile Application

Regular mobile users are looking for mobile applications that are useful, easy to use and fun, and developers are defining target audience depending on user’s needs and preferences. But there’s another category of premium users and they work for organizations with hundreds or thousands of employees who are accessing company information on the go, instantly and without any inconveniences. They do their job more efficiently, if they’re offered a consumer-like user experience and if their needs are identified, developers will know what type of enterprise mobile app to build and what features to add. If you’re an app developer who wants to try his luck in this domain and needs guidance to build a enterprise mobile app, you should take into considerations these tips: Employees Need To Sync And Share Files People working in offices are dealing with many documents and they store a lot of information on their mobile devices, which is then added to the company’s database and accessed by other employees, who use it to carry out daily tasks. Files are synced with other devices, then other employees edit or make changes to them and the update will be reflected across all devices that belong to the company and have that certain business application installed on them. Improve Collaboration Between Employees A strong business is run by a person with a practical mind and has a team of professionals, who collaborate among themselves and keep all departments updated. An application that would make employee’s job easier would allow them to access files via a virtual chat tool, so they will no longer need to enable Bluetooth every time they have a file to share. And they will no longer need to leave their offices, to establish a connection with another device and transfer files. Centralized Control Sharing is caring, but when it comes to businesses, everything has to be limited to appropriate content, and in sales, clients are convinced to buy products after seeing good presentations. When establishing a meeting with a potential buyer, the salesperson must bring all the aces up his sleeve and this means that he will be the image of the company, and will represent it to the highest level. The new technology saves employees from carrying laptops with them to show a presentation of a product, as everything can be done from the screen of a tablet or smartphone. But the content that will be showed to the client must be carefully selected by a certain group of people who work for the same company. Contact Information Accessed Alongside Calendar Events The invention of the email service was one of the best things that could happen to humanity, as it replaced the traditional letter sent through post offices, sparing company representatives from wasting their time in the town. Nowadays, with a few clicks, the information reaches the recipient almost instantly, and it’s much easier to keep in touch with customers, partners and team members. By adding the option to access contact information along with calendar events, busy employees will save a lot of time. Web Conferencing To Receive Information In Real-time In big cities are regularly organized events dedicated to business development, but if something comes up and the company representative can’t attend the meeting, the company will suffer. That’s why online workshops, webinars and web conferences are better solutions and they’re helping businessmen who are traveling and want to receive information in real-time. Browsers And The Eternal Security Problem People search for information on the internet all the time and end up on dangerous websites that infect their devices with malware. If you’re not ready to build a more efficient antivirus program, then maybe you can think of a more secure browser that employees will use to make internet searches. A Business App Should Utilize The Device’s Technical Capabilities Before the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, applications were using the device’s GPS, microphone, camera etc. without the user’s approval. App permissions allowed users to have more control over which applications handle certain domains, but that doesn’t mean this feature is scaring off mobile app developers who build applications that utilize the technical capabilities of the device. Beauty And A Beast We can all agree that applications must look good, because users are feeling a higher degree of pleasure, but beauty isn’t everything. An application that becomes unresponsive and crashes will trigger frustration and will prevent users from finishing their job. Therefore, a successful business app is definitely good-looking and stable. Also, it should work offline. Business Apps Should Work On Multiple Platforms iOS, Android and Windows are the three most popular and used operating systems, and lately, organizations have implemented a BYOD policy which allows employees to use their own devices and work on them, although there were some reports about consumer file transfer applications that caused data leakage incidents. Either way, if you’re decided to go all the way and bring an application that will help connect people despite their technological preferences, then make sure your application will not be easy to hack and attackers won’t be able to steal data. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/must-have-builds-and-needs-for-an-enterprise-mobile-app/

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Best Tips and Practices for Mobile Application Development

