App-Scoop

Aspects to Consider When Developing a Mental Health App

Creating a mobile app is an art, and the one who creates it is an artist. Surely the app might benefit millions, but laying the groundwork, working on the production, crafting various aspects, and then going live – to see an app from an idea to its fruition is a mammoth task. And to build an app that caters to the mental health sector is colossal to another level. Precisely because these days mental health is a priority for all. And the stigma over asking for help has considerably reduced. When in need, people can easily turn to a therapist. But finding the right therapist is a task and will also burn a hole in their pocket. This is why most prefer downloading a mental wellness app as it seems affordable and convenient.  
The outbreak of coronavirus was tough on all. And last year when the virus hit us, the lockdown broke the mental walls of several people. Therapy app makers rushed to meet the rise of new customers. 
According to an American app market intelligence, last year, there was a 29 per cent rise in the consumers of first-time downloads of top 20 mental wellness app. Studies suggest that app stores are a host to 20,000 mental health apps. Now, if the app makers wish to survive this cut-throat competition, they not only ought to cater to the demands of the consumer but also create an ecosystem that is favourable for all. 

Experts claim that in the coming days, the mobile health industry is expected to reach a market size of $60 billion.

In this article, we will discuss how to convert your idea into an app, crucial features that make a mental health app get millions of downloads, regulatory guidelines for mobile mental health providers, cost development and a lot more. 

How to build the foundation of an app?

From the moment the idea of an app pops up in your head till it is uploaded on the app store, there is a tremendous amount of work that goes into it. While research and collaborating with therapist plays a great role in making the foundation of your mental app strong, we have pointed out a few more points that one should consider.

  • Define your target audience 

According to World Health Organization’s (WHO) recent study, around 264 million adults around the globe have anxiety. Out of which, 179 million are female (63 per cent) and approximately 37 per cent are male. Owing to our fast-paced life, the prevalence of mental disorders has increased by a whopping 55 per cent. The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus is surely taking a toll on people’s mental health. Now, the first question that should pop into the app designer’s mind is ‘who am I making this app for?’. In addition to this, the app maker also must cater to a broad range of genders. And for the app to grow, addressing the demographic is truly vital. 

​According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old are affected by the disorder. And as you grow older this per cent grows on increasing. So, age, gender and location form the basis of finding your target audience.

  • Find your niche

There are several mental health disorders. Depending on your purpose and functionality you should decide on the categories that you wish to focus on. A generic app won’t fetch a large audience, however, if you are clear of the type that you want to focus on, it will be easy to attract a certain set of audience. Your app’s foundation depends on the recce you do. So, usually, a combination of abnormal thoughts, perceptions, emotions, behaviour, and relationships with others can fairly describe a mental disorder. 

Do your homework by following several mental health associations, understand the stats and research the various types of mental illness thoroughly before deciding your niche. Collaborating with a therapist or professional doctors will be a boon as they will guide you in the right direction. Before starting your work on the app, we recommend you visit the sites American Psychiatric Association App Evaluation Model and WHO. These portals will help you access things on several key criteria. The three major categories that one should consider is Mental disorder apps, Mental self-improvement apps, and General mental health apps. 
 

  • Mental disorder apps

These are one of the most reliable types of apps. They focus on a few of the most common mental disorder such as depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and anxiety. Further, these apps provide help by connecting the patient to a professional doctor or therapist. Moreover, it gives them a chance to connect with other individuals who are going through the same issue which increases connectivity.

  • Mental self-improvement apps

As the name suggests, these apps attend to people who have a clean prescription of not having any sort of a mental disorder. However, not suffering from any mental health issues does mean you don’t have any problems. These people are the ones who are experiencing debilitating mental issues. 

  • General mental health apps

These apps are for the general public whether or not they suffer from a mental illness. The connectivity is immense. The guidance provided by the on-call therapists or doctor is life-changing.  

  • Value proposition 

What you offer and deliver is what you get in return. A genuine app will survive any storm and the consumers ashore will rely on the value proposition offered by the founders. Define your approach and offer an end-to-end solution. Your value proposition must provide: 

  • Transparency 
  • Affordable rate
  • Quality process and flexibility
  • 24-hour support and guidance 
  • CTB-based tips 

 Add these features to fetch millions of downloads 

So, you are in this for the long run. Once you have selected your audience, done with your research and spent enough time with the therapist understanding the mental illness segment – now you must figure out how to make the app more appealing. Once the consumer trusts your app, you are sure to go places. What tops the list though is the safety and security option. Assure your clients that their data is secure with the app. In addition to the trust factor, there are a plethora of facets that will make your app worthwhile. 

  • The appearance 

While you are hoping to keep the look of the app creative, do not forget to keep it simple at the same time. Mind the colours that form the palette of the app. Bright colours are a complete no-no. Currently, nude, and pastel colour will make for a great pleasant look. Do not cluster the app, as people are viewing it on their phone. Make space as much as possible. Plot a grid and stick to it. Also, consider the different mobile sizes and operating systems. 

