Blog Tag: mobile app development

In 2022, nearly 258.2 billion smart-phone applications will be downloaded and the worldwide revenue generated by the mobile app industry is also expected to witness huge jump – from an already impressive $45 billion in 2016 to a staggering $80.6 billion by 2020.

Mobile app ecosystem is crowded with the apps for all needs; each day, thousands of apps are getting developed and published on app store and play store, but only few app gets to the top position. Although, developing a useful mobile app is easier but developing an app by considering each step of the development cycle is something that can give you success. When it comes to mobile app development, every step is important; cutting the corners may affect the sustainability of the final product.

Below-mentioned steps will help you to focus on each task, while not missing the key aspects of mobile app development process.

Step 1: Market Research

When you think of developing an app, it is important to do the basic groundwork for the app. You should research about the target market, target audience, competitor analysis before beginning the development process. You may think that your idea is great, but sometimes it just doesn’t fit in the current market trends. If your idea already exists, research on what unique things you can add to attract user’s attention. Behind every thought in developing an app, keep the end user in mind and do extensive research on the following question…

• What problem your app will solve?
• Will this feature benefit the user?
• What you want your app to do

Define your budget and do the detailed survey in the early stages for the smoother development process.

Step 2: Wire Framing

Once you are done with the thorough market research, the next phase of developing a mobile app is preparing the detailed scope of the work. Develop a wireframe of your app and draw detailed sketches of the envisioned product that can help you to check usability issues. Wire framing includes details on the platform, features, feasibility and specifications and ensures that mobile app development process is in sync with your requirements. Take the feedback from the industry experts and figure out the loopholes because at this stage changes can be easily incorporated. Now, you will have a clear understanding of how your ideas will combine together into a functional app.

Step 3: Technical Feasibility Assessment

Having a visual understanding of the app is just not enough, you need to check out whether the backend systems will support the app functionality or not. To know it, you need to get access to the public data by sourcing public APIs. Moreover, an app will have different requirements depending on the platform like iOS, Android etc and the device like smart phone, tablet, wearables etc. You may need to alter the wireframe if there are any technical limitations during technical feasibility assessment.

Step 4: Design

To make your app look great, you need to know the features and outcomes to deliver great user experience. You can create multiple variations of a screen by playing around with the layout, navigation buttons, graphics, colors, styling, fonts and other visual elements.  Your goal must be to develop aesthetically pleasing app enough to attract the target audience. The team must consider all the parameters necessary including functionality, design concepts, budget, timeline etc. to create engaging user interface. Developing static mockups will provide you a clear idea of how your app will look like and how the user will navigate through the app.

Step 5: App Development

As the development progresses, the app passes through couple of phases:

• Alpha phase: In this phase, only the core functionality of the app is presented which is error-prone and not tested
• Beta phase: In this phase, the app is lightly tested and bugs are solved and most of the proposed functionality is integrated

Agile and Scrum development approach is preferable as it provides collaboration, transparency and rapid iteration benefits which can adapt to the changes easily. During this stage, it is vital to consider multiple factors like multitasking, form factor, device and OS fragmentation. It’s of no use to incorporate the features that are not compatible with the majority of the smart phones.

Step 6: Testing

After developing the app, it is crucial to test the app to find out the bugs in the application. This is all about putting the plan into action and coming up with the first iteration of your developed app. The app is tested for usability, compatibility, security, interface checks, stress and performance to ensure it is bug-free and that users are comfortable with the interface. In User Acceptance Testing (UAT), you would get a clear idea whether your mobile app worked for the intended users or not. If the feedback calls for the major changes, you need to repeat the process right from the wire framing till the app becomes bug free.

Step 7: Deployment & Maintenance

Finally, your app is developed, tested and ready to launch! Understand the norms of publishing the app on App stores. App stores have specific quality standards and security requirements for publishing an app. For different categories the policies of submitting an app are different.

The release of the app on the App stores is not the end. The app required regular updates and there’s always room for improvements and enhancements. Working regularly with your development team, you’ll be able to keep your app up-to-date and maintain its relevancy with the changing times.

