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This tutorial is focused on a web based distributed application. If you are looking to build a mobile or desktop application then this tutorial is not for you.  
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Blockchain is the next step towards creating a more independent, peer-to-peer and decentralized system that could take the tech world by the storm. The tech world has been buzzing with words such as, ‘bitcoin’, ‘blockchain’ and ‘cryptocurrency’. Blockchain was originally created to support the Bitcoin but soon the tech community has started using this technology for other purposes.
​Don & Alex Tapscott, author of Blockchain Revolution (2016) stated, “The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.”

What is MVP?
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A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the most basic version of a product that can still be released. It constitutes of three characteristics:

• Is it valuable enough for people to buy it in the initial stages?
• Does it hold any future benefits for people who invest in the product initially?
• Does it hold any promise for future development or does it provide substantial feedback that dawns a new product?

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27809/minimum-viable-product-mvp

Eight Steps to Build MVP

Step 1: Identify the MVP Requirements

It is very important to identify the MVP requirements. The initial step is to recognize the product’s core offering.  You will need to take into consideration the features of the app and build them well. The second step is to take into consideration the audiences that you are catering the services to. You cannot include features in your app to please all kinds of audience. Hence, you should focus on the early adopters of your product. This will ensure that you get the feedback for your app. If your app replicates your competitor’s app then you need to build better features.

Step 2: Identify frontend frameworks for web based application (such as React.js, Angular)

Here, let’s identify how to build modern web applications and understanding the type of technology that you must choose.
React.js framework was created for Facebook; it introduced the idea of treating components like pure function and component parameters as function arguments. This framework provides a thin view layer, for example, it provides one piece of the puzzle and expects the developer to connect the rest of the pieces. This platform is best handled by experienced JavaScript developers who can deal with functional programming and immutable data structures. Your app will need to target several platforms with the same codebase. The React.js platform will allow you to write for the web, for native with React Native, and for VR devices with ReactVR.
Another platform, Angular.js introduces the idea of compiling templates to make it HTML dynamic. By using directives, you could bind a model to a view, and the same would change when the model changed. Angular.js is built by Google; this platform is perfect for enterprise developers who are coming from Java or C# background. The developers feel comfortable using this program as it supports TypeScript and Intellisense. The platform is used to build performance oriented native applications using NativeScript.

Step 3: Create front end wireframes and design application

There are 6 quick steps that can be followed to create front end wireframes and design application.
i.User research, requirement analysis, and inspiration
It is important to analyze the requirements, your user base and other competitive applications that have similar features. Once you determine the same, you can then proceed to create a wireframe.
ii.Choose the correct tools
There are many tools available in the market to create wireframes such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Axure, GoMockingbird, Mock Flow, etc. Choose the one you are most comfortable with.
iii.Setting a wireframe layout or grid
Taking into consideration the device and technology, you can proceed to create the wireframe. For instance, depending upon your requirement create a desktop screen shaped layout and a 12 column or 9 column grid to create a website.
iv.Create feature layouts
The features of an application such as menus, input boxes and buttons are made in a specifi shape. With the help of wireframing tools, you can also create custom shapes in your grid, i.e. you can clearly distinguish individual design features.
v.Content and typography
Once the feature layouts are frozen, it’s time to update the boxes with necessary content. Choose the font and style that makes it unique.
vi.Polish the wireframe
You can further enhance the wireframe by adding logo and basic design elements. You can also add grayscale, shadings or colors to highlight images. Remember, presentation is key! 

Step 4: Identify the data structures

Data structures are an intentional arrangement of a collection of data that is built to impose or enforce some kind of systematic organization on the data. Since all the information is from one place, it makes our lives easier. There are generally five fundamental behaviors that you perform with data; accessing data, inserting data, deleting data, finding data and sorting data.
Each data structure has its own algorithm for performing a behavior due to the nature of the data structure. The more efficient and suitable the algorithm, the more you will have an optimized data structure. These algorithms might be built-in or implemented by developer to manage and run these data structures.
It includes a clean and easy to operate interface, logical access, data flow and data transformations. It is important to note that every blockchain has its own strength.
For instance, fat blockchains can use a network to deploy and run programs or smart contracts. On the other hand, thin blockchains can only transfer assets from one account to the other because they have a set number of operations.
Similarly, public blockchains are open for all the users. They can join, transact and audit. A common example of a public blockchain is the Ethereum network that is used by Initial Coin Offering (ICO) campaigns to deploy and distribute smart contracts. On the other hand, private blockchains cannot be accessed by any participant. They need to be approved and on-boarded before hand by a federation.

Step 5: Write solidity contracts

Solidity is “a contract-oriented programming language for writing smart contracts. It is used for implementing smart contracts on various blockchain platforms”. It was developed by Gavin Wood, Christian Reitwiessner, Alex Beregszaszi, Liana Husikyan, Yoichi Hirai and several former Ethereum core contributors to enable writing smart contracts on blockchain platforms such as Ethereum. Solidity is a statically-typed programming language designed for developing smart contracts that run on the EVM. Solidity is compiled to bytecode that is executable on the EVM. With Solidity, developers can write applications that implement self-enforcing business logic embodied in smart contracts, leaving a non-repudiable and authoritative record of transactions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidity
As specified by Wood, “it is designed around the ECMAScript syntax to make it familiar for existing web developers; unlike ECMAScript it has static typing and variadic return types. Compared to other EVM-targeting languages of the time such as Serpent and Mutan, Solidity contained a number of important differences. Complex member variables for contracts including arbitrarily hierarchical mappings and structures were supported.”
http://gavwood.com/

Step 6: Front end development

You  can develop your front end user interface and to interact with the data structures in the solidity contract by using the web3.js api.
web3.js is a collection of libraries which allow you to interact with a local or remote ethereum node, using a HTTP or IPC connection.
https://web3js.readthedocs.io/en/1.0/
The following points will help you through installing and running web3.js, as well as providing an API reference documentation with examples:

• To ensure that your app works on Ethereum, use the web3 object provided by the web3.js library. Under the hood it communicates to a local node through RPC calls. web3.js works with any Ethereum node, which exposes an RPC layer.
• web3 contains the eth object – web3.eth (for specifically Ethereum blockchain interactions) and the shh object – web3.shh (for Whisper interaction).