Building a mobile app is not only about learning frameworks, languages, APIs and SDKs, it requires a lot more outside work, such as knowing the audience, planning ahead and obtaining the best performance. There are over 5 billion people on this planet who own a mobile device and the number of users who downloaded applications from the internet was doubled in the past five years. The more people will afford to buy a smartphone, the more applications will be released, bringing a nice income to their creators. In order to become a productive venture, an application must be built with passion and sweat, by a brilliant mind who has vision and a strategy, so if you’re prepared to go down this road, we’ll help you with some tips and practices for mobile app development. Web, Native or Hybrid App? So, after making sure that you have development resources, you will need to get familiarized with mobile technology and choose wisely a route that will evolve your app into a money monster. If you’re building an app for web mobile, you’ll finish it in a short time and you won’t invest too much money in it. Plus, the app will support a wide range of mobile devices, compared to a native app, which is developed specifically for a certain platform and it’s downloaded from the official store. On the other hand, a hybrid app combines native and HTML5/ CSS/JavaScript worlds, and the result is either amazing or a total failure. The difference between a native and a hybrid app is that the former is hosted inside a native application that uses a mobile platform’s WebView and it has access to device components such as camera, microphone, accelerometer etc. Mobile JavaScript Frameworks There are many challenges when choosing to build a mobile web app, mostly related to inconsistent HTML and CSS in mobile browsers or cross-browser compatibility. In order to address these issues, developers have created frameworks based on HTML5 and CSS3 and they work on a variety of smartphones and tablets. A great JavaScript framework that will convert semantic markup into a gesture-friendly format for touchscreens is jQuery Mobile and if you’ll use the latest version, you’ll see that it’s packed with many graphical elements that will help improve the user interface of your app. Another good example of JavaScript framework is Sencha Touch, which makes mobile web user interface look like a native one. Free, Open-Source Frameworks Bootstrap and Foundation and two of the most responsive frameworks that emerged in the past years. Like many other frameworks, they’re based on CSS and JavaScript and they reduce the efforts to design an app, but if you’re undecided which one to choose, you should learn the differences between them. So, Bootstrap supports smartphones, tablets, computers and it’s oriented toward desktop use. It’s compatible with IE7 or higher, it offers a large collection of UI elements and it supports a pre-defined set of grid sizes. Foundation, on the other hand, supports all screen sizes and types, its grid adapts to the browser height and width, it’s compatible with IE9 or higher, but it has fewer UI elements than Bootstrap. Security No matter what type of mobile app you’re developing, you should understand the importance of security, to be able to protect user’s data, and this can be done by incorporating encryption. By encrypting an application, it becomes impossible to be understood by unauthorized people. For example, WhatsApp and other instant messaging client have encrypted chats so that only the sender and the recipient have access to messages. Another way to protect data is by introducing programming backup capabilities, to archive data on the cloud on a periodic basis and in case the device gets stolen, an app should have a “wipe” capability that will erase the disk when the authorized user reports that the device is lost. Testing and User Experience An objective opinion from a mobile user who tests your app can help you fix potential glitches and bugs. Find someone who is willing to install and test your application for usability and power consumption, to make sure that it’s not a battery killer. If the app accommodates both online and offline usage and it behaves normally on multiple carrier connections, then you’re ready to release your project for the public. Conclusion It’s easy to turn challenges into opportunities, if you know which steps you need to take to build a high quality mobile application that will guarantee you popularity and a good income. All you need is: development skills, knowledge about design, API Management, Security and positive feedback. Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/best-tips-and-practices-for-mobile-application-development/

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Mobile Application Development Tips To Target Your Audience

Are you a business owner that wants to develop an app for your target audience? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this article we’re explaining what are the key considerations you should bear in mind when starting the app development process. Since mobile apps are helping people in different aspects of their life, from communicating with family & friends to even paying for groceries, businesses turn to mobile apps to attract clients and help them in their daily endeavors. So, hop up on the app train and find out exactly how you should foresee the development process to get out a great looking and, most importantly, helpful app for your business. Who are you addressing? Firstly, as most projects designed for clients, you need to figure out the profile of your targeted audience. Knowing who you are addressing helps your company tons: you can figure out what they love to eat, drink, watch on the TV and use that to your advantage. A study made in 2012 by Nielsen showed that people went from an average of 32 apps on their phone in the previous year to 41 apps in 2012. Considering it’s 2016, we can only imagine the number has grown. What does this mean? Smartphone users are experienced in the ‘app world’ and have already developed a sense of what they like and don’t like. They even have a level of performance they require from an app to enjoy using it. Don’t believe us? Maybe you’ll believe Compuware: in one of their surveys, they found out that 79% of users will not give an app more than two chances if it has proven to have a low performance. What should you take away from this? If you want to create a successful app, you need to put your best effort in it. Your app has to run smoothly, because lagging will draw people away. The first reviews might be the most important Of course, every review has an effect on what your ranking will be in the app store. But the first ones are crucial, because it will determine other users to either download the app or completely ignore it. So, obviously, you’re aiming for 5-star reviews from the start. You’ve probably noticed that when a user gives a low rating to an app is because of performance: either the app doesn’t load, lags, or doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Studies have shown that a 4.5-star rated app will be downloaded 4 times more than a 3.5-star rated one. So… look out for those first reviews. If you start getting bad reviews in the beginning, reach out to those people and find out as soon as possible what the problem is. You need to fix your issues as soon as possible – or your app will disappear with the other hundreds of failed apps in the App Store. Testing, testing, testing!!! Before releasing the app out into the world, you need to test it, starting from CPU usage, all the way to app calculations. You can talk with your developer and establish what testing you need to do to know that your app will not crash and they will please the user. Even audio and video playback testing is extremely important for the perfect app. You are entitled to know what testing is going on for your app and you should feel free to propose to your developer some testing techniques that you feel will make the app helpful for your users. A very important thing to think about is point of view. Ask your app developer if they can test out the application in a realistic environment that would resemble your target audience’s environment. This sort of testing is very important because it will ensure you find out early on what your user’s problems could be (no internet connection, no GPS on their phone & so on) and you can adapt your app to fit their circumstances. Conclusion An app is very dependent on reviews. People are busier and busier, have a lot of apps on their phone, and they will not look twice at your app if it doesn’t have a decent rating. This means you need to get ahead of bad ratings and do all the necessary testing, but don’t forget about the user experience. After all, a fun, exciting and helpful user experience will make your audience give you 5-star ratings in the app store. So, what are you waiting for? Go out there and develop yourself an app! Blog Source- https://www.mindinventory.com/blog/mobile-app-development-tips-to-target-your-audience/