  • Follow a UX approach

Keeping in mind your target audience, stick to a user-friendly approach. Meet the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) needs and expectations.

  • Self-monitoring 

To manage their stress, people usually like to self-monitor their daily checks. The app should contain tabs that monitor – mood, sleep cycle, food habits, thoughts, feelings, and symptoms.  

  • We care about you

Do you know that being empathic is one of the most appreciated values? And considering the times that we are living in; users will appreciate notification and reminders that will motivate them. It is difficult to keep a track of all the things and that is when the reminders will come in handy. Notification of a motivational quote every morning will get them going for the rest of the day. 

  • Tiggers and self-care

Consumers should be given a tab to monitor their triggers. Once the triggers are analyzed, appropriate self-care tips should be provided. 

  • Music to your ears 

Incorporating a tab of soulful music will do wonders for the app. It will be a one-stop mental health app. It is clinically proven that music therapy can reduce anxiety and depression. It increases their self-esteem and verbalization, motivates them while keeping them emotionally safe. 

  • Success stories and community 

Knowing that someone who has gone through the same ordeal and has overcome it will motivate the patients to hold their fort even stronger. People seek positive communication, support, and acceptance. Being a part of a community makes them feel included.

  • Meditation for all

Meditating daily reduces the stress that causes most mental illness. Provide videos of simple, easy, and guided meditation. 

  • Trackers

This seems like a far-fetched idea but provided the services of a GPS tracker will surely help the patient’s family. For instance, suppose a patient who is suffering from a severe mental illness has gone out for a walk or anything, and unfortunately due to the triggers, they are unable to find their way home. In such cases, the family can easily track them and get them home safely. 

  • Matching clients with the therapist 

When the client enters the apps for the first time, make sure to ask them all the necessary questions. After analyzing them efficiently, prepare an algorithm that matches clients with righteous therapists.

  • Feedback 

Any sort of feedback will help your app grow. Include a feedback section wherein the clients can pen their suggestions. 

Guidelines and Regulations

Client data is of utmost importance. It must be stored as per the guidelines provided by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy standards. Also, to avoid criminal law and civil penalties, make sure that the mental health services are provided by a professional and licensed therapist. Encrypting app data is crucial. Provide verified passcodes and usernames. Biometric authentication will add to the security of the app. Here are a few other regulations to adhere to. 

  • FDA and FTC guidelines: Before claiming on what your app is going to offer, go through all the rules and regulation set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Apps that target just the symptoms with taking into consideration the diagnose are exempt from FDA oversight. FTC takes strict action against consumer frauds. 
  • HIPAA compliance: Healthcare app developers need to comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) depending on the data that they are procuring from the clients. To figure if your app falls under HIPAA, answers the following questions: 
  • What is the magnitude of the data collected?
  • Who is using the app?
  • Will the app be used by a covered entity (doctor, hospital, or health plan)?  

Costing of the app

The cost of building an app depends on pre-build, development, post-development, licensing, features you decide to add, marketing, and the number of hours spent in making the app. If the coding and development are done in-house, then the organization will take care of the rest. However, if you are looking to hire someone to develop the app, the location of the hired developer will largely determine their hourly rates. As per a survey done by a leading web development and digital marketing company, here are the country wise hourly cost for building an app. 

Country                                   Chargers (per hour)

US and Canada                            $50 to $250

India                                              $10 to $80

Australia                                       $50 to $150

Eastern Europe                           $20 To $150

Western Europe And The UK    $35 To $170

Let’s work together! 

One needs to understand the sector that they are venturing into. As mentioned, mental health is one of the most burning topics these days. Hence, measurable, and careful steps should be taken to design the app that will change the lives of many. Factors like trust, information backed by clinical research, privacy and resulted-oriented solutions are what your target audience is looking for in the app. The look of the app will depend on the perspective audience and classes of mental health apps that you wish to focus on. And most importantly, the features that will form the look of the app will be decided by the problems that your target audience face. 

We are sure that your vision to create a mental health app is a million-dollar idea. With this, you have achieved one of the most aspects of starting a business. We suggest you partner with us and we will take care of the rest. Now take a seat back and relax while we build an app that will touch the lives of many and get you the highest number of download hits!

You can contact the App Scoop mobile app development team on: 
https://www.app-scoop.com/contact-us.html

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Here’s why Shopify stores need blockchain

You wake up one fine morning with the brightest smile on your face and while sipping your usual cup of black coffee, you say to your self – ‘Today is a good day for shopping.’ The online world allows you to scroll through a plethora of options to buy from. The hardworking sellers and artists toil day and night to create amazing products. They go through several hardships to make that product reach you at your comfort. And when you are shopping for your favorite high-end bag or your dream shoes or your ‘must-have’ watches or t-shirts, you see that are identical copies of the same product.
With little or no difference, you are in a pickle to choose the right product. Well, this is just a minuscule aspect of counterfeit products. Fake products, first, second and third copy products, phoney products have plagued the world of e-commerce. According to a recent report, about one-third of online sellers are facing this menace. In 2020, the amount of global counterfeiting had reached $1.80 Trillion, and the losses incurred by luxury brands was about $30 Bn. Some reports even suggest that an organization loses five per cent of their revenue to such frauds. 