Step 7: Deploy on test network and perform testing

Test network includes lightweight testnet and heavyweight testnet. Heavyweight testnet is used for large scale networked testnets. For example, Geth is useful for connecting to public networked testnets such as Ropsten. Ropsten is essentially the Ethereum network with free ETH and poor security.
Ropsten is required only when you are getting into the advanced stages of development. An easier way  to connect to Ropsten, is by using MetaMask. “This browser extension provides easy access to Ropsten using the INFURA public Ethereum nodes. This means you do not have to run your local Geth node. MetaMask injects a web3 object into your frontend which is preconfigured to use the public Ropsten network.”
https://karl.tech/intro-guide-to-ethereum-testnets/

Step 8: Deploy on main net

Deploy the application on main network and announce to the world. 
This includes understanding the benefits that the business offers and barriers that one might face while launching the app or after launching the app. McKinsey estimates that B2B payments yield the biggest cross-border revenues for banks, with such transactions representing 75% of all cross-border payments that total to more than $150 trillion in 2015.
Cross-border payments are inept because there is no one single way of global payment system. Five challenges must be overcome to improve the cross-border process:

Infrastructure: Most payment systems are based on local laws and practices within existing domestic banking and financial structures. Hence, domestic infrastructures are not designed to handle cross-border payments.

Standards: The bank and corporate treasury/enterprise systems cannot pass data to each other has there are no common global standards or variations set.

Regulations: Government regulations are changing how payments are made. Due to the varying roles between the originating and receiving country, payments are subject to domestic regulations.

Speed: According to McKinsey research on cross-border payments, the average time to complete a cross-border transaction is three to five business days.

Opacity: It’s usually difficult for senders and receivers to track their payments while the funds are in transit, which makes the delivering time and receiving the final payment a little more cumbersome. Tracing incorrect account numbers can be really difficult in case of an error in transaction.

Conclusion

Blockchain can become a unified protocol that companies would use to write and read data. Transparency can be improved through a shared ledger, the speed of transactions can be increased, and standards can be improved with the help of a distributed ledger technology.
Hence, to understand this in its entirety, start small. Choose a point problem and do MVPs. Since, blockchain technologies are constantly changing, make sure that you can build an app that can build production-grade solutions on top of those MVPs.

App-Scoop blockchain developers can help you create your blockchain MVP for your business.
Contact app-scoop team – https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in the market for a long time but has hit the mainstream market in the year 2017. AI is all around us; Smart Assistants such as Alexa, Cortana, Siri and Google Assistant live in our phones. It’s influencing our search on Google or what we see on our Facebook and Instagram feed. DemandBase reveals that Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize marketing industry by 2020. A report made by Tractica forecasts that Virtual Digital Assistance will reach more than 3.3 billion devices by 2020.
Source:
​https://www.demandbase.com/press-release/marketing-executives-predict-artificial-intelligence-will-revolutionize-marketing-2020/
https://www.tractica.com/newsroom/press-releases/virtual-digital-assistant-technology-is-expanding-beyond-smartphones-to-penetrate-additional-consumer-devices-and-enterprise-markets/

Tamara McCleary, International branding expert and Thulium CEO, Tamara McCleary is ranked by Klear in the Top 1% of global Social Media Influencers stated that, “Artificial Intelligence offers a unique opportunity for brands to harness machines to build a more seamless, engaged, personalized relationship with customers.” She says whether it be talking machines that learn and offer dynamic pricing or integrated chatbots to deliver customer service within a faster timeframe, “AI can facilitate a brand’s understanding of their customer, the market, as well as, the identification of areas of opportunity not currently being served”.

​Further, Principal analyst Peter Cooney expressed the impact of Artificial Intelligence for customers. “Virtual digital assistants represent the fusion of speech recognition, natural language processing (NLP), and artificial intelligence (AI) and hold the potential to have a transformative impact on consumer and enterprise user interfaces. The market is at a stage where the underlying technology is capable of delivering a very robust solution, but there are advancements still to be made across the board to improve digital assistants and drive further market growth and customer acceptance.”

Marketing

Targeted Online Ads
What do you mean by targeted ads? Say for instance, you are scrolling through your Facebook app and you see an advertisement of a trip to Italy. This information is received to the advertisers by using AI marketing tools which will analyze the search terms and user habits to display that advertisement. Hence, for the next couple of hours, you will see posts about travelling to Italy in sidebars. These targeted ads are a great investment for the advertiser because it gives the customer what they are looking for and chances of the sale are much higher.

Automated Customer Service
As we know, more and more companies have been using chatbots for diligent customer service. They are just as effective as using to a customer service executive. Although, at this time they can only handle basic questions, but brands are still trying to push the boundaries.
These chatbots provide 24/7 customer service with almost no waiting and personalized customer experience which is recorded by the AI from the customer history and past interactions. Remember, AI can deal with hundred of hundreds of repetitive, menial tasks and requests with ease. Only the most complex issues will require human intervention.

Apps

AI Integrated Apps will increase
By using Artificial Intelligence algorithms, an app can provide you with ample information. For instance, Kraft Foods iPhone Assistant can guess the number of people in your family and suggest you dishes that you can make from leftovers. It can also make lists for shopping for day-to-day use, special events or holidays. It can also recognise if you have a loyalty card at a supermarket.
Douglas Karr, Founder of the Marketing Technology Blog and CEO stated that a lot o time is spent in configuring and moving data. He predicts that, “the API of the future will be a drag and drop, intuitive user interaction that will move us away from working on the programming problem and closer to simply working on the business problem”.

Improved App User Experience
The purpose of AI is to ensure that your life is refined. It wants to make your daily chores easier so that you can concentrate on the big picture. In the future, apps will interact with only images and voice, leaving the old ‘texting’ behind. Intuitive pages will help us find solutions faster and they will be more precise. For instance, localisation of search engines will help the search be more precise.
Chris Messina, Developer Experience Lead at Uber and who invented the hashtag said that, “AI can help make software experiences more forgiving and flexible. AI can help brands and companies also be more adaptable to the level of sophistication of each customer, making on-boarding funnels smoother and more personalized”.

Personalized Mobile Advertising
Personalized information is the key to good marketing strategies or targeted advertising. The evolution of AI technology wants the customer to experience a user friendly and ‘human like’ machine that gives the correct information at that exact moment. As Sarah Austin, Artificial Intelligence expert says “Personalization requires emotional intelligence.”