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Mobile App Development Guide To Raise Your App To The Top

Have you ever heard of Fruit Ninja? What about Angry Birds? These are mobile apps that thrived through their unicity and became instant stories of success in a constantly growing market. These applications were successful, but there are literally thousands of other mobile games that never see the light of the App Store or Google Play Store’s top seller pages because they do not bring anything unique to the table, neither excel in the already used concepts that they are based upon. Having a great idea for an app is only the first step, as the way you execute this idea will determine whether your app will be just another unimportant addition to the store, or if it will be on the lips of every mobile device user in the world. In this article, you will learn what are the steps you need to take in order for your app to be the stuff of mobile app legend, as it is designed to help both new coming developers and experienced developers struggling alike. 1. Differentiation One problem that a lot of developers have due to a mistake in early development of the app, is the fact that they don’t set out with a clear vision in mind of what they want the app to do, so make sure that you have well structured idea of what your app’s strengths and selling points are going to be. As mentioned earlier, a mobile app can either be an original concept no one has attempted before, or it can be something done a thousand times over. Your mission is harder if your app falls under the second category for multiple reasons. First of all, every app in the app store is placed in a category it pertains to, such as Education, Gaming, Travel, Photo and Video, and so on. If for example, you app is a photo filter app, its first set of competitors is represented by all other photo filter apps available on the market. Secondly, let’s say your app becomes the most popular photo filter app available. Once you get in that position, your app’s competitors change, and it now battles with the most popular apps from ALL categories. Take into consideration that some app categories are more popular than others, the most popular categories being Gaming and Education. All this is not to say that you can’t be successful with an app that’s already been done before, but you have to make sure that yours is the best there is by bringing something to the table that other photo filter apps (as per our example) do not offer. 2. Thoughts on paper It is very important to put every single detail, no matter how small, on paper. Structuring your game plan physically in form of you is a very important step, so sit down and write everything related to your app from how the interface is going to look like, to what it’s going to do, what its features are going to be, and so on. Many app developers skip this step so from the moment they think of a feature or improvement for the app to the moment they actually start the development process, a lot of very good ideas end up getting lost in the process. 3. Get to know everything Before the developing process can start, you have to take the time to get acquainted with everything surrounding this domain. Get to know your competition, such as how many apps of the same type of yours are currently on the market and what they offer. If you see any kind of flaw or room for improvement with those apps, think of ways you would fix or upgrade them and add those ideas to your own design. Investigate how people make their money off of apps, which marketing strategies are most popular and efficient in the app business, and which you could use for your own app. Once you figure out what and how you’re selling, you need to figure who you’re selling it to. Build a customer profile and get your hands on a demographic. See what type of people would be interested in buying the kind of app you’re selling, then promote your product and establish a marketing presence in the places where that demographic can be usually found. 4. Everything is set for the developer to step in This is the next step to take after all the previous requirements have been met. Most people enthusiastic about developing an app do not possess the necessary set of skills that would allow them to develop their own app, but if you are one of those that do, it’s great news, as you can start developing the app immediately. However, if you find yourself among the people that do not, it’s time to start looking for an app developer you can trust with your project for a good portion of the foreseeable future. You must make sure that the developer you hire has a decent amount of experience in development. Ask them about their previous work and see if may be they have worked on some successful apps in the past. Then there’s the price issue. Each developer has its own, so see how much your developer will charge you. 5. First draft and testing The developer should be able to provide you with a prototype, or first draft, of the app in a relatively short period from the project start. If you are developing the app yourself, you can use services such as HotGloo and Moqups to create the storyboard, which will show how every screen on the app interacts with another, where are the buttons and where they take you, and so on. When the prototype of the app is finished, it is time to get the first results by asking people to try it out. Friends and family may be a little biased but it’s good to get their impression anyway. Asking strangers

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