Category: App Development Blog Category

How an Android Instant App Can Improve your User Base

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

Every time you roll out an Android app, you have a rough idea of what it can bring to the table or yield you. These goals could be generating a certain amount of ad revenue in a year or getting high ratings on Google Play. Whatever else you want to achieve, reaching out to as many users as possible is always one of your main goals. And luckily, an Android instant app is the feature that can facilitate meeting this goal.

What is an Instant app?

An Instant app allows users who never installed your app, to test out a portion of your app without installing it on a device. It helps you to reach out to the many users and increase your app installation rate.

Necessarily, leveraging this innovation, you can separate each of your app’s features in a stand-alone module. Users can quickly load these modules by tapping on the URLs that redirect to a specific module.

Let’s take an example to understand this technology in a better manner.

Imagine a friend sends you a link to a cat video, but when you tap on it, you learn that you have to install the application to watch this video. Though you install the app not to miss out watching the best cat video, it is bad scenario users are reluctant to experience. However, most of us have installed an app just to complete a single task.

Now again, imagine the cat video scenario. However, your Android app developers place the code and resource to play video content within its own instant app function module and assign this module to a specific URL. And when you tap on the link, Google Play will identify that this URL is linked with an instant app module and retrieve the code and resources required to play this video. Consequently, you can watch this trending cat video of 20 seconds without installing the app, which also leads to a much better user experience.

Benefits of an Android Instant App

Removes Barrier Between Your App and Users

Though downloading an app isn’t a time-consuming task, it is still the biggest obstacle between your app and potential users. No matter how compelling your Google Play page is, some users always back out right before installing the app. However, an instant app overcomes this obstacle by giving them a preview of what they will get after app installation.

Enhances Opportunities to Connect with New Users

Previously, in order to connect with new users, you have to bring them to Google Play through a website, blogs, or social media platforms. However, instant apps eliminate this reliance on Google Play by allowing users to access your app from any medium that supports URLs, providing you abundant avenues to reach new users.

Ensures Referrals are the Best Compliment

A user sharing your application among friends and family is the best compliment for your app. The word-of-mouth marketing helps you to reach a new audience, so make sure to create an excellent first impression. Earlier, providing a consistent experience to users who haven’t installed your app used to be difficult, but now you can provide a seamless, native experience with instant apps to users and encourage them to spread a word about your brand.

Provides App’s Access Even if Users Have Slow Internet

With weak internet connectivity, installing an app can be tedious and frustrating. However, instant app modules are way smaller and consume only 4MB or fewer data to access them. If app installation is not possible, accessing an instant app module is still a viable option.

Increases the Appeal of Time-Sensitive Apps

An application designed for a specific event or location isn’t a new kid on the block. Most people are reluctant to install an app that they can use for a limited period or in a certain location. However, an instant app can increase the appeal of these apps by enabling users to access the key features of your application at the tap of a URL.

Final Words

An instant app can help you to reach more users to try your app and expand your user base. Developing and offering an instant app to your target market gives you the best of both worlds – your users and business. Besides, they are comparatively easier to build. Android app developers can create an instant app right from scratch or transform an existing app using Android Studio.

If you want to develop an instant app and unleash new opportunities to connect with new users, we suggest you invest in Android app development services of Beyond Root.

Guide on Choosing the Best Tech Stack for Mobile App Development

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

Planning to develop a Mobile app for your business?

If so, let’s think for a moment that the mobile app is a dish and the tech stack is its ingredients. Just as we cannot make a delicious dish without the right ingredients, similarly, we cannot develop a smooth and functional mobile app without the right technology stack.

So, to give away the recipe for building an app, we have shed light on the advanced ingredients using which you can develop a future-proof app.

Let’s dive in..

Native App Development

Businesses invest in native app development because of its various benefits like fast performance, full-device integration, excellent user experience, security, and responsiveness. This approach requires platform-specific languages, software development kits (SDKs), integrated development environments (IDEs), and other tools provided by OS vendors. Besides, native apps are perfectly compatible with specific operating system – iOS or Android. So, you have to employ different app development technologies for each platform. Apps like Pokemon Go and Lyft are the results of native app development.

Technology Stack for iOS Apps

Programming Languages: Objective-C and Swift

For developing an iOS app for your business, you can choose either Swift or Objective-C. Objective-C is a superset of C language and provides a dynamic runtime environment, along with object-oriented capabilities.

However, businesses incline toward Swift because it is more functional and provides code that is less prone to errors, thanks to its inline support for manipulating data and text strings. Besides, this programming language has dynamic libraries that developers can directly upload to memory, thus reduce the initial size of the app, and improve its performance considerably.

Toolkit: Apple Xcode

Apple Xcode is a fully-featured development environment that allows you to develop mobile as well as desktop apps. This resourceful toolkit comes with a graphical editor for designing interactive user interfaces, integrated support for Git repositories, built-in documentation, and instrumentation and debugging tools.

Software Development Kit: iOS SDK

The iOS SDK has an application programming language (API) that serves as a bridge between the apps and the platform they operate on. This SDK provides specialized tools for the touchscreen interface of Apple and its proprietary iOS, which is used to run apps on iPhones as well as iPads.

Technology Stack for Android Apps

Programming Languages: Java and Kotlin

Java and Kotlin are the sought-after programming languages for native Android app development. Java has been around for years and has established itself as a language with vast open-source tools and libraries to support Android app developers. However, it has some limitations that hamper the Android API design.

On the other hand, Kotlin has lately introduced itself as a more stable development option for Android apps. The language is designed to overcome the limitations of Java and is inherently clean, lightweight, and less repetitive. As a result, Kotlin helps to create a fully operational Android app having animated micro-interactions and smooth transitions between screens.

Toolkit: Android Studio and Android Developer Tools (ADT)

Android Studio gained popularity because of its offerings like code editing, performance tooling, a flexible build system, debugging, and a quick build/deploy system. The toolkit allows Android app developers to create high-performance applications.