Automated Reasoning
With AI in the scenario, we can now give machines a ‘human-like’ capacity by empowering them to purpose in themselves without any human interaction. Once modified, apps are able to examine the user’s activities in the app and provide snappy solutions. For instance, the Uber app uses AI to recommend the most ideal route to the destination by accessing the time of the day and the traffic routes. It does this by analyzing the data from other Uber drivers who have taken similar courses in their past trips.
Jesse Stay, Futurist, Author, Founder and Principal of Stay N Alive states that “controls like Google Home and Amazon Echo will be able to recognize not just what people say, but who’s saying it and tie that to individual accounts and preferences”. She believes that brands need to be looking at APIs for platforms like Smartthings so that they can become a part of the household.

Mobile

Semantic SEO
Voice commands make life so much easier. It’s now very common to give commands to your phone like, “Call mom” or “Call dad” or “search for Chinese restaurants near me”. This is why brands have been investing in the AI that analyses the semantic phrases that link to their product. Voice operated search is mostly used in mobiles hence, the brand needs to make sure that their sites are mobile optimized.

Facial Recognition Software
The facial recognition software allows brands to connect to the users in an unprecedented way. AI technology now can register your face in the data system and can recognize your face in stores and recommend products. As Joel Comm, New York Times Best-Selling Author and Social Influencer said that we want our smartphones to be smarter. The more intuitive the apps get, the faster and more efficient we become. He stated that, “the trick is finding the balance between privacy and convenience”.

Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and get even bigger. The brands are constantly trying to upgrade the lives of their customers by ensuring personalization of their product. The key is to find the right balance between evolution and control. Innovations brought by AI will affect mobile apps and mobile marketing in the same time. If we steer them in the correct direction the effects will by rewarding for app owners, marketers and of course, for the end users.

​After putting in months or years of hard work of creating an app, the most vital thing is rolling it out in the market. The mobile ecosystem is ever-changing and sometimes you might feel lost determining the best marketing strategies for you mobile app promotion. Remember, content is king, so use your words wisely.
Your pre-launch marketing should be stretched out over a period of three months. Condense the most important elements of pre-launch one week before rolling out the app and push the rest of the items to the post-launch roadmap.
Let’s take a look at the 33-Step guide to market you mobile app into the play store and making your app a success. 

 
1.Fix a release date
It is very important that you schedule a launch date taking into account fixes and bugs that you might find during your final review stage. Don’t try to scram in last minute “things to do” just before the app release. For instance, Apple has a strict review process and the changes suggested might delay the process. The hard launch should be planned at a date that you know you wouldn’t have to further delay.

2.Determine the demographics of your user
According to the research done for your app during the planning stage, determine the demographic that you will be targeting. Understand who your target audience is and determine the features that you need to highlight while marketing the app.

3.Competitive analysis
As there are millions of apps in the market, there are definitely quite a few apps that are similar to yours. Make a list of the top 10 competing apps, their current price (if your app is not free), their ranking, their version type, their features, their reviews by the users and then compare them with your app. Think of how your app solves a pain point for the user or find the x-factor that it can offer to users. This will determine your entire marketing strategy.

4.Establish your Unique Value Proposition
As mentioned in the earlier point, determine what makes your app unique and capitalize on that.

5.Define the message of your brand and its positioning
A story behind the app can help you market your app to users that identify with the struggle or the reason your app was made. For example, a helpline app for safety of woman travelling at night (or day) will strike a chord with the female demographic. Here, the brand’s voice will be a woman.

6.Brand styling
Your marketing strategy needs to have a particular font, logo or image that the user will recognize. For instance, if your app has used cartoon images in the app as well as, to promote it, the marketing strategy should revolve around cartoonish elements.

7.Make a pitch deck
If you wish to attract investors to buy into your app, you need to make a visual representation of the story behind your app along with its mission and vision. The pitch deck needs to be concise and easy-to-understand.

8.Prepare your Press Kit
Once your app launches, you will need to send out app details and pitches to several marketing agencies, users or potential investors. You need to create your press kit that has high-res images of your app’s logo, screenshots, marketing images and content that includes information about the app’s functions and features.

9.Create a Media List
In today’s digital world, the best way to PR your app is by using influencers, publications and bloggers that have a huge audience. It’s even better if you filter them according to your app’s target audience. Connect with them and give them a brief about your app. Also, try to work out a promotion strategy with them.

10.Create a website, micro site or landing page
Create a launch page or a small video trailer about your app.

11.Create an address book with the emails acquired
A good marketing plan involves sending emails to users interested in your app. Keep your followers updated on the launch date, new updates, features, etc.

12.Optimize your app for mobile visits
Most searches are done through the mobiles. Ensure that your marketing strategies or tools are optimized for mobile.

13.Establish your monetization strategy
Mobile app monetization can be done through freemium based apps (in-app purchases), ad-supported or subscription-based. Choose your strategy as it is a key element that you need to work with during your app marketing process.

14.App Store Optimization (APO)
App Store Optimization involves optimizing your App Store page to rank higher in search results and convert at a higher rate.

15.Choose a keyword for your app name
A good title for your app will attract users to download your app. Use a keyword that helps the users search for your app. Keyword research is probably the most crucial part of ASO. A great tip would be to create long and short tail keywords.

16.Highlight the features and benefits in the app description
Note down the features and benefits in the app description to attract the users to download the app. List the feature/benefit that makes it different from other apps, first in the list.

17.Add key screenshots and videos in your app description
iOS and Google Play both allow for a short video preview of your app. Use this to show off game play, demo functions to compel users to download it.

18.App category
It is very crucial to select the correct category for your app. For example, if you have made a game that is adventure, don’t categorise it in sports.

19.Create a content marketing strategy
Drive traffic and brand awareness with content and build trust with your users through your content. Create a quality blog with great content and keywords so that it appears on the first page of search engines.

20.Set up social media pages
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other social platforms let you expand your web presence and allow you to directly communicate with your target audience. Regulate your posts and engage with your users through these pages.

21.Set up Google Alerts
Set up a branded keyword alert to track places that users are talking about your app.

22.Create promotional offers/discount coupons
Offer promotion and discount coupons on products in the app or for a partner company. For instance, a coffee shop can have a certain percent of discount on updating a code in the app.

23.Plan contests and give-away gifts
Planning contests is a good way to communicate with the user. The chances are that the user will visit the app more often for playing contests or winning merchandise.

24.Collect reviews
Set up alerts for your users to post a review about the app. After two weeks is the best time to ask for a review.

25.Track user acquisition
Use an attribution platform like AppsFlyer or Kochava to keep track of where your downloads are coming from.

26.Link to your app
Create a link of your app that you use in all forms of communication, it could be emails, posts, images, etc. Anything that interests the viewer could become your potential user if a link is provided in that vey post.

