App-Scoop

Have you heard of a phrase ‘The first impression is the last impression’? Let’s say that you’ve gone for an interview. When you step into the interview room, what does the interviewer base his first judgment on? Correct, the way you are dressed and your overall grooming. Similarly, when you launch a product into the market, the first thing the users will notice is the look and feel of the product.
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But just because a product looks good, doesn’t mean that it performs in par with the expectations. For instance, your interviewer may think that you look great, but if you cannot answer his questions correctly, then you will not get the job. 

The key is that the product should not only be designed well, but should also meet the functional expectations of the user. Design is the integral part of the project and in itself a feature. So, it’s logical to encounter the complexities and risks throughout the project rather than at the end. There is a term that is used in the software industry; it’s called the Waterfall model.  It is “a linear sequential (non-iterative) design approach for software development, in which progress flows in one direction downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, deployment and maintenance.” Using this method will prevent a downfall at the end; instead it will help, build and measure progress iteratively.
There are three simple guidelines that you must follow to build a great product. Each of these principles are dependent on one another. Let’s take a look at these guidelines.

Desirability

There are times when software designers wonder, “The UX was great but I wasn’t able to design it the way the most trending app has been designed.” Design is user-centric and the more feedback you will receive from the people, the more functional design features can be inserted.
The key is to understanding the target audience; what problem do they have and what problem are you solving? This kind of interaction will fill the gaps from the design perspective. When you bring out the ideas and discuss them with your users, you will begin to understand the product’s strengths and weakness.

Viability

If your business doesn’t yield the output and make some money, then the product will get killed or not receive any sort of funding. Improving the ROI and keep a track of its success proves that it’s a business that is worth investing into. A good start is when you can define clear metrics to validate your Unique Value Proposition. This helps you focus more on the effort required.  
Designing a product that is cost-effective and has long term goals will generate more value than a product that isn’t designed to suit the needs in the long term or requires a lot of financial investment before its first output. If you manage to get your customers interested in the product and investing monetarily, then consider that you have passed the product validation test.

Feasibility

You might come up with crunched timelines and operationally and technically sounding solutions but it’s not always easy to complete it. The focus should not always be on the technical aspect but one should also focus on the feasibility, i.e. operations and actors.
“Actors are all the people that live and operate on the peripheral of the user.” To know who the actors are, you must look at the customer experience in context and investigate what needs to be true to create a smooth experience for the user.
You might hire trainees, third parties or hire an operational team, peripheral actors that are unable to see your vision, or consider the product as a threat can become a huge risk to the product’s feasibility. You must communicate, reiterate the product features and ensure that the team is working towards the correct output required for the product.

Conclusion

So, let’s recapitulate the learning with the help of three points:
Keep your aim fixed towards the long term goal. Don’t underestimate the hindrances that you might foresee to reach this goal. Instead, huddle as a team and think of the best way to get over them. The best way to keep track of the product design, take a chart paper and title it with your long term goal. Note each step (from the below to up) that you are taking towards that long term goal to validate and dismiss the assumptions and the risk that your product might face.
Preparation is the key. It’s important to collect your data to understand your customer’s sprint. Running design sprints will help you map out the customer’s journey involving all actors. By rolling out prototype and get feedback from the customers, you can test the hypotheses while keeping momentum, and at the same time keeping your stakeholders happy.
These steps will lead to building a Minimal Viable Product that your user base can discover, test and talk about. Your product’s design will be measured with the three principles that you’ve taken into account desirability, viability and feasibility.
If you get a product idea next time, save on expensive remodels and embed it with the product design from inception!

There are mobile consumers all over the world, and so mobile technology trends are important to follow. In today’s day and age, smartphones are increasingly pervasive and indispensable. The year 2017 has seen a phenomenal response with several mobile app trends restructuring the digital landscape. Mobile developers from all over the world are finding ways to make the apps on more sophisticated hardware tools, latest software and better hardware. ​

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In March 2017, there were 2.2 million apps for iOS users to choose from and 2.8 million for Android users. This is just the beginning! The mobile app market is only going to increase with better and more useful apps for users. So, what kind of apps do you think dominate the market? Most of it is dominated by Google apps, social media, gaming and lifestyle apps. Large companies such as banks and hospitality are using mobile applications to increase customer engagement, branding and use them for direct marketing. 
Now, let’s take a look at the mobile app trends for the year 2018. 

​What is IoT? When a device is connected via the Internet of computing devices in objects that are used daily, enabling them to send and receive data. With the advent of technology, the idea of smart homes, smart cities, smart health, smart automotive and smart education are on the rise. Carrying is now passé, the users are switching to more wearable devices such as Apple Watch and Android Wear. They include more functionality to habitual things giving more opportunities and discoveries for smartphone users.
With the increase of demand, these applications are going to increase and get smarter with the coming age. Analysts predict that this industry will grow from $157.05 billion in 2016 to $661.74 billion by 2021, which is quite a significant increase. Since these apps are directly controlled by smartphones, there will be an increase in IoT devices.