Besides, ADT provides Android-specific coding support and enables developers to exploit various on-device debugging tools, emulators, a graphical UI builder, and fully scriptable test automation support.

Software Development Kit: Android SDK

To write codes with the latest features, developers should download and install each version of SDK for a particular mobile device. The components or tools of the Android SDK can be downloaded individually. Third-party add-ons are also readily available for download.

Both Apple and Google provide their own development tools, SDKs, and interface elements for building a native app. You have to consider your budget, goals, and target audience to decide which native app development approach suits the best to your business.

Hybrid Mobile App Development

Hybrid app development uses a shared code developed using standard web technologies, including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. The shared code is subsequently wrapped in a native container – the WebView and shipped as a regular application. Businesses usually prefer this app development approach because of its various benefits like low cost and easy maintenance.

Technology Stack for Hybrid Apps

Cordova/PhoneGap

Apache Cordova is an open-source framework designed to run HTML/JavaScript-based apps inside the native container on a mobile device. These apps can access device-specific features like cameras and sensors, thanks to the native device that JavaScript APIs exposed.

Moreover, PhoneGap supports multiple frameworks and libraries, such as AngularJS, jQuery, and Knockoutjs. Thus, hybrid mobile app developers do not have to rely only on HTML and CSS to design user interfaces.

Ionic

Ionic is an open-source Angular-based framework that allows hybrid mobile app developers to build robust and versatile apps having a native look and feel. The framework is used to design basic native functionalities within an application to facilitate its operation on different OS and devices. The key benefits of this Ionic are:

  • Supports robust and rapid app development
  • Several ready-made plugins
  • Mainly built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which are familiar technologies
  • AngularJS compatible
  • Engaged community

Besides, the development and maintenance cost of Ionic apps is far less than native apps.

Cross-Platform App Development

Cross-platform app development is sought after among businesses due to its code reusability, low development cost, and easy deployment and maintenance. Developers use a single code base to develop a cross-platform app that runs on different platforms simultaneously. This codebase also connects to native components via APIs to provide native-like UX.

Also, you need to know that hybrid and cross-platform apps are not similar. The only common feature between them is code shareability, which speeds up their development process.

Technology Stack for Cross-Platform Apps

There are multiple frameworks for cross-platform apps. Let’s take a closer look at some of the popular ones.

React Native + JavaScript/TypeScript

React Native is the most demanding JavaScript framework used to create mobile apps with a native look and feel for both Android and iOS. The framework uses a similar fundamental UI building block as native Android and iOS apps. The only difference is that React Native app developers need to put these blocks together using React and JavaScript in case of cross-platform app development.

Besides, React Native brings forth a novel and highly functional methodology for developing user interfaces. The React Native apps are written and run in JavaScript, but their UI is entirely native.

Alternatively, cross-platform apps can also be built using TypeScript language that provides excellent features for rapid and simple error detection when building React components. Generic components are beneficial in the TypeScript toolbox as they offer an additional security layer while writing components. This, in turn, tightens the feedback loop and helps developers to detect errors rapidly.

Businesses prefer this platform because the cost of developing a React Native app is about 40% lower than a native app.

Xamarin + C#

Xamarin is a quite handy tool for cross-platform development that enables developers to share approx. 90% of code across major platforms. The framework uses C#, which is a statically typed programming language with mature tooling and IDE support. Apps developed using this language are cross-compiled to native iOS and Android binaries. Developers can also utilize device-specific APIs and functionality from within C#.

How to Choose the Best Technology Stack

Now you have a stack of technology stacks for developing a mobile app, how would you find the best one for your app development project? Having a solid plan of the tech stack is imperative to create a high-quality, secure, scalable, and easy-to-maintain app. So, we have outlined a few factors that you can take note of, to choose the best app development technologies.

Type of Project

If you’re planning to develop a complex mobile app with excellent performance and a fully custom UI implementation, go for native. Kotlin and Swift have commonly used programming languages for developing Android and iOS apps, respectively.

Validating an idea

If you are a startup and want to validate your app idea with an MVP, get feedback of users, and gain a competitive advantage, count on cross-platform approach. React Native is the right choice of developing an MVP as it is cost-effective and easy to create with wide platform coverage.

Time to Market

If you want to expedite your app development and quickly step in the market, consider a framework or language with a plethora of ready-made solutions for common development purposes like authentication and social media integrations.

Final Words

To wrap up, we would say that choosing the best tech stack aligning with your goals and vision can help you hit the moon and create a dominating presence in your respective industry. If you want more insights on how to choose a tech stack for your app development project, book a free consultation with our expert.

Why You Should Choose Flutter for Hybrid Mobile App Development

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

In this fast-paced age, competition among businesses is harder than ever. They continuously seek new avenues to stay ahead of the curve. Since this a digital era, most of them invest in mobile apps to reach out to a diverse audience and extend their roots. However, due to ever-increasing technologies, it becomes difficult for them to choose the right one. For years, small businesses have counted on React Native and Xamarin for developing a budget-friendly app, but Google’s Flutter has now started making a statement in the mobile app market.

Flutter is an open-source hybrid mobile app development framework that helps build cross-platform apps using Dart programming language. The rising popularity of this framework is evidenced by the fact that it is now among the top-20 software repositories of GitHub. It achieved this feat within a few months of its release. Let’s explore what makes Flutter unique and why you should choose this framework for hybrid app development services.

Benefits of Flutter

Single Codebase

Flutter allows hybrid mobile app developers to create a cross-platform app using a single code base. It means that they don’t have to code separately for Android and iOS apps. This helps them to quickly develop it and improve its design, quality, and speed to elevate its installation rate.

Dart as a Programming Language

Flutter uses Dart as a programming language to provide certain benefits to the developers. First, Dart is Google’s in-house production, so it is best-suited for Flutter. Second, Dart uses a reactive framework and manages both backend and frontend on its own.