27.Engage with your existing users
It’s imperative that you engage with your current users and hold their interest. You don’t want to end up with users uninstalling your app.

28.Apply for mobile app awards
This can help you reach new networks of potential users.

29.Push notifications
Push notifications have been shown to increase user retention, with statistics showing anywhere from a 56% to a 180% improvement. Users who have opted into receiving push notifications exhibit 88% higher app engagement than those who haven’t.
Reference site: http://info.localytics.com/blog/app-user-retention-improves-in-the-us

30.Focus on customer service
Ensure that if your user is facing difficulty with your app, there is a way that they can contact you. A prompt reply and a solution can really help you gain loyal customers for life.

31.Organize a Burst Campaign
“Burst campaign” is one of the most popular techniques used by mobile app marketers who want to climb the app store ranks. The idea of a burst campaign is to provide a “burst” of exposure for your app in which you aggressively purchase paid media exposure over a short period of time- usually 24 to 72 hours, depending on budget.
The goal is to get as many paid installs as possible, boosting your rank.  All this with the hope of increasing the volume of quality organic installs – that should follow when the app is finally ranked high enough to be discovered.

32.Offer referral bonus
Offer your users a bonus when they advertise or help you spread the word. “With a staggering 3900% growth rate, Dropbox is an excellent example of how powerful referrals can be. The company had just 1,00,000 registered users in 2008, which climbed to a staggering 4,000,000 registered users within a mere 15 month period as a result of their referral program.”
Reference site: https://www.referralsaasquatch.com/dropbox-customer-referral-program-by-the-numbers/

33.Continuous updates and maintenance
Based on the feedback received and the bugs pointed out by the users, ensure that the new version doesn’t have the same. Continuous maintenance and updates for the apps ensures seamless working of the app for the users.
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Conclusion
These strategies will help you promote your app for a long-term. Engaging with the users is of utmost importance. The marketing strategies should be based on your target audience. The true success of your app does not lie in the number of users or downloads but is based on the functionality and user engagement of your app. 

​It has just been a few years that the entire world has been taken to storm by mobile app development. There is a massive playing field for developers considering that they can deliver on Android and iOS platform. Every need now has an app! For instance, you can sit at your house and order from your favorite restaurant, you can call a cab to your doorstep and even get your house groceries delivered to your doorstep.
Apps that are built for enterprises need to be built for a certain purpose. They should be meticulously planned and carefully decided, only then can a company build a top enterprise mobile app. There have been a lot of instances where businesses have achieved unimaginable success by developing an effective mobile app. 

What if you have an exceptional idea but you don’t have the resources or skill set to make it a reality? The most logical step is to outsource the app development. But when you choose your third-party vendor, you must ensure that you do not making these 7 mistakes.

Weighing Skill and Cost

Firstly, you need to begin with verifying the credentials of the party that you are going to outsource your app. Who were their clients? What apps have they worked on prior? Try and download these apps to understand the look and feel of what the outsourcing developers are capable of.
Coming to the cost aspect, remember that if the developer firm or contractor gives you an exact price tag in five minutes after you’ve described your app to them, there are setting you up to fail. To truly calculate the cost, the developer needs to calculate the functional and non-functional elements and needs several other details. So if he just gives you the cost in a few minutes, it’s definitely a concern.

Functional and Non-Functional Requirements

Document your functional and non-functional needs – don’t make the list too short or too long. Also, don’t try to move too fast and skip the essential details.

Functional Requirements:

• List down the core features
• List the differentiating features
• Mention the functionality of the app
• Jot down the user experience from start to finish

Non-Functional Requirements:

• Ensure that your app is secure for the user, especially if you are developing an e-commerce app where monetary transactions take place.
• The performance of the app should be seamless. This is possible if you understand the usage and guess the amount of users that are going to be using the app. The key is finding the sweet spot where you are not over or under built.
• It’s important to understand the language your app is built on? In case of any discrepancies, can it be taken over by another developer? It’s good to know that in case if things go wrong with the current developer, it doesn’t make impossible to maintain your app. 

Monitoring the Development of Your Project and Communicating your Requirements

The first thing before beginning the project is to prepare the project brief and ensure that everyone is on board. Keep a close eye on the documentation and app development process; don’t assume that people know what to do and what the next logical step might be. Guide them!
If in doubt, spell out the screen, feature, button or project element, clearly, in the scope of work. If you have outsourced your work to an efficient software agency, they will look for gaps in your brief and challenge any assumptions or loopholes that they discover.

Failure to Prototype

After the interface of the app has developed, it is only logical you test out the prototype. It is very important to test the prototype of the app, especially if you are a non-technical founder. Imagine waiting till the end to discover that your app hasn’t turned out the way you wanted it or more than 50% can’t log in to your app or ending up with a complicated and confusing user interface.
Also, the best way to get honest feedback about the app is to make other users test it and mess around with the features of the app.

Product Testing

There are two kinds of product testing approaches; the first one is the manual approach and the second one is the automatic approach.

Manual approach: In this approach, you will need to run through all the different user flows and possible scenes that the user might face while operating your app. If your app uses location services, ensure that the search is based on that particular geographical location. For example, if you are in New York and you get a list of restaurants in China, then your app isn’t meeting your user’s needs.

Automated approach: It’s not always easy to do a manual testing, especially when you have a big app with numerous possibilities. In this case, you can use the automated approach. It runs through basic screen functionality, crash reporting and even how the app would work on different smartphones or iPhones. Automated testing comes at an additional cost, so ensure that the same is discussed with the outsourced agency.

Lack of Code Reviews

As development progresses, it is important to perform consistent code reviews. This is equivalent to being a spellchecker for your code. This applies for both software; Android and iOS development.

Manual codes: While updating manual codes, one must check for syntax, standardization, structure and other vital details. This review should be ideally done by a senior developer, technical architect or team lead.
Static codes: Static codes can be reviewed by several open source tools that run automated reviews and flag security problems. If you are unable to run the reviews, your app developer can run it for you.
Hence, it is important for the outsourcing party to be open to communication and being transparent about the progress and updates on the app. These tests should be run periodically and the results should be shared with you.

Poor Marketing and Ignoring Room for Improvement

You need to treat your Enterprise app like a commercial app. You will need to create interest in the employees about the app. To ensure that the employees use the app regularly, you will need to make them see the benefits and offerings of the app or provide them with a good incentive to log on to the app.
Once the app is rolled out in the Enterprise, you need to collect user feedback. Ignoring the feedback is only going to hamper the number of app users. Your app will be rendered useless in just a short period of time if there aren’t any active users.

