Category: Mobile App

Are you interested in developing an effective mobile application for your business? Want to know how?

When you begin thinking about creating a mobile app you will come across a lot of questions  Questions like:

• What are the things to know before you start developing an app?
• What a successful mobile application looks like?
• How much time do you need to spend to get the final result?
• What are the steps required in the lifecycle of a mobile app?

And many more…

To answer such questions, we have come up with this effective guide of 10 proven steps of the mobile app which will give you a clear understanding of the mobile app development lifecycle.

So sit tight and grab a cup of coffee because it will take you a while!

Mobile Application: Need of the Hour

The proliferation of e-commerce websites has resulted in a significant increase in competition within the existing players. With the help of e-commerce mobile apps, small- and medium-sized businesses can change how they connect with their customers. 

The various statistics about mobile eCommerce indicate that the e-commerce market will pass $3.5 trillion by the end of 2021 and that over 72% of all e-commerce sales will be generated through mobile devices in that year.

Seeing such stats, even the most traditional companies are switching to mobile applications for their business. So, there is no doubt that the mobile app is the need of the hour!

Although many companies are trying to capitalize on this trend, most do not know how to create apps successfully. It is recommended that an app development process flow be broken down into ten key phases. 

In this blog post, we will take a closer look at each of these phases.

10 Effective Steps Of Mobile App Development Lifecycle

Step 1: Develop your Idea and Market Research

As a first step, you must have a clear concept and a definite idea of what kind of app you want to develop and what kind of services you want to offer to your target audience. Ask yourself questions like: 

• Why am I making this app or how can I make it so it solves a problem? 
• What gaps in the market are you looking to fill?

The first app of its kind may not be unique, but you should always keep in mind that some of the most successful apps are those that solve real problems for customers.

It is at this stage that you should visualize your mobile app development concept. Sketch a series of interface designs for your app, noting all the details on paper.

Moreover, no matter how useful your app is, you also need to consider how you’ll earn money from it. You may choose to include ads, or charge for the download itself.

For this reason, determine your monetization strategy and visualize the appearance of your design in advance.

Step 2: Analysis and Planning

The next step in mobile app development is to identify the various elements involved in the planning of the app once the core idea has been clearly defined. 

Invest some time in researching why similar apps performed well, why some are more successful, and so on. Please check to make sure that your app is compatible with different platforms, devices, and mobile operating systems.

Your research should be around the following four questions:

• How do I design an app that best suits my needs?
• What are the required technical specifications?
• How can I make my app more profitable?

Planning your mobile app development process includes deciding which skills your team needs. For instance, when developing for both iOS and Android—a common case for many apps—different development technology stacks are used.

After you’ve done the necessary analysis, tweak your app idea and incorporate elements that will appeal to users.

Step 3: It’s time to design UI/UX

Designing a mobile app is essential to creating an efficient user experience that’s also visually appealing. 

When designing mobile apps, seek to surprise and delight users with an interactive, spontaneous, and user-friendly experience. As a UI/Ux designer, you need to focus on the following:

Information Architecture & Workflows

The first step in your mobile app design process is to figure out what information your app will show, collect, or gather from its users. Your app’s tech architecture and tech stack need to be decided before you begin making design decisions. It is important to keep business rules in mind when designing an enterprise mobile app.

Style Guide

A style guide is a crucial part of your mobile app development strategy. By establishing a style guide as early in the process as you can, you maximize productivity and stability. A style guide details all the parts of the app – without it, building an app can be less efficient and more resource-full.

Mockups

A mockup is a visual representation of your app. Working in collaboration with the design team and developers, you will produce these images by applying the final visual style to your wireframes. When your app’s design is finalized, expect further refinements to its workflow, information architecture, and aesthetics.

Step 4: Wireframing or Prototyping of App

Before you build or develop your app, it is a good idea to develop a working prototype or wireframe your app. This can help you pitch your product to investors, potential buyers, obtain any licenses, define the APIs & databases, and also the storage needs.

Wireframing helps you map out the functionalities of your app. It lays out a blueprint for your app and helps you begin development. It works as a guide through each step of the project, and you can use wireframe tools like HotGloo, Balsamiq, Gliffy, and Moqups.

This step helps you understand how all the screens seen in the app are related to each other and how they relate to the app’s navigation.

Step 5: Building the Mobile App

Now it is time to start developing your app. The goal is to create the best possible version of your product while staying within budget and on schedule. 

Mobile App Platforms

To begin, choose your mobile app development platform. Here are the key platforms:

Native apps: These apps work only on specific platforms. They provide the best user experience, but their creation requires a high level of skill

Web apps/ single page web apps: Web apps built with the help of CSS, JavaScript, HTML5 is cheaper and faster to build, and are easily compatible with multiple platforms.

Hybrid apps: This is a new era of mobile application development. New mobile app development tools, such as NativeScript, help you write and deploy high-performing applications using native components.