Use of Customizable Widgets

Flutter provides a comprehensive library of fast and customizable widgets that give the app a native-like feeling. In Flutter’s UI toolkit, the widget catalog is divided by category for easy usability. These widgets are integrated to create a highly portable and responsive app that operates on multiple platforms and layouts.

Native Themes for iOS/Android

Flutter offers different native themes for both operating systems. The theme elements, like icons, fonts, and patterns, ensure that both platforms provide users with native user experience.

Stateful Hot Reload

The “Stateful Hot Reload” or “Hot Restart” functionality of Flutter allows hybrid mobile app developers to view changes made on the app in real-time. This feature instantly refreshes the app UI like a webpage, helping developers save up to 40% of their time.

Multiple Packages and Extensive Community

Flutter has a plethora of open-source packages that expedite the mobile app development process. This library, supporting both iOS and Android, is growing rapidly with the help of the ever-growing developer community.

Powerful Design Experience

Flutter facilitates designing powerful UI experience of the app, thanks to its easy implementation of the design specifications. This immensely benefits the developers, especially when it comes to creating a native-like experience through hybrid mobile app development.

Easier Animations

Flutter has a 2D Flare tool that makes it easy to create spectacular and complex animations with vector graphics and run them in Flutter’s rendering engine. The primary goal of this tool is to minimize the time to implement changes that need animations.

Create Apps for Mobile, Desktop, and the Web

Announced at Flutter live 2018, Hummingbird enables hybrid mobile app developers to use the same code to develop apps for mobile, desktop, and web simultaneously.

Final Words

With ample benefits, it is no surprise why some of the giants, like Google Ads, Alibaba, and AppTree, have developed their apps using Flutter. On top of this, the framework is backed by Google, which means you will never have a lack of support. So, considering Flutter hybrid app development services can help you quickly step into the market and gain a competitive edge.

A Comprehensive Guide on Hiring a React Native App Development Company

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

React Native is a powerful tool to create high-performance, budget-friendly apps that are easy to maintain and update. If you are considering React Native as the core technology for your project and seeking a reliable React Native app development company, you’ve landed in the right place.

In this article, we will discuss hard skills to look for in React Native app developers and all other essential factors to consider before hiring a whole development team.

So let’s dive in…

Hard Skills a React Native App Developer Should Have

Before hiring a React Native app development company, you can segment their developers into three categories – junior, middle, senior – based on their skills, experience, and knowledge.

Let’s explore the knowledge of junior, middle, and senior-level React Native app developers to understand which category is the perfect fit for your project.

Junior-Level React Native Developers

Junior developers have 0-6 months of experience, who are usually recent graduates or have switched their roles. They should be able to:

Write JavaSript Code – Since React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework, a junior developer should have expertise in writing code using JavaScript ES6 or later, including all its features as well as enhancements.

Work with React Native – A junior developer should be well-versed in React Native frameworks and its components, libraries, and API. They should also know basic React assumptions.

Implement Navigation – They should know the main types of navigation, such as push and modal, within an application, and how to implement them.

Work with Redux – Redux is an open-source library that facilitates managing states share across components and developing predicable apps that can operate in different environments. This is the most convenient and robust tool to manage states, and junior React Native app developers should know how to use it.

Perform Testing and Debugging – They should have a basic understanding of testing and debugging principles as well as tools.

Though junior React Native app developers don’t have work experience, they must have some pet projects where they have practiced the skills mentioned above.

Middle-Level React Native App Developers

Middle-level specialists have at least two years of experience and a record of working on several different projects. Besides, they have problem-solving skills, can work independently, and take accountability for their work. They should be able to:

Improve App Performance – They should have hands-on knowledge of techniques to optimize the performance of various types of React Native apps.

Incorporate Hardware Features – Middle-level developers should know how to integrate hardware features like camera, microphone, and GPS sensors into the app, and overcome all the challenges that may occur during the process.

Integrate with Third-Party Services – Middle-level React Native app developers should know the ins and outs of integrating third-party services like social media platforms and payment gateways, and how to work with their APIs to extend the functionalities of applications.

Sign and Deploy Apps – Middle React Native app development specialists should understand the flow of signing an app, how to get all the required components for this task, and how to deploy an application on Google Play and App Store.

Store Data and Cache Offline – They should be familiar with various kinds of React Native app development databases and libraries. Besides, they should understand all the nuances of offline data caching and decide when to use ready-made code and when to create caching logic from scratch.

Middle-level React Native app developers of a company are independent and need less supervision. They can generate ideas on how to resolve an issue, but can’t make critical decisions about an app.

Senior-Level React Native App Developers

Senior developers have at least three years of experience in developing and launching various React Native apps. Within this period, they already have trained newcomers and managed teams. So, they should be able to:

Port Native Apps – To successfully convert native apps into React Native, developers must have knowledge of programming languages used for native app development such as Java, Kotlin, Swift, and Objective-C.

Integrate Native Libraries – They should have hands-on experience in integrating native libraries and frameworks into React Native apps to develop comprehensive solutions.

Set-Up Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) – CI/CD tools improve code quality, allow developers to identify and fix bugs quickly, and enhance transparency as well as visibility of the development process. So, senior developers should know how to set up the CI and CD.

Build an Effective Workflow – Senior React Native app developers should know the difference between various app development techniques, choose the best one for a particular project, and support the team with the transition to a new or more effective workflow if required.

Contribute to Deciding Architectural Solutions – Senior developers are responsible for the app’s architecture as it is one of the most important decisions for an app development project. They should participate in research and share ideas regarding the architecture of the app before its development.

To summarize, the ideal developers are those who have all the skills required for your project. So, counting on a React Native app development company is the best way out. They provide you with a cross-functional team of experienced developers, designers, strategists, consultants, and managers who steer your app development journey right from ideation to deployment.

Factors to Consider while Hiring a React Native App Development Company

Hard skills or experience is just the tip of an iceberg. It would help if you consider various other factors to find a suitable React Native app development company for your project, which are:

Soft Skills – Soft skills describe the team’s personality or behavior and are as important as hard skills for the success of a project. Your React Native app development team should have skills like curiosity, helpfulness, problem-solving, teamwork, approachability, communication, and accountability. It helps you to work and communicate with them without any friction.