Conclusion

If you take into considerations all the points mentioned here, you will steer clear of the mistakes or pitfalls. Remember to manage the project brief, test the prototype and carry out the testing and coding phases. Implement standard meeting with your outsourcing company. So, learn the technical jargon, roll up your sleeves and proceed to outsource your genius idea and turn it into an app.

​It’s been 20 years that the Internet has entered into our lives. In today’s date, we have more than 2 billion users accessing the internet through various technological equipment not only on desktops, laptops, smart phones and tablets but also through everyday devices such as cars, lights, TV, thermostats, etc. Most electrical devices are now attached and controlled via the internet. These devices are “things” in the term commonly used, “internet of things”. 

Origin and Meaning of Internet of Things

Kevin Ashton, digital innovation expert coined the term ‘Internet of Things’ or ‘IoT’ as, “If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things—using data they gathered without any help from us—we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best.”
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Reference: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/kevin-ashton-describes-the-internet-of-things-180953749/

​The Oxford dictionary is has defined IoT as, “The interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.” The IoT is an umbrella term that covers ‘things’ such as sensors, communication technologies, applications, IoT gateways, etc.
Reference: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/internet_of_things
IoT is growing and will continue to grow in 2017 and beyond. Whether it reaches the lofty predictions of 50 billion connected devices by 2020 remains to be seen, but I strongly believe that businesses who learn to harness the data created by the Internet of Things are the ones who will survive and thrive in the future.
Reference: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/popular-internet-of-things-forecast-of-50-billion-devices-by-2020-is-outdated

The IoT has a unique IP (Internet Protocol) address is allocated to each end point or device. Hence, consumer devices such as fitness trackers are attached to things to make them IoT-enabled. To put in simple terms, the unique IP address of an endpoint allows it identify it via the Internet. It can retrieve and/or send data from/to it.

Examples of IoT

Let’s take a look of a few examples of IoT.

Smart Home

Do you fancy stepping into a cold room before you reach home? Or having hot water in the shower after a tiring meeting? Now, that’s possible with the tip of your fingertips. It’s easy to make a smart home and connect these technological equipments to an app that you can operate over the phone!
A smart home is the new way of living a luxurious life. It’s not as expensive but is very convenient for the end user. More and more people are converting their home into a smart home. It is said that 70% of people who purchased their first smart home device believe they are more likely to purchase more, according to a Smart Home Technology Survey.
https://www.coldwellbanker.com/press-release/2016-is-the-year-smart-home-technology-will-be-mainstream
​
Wearable Technology

Wearable technology is the tomorrow! People no longer want to carry bulky devices, the smaller the device the better. For instance, every mobile company is trying to build a lighter and smaller version of a cell phone with maximum functions.
Wearable technology that has swept the market includes FitBit watches, Apple watches, Wearable music devices, etc. As per research, it is said that there were 78.1 million wearables sold in 2015 and the market is expected to grow to 411 million by 2020.
http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/wearables-statistics/

Smart Cars

“It is estimated that a staggering 82 percent of cars will be connected to the internet by 2021. App integration, navigation and diagnostic tools, and even self-driving cars will be ways the Internet of Things transforms the automobile industry.” Currently, the auto industry is investing heavily to determine the next IoT innovation.
http://www.businessinsider.com/internet-of-things-connected-smart-cars-2016-10

Internet of Things – What’s Special?

IoT devices such as cars, fitness devices, electrical devices, etc. have different sensors. These sensors can monitor movement, temperature, moisture levels and location even in the most complex environmental factors.
They make it possible to inject a broad range of data into applications as they are connected to the Internet. This is also possible because of their connectivity features, IP address and a wide range of fix and wireless communication networks.
The outcomes and goals is where the real value of IoT lies. It’s not about the sending and receiving of data only. The reasons that it makes a difference in lives of people are:

• The end result for which people acquire it; for example, people purchase the FitBit in order to keep a record of their fitness levels
• The analysis of data that is where the data is being generated, for example in the cloud or at the edge and the insights that are generated through the analysis

Use Cases for Consumer Internet of Things

Personal Healthcare

A trending use case in the Consumer IoT is personal healthcare. Fitness trackers are very simple devices that helps keeps track of some health-related data and some activity-related data. These are then combined and shown within applications that enable you to improve your personal health, fitness and lifestyle, sometimes with group features.

Track and Trace

A typical so-called cross-industry IoT use case is the tracking of goods, products, people and even pets. As we know, a tracking system sensor allows you to find and follow a person or an object that has the sensor in it.
Track and trace, leveraging IoT, however is also used in the industry, logistics and transportation, often with more complex devices that also provide info on environmental factors and the state of goods. These trackers can be used for something as simple as tracking the location or as complex as tracking a container of goods on a ship in the ocean.

Predictive Maintenance

Let’s understand predictive maintenance with the help of an example. Imagine a vendor of big industrial robots wants to know upfront which robots might needs maintenance. The cost a company faces when these robots break down is very high.
Here, IoT can intervene and predict which robots need to be maintained when and where. This reduces the cost and the customers of the robot manufacturer enjoy great benefits. This IoT requires far more complex systems, devices, networks and platforms to analyze and intervene.

Disadvantages of IoT

With the advantages that the IoT technology offers, there are a few disadvantages attached.
IoT needs to work on the security features of the product to protect it from the hackers. In 2016, millions of devices were hacked and a lot of malfunctioning occurred in the infrastructure.
Users should also ensure that they have a backup and keep their devices secure. 

Bottom Line

This is just a start for the IoT industry. Business have started to now develop and expand the IoT technology in their products, services and operations will realize soon about the competitive advantage that they will have.

The Bitcoin fever has been spreading like wild fire throughout the world. Everyone wants to make some easy money by investing in this crypto currency. Bitcoin works on the blockchain technology. Blockchain was originally created to support the Bitcoin but soon the tech community has started using this technology for other purposes.
Blockchain is the brainchild of a person or a group of people known by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. In 2017, the global blockchain technology market is predicted to reach 339.5 million U.S. dollars in size and is forecast to grow to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.
​
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/647231/worldwide-blockchain-technology-market-size/

Don & Alex Tapscott, author of Blockchain Revolution (2016) stated, “The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.” To make this simple, let’s take a look at the three main components of blockchain; the blockchain itself, peer to peer networks and consensus mechanisms. Without these three components, this technology will not be able to render any technical functions.    