Increase in M-Commerce

Customers who are engaged in online shopping through apps have always required payment gateways to pay for products by using their credit/debit cards. With the introduction of Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, customers are slowly shifting to m-commerce. These m-commerce apps not only provide the customer the comfort of an electronic payment but also offers them various payback offers, schemes and discounts. 

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Apps

We are familiar with Augmented and Virtual Reality because of popular apps such as Pokémon Go and Snapchat. These apps are going to take the world by the storm. Imagine that you send a message to a friend saying “let’s book a cab for two” and a taxi app opens automatically! That is what these apps are all about.
The future of AR depends on mostly two main criteria:

• Any change happening in the real world should be interpreted in the app to create a well-defined experience
• User experience should be simple, i.e. the customer should get all the information necessary without using many commands

 Similarly, the future of VR depends on how quickly and effectively you can transport the user in an imaginary space without a wand. The main rules for futuristic VR trends will be:

• Designing three-dimensional images, i.e. the app should be able to change the image and show every perspective to the user
• Adding more realism and similarity of objects as the user comes closer, i.e. give them a real experience
• Define the sound so that the user gets immersed into the VR

AR and VR apps require a lot of brilliance in designing, futuristic technology and brilliant software to support it. The future definitely looks promising.

Artificial Intelligence

We’ve understood the future of AR, now let’s take a look at AI i.e. Artificial Intelligence. The incorporation of AI in our smartphones will have many implications. For example, imagine an image that can change its characteristic based on your mood or preferences. Content should be modified from user to user and should be based on his/her preferences. This could also include location specific information. In 2018, most smartphones will have an AI chip.
Yoo Hoi-jun, a professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Technology, recently said, “Competition for AI chips is so intense globally that we will be able to see AI chip-equipped smartphones in the second half of next year.”

On-Demand and Location Based Service Apps

On-demand apps make our lives easier and help us save a lot of time from our busy schedules. These apps include cleaning services, cooks, beauty services, food delivery and taxi servicing apps. These include apps like Uber, Zomato, etc. They are popular because they convenient, timely services and easy payments.
On the other hand, location based apps surfaced such as Groupon offers best deals to their app users depending on their location. It’s possible that in the near future that Facebook and Google might suggest you shops based on location specific portals, navigation and indoor mapping sectors. This would be the biggest development trend in the field of intuitive apps.

Cloud Based Apps

Users feed a huge amount of information in their smart devices, such as videos, photos, and personalized information. Imagine if all of this data gets transferred to a cloud based app! If that happens, it would mean that the devices will work much faster and the data will be saved on a much secure network.
Cloud based apps will give enterprises a sigh of relief because they will be able to share their sensitive corporate data on a secured platform. The current cloud based apps include Dropbox and Google Drive. A cloud technology is a must because it offers reduction in hosting equipments and cost, streamlined process and operations, increase of storage capacity and increased collaboration and productivity. 

Cyber Security

​With the increase in m-commerce and personalization of apps, it’s logical that there will also be a high concern when it comes to securing that kind of data. Imagine all of your financial and personal information threatened by a hacker! As more and more personalized and sensitive information such as personal photos, financial details, personal information down to our shoe size, and even fingerprints in some cases, there will be a need for more apps that protect this kind of information. According to Network World, “70% of mobile professionals will conduct their work on personal smart devices by 2018“. Apps with in-built security features either through API or a simple code for their remote access are becoming the norm and their presence should continue to rise in 2018.

Chatbots

Chatting is in, calling is out! Chatbots and voice-activated assistants powered by artificial intelligence will be the upcoming trend in the year 2018. Assistance will be provided to user by integrating messaging platforms to serve as assistants. Real-time automated conversations between businesses and customers will be possible. Significant process in natural language will be seen with an introduction of voice based interfaces.

Block Chain 

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are the latest money making trends this year, and as of late the term ‘Blockchain’ is being circulated in the tech community. The digital currencies solely work on technology and hence, all transactions are conducted and recorded. Now, with the latest introduction of Blockchain, it need not just be a monetary unit but it can also be used all other interesting uses.

Distributed Cloud Storage

Soon there is going to be a problem with Blockchain data storage. The current cloud storage services are centralized but it can be de-centralized with Blockchain. For example, Storj is a beta testing cloud storage that uses a Blockchain-powered network to make it less dependent and more secure. Anyone can store their data by a praying a price securing it in multiple prices by hashing.

Digital Identity
Digital security is a concern for everyone in the world. Blockchain technology can make the digital world more secure and efficient by tracking and managing it, resulting in a secured platform and less fraud. For example, the data breach that happened at Target breached private information of more than 70 million customers. With the help of Blockchain these hacked data bases can be uniquely authenticated in a secure manner.