Cultural Fit – Finding a team that is a cultural fit for your company is equivalent to finding like-minded people who want to add value to your business. For a long-term project, cultural fit matters more than hard skills and experience. It improves engagement, performance, cohesion, and productivity, strengthening relationships with your outsourced React Native app development company.

Portfolio and Feedback – A portfolio reflects the experience and capabilities of the company. If they already have worked with global clients and delivered high-profile projects, you can rely on them. Don’t forget to verify if they have knowledge of the latest React-based libraries and tools.

Besides, you can ask the company for the references of their existing clients. If possible, try to find feedback from their previous or current clients. A good understanding of their capabilities helps you to partner with the best React Native app development company.

Financial Stability – Once you’re satisfied with their technical and other capabilities, analyze their financial strength if you’re investing in a big project. Poor financial stability of a React Native app development company may jeopardize your project.

Also, explore the company’s website as well as fetch and validate information gathered from all secondary sources. This is a crucial step to hire a reliable app development team.

Final Words

Finding and hiring the best React Native app development company can be a challenging task. We hope this guide lessens your difficulties and helps you find the right team that can deliver you a high-performance app aligning to your business goals.

E-commerce App Development – Everything You Need to Know

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

E-commerce websites have witnessed immense growth in the last decade. Lately, the industry has touched new heights of success with mobile apps. The milestones achieved by biggies like Amazon, Myntra have encouraged many businesses to shift from e-commerce to m-commerce.

If you’re also devising to invest in iOS/Android app development services and create an e-commerce app, then this article is for you. Here, you will find everything you need to know about e-commerce app development like types, benefits, features, process, and cost.

So let’s dive in…

Types of E-commerce apps

E-commerce apps are classified into four business models, which we have described below.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

B2B e-commerce apps are developed to sell goods or provide services. These processes are carried out between enterprises – business to business. For instance, you may create an app that enables manufacturers to advertise their products while other companies purchase what they require.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

A B2C model facilitates the interaction between a particular company and the end-consumer. Most of the e-commerce applications fall in the B2C category, and businesses develop B2C apps to sell a variety of products and improve their scalability effectively.

Consumer-to-Consumer (С2C)

With a C2C app, the sale of goods is taken place between two consumers themselves. Examples of such e-commerce models are the apps that conduct online auctions and various P2P marketplaces.

Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

It is not a typical example of an e-commerce app. In this case, consumers sell their products or services to companies. For instance, when photographers or graphic designers share their colorful photos or logos on an app, companies can purchase what they like.

Now, you understand the types of e-commerce apps available in the market. Now, let’s move onto the benefits you can yield with e-commerce app development.

Benefits of E-Commerce App Development

Better Customer Engagement

E-commerce applications are highly optimized and personalized, which significantly enhance customer experience and facilitate acquisition as well as retention of new customers. The apps provide convenience consumers want while purchasing goods.

Here are some deeper benefits of an e-commerce app over a website:

Mobility – Customers can use apps anytime, regardless of their location.

Loading Time – The pages of a mobile app load faster and draw more users. Most visitors leave the app if it takes more than three seconds to load and will likely to turn to your competitors.

Personalized content – Apps can store shopping history of your customers and provide them personalized suggestions based on their preferences.

Offline Access – The best e-commerce apps allow users to access some basic functions like comparing products or checking prices, even when there is no internet.

Thus, you can generate almost 50% of traffic from your e-commerce app.

Enhanced Brand Recognition

E-commerce apps build a strong connection between brands and customers. Loyal customers willingly share apps with their friends and describe their experience on social media platforms. So, you can integrate popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. into your app to let customers spread a word about your brand.

Besides, you can encourage users to interact with your app regularly by sending push-notifications about special offerings, discounts, and giveaways. It can also help you strengthen your brand and increase your app installation rate.

Detailed Analytics

Nowadays, data collection has become the key to the success of most businesses. With an e-commerce app, you can easily monitor users’ interaction and gather information like feedback, session length, audience composition, and more. This will help you to develop personalized content, update your app, create an advanced marketing strategy and efficient loyalty program. Thus, you can deliver an unparalleled customer experience leveraging data analytics.

Reduced Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges of an e-commerce business. An average of 70% of customers leaves products in the shopping cart and closes the app for one or other reasons. These reasons may include high shipping costs, slow processes, fewer payment options, no discount coupons, and more. All these reasons lead to a bad shopping experience, which you can improve by creating an interactive checkout form. It has been observed that a fully optimized checkout form can reduce cart abandonment rate by up to 20%.

These benefits can considerably take your business to the next level and help you stand out. Now, if you are interested to know how to develop an e-commerce app, read further.

How to Develop an E-commerce App

To create a comprehensive e-commerce app, you need to know all the essential aspects. Below, we have shed light on some of the features and process of e-commerce app development.

Features of an E-Commerce App

Registration Process

 Registration is the first step to use your app. Welcome your users by allowing them feed only necessary information and providing them the most effortless registration process.

Multiple Payment Options

Most users are skeptical about payment as it involves personal and bank account details. Provide them secure and trustworthy payment options like debit/credit card, PayTm, Google Pay, PayPal, Razorpay, etc.

Push Notifications

Push notifications act as a constant reminder when you launch a product or when customers leave products in the shopping cart. Studies have shown that most users visit an app when a notification is sent them. This feature also helps in generating more sales as it informs customers about various events and offers.

Social Media Integration

As mentioned earlier, social media is a powerful tool to improve your brand awareness through word-of-mouth. Users can also directly sign up on your app through integrated social media platforms like Facebook or Google account.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics can help you to know about the most sold products, the time frame when your app has the maximum users or the reasons they leave the app. Precisely, you can analyze everything to improve your services and thus measure your app’s potential.