Conclusion

Every app is different from another in one or the other way. But the step involved in mobile app development process remains consistent as mentioned above. To make your app successful, you need to follow each step carefully. The process of mobile app development is never ending process; you need to update your app and launch a newer version as and when the trend changes. When users start using your app, you will get reviews about how much satisfied/unsatisfied your customers are. Seeing their feedback, you need to incorporate features in the next versions of the app.

Looking for an experienced mobile app development company who can create your app from scratch or help you in one or more of these steps? We’re just a click away.

“There is no substitute for innovation. Original and Revolutionary idea will always rise on top”- Richard Branson

Looking at the current scenario, real estate business is cluttered with too much of services under one roof with no transaction transparency and uniqueness. When searching for a property, potential buyers have to meet the realtors, view property and at last, discuss about pricing. Moreover, the chances of fraud are always at its peak.

How can we overcome these challenges?

With the increased mobile penetration in the daily lives of people, businesses can operate from anywhere. Mobile apps  as well as web apps enables real estate business to view and showcase the property on the smart device and also provides easy access to check space details, appointments, reports, tracking of leads etc.

Adapting the emerging technologies is becoming imperative and helps the real estate industry to hit the mark. Let’s run down through the emerging technologies that can help realtors.

Chatbots

As the digital world is growing, customers expect impromptu interaction with the right information at a regular interval of time. Realtors may struggle to meet this need! But thanks to the Chatbot, they can provide right information anytime. Customers generally turn to internet for buying and selling houses but feel reluctant to fill the registration form. However, they may be ready to talk with the person who is sitting at the backend (chat bots). Chat bots interacts with the customer by making use of internal and external databases to offer personalized interactions and provide specific data to each prospect; resulting into higher lead conversions.  By automating the initial conversations between agents and prospects, Chabot can surely be an effective and efficient tool in engaging visitors and higher lead conversions. If used in a right way, they can be a key part of realtor’s marketing approach lead conversion.

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain has the ability to transform real estate industry through recording and combining transactions into decentralized secure ledger system. It creates block of transactions that are linked and secured using cryptography that no party has control of. In present situation, the transactions in real estate sector are non-transparent and take place through brokers, lawyers, and inspectors and so on. This involves high risk. To avoid this, Blockchain technology can be used where anyone can record information, without being censored or without needing any permission. Moreover, Blockchain technology cuts off third party cost; to prove authenticity, the seller can legitimately transfer the ownership to the buyer without having to pay for third-party verification. This technology can also be helpful in creating smart contracts, where seller can get away from slow loan process by creating a digital id. And by doing so, transfer of ownership would become seamless and much quicker. These smart contracts are permanently stored on Blockchain and become irreversible and unalterable.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be used in predictive analysis where, real estate investors can set the growth goals and have them monitored with AI tools which can predict risk based on investor parameters and make adjustments to reach financial goals. AI plays a main role in property management where it can predict when maintenance system expires or are ready for replacement. AI can help buyers in decision making; when machine tells you that, “property you are browsing is a good deal”, it’s because AI algorithms have calculated that answer based on the data that was made available. When a human real estate agent tells you it’s a good deal, it may be because of their instinct or because they may be interested in getting more profit or selling property faster.

Virtual Reality

Before deciding which property to buy, client has to visit multiple properties to find the best one and this consumes more time and money. Moreover, if client is staying miles far, it is not always a feasible option to visit each property. But, Virtual Reality can solve this problem enabling millions of people to visit the property without leaving their homes. Real Estate agent can use VR headset to get three-dimensional walkthrough property and immersive experience of the property. If client has to check multiple properties, in matter of minutes they can virtually check out a good number of locations and decide which is worth buying. Another reason of using VR technology is, it helps the realtors to market staged properties with little investments.

For instance, Company named Roomy offer VR staging services to the real estate agents. It enables to create 3D real estate tours and get property staged so that their clients can check that out easily.

Conclusion

Today, emerging technology has become more reliable, integrated and robust and using this technology is not an option today. In order to stand out from the crowd, using technology in real estate can increase leads and surely takes your business to the next level. With the advancement in these emerging technologies, real estate companies need to stay abreast with the current trends in technology world.

Whether, you are an owner, property manager or real estate company, TOPS Infosolutions provides exceptional software solutions for streamlining real estate services. Our responsive mobile app portals and web app development have helped real estate client across the globe to generate more leads and increase ROI.