Timestamp Feature
The timestamp feature is one of the most interesting features. The whole network validates the state of a hash i.e. wrapped piece of data at a particular time. Manuel Aráoz, a Buenos Aires, Argentina-based developer, who built Proof of Existence as a decentralized method of verification, a kind of cryptographic notary service said, “As the Blockchain is a public database, it is a distributed sort of consensus; your document becomes certified in a distributed sort of way”.

Lazy Loading

The upcoming trend in 2018 includes lazy loading. You might wonder, what’s that? Let’s understand. When you click to read an article, you might notice that it would take a really long time for the article to download with its images. By the time the article downloads you are either distracted or you just quit and move on. This increased the bounce rate and a drop in the conversion rate. To solve this problem, tech gurus have decided to implement lazy loading which basically means that the images will only download when the user is on the page.

Touch ID

Fingerprint technology and eye scanning are one of the top security factors that can be incorporated into a smart device. Imagine access to data only with your fingerprint. It isn’t just cool but it also saves a lot of time in congruence with the fact that only you can access that data. This safety security measure has been used by top financial and corporate companies to secure sensitive data. Imagine this kind of security system on your smart devices. Touch ID is already used for apps such as Apple pay and Dropbox.

In App Gestures paired with Animation

Designers will need to pay more attention to gestures. Animation should be used to inform them about the interactions available. It should also be able to:

• Clarify the relation between UI elements
• Provide feedback on interaction

Full Screen Experiences

​Frameless designs have become a trend after the release of Samsung Galaxy S8 and iPhone X. The users prefer more space and expect a full screen experience.

Conclusion

Now that you know the key to success in 2018, remember to make apps that can integrate these mobile app trends. With several innovations at the brim of the market, ensure that you are on top of your game with a new innovation or in sync with the trends in your app strategies. Gartner has forecasted the sales of 2.1 billion smartphones by 2019 which is only going to fuel up the need for apps. These apps are surely going to make our lives easier.

​Success is measured in different ways. For instance, in the app world success can be measured with the number of downloads and more recently by the number of active users. Mobile apps such as Facebook or Instagram have millions of active users, whereas, something as common as an alarm clock app might have a few thousand active users but almost every user has the ‘Clock’ app in their smart phones.
Let’s take a look at a few case studies for us to understand the great mobile apps and why they’re so successful. 

Starbucks

There are more than 11 million people who have downloaded the Starbucks app and about 21% of Starbuck transactions are done via the mobile app. So, how did they manage to get so many users?

Reference: https://www.retaildive.com/ex/mobilecommercedaily/elevated-foot-traffic-means-higher-mobile-order-pay-usage-for-starbucks

Special offers: Starbucks offered their customers free gifts such as discount coupons, birthday gifts and complimentary beverages. They engaged their customers by offering free stuff and their strategy worked!

Loyalty program: This strategy not only helped gain loyal customers but also provided Starbucks with their customer’s data. They obtained the record of their customer’s buying behavior and their favorite beverages. Every time a customer bought a drink, they get a star. On collecting a certain amount of stars, they can redeem them for more prizes and benefits.
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Mobile order and pay: This feature is more for the convenience of the customer and the cashier. Isn’t it wonderful if you could pre-order your drink during the rush hours and quickly collect it from the counter instead of standing in that ridiculous long line? The mobile ‘Order and Pay’ option allows you to do exactly that!

Amazon

Amazon has definitely made its mark in the e-commerce industry. The app apart from being a trustworthy retailer has also made a presence in m-commerce. It is fairly basic but very few retailers have mobile optimized sites that don’t hang up or have too many bugs. As per research, 80% of brands don’t have mobile sites.
Reference source: https://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/10111-is-your-mobile-strategy-fit-for-purpose

Easy purchases: Amazon makes it really simple for the users to purchase an item. Shoppers have an option to save their card details and address which are given access to only if the shopper logs in with his/her user name and password. These details make it less cumbersome for the users as they just need to choose their item and click Pay.

First come, first serve: Amazon was one of the early m-commerce app. Since, it was early in the market, the app developers got a lot of time to implement feedback and keep updating the app for better user experience.

Big calls-to-action: Once the shoppers choose their required product, the checkout should be done immediately. There should be a sense of urgency, for instance, Amazon ticks all the required boxes and directs you immediately to the next step: ‘Buy Now’.
Predictive search: Just like Google, Amazon offers predictive search across all its platforms. It’s very convenient if the platform can predict your search on the basis of your previous search, hence saving time of the user. It also helps correct spelling mistakes which also helps with the correct search results.