Rating and Feedback

Customers’ ratings and feedback can be used as a guide to improving your e-commerce app. Always keep in mind that the app is for users’ satisfaction and should have everything that enhances their experience.

Wishlist Button

With a wishlist button, users can save their favorite products for later. This feature is like the bookmark for the product, which users can check any time they want. You can also notify users when there is an offer on the product they have wishlisted.

Easy Checkout

Easy checkout can act as a boon for your business. Your app can store the customers’ payment details and locations, allowing them to checkout in a jiffy.

Synchronization

For iOS/Android app developers, matching the app with the website is quite tedious. This is why synchronization is the best way to save time and effort. It automatically makes changes in the application that are made on the website, eliminating the need for doing the same work twice.

Filters and Search Options

Filters can narrow the users’ search and help them find the product they want from a plethora of products. It saves time and boosts their satisfaction.

Seamless Navigation

An e-commerce app with complicated navigation is a quick turn off for the users. Make sure to provide smooth navigation and showcase all the products in a highly impressive manner.

Fewer Clicks

App conversion rate increases drastically when users can perform each activity like sign up, product search, checkout, etc. with the fewer possible clicks. The lesser, the better is the new trends, and e-commerce apps are taking it seriously.

Having an idea of the features of an e-commerce app, you can partner with a reliable company that provides high-quality iOS/Android app development services.

E-Commerce App Development Process

Generally, the process of developing an e-commerce app includes the following stages:

Research – The first step is to find out the latest trends and assess the competition level in the m-commerce market.

Prototyping – The next step includes creating a prototype to illustrate each screen of the app and have an idea of its look.

Design – Your e-commerce app development team should have experienced designers to create an intuitive and interactive app interface.

Development – Figure out the technology stack to create an e-commerce app that will operate seamlessly on all platforms. Professional iOS/Android app developers can help you create the best app aligning with your business goals and requirements.

Quality Assurance – A QA team will meticulously test each functionality of your e-commerce app to ensure the quality of the final product.

Launch – App release is the last but not the least important stage of your e-commerce app development process. The app launched correctly is equivalent to the half success achieved.

E-Commerce App Development Cost

The cost to develop an e-commerce app varies depending on various factors like:

App Specifications – The cost of e-commerce app development is directly proportional to its size, features, backend, Admin panel, and complexity.

Development Team – The size, experience, and location of your iOS/Android app developers make a huge difference in its development cost.

Tech Stack – The programming language, tools, and elements significantly impact the e-commerce app development cost.

Additional Costs:

  • Support
  • Marketing
  • Advertising
  • Updates

All these factors can help you determine the cost of developing your e-commerce app. Roughly speaking, the development cost of a native app may range from $20k for an MVP to $50k for a complex model. If this price doesn’t suit your budget, you can turn to a cross-platform e-commerce app. Its development cost will be 30%-40% lower than that of a native app.

Final Words

If you need more information about e-commerce app development, feel free to book a consultation with our experts. We can also provide you end-to-end iOS/Android app development services to turn your app idea into reality. Our experts will decode your idea intelligently and code it into an exceptional e-commerce app that can potentially disrupt the market.

Keep Calm and Develop a Meditation App – A Comprehensive Guide

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and start thinking nothing – this is how meditation begins. Considering the bustle and stress of everyday life, mediation has become imperative to calm us down.

In today’s fast-paced world, no one has the time to go out daily, sit toward the sun, and chant strange mantras. This meditation approach became quite conventional when meditation apps came into existence. Apps like Calm and Headspace began to help people meditate and stay in harmony with themselves, eliminating all the distractions of the outer world. Consequently, mindfulness meditation apps contribute to fostering peace around the world and making lives easier.

If you’re a tranquility seeker and devising to bless the world with your own meditation app, read this guide. Herein, you will learn the necessary aspects that can help you create an app your users would love.

Note: Hire React Native Native App Developers to create high-performance meditation app and step into the market quickly.

So, let’s dive in…

Features of a Meditation App that Can Restore Your Users’ Peace

Onboarding Block: Introductory Tutorial for Users

Digitized meditation is gaining traction with each passing year. Yet, many people find it strange and even a bit unfamiliar. You should create an easy-to-understand onboarding screen to not leave your users confused or frustrated.

Tips to follow:

  • Create an onboarding tutorial to highlight your app’s most important features and show users what it will serve them up on a plate.
  • Ensure to implement clear and seamless animations to make users’ onboarding journey enjoyable.

Calm and Smooth Design

Meditation practices pivot on calming people and relieving their stress. So, make sure your app offers everything to meet this goal. Firstly, never use too bright colors and choose colors like blue, green, pink, purple, yellow, and brown.

Secondly, never make a cluttered design. If you review popular meditation apps, you will notice that they have a minimalistic design. It will help you create a content-centered application.

Lastly, take care of the animations. They should be smooth and pretty simple. Your don’t aim to overwhelm your users with complicated designs but to create a sense of relaxation that will help them catch the right wave and get an ever-lasting after-effect from the app’s meditation sessions.

Personalized Profiles to Offer the Best Experience

Personalization is an essential aspect of your mediation app development project since everyone has their own reason to meditate. Some may need 10 minutes of relaxation in the mid of a working day, while others may deem meditation a key to sound sleep or combating stress, fear, and depression.

Personalized profiles provide users with experience as per their preferences. Using machine learning algorithms, your meditation app can analyze what your users listen to and offer them suggestions to enhance their experience.

Session Sets: The Heart of Your Mediation App

Meditation sessions are the most important feature of your app, created in the form of podcasts. These sessions include conversations topics like stress, anxiety, sleep, concentration, etc., reinforced with calm background music or nature sounds. So, you can add multiple sessions to your app, having a duration range from 3-60 minutes. Besides, offering valuable content based on gender, age, and needs to your users will be an icing on the cake.