You might have come across the term ‘API’ while discussing mobile or web application development. In layman terms, APIs are the language through which applications speak to each other.

Today, APIs serve as a foundation in the app development process and allow companies to grow their businesses by using services provided by external firms.

What is an API?

API is an acronym for “application program interface.” It is a set of routines and protocols that enables access to another party’s application or platform.

An API is a software-to-software interface, through which the applications talk to each other without any user knowledge or intervention.

Let me explain you with an example: When you buy tickets through a movie ticket booking application on your smart phone, the application uses an API to send your credit card data to a 3rd party application for verification.

The remote application then retrieves that data, interprets it, verify your card details and sends it back to the application. The application then interprets that data and confirm your tickets.

What is a SDK?

A Software Development Kit (SDK) is a set of software development tools that allows creation of applications for a specific development platform and software framework. Both SDK and API are related to each other.

Technically speaking, APIs are a part of a SDK and executes tasks when a call is made. Going little deeper, an API is a part of a build that is used to feed information while a SDK is a set of tools used to build an application.

Increasing Importance of APIs:

APIs, if referred to as the one of the most important technologies behind mobile application development won’t be an overstatement.

The increasing importance of APIs can be attributed to their role in defining the way developers build their apps as well as the ease with which they integrate various web services into them.

App users today seek various services on the fly to perform multiple tasks and APIs are the ones that make this possible.

Advantage of using API

• Saves Developer’s time

APIs can save considerable amount of time, as it eliminates the task of writing endless lines of code. There are pre-built APIs available from top web services which can be used to shorten the app development cycle and reduces the coding errors.

• Convenient

Today many apps comes with the functionality of social media logins. Without creating a need to sign up for the app separately, users can directly sign-in through their Google or Facebook credentials.

This becomes extremely convenient for users as they need not create a different username. This is done through the integration of APIs provided by respective social media companies.

• Ensures Faster development

Mobile apps today have a robust API backend which makes sure that the repetitive steps are eliminated by the using the existing web API services. By connecting the SDKs with the existing APIs, developers can get the app developed faster while ensuring high quality standards.

APIs eliminate the repetitive process, thus making sure the developer focuses more on core features of the app and help gain competitive advantage.

• Help Automate App Testing

With the help of APIs, developers can automate the app testing process and save the time which otherwise would have consumed in manual testing process.

Test automation feature makes sure none of the bugs remain undetected and thus help developers deliver an app which stands high on both – quality and user expectations.

Widely Used APIs

• Facebook API: The Facebook API is used to access the login database of Facebook.  It offers social plugins that display Facebook posts and “Like” buttons to your website. Facebook offers several APIs including Internationalization, Ads and Chat.
• Google Maps API: Google provide a set of Google Maps APIs that allows you to add maps feature in your mobile app. A user can use the app without leaving the app through JavaScript or Flash. You can various map functions such as embedding a Google Map, Static Map or Google Earth, adding Geocoding and Google Directions Functionality.
• YouTube API: YouTube provides several APIs that allows access to the engaging content on the platform. It allows developers to access the video analytics and channel data through two calls – REST and XML-RPC.
• Amazon Product Advertising API: The Amazon Product Advertising API give developers access to lots of Amazon data such as product listings, customer reviews, seller ratings as well product ads. Through Amazon’s Affiliate program, you can showcase product ads in the app and earn affiliate commission.

Conclusion

APIs serves as bridge for apps to interact with each other. By integrating popular APIs in your app, you can enhance the user experience and increase the popularity of your app. For developers, APIs help build apps faster by eliminating the need to code repetitively.

Mobile app development companies foresee the important role that APIs will play in creating a successful app and thus the importance of APIs in mobile app development will grow day by day.

We at TOPS Infosolutions use several API services in Mobile App Development to provide user-friendly, easily accessible apps for our clients.

For more information visit www.topsinfosolutions.com or drop us an email at contact@topsinfosolutions.com

The popularity of enterprise and consumer based mobile app development is dominating the market since last decade. App Store and Play Store is flooded with millions of mobile apps covering countless industries; hence for the upcoming Appreneurs, it becomes difficult to stand tall and bolster their branding with mobile app.