Optimization on all platforms: Amazon has it’s app for both Android and iOS users, as well as Blackberry and Windows Phone. This helps them reach all their customers that use a smart phone and improves the user experience.
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Personal touch: Whether, you are on app or a mobile site, once you log in, Amazon welcomes you by name. It also showcases the items that you have searched for in the past in the ‘Wishlist’ column. It also recommends products based on shopper’s interest and previous search history. These searches and prompts give shoppers a shortcut to items that they are looking for and encourages impulse purchases. 

Facebook

 We all know that Facebook is a giant app where millions of users are logged in from around the world. Facebook gathered its customer base when they launched on desktops but as technology developed, they knew that they needed to build a mobile app for their users.
The initial few versions of the Facebook app had limited features but they realized that they soon needed to be in par with their user’s expectations. Once they started paying attention to speed and space, the users for the app increased with frequent check-ins. With regards to space, they made the app look bigger with a better UI.
Through Facebook we can learn the importance of testing and then analyzing and interpreting data before making changes. Their testing is built straight into the app.

Conclusion

All the apps mentioned here are all large companies that can invest heavily into the product; there are a few key takeaways for the small or mid-sized apps. There is a lot that can be learnt from these apps to improve your own app. A well-designed UI, predictable search engine, user benefits/goodies, dependability, and authentic reviews are some of the important features that should be applied to your app to make them successful! 

​To keep up with the fast-paced digital age, it’s necessary for all mobile app developers to engage their users with their app. While concentrating on rapid growth, it’s also necessary to ensure that your original user base doesn’t diminish. John Koetsier of VentureBeat said “…user engagement is the new user acquisition, arguing that gaining a loyal, long-term customer is much more important than acquiring casual users.”

Reference site: https://venturebeat.com/2015/10/13/user-engagement-is-the-new-user-acquisition/  

Remember, existing users can ‘churn your app’, which means that they can abandon or uninstall your app if they don’t find it worthwhile anymore. It’s devastating to see your user base diminish, so it’s really necessary to manage your churn rate.
Introducing you to mobile push marketing! The reason push marketing is effective is because it allows you to send messages to the user even when they are not logged on to the app or device. Both Apple and Android support push notifications (which includes most users), which allow the users to take immediate action by choosing an action key.

The push marketing strategy helps you to retain your user base by reducing churning.

Quality of the Push Notifications

We’ve determined the positive aspects of push marketing, but when is it really effective? This strategy is really effective when the messages that you send have value. If you keep sending your users random push notifications, it’s likely that you will annoy the user which in turn will lead him/her to uninstall the app.  
But how do you determine which push notifications are of value to the customer? This brings us to the next point.

Context and Customization

Customization is the key to make the user feel like a privileged customer. The messages that are sent as push notifications should be based on the analytical data given by the software which would determine your user’s preference, geographical location, level of engagement, and past user behavior. Taking into account the data received, you can then send customized messages to the user.

Spruce Your Deals

There are times when the users get into a lull or does not use the app. Re-engage the user! Again, the key here is to send them push notifications that are heavily based on their behavioral patterns. Users withdraw for a reason, so sending them irrelevant messages would make this just uninstall your app.
Inactive users can be attracted to engage with the app, if they receive attractive offers, deals and discounts on products offered by your app. Initiate campaigns that are relevant to the current news.

How do we turn the churn rate around?

To concise, what we’ve established is that as a mobile product owner and marketer you need to proactively impact app retention and customer churn rates. What if you knew the magic number of sending push notifications to engage and retain your users? Imagine if you could predict which user is about to churn and convince them to stay!
The first thing is data. You need to understand how push notifications help impact the app retention rates. It has been said that “app users who receive one or more push notifications in their first 90-days have 190% higher average retention rates than those who don’t receive any push notifications.” Only 5% of the users will continue to use the app 90 days after first app open. But if they don’t receive messages, they are likely to churn it which means that 95 cents of every dollar spent acquiring them is wasted.

​The second is by using the mobile analytics solution: Predictive Churn Analytics. This is a machine based training model that analyzes user patterns to assess the user’s likelihood to churn the app. It classifies them into three risk profiles: low, medium and high. This helps you take real-time decisions about the actions that you wish to take keep your customer.

Reference source: https://www.urbanairship.com/

Conclusion 

Leveraging push notifications using the above three guidelines can make a huge difference to reduce your app churn and gaining customer loyalty. Also, it keeps your users engaged, drives long term usage and increases LTV of each user which directly affects the revenue making power of your app.
At one point of time the apps success depended on the number of users and total installations as an evidence of success, “One million downloads! Yipee!!” But now the game has changed. Marketers and analysts realized that 23% of the users uninstall an app after just using it once. Shocking, isn’t it!
Some more shocking data:

• Acquiring a new customer can be anywhere from 5-25x more expensive than keeping an existing one
• The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while it’s only 5-20% for a prospect
• Increasing your retention by only 5% can increase profit by 25-95%
• Improving your retention has 2-4x more impact on growth than acquisition

Reference site: https://blog.profitwell.com/lessons-from-10342-blog-posts-on-growth

So, the best way to keep a check of the overall health of your app is by using the “Churn Metric Formula”. The formula is quite simple:
Number of customers who left during a set period ÷number at the start
The number you get post using that formula should decide your happiness quotient and user satisfaction rate. Good business is about customer satisfaction which should be your top priority!
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​The best way that a product will thrive and grow is through customer satisfaction. Customer feedback is one of the key elements in driving customer satisfaction and business improvement. Feedback from customers helps you to steer your product roadmap to make the changes quickly and not keep trying to figure out what is going wrong through statistical or analytical data.