Play Screen to Relax Users

The play screen is another important feature of your mediation app. The central part of this screen is usually occupied by a play button having a smooth animation. It will create a specific mood for a session. Moreover, you can place a nice background image on the screen to keep your users focused. The best choices are some appealing landscapes in soft green and blue colors.

Discover Screen to Let User Explore More

Motivating users to stay engaged and check your app at least once a day is one of the challenging tasks. By creating a discover screen, you can easily overcome this challenge. This screen will allow users to explore new meditation packs, single sessions, and other valuable content, encouraging them to discover what’s new on your app.

Push Notifications to Keep Users Engaged

Push notifications is another proven way to enhance user engagement. It is a powerful retargeting tool that can help you interact with your users.

A few ways to leverage this feature are:

  • Send alerts to remind users to visit your app and have another meditation session according to their schedule.
  • Notify when old packs are extended, or new ones are available.

  • Announce giveaways, loyalty programs, and other events that encourage users to stick to your app

So, these are the key features of a meditation app that can help your users regain serenity and contribute to a peaceful world. Now, let’s figure out the cost to develop a mediation app.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Meditation App

The cost to create an app, as explained in our React Native app development cost guide, is not fixed. It varies depending on multiple factors, including:

App Specifications: The cost is in direct proportion to the app’s size, features, and complexity. So, if you want a comprehensive mediation app, the cost would be quite more.

Note: If native app development costs around $30k-$50k, building the same app with React Native will reduce the cost by up to 30-40%.

Development Team: The size, experience, and region of React Native app developers you hire will also make a massive difference in the app development cost.

Tech Stack: Similarly, the programming languages, tools, and elements used to create an app will impact your meditation app development cost.

Considering these factors, you can determine the cost to develop your meditation app. Now, let’s explore ways to skyrocket your earnings from your application.

How to Re-Earn Money More Than You Invested in Your Meditation App?

Subscription Model

Mindfulness meditation apps highly rely on the subscription model. An app monetization model will allow your users to pay a fixed subscription fee for unlocking advanced features of our app.

In-App Purchase

With this feature, you can offer your users some meditation-related products/services that they can purchase using your app.

By embracing this app revenue model, you would be able to generate revenue way more than you invested in your meditation app development.

Final Words

Apps like Calm and Headspace are trendsetters in the digital meditation industry. This comprehensive guide will help you to develop a future-proof meditation app like these biggies and bring peace to the world.

If you think your app idea can conquer stress and depression globally, hire React Native app developers of our company. Our experts can also develop your meditation app for Android and iOS platforms in case you want a native app.

Adopt Top Android App Development Trends to Witness Massive Growth

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

Android, since its inception, has come a long way with a market share of about 86% Android-based smartphones globally. The adoption of this operating system has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, increasing the demand for Android applications.

Android app developers believe that the future of app development is quite promising, thanks to emerging technologies and trends. Businesses must incorporate these trends into their apps to experience massive growth and deliver the best customer experience.

Now let’s dive in to explore these Android app development trends and how you can make your app better than ever.

Instant Apps

An Android instant app isn’t a new kid on the block but has been gaining momentum since its emergence. The core idea behind these apps is to allow your users to test out a portion of your app without installing it on a device. It helps you to boost the installation rate of your app.

This is particularly a powerful technology for e-commerce businesses and game developers. Android instant apps enable users to play a game to a particular level. If the users find it interesting, they can download the game to their device. 

The same goes for an e-commerce business. When customers search for a product on Google, they are redirected to instant apps that provide all the necessary product-related information. Thus, businesses belonging to the e-commerce industry can provide a better customer experience with an instant app.

From the Android app developers’ perspective, an instant app is relatively is easy to create. They can develop an app from scratch or transform your existing app using Android Studio, an integrated development environment (IDE).

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Nowadays, almost everybody has experienced the benefits of AI in various aspects of life. However, when it comes to Android app development, artificial intelligence has a lot more to offer.

AI in Android applications allows you to improve customers’ experience by providing them with personalized offerings. You can quickly analyze customer behavior, product preferences, and interactions with your app, allowing you to devise better engagement plans.

Simply put, you can gather, store, and process a vast amount of data by integrating AI and ML into your app. Besides, you can also perform tasks like text recognition, face recognition, landmark recognition, barcode scanning, image labeling, and more.

TensorFlow Lite, Firebase MLKit, Google Cloud Vision API, and Neural Network API are some of the tools to develop such functionalities in your Android application.

Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT apps allow users to track their daily activities and processes. It has been anticipated that the IoT market will reach $1.6 trillion in 2025. 

Being the biggest player in the market, Android is the preferred choice of businesses and Android app developers to build IoT applications. The combination of IoT and Android is quite useful for industries like healthcare, energy, e-commerce, Agriculture, and more.

For instance, a lot of IoT-based healthcare devices now track health conditions and transfer collected data to doctors. It helps doctors to diagnose their patients remotely.

Besides, IoT also plays a significant role in education. A lot of learning projects like C-Pen, Edmodo, and Nymi have integrated IoT to facilitate learning across the globe.

Android Jetpack

Android Jetpack is a suite full of libraries, tools, and guidelines for developers to build advanced apps. The primary goal of this suite is to facilitate regular app development tasks.

Google provides structured documentation, making it easy for Android app developers to use this tool. Mainly, there are four main components that we have outlined below.

Foundation – This component offers cross-cutting functionality like testing, backward compatibility, and Kotlin language support.

Architecture – It helps in developing robust, testable, and maintainable Android apps.

Behavior – These components allow developers to incorporate standard Android services like notifications, sharing, permissions, and more into the app.

UI – UI components provide widgets and helpers to make Android apps user-friendly.

Thus, the all-encompassing Android Jetpack expedites and facilitates the app development process.

Beacon and Location-Based Services

Google launched the Beacon platform to make apps and devices operate smartly due to timely and contextual information. This technology is used to define the precise location and contextual cues within applications and help users navigate the world. In brief, when a device comes in the range of a beacon, it gathers the users’ information like current position and what’s around.