Choosing the right mobile app development platform and keeping up with the best strategies is not the only thing that makes a mobile app successful. Mobile apps are deemed successful by various parameters such user engagement, UI/UX, etc. But, how does that happen?

Sustainable mobile apps are built by strategizing before laying the first brick of pillar. Helping you to march ahead, let’s dive in deep to make the decision right for your business.

5 App Development Trends To Expect In 2023

1. Target Audience

Before you invest in the mobile app development, do some research about the target audience. This will help you to get proper insight of the customer profile, preferences and what device they are using.

Moreover, put more focus on the geographical location of your target audience as platform varies widely by region. Identifying the target market in a right way plays a very crucial role while starting with your mobile app development process.

You can select the target audience by considering demographic factors such as education, age, socio-economic culture and occupation.

2. Native vs. Cross Platform vs. Hybrid:

Selecting the right platform for mobile app development leads to increased ROI, app retention and user-engagement. Before figuring out the best platform for your business, it is important to consider the user experience and user engagement;

the ideal platform is something that can offer optimized user experience and addresses the unique requirements for customer and business. You can consider the segments like user-friendliness, interactivity, reliability, responsiveness, app updates, customization and much more while selecting them.

#2.1 Native Mobile App:

Native mobile apps are developed in programming language which is native to the device & operating system and requires one specific app to create for one platform. To be precise, user can use the in-built features of the OS; for instance if camera support is needed in your app, developer can easily integrate app with camera.

#2.2. Cross-Platform Mobile App:

This refers to the mobile app development that is compatible with the single code base and can be used across multiple OS such – android, iOS, Windows. This enables the developers to reduce time to market, low development cost, code re-usability etc.

#2.3. Hybrid Mobile app:

Hybrid mobile app is also referred as cross-platform apps but renders the user-interface using embedded web browser, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This helps with advancements and leads to reduced time in developing apps for individual platforms.

3. Development Cost

The cost of developing the mobile app largely depends on:

• Types of application
• Project complexities
• Resources required
• Technology Used

Moreover, application maintenance, upgrades and development efforts can vary significantly; it can be expensive and varies from vendor to vendor and there is always a hidden cost involved.

Open source tools can be an attractive option as it results into cost-saving but you need to spend hours in integrating them. Mobile app service provider can help in evaluating total cost analysis and estimate of the overall scope and timeline of the project.

4. App maintenance

Just because you published your mobile app, it doesn’t mean you are all set to earn profits. The world surrounding your app is constantly evolving and hence, your app also needs to upgrade from time to time.

If you want your app to sustain in the market, you always need to add enhanced features, test and host, deploy, and update UI/UX and much more.

Thousands of mobile apps are released each day; it is naïve to think that just because your app is wonderful, it will flourish. Be it on Android, iOS or Windows, there are many crucial things that you need to maintain your mobile app for long-term. You will need to

• Extend the features and functionalities of your app iteratively
• Enhance it on various grounds like performance, app store listings, user behavior and so on
• Keeping up with the latest UI/UX app trends
• Mobile app analytics for data driven improvements
• Providing quick bug fixes and security patches

5. Security

Opting for the mobile app development frameworks unofficially, exposes you to certain degree of risk as you are using layers of abstraction on decided platform and the coding language which is operating on it.

Additionally, you must make note of norms of industry standards, system monitoring and data encryption capabilities when building mobile app.

In-case, if you are using cloud services, you need to make sure that it complies with the rules-regulations and standard norms. Although it may sound easier to engage in cross-platform mobile app development, but getting highest level of security can be bit difficult.

If all the above points are taken into consideration, it can ensure a successful end product. TOPS Infosolutions’ team of developers makes sure to concentrate on all the above points and ensures your business growth while taking care of all technical requirements.

If you have got an app idea; it’s time to convert your idea into reality. Connect with us today!

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often” – Winston Churchill

Today, with the surge of mobile app development, newer mobile apps are introduced in of play-store and app-store at the lightning speed. But does every mobile app get successful?

In this cluttered app market, it is challenging for every Appreneur to keep the app updated as per the current trends. It may not be able to hit the bull’s eye if not utilized at its full potential.