*As per the recent study published in Statista, mobile app downloads will be more than 269 billion in the year 2017. So logically speaking, there is a lot of competition for app developers. Hence, it’s essential for them to create an app that is functional, engaging and most importantly provides value to its customers.
*Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/266488/forecast-of-mobile-app-downloads/

As per the Digital Marketing Trends for 2017, the apps are ranked according to the customer’s experience. Gather user feedback is the best method in understanding what the customer wants and improve that in the app. 

Let’s take a look at a few reasons that makes it essential for app developers to receive feedback from the customer.

Cost Effective

The app’s costing is not only done on the basis of its technicality but also the time duration and development resources. For instance, one bug could sometimes take days to fix or adding a new feature which would take months to roll out. Now imagine if you invest in all of these resources that the new feature doesn’t really matter to the end users? Isn’t that a waste of time! To ensure that you don’t face such a situation, it’s essential that you get some feedback from the customers before you plan to implement it. If you implement the feedback given by the users, then your company will yield apps that meet customer expectations. 

Creating Correct Milestones

Create a feedback mechanism where the customers can voice their concerns and opinions, to understand which app features should be kept, which ones don’t really matter and which new ones should be created for the users. Making a roadmap for your app is very essential.

Understand Your Customers

Communication should always be a two-way communication. The only way an app developer can communicate with its end user or audience is by creating in app surveys that they can fill. Here, the customer can state their woes and issues that they face in the app. They can also rate certain services as being excellent, which as an app developer gives you the understanding of what your customer needs at the end of the day.
The idea is to ask the customer feedback in real time i.e., at the time when the user is facing a difficulty and can’t overcome it. A simple toolbar can be integrated for smooth and seamless feedback about the overall experience of the user.

​Combining Analytics and Feedback

Customer feedback can also be deduced by analytics to a certain extent. But if customer feedback is combined with analytics, the app developer will have a clear idea of the issues that are caused. A problem can be pin-pointed with the help of analytics, for the instance, short sessions of users on the app. But do we know why the users are logging out of the app or using the app for a longer time? Here, the role of customer feedback comes in – you have got a lot of feedback about too many ads popping out or the session being timed out or the app hanging up on clicking a certain key or option.
When you have a thorough analysis of the data and the feedback from customers rectifying problems becomes relatively easier than trying to figure it out yourself. This in turn directly affects the number of user base on your app.

Conclusion

You need to work with CX-centric developers to integrate in app surveys and customer communication tools in the app. These tools can be found on the internet easily, but they aren’t incorporated in mobiles. Incorporating the tools gives you access to a wealth of knowledge given by the customers about the features and enhancements that can make your app more popular.
For instance, when a feedback tool in real time was incorporate in the app Urbanspoon, they received more than 7000 pieces of feedback. The Urbanspoon app worked on the feedback to make it better and a smoother experience for their customers with each new update.
Customer feedback shouldn’t be taken lightly or given to an intern. It is one of the key components to keep your business thriving and make your app popular. Feedback from customers is the only way to understand if your product or service is yielding benefits. In the end, you want to create a useful and rewarding experience for your customers can help your app attain success in the future. ​

​Mobile app development industry is a growing and competitive industry. There are always a few apps that are successful while many of them fail. Have you ever thought why? Well, let’s just take a look at the entire app development process from the beginning to the end to understand what goes into making a successful app.

Why pre-plan a mobile app?

​Firstly, it is very important to come up with a concept for the app; what is the basic concept of your app, what is the core feature of the app, etc. Is this enough? Not really! When you get an amazing idea for building an app that promises you a good financial income, most app developers do a research on Google or check with family and friends on how to develop on the idea. Well, that’s not really how it should be done.
Pre-planning the app is an important stage before actually starting to work on the app. Mobile apps fail within a few months because of lack of strategy and poor planning. Firstly, it’s important to have a well-laid out concept of the app.
Next, you need to research on market trends, list the goals and determine the target audience. The flow and concept of the application must be noted in the form of a flowchart or bullet points or timelines. A budget must be set. Development and production must be streamlined to ensure that the output compares to the design specifications and is completed in the budget set.

Stages of Pre-planning an Application

You need to list the fundamental parameters of the application such as;

• What does the app do?
• Which platform should you build the app on?
• How will the mobile app function?
• How you app will make money?