Step 6: Add Analytics

Building analytics into your app can help you study how users interact with it. Here are a few to consider: Google Analytics, Localytics, Flurry, Preemptive, and Mixpanel. They will tell you how people are using the app

Step 7: App Testing

When you create a mobile app, it’s important to keep testing it. This will keep the cost of building your app low and produce a high-quality app. As you go deeper into the app development process, fixing bugs becomes more costly.

Before a company reveals its hybrid app or native mobile apps to the public, it must make sure that an in-house Quality Assurance team runs tests to check that the app is free of issues.

Here’s a glance at the different testing involved in developing a mobile app.

• Functional Testing: By making use of this type, the app is tested against the client’s functional requirements. The application accepts input, produces output, and tests the UI. In other words, all of a client’s requirements are satisfied by the program.
• Non-functional Testing: Nonfunctional testing is a part of software testing that focuses on the quality and performance of an app rather than its functionality.

It is essential that you have a comprehensive mobile testing strategy in place to deliver a quality mobile app.

Step 8: Release the App

After a successful testing phase, you’re finally ready to release your app to the public. To publish an app, you’ll need a developer account with Apple or Google Play. The process is similar at both app stores, but Google Play allows you to publish your app for Android instantly, then review it later.

Apple’s app store, however, requires every app to be reviewed and approved before it goes live, a process that can take up to two weeks even when no change is required.

Step 9: Track the Metrics

Now that you’ve launched your app, you can monitor its users via the analytics tool we added. Make sure to track your app’s performance and look at any failures users might have experienced during specific actions, like sharing a photo with social media sites or creating a profile. You should also look at emergent behavior, like places where people are hanging out or which features they’re using most often.

Step 10: Keep Upgrading

If you don’t keep up with upgrades, your app will become obsolete. So make sure you continue adding new features and functionalities so your app remains appealing to users.

Wrapping-Up

A successful launch of your app will be assured if you follow this mobile app development process. However, developing your app is an ongoing process, and you will continue to do so after the initial launch as you receive feedback from users and add new features. 

After reading this guide, if you still have any doubts or queries, then drop your questions in the comments section below.

We would love to answer your questions!

About the Author:- Naveen is the marketing and product head at JoomDev. He loves to convert his ideas into reality by developing products to make your online business successful with his WordPress plugins and mobile app development services. 

There are more than thousands of programming languages available to build applications that are fast, scalable, robust, and easy to use. Today companies can leverage the power of technology to build applications that are fast and secure. With the increasing demand for application usage, there is also a need to develop an application that can handle millions of users. This increasing demand is also forecasted to innovate new programming languages which makes it easier to develop applications and websites. You do not need to have knowledge about coding technologies to get started with your application development.

In recent years, JavaScript has become popular among developers to build applications because of its advantages. In the JavaScript family to there are different programming languages like ReactJS, AngularJS, VueJS, etc., which developers prefer to use. Each of these programming languages has advantages over others and provides developers with easy-to-build interactive applications. Herein, let’s explore major reasons why you should use Vue.JS to develop your applications and know how it will benefit your business if you go ahead and choose it as your development medium.

What is Vue.JS:

Vue.JS is a lightweight framework that provides developers to create engaging user interfaces. It is one of the most known and used JavaScript frameworks which is useful to deliver cross-platform mobile native apps. It organizes user interface development and makes it easy to understand as the Vue.JS framework is designed with a bottom-up approach. The core focus here is on the view layer i.e. the end-user.

Moreover, Vue.JS can be a perfect solution for developing single-page applications using supporting libraries and modern tools. All the in-built libraries help developers to learn and build applications easily.

Here we have elaborated in detail that why should you choose Vue.JS for app development:

11 Reasons Why Should you Choose Vue.JS App Development:

Easy Integration:

Vue.JS is popular because it is easy to integrate with other frameworks like React, this helps developers to customize projects according to their needs and requirements. Using Vue.JS developers can also build apps from scratch or can migrate their existing applications or website to it. Additionally, you can even feel free to include Vue.JS CDN and use it. Developers can also access third-party components and libraries without the need of setting up nodes and NPM.

There are plenty of components in the library which allow you to create different types of web applications and replace existing frameworks. However, if you are planning to develop an application using Vue.JS but are struggling with all the technicalities, you can hire Vue.JS developer from us and we can handle all your technical issues.

Easy to Understand:

Vue.JS framework is easy to understand as it has a well-defined architecture for storing data using custom methods. It also has additional features like watchers, directives, computed properties, etc., which makes it easy to build applications and websites. Plus with a large community of developers, it gets easier to be updated with the latest trends in the market. So, for any business, it can be like a kick-start when it comes to developing applications with Vue.js.