It is not only necessary to streamline the entire app development process but also to deliver the desired results within a short span of time. So, mobile app development Companies need to think of some process that makes the process faster and mainly focuses on flexible planning, customer involvement, risk management, and continuous evaluation.

To develop the app with such a process, agile methodology is the most perfect one as it is integrated with each factor necessary to design the final product precisely as per the user’s expectation.

What is Agile Methodology?

Agile is the product development approach where the complicated task is segregated into a series of development cycles and thus each sub-tasks become a separate module for a development team.

Respective experts are then assigned to each task which ultimately results in a faster development process. The use of Agile application development includes regular communication,

and constant interaction; achieving the maximum flexibility of the design in the process involved. This means, if the client raises new demand for the product, it can be changed as per the need without affecting the project as a whole.

Basic Ideologies of Agile Principles

• Continuous developer-client interaction and inter-team interactions lead to good collaborations and better results.
• Simple design
• Product delivered in a shorter span of time
• More room for modifications in the app at any stage of development
• Ensures maximum utilization of the resources by simply breaking down the methodology into manageable sprints.

Why you should use agile methodology for mobile app development?

The agile method helps in overcoming many issues that a developer faces using traditional app development methods such as assorted demands of users, seamless development, different operating system, an unexpected amendment from the client during project development, and much more.

Listed below determines some of the benefits of the agile approach in the mobile app….

• • Reduces Risk:

    The traditional waterfall model has a high risk of failures such as late delivery, scope creep, lack of information, budget shortage, and much more. But, agile development calls for a parallel testing model enabling you to track the various task in mobile application development with the increased information and reducing the risk from the beginning. Other than that:

  • Early and frequent integration of code mitigates the risk of late integration
  • Early and frequent testing of software mitigates the risk of late discovery of errors
  • Early and frequent delivery of software to customers mitigates the risk of late delivery

Having such high clarity followed by the scrum management process provides accurate insights eliminating the problem of later-stage quality issues.

• Delivers great user experience: Agile keeps business analysts, designers, and developers on the same page and is accountable for the success or failure of the project. The UX designer starts its development even before the Sprint and works closely with stakeholders to scrutinize the software behavior and dig out the mobile app design requirements.

  Additionally, due to the different screen size and limited bandwidth in the mobile app, things like session duration, app download rate, and in-app behavior becomes the prime factor to consider for the mobile app owner.The agile approach enables testing with these entities to adjust the design and features of apps for delivering a quick and seamless experience. Other than that, a small change in the design can lessen many issues and the agile process will quickly respond to the changes due to the iterative process where all the changes are always welcome for achieving business goals.

• Ensures error-free and on-time delivery: The best thing about the agile approach is, it reduces time-to-market and provides on-time delivery of the project to the great extent. Due to its iterative nature, developers need to release the features of the first milestone and then add further features in the later milestones.

  With such a process, the project follows the proper schedule making it possible for the mobile app development company to deliver the final product on time. Additionally, with this iterative approach and errors recognized at the early stage of the development, minor errors can be easily fixed without letting them affect the entire project and this in turn gives the filtered version of the mobile app to the users.

• Seamless Project Management and Enhanced Productivity: Iterating the development of the mobile app into different modules, the agile methodology enables the management of the entire project with ease and aids the product managers to get an idea of the team’s productivity. As a result, there is a tracking of each task that enables the provision of realistic deadlines and helps to report the issues instantly during frequent deliveries.In the traditional approach, it may happen that, the designed blueprint doesn’t come out with what was expected and the client may confront it after the months of project commencement. But, agile, deliver milestones in sprints providing tangible solutions to mitigate these circumstances. At every sprint, you can get feedback for the same and developers can continue to make improvements until an expected end product is delivered.

Wrapping it up

Considering the fierce competition in the market and the dynamic nature of mobile software, it is the right approach to choose an incremental agile methodology to overcome the challenges of mobile app development.

With this methodology, you will not only experience faster decision making but the app will surely hit the market at a faster pace. Wish to create a mobile app that can help to reach your business goals and deliver an exceptional user experience for your customers?