Let’s take a look at the steps below to help you understand the pre-planning process better!

Step 1: Jotting down your concept
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The first stage is to write down in 250 words or less the concept of your application. Use simple words to help others understand the basic concept of your app. It should cover the following points:

• What is the app about?
• What are the expectations from the app?
• How the app will produce value to your users? Is it solving a pain point, making things easier or provide entertainment value?
• How will the app work?
• How will it engage and be helpful to the users?

In short, include the core idea of the app and the key features and cut out words that are too frilly.
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Step 2: Determining your target audience

The next step is to understand your target audience. Who will you be selling the app to? Your target audience can be defined according to an age group, corporate or everyday users, male or female, geographic location, etc. This will help you in build an appropriate app; this will also determine if the app fulfills the need of the audience as you will need to analyze their buying behavior.
The questions that you should be asking are:

• Who are the users?
• Is the app solving a problem?
• Is there a lot of scope in the market?
• Is there a gap or an opportunity in the marketplace?

Gather feedback to test your concept. Research will help you determine if the concept needs to be refined.

Step 3: Researching apps that are similar to your app

Unless the concept of your app is extremely new or super innovative, you are bound to find competition in the market. So the third step is to understand those similar apps and the problems that they solve. It is important to study them thoroughly and note down loopholes and bugs. This will help you make a better app.
Some of the questions that you must ask during research are:

• Why is the app successful?
• Are there any negative comments or issues that are mentioned in the feedback, reviews or blog posts?
• What are the marketing strategies that are used?
• What does the app cost? Are there in-app purchases?

Ensure that the app that you are planning to build offers users more value and has better productivity than the competition’s app.

​Step 4: Brainstorming with your team

Most times it’s said that too many cooks spoil the broth but in this case, brainstorming with your colleagues will definitely lead you to better results. Every customer has a unique thought process. Similarly, when you brainstorm the team members put forth their opinions and suggestions and problems that they might face while operating the app.
It is recommended to include people from different fields. Ask them to give their opinion about all aspects of the app; marketing, developing, functional, strategic, etc.

Step 5: Preparing a list of outputs expected

The fifth step is to prepare the list of outputs that are expected while developing the app. This tally will ensure that the app is being tested at every stage and the final output will be as close to the one imagined. Discuss the technical feasibility of the concept with your in-house development team or potential vendors. It is important to discuss platform capability, devices, connections, security and support requirements.  Create a list of functional and technical specifications so that you can compare them to the original concept. Keep your app basic and don’t overdo it. Keep it as simple as possible.
 
Step 6: Create a flowchart

After listing down all the steps, translate your ideas into a simple flowchart. It is the best way to communicate your app idea. When the developers are clear about what is expected out of them at each stage, it becomes really easy to review and then keep working on the app in the development phase. It should include your goals, timelines, budget, deadlines, steps of the development process and the person responsible for each process and stage.

Step 7: Prepare Screen

Draw out a sketch for screen navigation. It will help the developers develop the UI correctly. It will also help you fix minor issues that you might face while doing the same.

After determining and noting down all points for your app, you need to move on to the next stage, i.e. prototyping.

​With the advent of technology and smart devices, the use of applications has been increasing continuously. The types of apps available in market range from social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram to gaming such as Candy Crush, Pool to local stores where the user can order groceries such as Grofers, Nature Basket. All these apps need to be built on a platform that is supported by these smart devices.
The most common topic of discussion among developers, “Which platform should a company choose to build their app on? Is it iOS or Android? 

Well, to understand better, let’s take a look at both these platforms in detail with their pros and cons: 

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Companies with good revenue resource can build both their platforms for their users. This makes more sense for large or global companies as they will have Android and iOS users. For mid-sized companies, it is necessary to choose one platform and then move on to the next one. You can maximize your audience on one platform and then roll out on the next platform to see a quick increase in your user base.
 
So, when do you choose iOS first?

• Firstly, it depends on the demographics of your user, for example, if you are introducing an app for a grocery store in Beverly Hills, then you must target iOS. This is because there are more Apple users in this area than Android.
• Since, a lot of capital needs to be raised to build an app, the best way to test is to develop it for iOS users. This is the case for most start-ups because of its cost and speed to market. More recently, the Coachella conference organizers stated that 90% of their attendees use iOS and their attendees are definitely reflective of influencer types.

 
When do you choose Android?

• If you are rolling out an app for mass users in developing nations, it will be sensible to build your app first on the Android platform.
• Also, if you are looking to make customized apps, you much choose Android because of the flexibility it offers. The iOS platform is not supported by all hardware and software elements.
• If you need a quick approval, then the right choice will be building an Android platform.

Conclusion

At the end, most apps will end up being on both platforms to maximize their user base. In today’s world of fragmented audiences, it is the most logical conclusion. This is where the developer should consider cross-platform app development tools. These tools allow you to develop two apps, Android and iOS, at the same time. They reduce time and cost for development. 