Consumers and authentic sellers are both on the receiving end. While the genuine purveyors are losing the brand value, consumers on the other hand are losing their hard-earned money and the feeling of being cheated eats them up. Well, when a problem arises, there must be a solution to overcome it. Facts are emerging that Shopify Plugins integrate blockchain to determine the legitimacy of items and sellers. In fact, an American company is testing this concept. According, to the reports, this plugin is an amalgamation of blockchain technology and a cloud-based application called “TAM” that enables brands to generate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are pegged to physical assets. In NFT, a unit of data is stored on a blockchain. Upon analysis, the authenticity of the token is measured and included in the chain only if it unique.

Is Blockchain the solution for this?

To get to the solution we need to first understand what blockchain is. So, as the name suggests blockchain is a chain of blocks that contains information. It is a distributed ledger and once the data has been recorded in it, it is practically impossible to tamper with it. The distributed ledger technology (DLT) comes a boon for all as it provides excellent security for all online platforms. Blockchain when used with other technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), can restrict online frauds of counterfeit products to a great extent. 

How can businesses flourish under blockchain? 

In today’s world, a lot of e-commerce portals are willing to turn towards blockchain for various reasons. This concept applies to a wide range of industries and it is evolving every day. It is fast, easy to handle, needs no mediator, and its pros are endless. Shopify Plugin can use blockchain for authentication which might put an end to counterfeit products and to a large extent online fraud as well. Blockchain enables businesses to flourish by improving their efficiency in the following ways.

 1. Transparency, customer satisfaction and growth 

Instead of using a central entity to manage the chain, blockchain uses a P2P network. In this, the network participants have access holdings and transactions of public addresses. When the participants join the network, they get a whole copy of the blockchain. In the case of a malfunction where someone tries to create a block, it won’t be added to the chain unless all the participants have verified it. This ensures that there is no tampering. Further providing the seller and the customer with full transparency. This applies to the retailer, consumer, and manufacturer. 

The best part is the consumer will have access to all the important information such as how were the goods made, who is the actual manufacturer, where is the product coming from, did the manufacturer temper with any laws with making the products, just to name a few. And when the consumer is sure of all these aspects, it restores their faith in the manufacturer. One of the main aspects of any business is customer satisfaction. If transparency is something that assures them, the company-consumer relationship is bound to grow which indirectly beneficial for the business.  

 2. Fast, accurate and authentic 

​Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags when used with blockchain solutions can provide increased security and traceability becomes easy. Be it a broken product, defective apparel, or a fake item, once they fall in the blockchain pattern, tracing it back to the source will put an end to lot issues. 

In today’s world, most of our consumers are health conscious. They are quite particular about what is included in their diet. In such cases, if brands provide them with access to traceability, the consumers can heave a sigh of relief knowing that their food is of the A1 quality. This ensures customer satisfaction, eliminates damaged goods, helps to curb counterfeiting while restoring the brand value.  

 3. Flawless cross-border payments and international reach 

When you start a business, you aim to flourish it and hope that it grows beyond boundaries. With the advent of technology and social media, your product can easily catch the consumer’s eye. Shipping can be taken care of, but the payment is something that might worry you. Blockchain enables business-to-business and person-to-person payments across borders. According to a study by this global and leading company, this trait will reduce the cost of the transaction by 40-80 per cent. Moreover, these transactions take place in real-time. With this, it is secure as it incurs public-private cryptography and multi-party authorization. Now, if your product is reaching the consumer across the border, your business is bound to reach new heights of success. 

See how we have helped companies develop their blockchain solutions. 

 Let us be a part of your journey 

While consumers today want nothing but the best, the menace of counterfeit products and other frauds haunt them. Blockchain is the present and future. We not only observe all the industries, but we are up to date with all the technology trends. And we believe that the inclusion of this technology will surely keep a check on such swindles. While e-commerce sites are trying the best to tackle this problem, we would like to offer our helping hand to all those who wish to transform their business and supply chain. Here’s why you should partner with us. 

  • We believe in innovation, and we are open to new ideas.
  • Our work of expertise in app development is impeccable.
  • We are in constant pursuit of excellence. 
  • Our value for money apps guarantees sure-shot business growth. 
  • Our fast tech support and our free-flowing customer relationship define our work ethics.

You can contact the App-Scoop mobile app development team on: 
https://www.app-scoop.com/contact-us.html

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