Understanding Blockchain

Blockchain is basically structured data; it’s like a ledger file that keeps track of all the financial records. Let’s compare this to a book. The page numbers of the book are equivalent to the ‘blocks’ used in this technology. Just like pages, there are numbered and appear in a chronological order. For example, page number 86 comes between page number 85 and 87. Similarly, blocks have a timestamp. The blocks are added in a chronological order with the latest timestamp forming a chain of blocks.
Blockchain technology is considered to be a secure system because cryptology is used to ensure that nobody can intermingle with the timestamps or blocks. If somebody does so, there is digital evidence in the system. This makes it ideal for handling data structure and to keep track of records of anything that is valuable.
We’ll take an example of Bitcoin to showcase how the blockchain technology works when it comes to data management. When a transaction is made in Bitcoin, the block states ‘who’ sent the information to ‘whom’. The ledger stores the information of the person who owns the Bitcoin at any moment in time; this is called the current ‘state’ of the blockchain.
A transaction only takes place when it is included in a block and added to the chain. This sets a motion of documentation; once the block has been added that state of blockchain is updated which means that it gets stored in the ledger. Hence, if one needs to validate whether someone has actually made a transaction or not, the ledger has to be made publicly available. This is when the next component comes into place – peer-to-peer networks.

Role of Peer to Peer Networks

If you need to check whether someone has made a transaction to the address or wallet, you need to use a blockchain as a ledger for transactional data. This data is downloaded, synchronized and made available to a large number of computers worldwide. These computers are called nodes. To ensure that blockchain is secure and up-to-date, they work together in a peer-to-peer network. Every time a block is added, all the nodes are updated.
The advantages of peer-to-peer network are:

• Blockchains can be checked using a blockchain explorer.
• One does not need to rely only on one party to know the true state of blockchain.
• It makes it difficult for the hackers to hack blockchain because there is no one specified computer or system that needs to be hacked; they will need to hack thousands of computers at the same time.
• Blockchain can never be deleted, because it has to be deleted by all nodes.

There are a few concerns though about checking the data on blockchain. These concerns are addressed by a consensus mechanism, which is the third component of the blockchain.

Understanding Consensus Mechanism

There are a few questions such as:

• How do I know that the data in blockchain is correct?
• How does one know that there are no invalid transactions in the blocks?
• Are there different versions of the blockchain, how do you know which shows the true state of the blockchain?

These questions can be answered, thanks to the cryptographic code that Nakamoto developed for Bitcoin. The consensus mechanism stirs magic: it allows nodes in peer-to-peer network to work together without having to know or trust each other.
 Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, states, “The purpose of a consensus algorithm is to allow for the secure updating of a state according to some specific state transition rules, where the right to perform the state transitions is distributed among (…) users which are given the right to collectively perform transitions through an algorithm.”
Simply explained, this means that the consensus mechanism has a set of rules that makes sure that the network works as intended and stays in sync. The rules of this mechanism are based on how the blocks need to be added to the mechanism, which blocks are considered valid and how conflict of truth is resolved.  Let’s take a look at each rule in detail!

Adding blocks to the chain

Different blockchains add block to the consensus in different ways. Let’s take an example of Bitcoin’s Proof of Work (PoW). The first rule is to add a new block every ten minutes; this process is called mining. Nodes that add a block to the chain are miners; they use computational powers of their computer to solve a cryptographic puzzle. When the puzzle is solved, a block is added to the chain.

Validity of blocks

Once the miner solves the puzzle and mines the block, all nodes in the network check if the block is valid before adding it to the chain. For example, Tom received 1 Bitcoin which it sends later to Katherine. He then tries to send the same Bitcoin to Jack. As soon as Tom sends the Bitcoin to Katherine, the nodes update the blockchain to reflect that Tom doesn’t have any Bitcoin left. Hence, the block that was sent again to Jack would not be valid and will not be added to the chain of blocks.

How conflict of truths are resolved

Sometimes by mistake, two miners add a valid block to the chain at the same time. Imagine that a part of the nodes have accepted one block and another part has accepted the other block. Just like in the above example, one block was accepted for Katherine and the other included the transaction with Jack. The system will end up having two different states of the blockchain at the same time! This is called a fork. The blockchain was forked in two different chains; does Katherin or Jack have Bitcoin? The question remains, which of the two is the ‘true’ blockchain. It’s rather simple – the longest chain wins.
This is just a brief way to understand how distributed ledgers work.

Blockchain – New Web 3.0

This technology gives internet users the ability to create value and by authenticating digital information. Some of the benefits of using blockchain technology and their examples are as below:

Sharing Economy
Blockchain has decentralized sharing of economy by enabling peer-to-peer payments and letting the parties interact directly.

Crowdfunding
Initiative like Kickstarter and Gofundme are doing advanced work for peer-to-peer economy. People want to work independently without a third party being involved. Hence, the blockchain technology can help them create crowd-sourced venture capital funds.
In 2016, one such experiment, the Ethereum-based DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), raised an astonishing $200 million USD in just over two months. Participants purchased “DAO tokens” allowing them to vote on smart contract venture capital investments.
https://blockgeeks.com/guides/ethereum/

Governance 
Since, the peer-to-peer network has a transparent ledger; the company governance becomes fully transparent and verifiable when managing digital assets, equity or information.

File Storage
Decentralized storage of files on the internet has benefits. The distributed data on several servers make it very difficult for hackers to attack or files getting lost. The Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) makes it easy to conceptualize how a distributed web might operate.

Identity Management
The ability to identify your identity is a key factor went it comes to making any digital transaction. Distributed ledgers offer enhanced methods for proving who you are, along with the possibility to digitize personal documents.
“Netki is a startup that aspires to create an SSL standard for the blockchain. Having recently announced a $3.5 million seed round, Netki expects a product launch in early 2017.”
https://www.netki.com/
​
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC)
AML and KYC can be adapted into blockchain to analyze transactions. For example, Startup Polycoin can identify transactions as being suspicious are forwarded on to compliance officers. Another startup, Tradle is developing an application called Trust in Motion (TiM). It allows the users to take a snapshot of key documents and once verified by the bank, they can be stored cryptographically on the blockchain.
https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/innovation/polycoin-launches-blockchain-based-compliance-aml-and-kyc-tools/

Future of Blockchain Technology

“The future of finance could be dominated by blockchain technologies. A traceable global currency complete with an efficient infrastructure will not only result in massive cost reduction for all market participants, it will change global banking.”
https://www.shapingtomorrow.com/home/alert/665529-Future-of–Blockchain

App-Scoop blockchain team can provide more details and guidance on how to build blockchain solution for your business.
Contact app-scoop team – https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html

What is the discovery phase of a project? Imagine hiring an employee without knowing what tasks he needs to perform, what you would be paying him/her and the reason you are employing him. You’d never do that would you? Similarly, when you take up a project, you need to go through the discovery phase.