TOPS Infosolutions can help! Our mobile app and software development service brings the idea of your mobile app to the life.

Undoubtedly, mobile app development is one of the actively expanding sectors. As per the research, 74.7 billion applications will be downloaded by 2021 in the USA itself.

Today apps are developed for myriad different platforms like connected TVs, smart homes, IoT-enabled devices, and many more.

With such diverse platforms, the mobile app development space holds a lot of importance and provides big opportunities for both companies and consumers.

5 Trends that will Shape the Future of Mobile App Development

1. Wearable Technology

There is no doubt that smart wearable devices are their presence felt in the market at the lightning speed. With the current surge in the use of mobile apps, smart wearables are becoming the apple of the eye to the top mobile app developers and more & more brands are using wearable technology to influence user behavior.

Today, they are anticipated to be used by organizations and businesses in order to improve efficiency and productivity. Sports, Fashion, Health, Education, etc. are focusing to provide a better user experience through the use of wearable devices. Smart wearables like Microsoft’s HoloLens and Apple Watch point towards a revolution in computing from basic to smart wearables.

The wearable device will deliver information in an innovative way by integrating with your Smartphone. Thus, wearable devices connected to smartphones will influence the next generation of mobile app development strategies.

2. Progressive Web Apps will gain traction

Progressive web apps have gained a lot of significance because of the ease of mobile app development. The progressive web apps, it pushes the mobile web forward, bringing parity to web and native apps and helping mobile developers to reach more users.

Progressive web apps describe the collection of technologies, design concepts, and Web APIs that work in tandem to provide an app-like experience on the mobile web. Because of such a significant increase in the mobile browser audience, progressive web apps are expected to rise considered one of the major mobile app trends.

Progressive web apps can help with better user retention and performance using the mobile app’s key characteristics.

3. M-Commerce

As mobile app users increase day by day, m-Commerce helps to scale up your business. Digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Samsung Pay has made online transactions extremely convenient and efficient and give businesses that integrate this technology a competitive edge in the market.

Other than that, m-commerce is pushing vendors and retailers to invest in mobile advertising to promote their brands. Also, it helps in providing personalized services such as location-based marketing which enables the vendor to promote products based on the location of the customer.

With m-commerce, predictive analytics and data collection become easy and wearables will also play a significant role in the future of m-commerce and customer loyalty.

4. Beacons and Location-based Technology will continue to rise.

With the increase in smartphone penetration, the availability and use of GPS on mobile devices, and location-based service will evolve more and more to provide real-time information of whereabouts, interaction, and revenue generation for app developers and businesses. For example, LBS can be implemented to:

• Show users nearby attractions or services, along with reviews and directions
• Show users location-based advertising and real-time offers

Enormously personalized services like Precise indoor location sensing, combined with mobile applications, will enable a new generation of extremely personalized services and information. Major tech giants including the retail & hospitality sector have already packed up with huge investments in the LBS space.

The use of beacons helps retailers to bridge the gap between the in-store and online experience. They help to accumulate important in-store data, send push notifications, and gather traditional in-store metrics. Personalization in mobile app development has become more important than ever, which is a major cause why beacons are gaining traction as engagement tools to improve the overall customer experience.

5. Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)

EMM is the collective set of tools, technologies, processes, and policies which are used to manage mobile devices and mobile computing services to simplify the business. The main feature consists of mobile application management, security, enterprise file sharing, and synchronization.

To be precise EMM is the mixture of Mobile Device Management (MDM), Mobile Application Management (MAM), and Mobile Information Management (MIM). Through mobile application management, the delivery and administration of enterprise software are done on the user’s Smartphone. Mobile information management (MIM) keeps the data sensitive to an organization encrypted and allows only approved applications to access it or transmit data through it.

The most important objective of an enterprise mobile application is to help you reorganize, rationalize and run vital business processes on the go. In the business context of mobile app development, it addresses the increasing trend of mobile and handheld devices used in routine business operations.

Mobile Application Development

has become an integral element of the digital world, Without the best tactics, the attention span of users decreases dramatically and because of such a shift in user behavior, mobile apps must contain a set of features that entice users to return to your mobile app.

Have an awesome idea? Let’s convert it into the next-generation mobile app. Get in touch with us now!