Besides, a myriad of Android app developers shows inclinations toward location-based services (LBS) as they enhance users’ experience by providing real-time information. The huge success of Pokemon Go, a location-based augmented reality app, has elevated the demand for such apps or games.

The LBS can be implemented in various areas such as retail, marketing, indoor mapping, navigation, payment portals, tourism, and more.

Final Words

While Android app development trends continue to come and go, it is vital to quickly evaluate the latest technology updates and identify and seize opportunities.

These are some of the key trends having to potent to revolutionize your business and foster its growth. Though we have missed on many other Android app trends, but remember that not every trend is going to add value to your business. So, only adopt those that you think can take your business to the next level. 

For more information or figure out which trend suits the best to your business, approach our Android app developers.

Native, Web, or Hybrid Mobile App Development: What to Choose in 2020?

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

Mobile devices have reinvented the way people go online. The Statista reports that the number of smartphone users in 2020 is 3.5B, which translates to 45.04% of the world’s population. This number is likely to increase by several hundred million in the coming years, making smartphones a primary way of going online.

Businesses devising to capitalize on this trend are encountering the challenge of understanding the diverse and ever-changing mobile ecosystem. The surge in smartphone adoption and the evolving user behavior is affecting the mobile app development process. One of the most challenging decisions you may face is whether to go with the mobile web app, native app, or hybrid mobile app development.

Mobile Web App:  A web application is basically a mobile-friendly website developed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and probably other web technologies. Users access the mobile web apps using a mobile web browser.

Native App: A native application is developed for a specific platform using programming languages supported by the platform, such as Swift for the iOS platform and Java for the Android platform.     

Hybrid App: A hybrid app is a mobile web app that runs natively on an operating system (OS). Developed using HTML, CSS, and Javascript, hybrid applications are further wrapped in a native shell, which can be deployed to multiple mobile devices.

Once, the distinctions between mobile web and native apps were very clear. However, the increase in hybrid mobile app development is changing the decision matrix. Some of the important considerations that can facilitate decision making are explained below.

Device API

The device API allows a mobile application to interface with the device’s hardware and native functionalities like push notifications, GPS, camera, dashboard widgets, and contact. Earlier, this was deemed a major benefit for native applications. But now, hybrid apps utilize native shells to access the full device API. However, mobile web applications have limited native access because they use the mobile browser’s device API.

Speed

Native applications run faster across all the operating systems. On the contrary, hybrid and mobile web apps operate on top of the extra layers which consume computing resources and reduce the app speed. However, a general thumb rule is that unless the application is graphics intensive, speed should not be a major concern for hybrid or mobile web apps.

Development and Maintenance Cost

Development cost is the key advantage for hybrid and mobile web applications as they can be developed once and then deployed to all major platforms. However, deploying a native application to iOS and Android requires writing two different codes for both the platforms.

Besides, native apps incur high maintenance costs since they need quick updates when new versions of the OS are rolled out. Similarly, mobile web and hybrid apps also need to be updated when new versions of the release, but the mobile browser or the shell makes this task easier.

Development process

Since mobile web and hybrid apps are typically built using HTML, CSS, and Javascript, their development process closely mirrors the website development process. Developers can leverage an array of libraries and hybrid app frameworks to develop an app for specific or multiple platforms.

However, the options are limited when it comes to native app development. In this case, cross-platform deployment requires separate applications for each platform. Thus, the development process becomes time-consuming and expensive in the case of native apps.

Offline functionality

Native apps can easily store and retrieve data on the devices so that users can access them even when they don’t have an internet connection. Similarly, hybrid apps can function without the internet because they run in a native shell. However, most web applications face difficulty in functioning when there is no internet connectivity.

Time-to-Market and Distribution Method

Mobile web and hybrid apps have faster time-to-market as compared to native apps. Besides, a hybrid app can easily be distributed like a native app (via an app store or direct download) or mobile web app (via web browsing). Thus, we can say a single codebase has ample benefits when it comes to go-to-market time and easy distribution.

Final Words

The final decision depends on your business goals and requirements. But hybrid app development is the only approach that can yield you the benefits of both the mobile web and native apps. Faster time-to-market, lower development and maintenance costs, wider audience reach, and intuitive features and UX are some of the advantages of hybrid apps. So, if you think hybrid apps can suffice your business requirements and yield you intended outcomes, approach the experts of our hybrid app development company.

How much does it Cost to Develop a React Native Application?

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

It is not so long ago when appreneurs shifted their interests from developing native apps to cross-platform apps. React Native, the earliest hybrid app framework brought forth this app development methodology in the market. And now, this framework and approach have gained immense popularity among app developers and businesses all over the globe.

Both startups and established companies know why React Native app development is a smart choice for their business. So, they are showing a strong desire to figure out the cost to develop a React Native application and embrace this cost-effective approach.

Now, let’s cut the crap and take a deep dive into how to determine the app development cost.

React Native app development cost – The Contributing Elements

React Native app developers believe that the cost required to develop an application depends upon a number of factors. Below, we have explained all the elements you must take into account to decide the React Native app development cost.

App’s Complexity

Every application available in the stores can be segmented into three categories – Low Complexity, Medium Complexity, and High Complexity. This segmentation depends upon below-written factors:

Admin Panel – The admin panel is the backbone of every application as it helps businesses keep track of their activities, view stats, and update content without the need for React Native app developers. The more features you add in your admin panel, the more will be the app’s complexity.

Backend – You can develop the app backend in two ways i.e., Custom or Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS). In the custom option, you will get your own mobile app architecture, while in the case of BaaS, you work around a readymade backend architecture.

In-App Purchase – Though most apps, launched in the market, have in-app purchase functionality, this feature is hard to integrate. Also, the number of in-app purchase options is in direct proportion to the complexity of your React Native app.

Third-Party Integration – In order to be more user friendly, your app requires to integrate with other app’s functionality to facilitate login or payments. These integrations are slightly more complicated in a React Native app as compared to other native apps.