What is the Discovery Phase?

Discovery phase is the time you take to understand and analyze the project that you are about to invest your time, effort and money into. It helps to reduce failure and ensures that you maximize the potential of the idea. Basically, the discovery phase is where you conduct all the research and plan your entire digital project, as well as understand the stakeholders and the needs of the end customers. This phase helps to reveal the real pain points that you might face while developing the project and understand the how and why. 

Develop a blueprint of your project – outline a project goal statement that includes the exact outcome of the project. You can jot down the following outcomes:

• Major milestones of the project
• Cost estimated
• Functional requirements
• Potential visual designs
• Information architecture that explains how the content should be displayed

Basic Steps of the Discovery Phase

Data analytics
Learn about the user habits and go through the analytics of a similar project that is conducted. Look at the areas where the users drop off and the pages of high and low traffic. Try and understand why these problems are occurring and make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes while developing your project.

Audience poll
Understanding what the users want is the key to creating a successful end product. Users can be categorized in age groups, demographics and backgrounds. They all have different needs and wants out of the end product. You can either plan your project so that its applicable to all users or focus on a certain type of users and base your project around that.

Map the journey
Making a plan on the whiteboard is never waste of time. Jotting down the steps and different stages of the project is of key importance. Ensure that when you map your journey, you give enough time for any hiccups that might occur while planning the project.

Questions to be Asked during the Discovery Phase

What are the business needs?
Imagine you are awarded a project that needs to see the light of day. The first step is to identify the stakeholder. Once you identify them, don’t assume that they are going to come with their exact needs. You will need to ask them the following questions:

• Who their target audience is?
• Who are the competitors?
• What the current website content is?
• How is the content structured? 
• What is the performance indicator and how are we going to measure it?

What are the user needs?
As mentioned before, determining user needs has a detrimental effect on the finished product. In the discovery phase, you are expected to conduct surveys, expert reviews, speak to focus groups to gather user needs.
You can ask questions such as:

• Why do the users want to use the service or website?
• What sort of users are you going to have?
• What is the user’s journey while using the product going to be?

 
Consequences of Skipping the Discovery Phase

So, what if you plan to skip the discovery phase? What happens then?
Your guesses can go off the mark and you cannot give accurate estimates. You might have to make a “best guess” approach which might go amiss.
The costing is likely to increase if a certain functionality or content does not produce the results as expected. This would increase the overall timeline and efforts for the project.
New or different technologies cannot be put to use if there is no expert advice taken or any research done. This could mean the loss of opportunities to explore ideas.

Conclusion
​
 As the old saying goes, “It is always better to be safe than sorry!” Getting the discovery phase right is crucial in creating a successful project. It defines the problem space, and sets the parameters for what that service is trying to achieve. The customer satisfaction at the end of the project will heighten the chances of bagging more projects in the future. They may not know the endless meetings and diagrams that were made at the beginning of the project but they will be satisfied with the end product from the get-go. So why not limit the risks to failure by just putting in a little more effort before you start the project? Think about it!
 
 

Bitcoin has been the latest topic of discussion between work colleagues, business meals and even amongst friends. This virtual currency has made millionaires. Some believe that Bitcoin is a bubble that’s about to burst; while others think that it’s going to magnify its presence and believe that in the near future each Bitcoin could cost around $60,000. Who wouldn’t want to invest in a market where the returns are phenomenal? Everyone wants a piece of this pie!

Like the old saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility!” Here, the responsibility lies on the digital ledger that records the transactions in a decentralized database located in multiple places – also known as the blockchain. ​

What is a Blockchain?

The word blockchain literally means a chain made of blocks. A block is the permanent set of data that is recorded in a ledger. For example, Jack has made a certain monetary transaction with Rose. This information is encrypted and stored on every computer on the system. These blocks are stored in a chronological order and such a chain of records is called a blockchain. The order of these blocks is important as each block has to contain a link of the previous one. These links help to secure the whole data system, so if any one adds any block between two chronological boxes, it is impossible to do without getting noticed. In 2017, the global blockchain technology market is predicted to reach 339.5 million U.S. dollars in size and is forecast to grow to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/647231/worldwide-blockchain-technology-market-size/
But can a blockchain only be used for financial transactions? Well, the answer is no. Blockchain can be used in various different branches and it can be used in your app too!

Key Point

​The key point to note here is that blockchain technology doesn’t need the support of a middleman or a third party to conduct transactions. One of its most vital features is that it is based on a peer to peer payment. This mechanism will ensure that blockchain can go really far in the app industry.
Global spending on blockchain solutions in 2018, according Stacey Soohoo, Research Manager, Customer Insights and Analysis at IDC, says, “The year 2018 will be a crucial stage for enterprises as they make a huge leap from proof-of-concept projects to full blockchain deployments. As a leader in blockchain innovation and integration, the US will continue to invest in blockchain throughout the forecast, spending heavily in financial services, manufacturing, and other industries.”
Source: https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2018/2/5-blockchain-statistics-cio-reality-check

Blockchain and Mobile Apps

An app based on blockchain technology can be used to make payments, transfer money, prove identity (in case of enterprise apps) and manage health care and property records.
Firstly, the developer needs to create the architecture for the app that is similar to bit coin. But note that the design will vary as per the requirements of the app.
Secondly, the developers should be aware that to develop the app with this technology can be a tricky situation. The developer needs to test and debug the software so that it can run on a single system.
Thirdly, the developers should know about heisenbug – a bug that changes computer operations behavior. Another types of bug is mandelbug – this one creates problems such as abstract behavior of computer, whereas, a bug called schrödinbugs could lead to the app displaying unexpected behavior during an unconventional use.

Benefits of Using Blockchain

Identity Protection
When it comes to security, blockchain has trustworthy mechanism that can assign private key encryption to users and work on cryptography. As we know it is impossible to modify information while working on this decentralized public database.
Also, every data that is entered in blockchain becomes general knowledge with its track record of origin. Blockchain makes data transparent by giving all the parties a direct access to the reports.
Source: Tech Crunch

Infrastructure Protection
A major hack on the brand’s infrastructure can be removed by storing the DNS entries on blockchain. Hence, when the domain records are under the owner’s control it’s impossible for another individual or government to manipulate the entries.