​The “application world” is a market that is constantly growing. Not only the app world but the technology in the app industry is growing at high speed. So, sometimes it becomes very confusing for the app developers to understand which app platform should be used – the native app or the hybrid app? Firstly, we need to determine the fact that a modern business can’t afford to not offer mobile apps that don’t offer the required software to its users. Hence, choosing between the hybrid and native platform is very challenging. Secondly, both these programming languages – native and hybrid – come with their own pros and cons. 

​But while weighing both these platforms, the popularity of the hybrid app has been growing. Do you know why? It’s because a hybrid app is able to provide features and performance with a nominal costing. It is also compatible on different platforms; and hence the hybrid app is becoming a new norm.

Advantages of a Hybrid App

Let’s quickly list the key advantages of the hybrid app:

• The developers are using different web technologies such as HTML and JavaScript as they are compatible with various mobile platforms.
• It can be written in a single code base instead of writing the native code in different languages such as Java, Swift, etc.  
• It reduces time and cost for developing the app; as the app can be developed in HTML and you don’t need to create two versions, i.e. for Android and iOS.
• It has access to a wide range of platform-specific functionalities such as GPS or camera.  
• It has a good appearance and user-interface.  
• It is portable and just requires a native harness to run it.  
• It can provide both online and offline access as the app can be packaged through a server or locally.  
• There is no update required and wait for approvals.

Relation between Java and Hybrid Mobile Apps

Java became popular because it got rid of the limitation of C and C++. Java has been upgraded several times since, and now it has become an object oriented programming language. It is an open source language and is freely available to the public. Similarly, hybrid mobile app is very cost effective and can be developed in HTML, for both – the Android and iOS users. Hence, the same logic applies to hybrid mobile apps.
The scope for hybrid apps becoming more popular is possible primarily because of the advantages it offers.

So, Will Hybrid Apps Replace Native Apps?

It is determined that hybrid apps will not replace native apps because former also has a few limitations when it comes to its functionality. For instance, native apps offer better user experience than hybrid apps. There are also high chances of the app not being a part of the App Store is they realize that it’s a hybrid app. Also, native apps are a preferred choice when it comes to running high performance apps and games.
We are at a stage of infancy when it comes to choosing between platforms (there are only four – Windows, HTML, iOs and Android). To conclude, hybrid apps are a much cost effective way for a company to port over their app. Their technical person does not need to learn a new language or even hire someone to do it.
But on the other side, the user experience in native apps is something that the company cannot ignore. For example, iOS users and developers know the apps inside out. Without customizing the UX for each platform, the apps won’t work the way they worked before, thus, the lack of functionality and eventually losing their app users.
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Hybrid apps will grow and shows promise for the future but native apps are here to stay too!  

​Experts estimate that there are more than 40,000 health related applications. That’s a lot of apps for an industry that is just starting to blossom in the market. This number will further grow if Apple decides to launch the “rumored” Healthbook.
As per the latest rules and regulations, any health app that stores or processes personal health information, launched in the US must be HIPAA compliant. HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The law protects all “individually identifiable health information” or PHI that stands for Protected Health Information.  It basically, collects and protects your health information and medical records. So, before you plan to develop a health app, you must ensure that it is HIPAA compliant. 

​Apps such as Google Fit, Nike Training that are collecting information like calorie count, weight loss progress, body stats, etc. do not come under the HIPAA compliancy. This data is not considered as PHI (Personal Health Information).
On the other hand, if you use any app that holds information such as your medical records, billing information, information about your health insurance, or your health file, the app should be HIPAA compliant. When an individual has received services from a covered identity, it’s also considered as PHI. The name and address of the patient in medical records is also considered PHI. For example, Truevault system is HIPAA compliant because it stores PHI, such as an individual’s medical records.

Making Your App HIPAA Compliant

There are a few things that you need to consider while making your app HIPAA compliant:

• ​Storage: When you enter the data, it is usually stored in the device’s memory. Hence, the app should make sure that the data is fully encrypted. This information should be stored in the encrypted or else the app would be breaching security as a health service provider and would be considered out of HIPAA compliance standard.“HIPAA compliance is multifaceted. When you’re thinking about cloud storage, your first concern should be the Physical Safeguards required by HIPAA. If your hosting provider isn’t able to meet these requirements (and sign a BAA attesting as much), you need to find a new hosting provider. Once you have a solid foundation, you have a long list of rules to meet; it’s a lot more work than building a simple Rails app on Heroku.” said Kate Borten in an interview with Blue Label Labs. 

• ​Using Transport Layer Security: Also, when the data is being transferred to the server from a device, the app service provider must TLS. They must also pin the security certificate if they see a possibility of the device being used on a platform they can’t trust or compromised network. Privacy and security of medical data is first priority to make it HIPAA compliant. 