Integration with Enterprise/Legacy Systems – Sometimes, the React Native app has to be connected with in-house legacy systems such as enterprise apps. This kind of project automatically falls under the scale of medium to high complexity.

User Authorization

If you’re devising to create a React Native app that requires user login or authorization, the cost would be a bit more than the app that doesn’t require role-based authorization checks.

App Category

The app category can be determined by various elements like functionality set, security considerations, real-time user count, and more. These intricacies significantly affect the cost of developing a React Native app. For instance, a standalone app, such as a calculator, will cost far less than that of a feature-packed on-demand app.

App Design

A well-devised design can boost your in-app user engagement. An app that has an efficient user flow, smooth transitions to move from one screen to another, and well-timed animation will help you to improve your user base. But designing intuitive screens and experience comes with a huge cost.

However, the good news is that the designing cost of a React Native app is much lower than a Native app. The best of all is that only one app needs to be designed in the case of React Native app development.

App Maintenance

To live up to users’ expectations and enhance user retention as well as engagement, you will have to update your app regularly. According to our React Native app development company, app maintenance has three different processes:

  • App Updates
  • Design Changes
  • App bug fixes

The app maintenance cost is estimated yearly as 20% of the entire React Native app development cost.

Developer’s Experience

The experience is one of the most significant aspects to evaluate the cost to develop an application. If you want to hire React Native app developers having profound experience, you have to invest a hefty amount in your project.

However, if you approach less experienced developers, you can build your app at a low cost. But we are worried whether an inexperienced developer knows the best practices that impact or improve the React Native app performance. So, the experience is a crucial price altering factor.

Team Size

The cost of building an app varies according to the size of the development team. When you hire React Native app developers, you have three options:

  • You can hire freelancers
  • You can collaborate with a mid-cap company
  • You can collaborate with a high-cap company

Basically, hiring freelancers to develop your application is the most cost-effective option. But, it is not a good idea when it comes to quality. On the contrary, if you partner with a high-cap company, their base price would be very high as they have set standards in the market.

This is why you must tap into a mid-cap company whose hourly base price starts at $20-$40. These companies are more open to execute innovative app ideas because they strive to drive their growth by delivering state-of-the-art projects.

Company’s Location

The location of your outsourced React Native app development company plays a vital role in determining the cost to create an app. Different countries have different app development rates. For instance, a company in North America or Australia would charge a lot higher than that of an Eastern or Indian company.

Moreover, if you hire developers from India, you will get the same work done at a much lower rate as compared to a US company.

Final Words

So, this is all about the factors that can help you in deciding the React Native app development cost. Each one of these factors collectively answers to how much does it cost to develop a React Native application.

Now, we would say that if a native app development costs around $30k-$50k, building the same app with React Native will reduce the cost by up to 30-40%.

So, if you want to create a high-performance app within a minimal cost and budget, partner with our React Native app development company.

Revealing Powerful Features for a Successful Social Media App

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

Social media apps have taken a significant part of our lives. From individuals to businesses, everyone has a purpose of staying active on social media platforms. These apps not only provide personal networking opportunities but also serve as robust business tools. So, we can say that social media is all over the place, and its scope is unimaginable, unavoidable, and incredible.

From a business perspective, the niche of social media has become one of the most promising markets. And the businesses are investing heavily in iOS/Android app development services to create a social media app and leverage the opportunities offered by this market.

However, there are several essential aspects you need to consider, such as key features before embarking on a social media app development journey. Integrating effective features into your social media app can make a matchless impact on your business growth and yield you impressive outcomes.

Top Features of a Social Media App

Currently, there are various types of social media apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, and more. Each of these apps has its own unique features. Before deciding the features, you must first determine the type of social media app that suits your business. Below, we are revealing basic yet powerful features that can be incorporated into all kinds of social media apps and pave your grounds for success.

User Profile Customization

On social media platforms, users are always eager to create an impressive profile as per their state of mind, interests, and status. They want to feel unique and show the world how creative and extraordinary they are. So, you can allow them to customize their profile with their favorite display picture, preferred username, a short bio, and so on. It will give them complete control over their profile and a feeling of satisfaction.

Easy Network Building

A social networking application is of no use if it can’t help users to build a network.  Connecting and interacting with new people is the prime concept of social media. Thus, enabling users to create a social network by adding or following people easily will give them a reason to stay active on your app.

News Feed and Content Sharing

The reason why social media apps like Instagram and Facebook have managed to stand out is their ability to show engaging content on the users’ news feed. For users, a social media app is a platform to express their views, thoughts, and showcase their talent or achievements. So, you can allow them to view and share content in the form of stories, photos, videos, and audios. It will help them to improve interaction with the people through likes, comments, or shares, and thus grow their network.

In-App Chat and Calling

No matter how much users enjoy public conversation in comments, they will always wish to have a private chat with their favorite ones. Enabling them to message or call them through your app will help them strengthen their connections with each other. You can also give them a provision to create a group of people in their network and communicate with all of them simultaneously.

Live Video Streaming

Live video streaming has taken the social media world by storm since its inception. Using your app, users can stream live video to celebrate an occasion, exchange ideas, and more with their network. Hence, they will be able to create moments of joy and spend quality time with their online family.

Push Notifications

Real-time push updates about content through push notifications can make your social networking application more appealing. This functionality also informs users whenever an interaction takes place on their profile. Thus, sending push notifications will prompt your users to open your app and give them little happiness time after time.

Privacy and Security

Providing an advanced level of privacy and security to users’ data is paramount for the success of your social media app. It will ensure that the users can securely access your application, and their personal details are devoid of vulnerabilities. In this way, you will be able to gain their trust and establish a long-term relationship with them.

Bottom Line

A social media application can be the most significant investment for your business growth. A habit-forming or compelling app will have all the above features as they keep users engaged for a long period. Also, they can help you generate high revenue and gain popularity in the market. So, if you are looking forward to creating a social media app reinforced with robust features, approach the iOS/Android app developers of our company.

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