Alternative to Passwords
As we know that the data is already protected by the infrastructure of blockchain technology, its distribution allows authentication of devices and users without the need of password protection. The network decentralization helps in creating consensus between parties for authentication through the blockchain-specific SSL certificates.

​Case Studies on the Usage of Blockchain Technology

IBM is launching a network in the early 2018 in Canada where the people’s identity will be verified using a mobile app. They are building a network using blockchain that verifies people’s identities when they use services such as opening new bank accounts or getting driver’s licenses.
Another company called Landmapp is developing a service and mobile app that uses blockchain to document land titles and land rights. This will help developing countries, especially Africa to reduce the cost for titles. ShelterZoom has also built a service and mobile app that focuses on streamlining real estate offers are made using blockchain technology.
Forbes states that “Only 1.2 billion people have access to a bank account with payment capabilities, while there are approximately 5 billion unique mobile phone subscribers.” A partnership between the blockchain mobile payment company TelCoin and telecom companies will allow people who only have mobile phones and no bank accounts to make secure mobile payments using mobile apps. TelCoin co-founder and CEO Claude Eguienta said that the app will “provide financial services to billions of people.”
Source: Forbes Link
 
Conclusion

This technology doesn’t only make it beneficial for the app developers but they also make the application secure for the customers. Also, one can add the element of confidentiality and develop the advanced peer-to-peer payment platforms with the help of distributed nature of the blockchain.
Now that the fundamentals are covered, the developers need to decide whether blockchain fits the specific needs. The blockchain technology definitely seems to have a bright future when in the tech industry. 

With the rise of Android apps, Google Play has strived to focus on security and performance! There are more than 2 million Android devices, and in the year 2017, 82 billion apps were installed on Google Play. So, it is vital that Google Play makes it a positive experience for their users to discover and install apps that they love.
​
Source: https://www.androidcentral.com/over-82-billion-apps-have-been-installed-google-play-last-year

As we know, every Android application operates within a “process sandbox”. These silos can detect malware and contain them. But if the app requires data sources outside of its unique sandbox, they require permission. Even though Google has tried to keep the app secured, scanners don’t manage to catch everything. The user is not updated about the new permission until he/she updates the app. This makes the users data exposed to malware.
Hence, in the year 2018, Google has announced enhancements for increasing the security and performance for the app. Edward Cunningham, Product Manager of Android states that there are going to be three key changes in year 2018-2019.

Changes in API Requirement

In the second half of 2018, the new apps and app updates in Google Play must be built on APIs which can be optimized for performance and security. Google Play console will require the following updates:

• August 2018: New apps required to target API level 26 (Android 8.0) or higher.
• November 2018: Updates to existing apps required to target API level 26 or higher.
• 2019 onwards: Each year the targetSdkVersion requirement will advance. Within one year following each Android dessert release, new apps and app updates will need to target the corresponding API level or higher.

This update will encourage the developers to create apps that have the latest user-interfacing interface, along with security enhancements. On the other hand, apps that do not adhere to the latest API update will be restricted. Google Play states that it wants to “proactively reduce fragmentation in the app ecosystem”.

64-bit Support Equipment

By August 2019, Android devices will only support the 64-bit code. Android 5.0 Lollipop was the first mobile operated system that introduced higher architecture. Today, more than 40% of devices support 64-bits, and at the same time maintain the 32-bit compatibility.
“The Play Console will require that new apps and app updates with native libraries provide 64-bit versions in addition to their 32-bit versions. This can be within a single APK or as one of the multiple APKs published.”
 
Source: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/12/improving-app-security-and-performance.html

Security Metadata

In early 2018, Google Play plans to start adding a small amount of security metadata on top of each APK to verify the authenticity of the app. The developers or end users have to take no action on this update. This metadata is small and will not alter the functionality of the app. Google Play has further stated, “This metadata will enable new distribution opportunities for developers in the future and help more people keep their apps up to date”.
The metadata that will be added to APK will be like a Play badge of authenticity for the Android app. This will be just like the ‘Trust’ badge that is seen while buying any authentic product. Google Play further states, “We’ll adjust Play’s maximum APK size to take into account the small metadata addition, which is inserted into the APK Signing Block and does not alter the functionality of your app. In addition to enhancing the integrity of Play’s mobile app ecosystem, this metadata will enable new distribution opportunities for developers in the future and help more people keep their apps up to date”.
Source: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/12/improving-app-security-and-performance.html

Additional Security Measurements

Further, Android is imposing restrictions on giving permissions. Permissions are of two types: dangerous and normal. When the app requests for the user’s calendar, camera, contacts, location, microphone, SMS or storage, they are classified as dangerous permissions, which are as of now granted. But by the year 2019, every call for private data will be in the hands of the user.
Another component of Android’s security changes is the function that prevents the OS from trusting user-added certificate authorities (CAs) by default. The goal for changing how Android treats CAs is to provide secure app traffic. Android now offers a standardized protocol for integrating trusted system CAs.  

Conclusion

Google Play has gone tremendously in the year 2017 by reducing the risk within the Android app ecosystem. Although, Google cannot predict the new malware of tomorrow, it is taking all the measures to improve security and provide a seamless experience to the user. In the year 2018-2019, we can foresee the measurements that will be taken to protect user data for Android users, thereby improving app security. 

​Recently, one of our clients took the time to review us on Clutch, the leading B2B ratings and reviews platform. Clutch arms business buyers and sellers with the insight they need to facilitate productive business partnerships. Since August, our clients reviewed App-Scoop on Clutch and we are excited to share some of the feedback that can be found on our profile.
 
One of our clients needed an Android and iPhone application development for his lifestyle coaching business. The feedback received for our development work was great. App-Scoop was commended for the ability to listen to the clients’ specifications and delivering a great product.

Our most recent review, was a mobile application solution for nightlife and venue management. Our client provided App-Scoop with wireframes and UI recommendations and we restructured the backend and make it stable for ongoing development. Our client was satisfied with our application and commended our work ethic.
 
“Development has been nothing but bliss. They’ve exceeded expectations while erasing all previous issues; the team goes above and beyond.” – Founder, Tnight Inc. 
​

​We are extremely proud of the feedback that we have received on Clutch. As we grow as a company, we strive to create the most positive experiences for our clients. Whether it’s blockchain applications or custom software development – we treat all projects the same, focusing on our clients’ needs and specifications.
 
We look forward to getting more feedback from our clients in 2018. Be on the lookout for more Clutch reviews.