• Email – Not A Secure Way to Send PHI: Since, an email is a very generic communication platform; it is advisable not to use the same to convey PHI. Sending PHI through email is a HIPAA violation. But if you do wish to communicate through email, it should be done via a HIPAA compliant email service provider. 

• Database/API calls: There are two entities, doctor’s office and business associate that need to be covered under the HIPAA compliance. If your app is not compliant with these entities, you will not be able to give your app access to make API or database calls. You can’t even search and read anything within their database. 

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• Push Notification: As we already know, mobile phones are not completely secure devices. The native push notifications are used by many applications to inform users about updates and changes. This runs the risk of violating the privacy regulations that are mentioned in the HIPAA.An app can be completely HIPAA compliant but sometimes a few things are beyond control such as physical phone or laptop security. For example, the data is lost due to theft of your electronic device or someone hacking into your electronic device. Although, you can be extra careful by ensuring that you set a passcode lock setting whose password only you would know. Or in case, of your electronic equipment being lost or stolen, to take advantage of using built-in functionality of your device.

Conclusion

A mobile app developer that has HIPAA obligations is actually an inquiry based on facts. A small change done to the functionality or business models can lead to a different conclusion on whether HIPAA applies or not. Hence, the app developer need to make the boundaries clear and determine whether or not it is going to store PHI, and hence, if it should be HIPAA compliant. If incase, the business model changes, the app developer should review if it again to determine if the app needs to be HIPAA compliant. 

​The database is evolving rapidly. Old database structures are being replaced by new data based structures. There are two types of databases – SQL and NoSQL.

What is a SQL Database?

SQL or relational databases are structured. They can be compared to phone books that stores phone numbers and addresses. It organizes structured data fields in defined columns. SQL is a programming language that is used by software engineers to design rational databases. Some examples of SQL database include MySQL, Oracle, Sybase and IBM DM2. These databases help execute queries, recover data and edit data. Editing data includes updating, deleting or creating new records. 
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What is a NoSQL Database?

NoSQL or non-relational databases are document oriented. They store the data like file folders, i.e. they hold everything, from a person’s address or phone number to their Facebook likes, shopping preferences, etc. It doesn’t incorporate the table model; the data can be stored in a single documented file. Hence, the data can be found easily but it cannot be categorized into fields like a relational database does. For example, Hadoop is an open source computing and data analysis platform that processes huge amounts of data in the cloud and is popular with NoSQL database stacks.

Advantages of SQL

• Simple yet powerful JOIN clause – a single command can retrieve related data stored across multiple tables
• Fit naturally into venerable software stacks, including LAMP and Ruby-based stacks – they are understood and widely supported if at all you run into problems
• Restricts access of a table so that nobody can insert the rows into the table
• Improved vertical performance so horizontal scalability is no longer a necessity
• View the data without storing data into the object
• No need to write a lot of codes

Advantages of NoSQL

• Ease of access for app developers
• NoSQL databases use APIs which allow developers to execute queries without having to learn SQL or understand the database system unlike relational databases that have a relationship with applications written in object oriented programming languages
• Rapid development – can make frequent updates to the data structure
• Cloud-based storage is an excellent cost-saving solution
• Sets no limits on the types of data you can store together – allows you to add different new types as your needs change

So, when would using NoSQL make sense?
Following are the instances when using NoSQL makes sense:

• Document Database solution CouchDB sums up the distinction between RDBMS and Document Databases.

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• When the data is stored in key-value pairs – NoSQL database should be used. Redis, Voldemort and Dynamo are well-known key value stores.
• NoSQL should be used for softwares that have data or columnar database present.  Examples for graph database include Neo4J and InfiniteGraph and columnar database include Cassandra and HBase.
• A NoSQL database sets no limits on the types of data you can store together. It allows you to add different new types as your needs change. 
• When data is provided from a third party source, a NoSQL database is an application for statistics and/or reports generation.
• Using commodity (affordable, smaller) hardware on-site or in the cloud saves you the hassle of additional software. NoSQL databases such as Cassandra are designed to be scaled across multiple data centers out of the box without a problem.

When would using SQL make sense?

• ACID Compliancy protects the integrity of the database by stating how transactions interact with the database. For an E-commerce and financial applications, an ACID-compliant database is preferable.
• It would also make sense to use SQL if your data structure is not changing often.

 
So, which one is better – SQL or NoSQL?

​So now that we’ve got a download on SQL and NoSQL database, you will need to assess if you require a relational or non-relational database management system. The idea that both these databases are in competition is not true – remember, that most companies use them concurrently.
If your data structure needs are changing and growing fast every minute, you need NoSQL; whereas, if you don’t have a changing structure and have a moderate growth rate, you must opt for SQL.
If you are still confused, don’t hesitate – approach App-Scoop!