Strong Ecosystem:

The VueJS ecosystem is vibrant and well-defined, which allows Vue.JS development company to switch users to VueJS over the other frameworks for web app development. Without spending hours, you can easily find solutions to your problems, you can even choose the building blocks you need. The Vue.JS is mainly useful at the view layer and using Vue Router, Vue Test Utils, Vuex, and Vue CLI, you can provide solutions for common and frequently occurring problems.

For developers also it gets easier to customize and scale between library and framework. Compared to other frameworks, you can easily develop, integrate other projects, migrate existing projects in it, etc. Thus, the strong ecosystem is one of the major reasons why businesses prefer to use Vue.JS for website development.

Flexible:

Another benefit of developing web applications using Vue.JS is flexibility. It provides perfect flexibility and makes it easier for web app development companies to write their templates in HTML or JavaScript.

Apart from that Vue.JS makes it easier for developers to work with tools like templating engines, CSS, preprocessors, and type checking tools like TypeScript.

Two Way Data-Binding:

Vue.JS is the first choice when it comes to two-way communication or data binding as it easily handles MVVM (Model-view-view-model) architecture to handle HTML blocks. How does it work? For example, if the developer makes any changes in the UI, the data is passed and changes made to the data reflects in the UI. The other name of Vue.JS is reactive because it can react to changes made to the data and this also sets it apart from other libraries such as React.JS which can handle only one-way communication.

Detailed Documentation:

As a developer you need to utilize a framework to the fullest, it is one of the basic requirements to have properly structured documentation. Vue.JS provides developers with a complete overview of framework learning about different functionalities, shortcuts, and instant search through its documentation. Vue.JS is based on JavaScript and HTML so developers having beginner or mid-level knowledge of these two programming languages can easily learn it. Moreover, complete documentation helps aspiring developers to learn and become Vue.JS developers.

Large Community Support:

Being open-source, Vue.JS has a large community of developers who provide timely updates and maintenance. There is a wide range of blogs, videos, tutorials, online courses, documentation, etc., which helps developers to learn Vue.JS easily and a large community helps each other to understand and provide answers to all their questions.

Simple Structure:

Vue.JS has a simple structure that makes it easy for developers to learn, code, and understand. Its syntax is a mixture of Angular and React, meaning, anyone who knows either of the two languages can easily get a grip over Vue.JS and quickly learn it. The advantage of the simple structure of Vue.JS is that it helps developers to trace bugs easily, perform debugging faster, and create small complex templates.

Advanced CLI:

Vue CLI eases the process of programming for developers and provides developers more time on coding instead of dealing with different configurations. This saves plenty of time required in developing web applications.

Instant prototyping keeps the project updated, offers user-friendly GUI, and provides complete support for unit and end-to-end testing. Most developers prefer Vue CLI as it provides a scaffolding of projects faster and also supports advanced programming features like tree-shaking, PotCSS, etc., which helps developers code effectively.

Combinations of Angular and React:

Vue.JS is a combination of two of the most powerful JavaScript frameworks i.e., ReactJS and AngularJS. It has a strong combination of some of the most amazing features of React and Angular. The developers get to work on a framework that is based on single-way data flow and follows component-based methods like React JS. They can use the same framework which offers templates having syntax similar to Angular. Moreover, Vue.JS also overcomes the shortcomings of Angular and ReactJS which provides developers with ease to develop their products.

Virtual DOM:

Basically, DOM refers to the Document Object Model that treats all the markup language as connected nodes. You can see it as an interface of objects for markup elements that are stored in a sequence. It can allow you to write and change the styles of elements and sometimes change the elements themselves. You can achieve it by adding, modifying, or deleting elements tags or CSS from the head and body of a document as they are represented as nodes and objects.

Virtual DOM is what makes Vue.JS stand out from other languages. Whenever a developer uses DOM it means changes are done in the data structure of JavaScript and are compared with original and old data structure and only final changes are visible to the users. This process of using virtual DOM reduces the cost of development and eliminates the need to call the entire DOM API and make changes only in JS objects.

Conclusion:

If you are thinking of using Vue.JS and are confused these reasons should give you more than enough push to use it. Vue.JS is slowly and steadily growing in the developer circle because of the advantages it brings to the table. Developers prefer to use it more when it comes to developing single-page websites because of its lightweight feature. It not only provides a sleek user experience but also helps in developing websites in a short span of time. So,  you can also get your website live swiftly in a shorter span of time. If you too are thinking of developing an application or a website, you can go for hiring dedicated Vue.JS developers from us and we will help you to turn your ideas into reality.

Author Bio:- Maulik Shah is the CEO of Biztech, a hire Vue.JS developer from India. Maulik likes to explore beyond his comfort zone. When it comes to writing for the blog, his contribution is priceless. No one else on the team can bring the deep industry knowledge to articles that he has. However, his door is always open and he is generous with sharing that knowledge.

Android apps are written in Java because it is the official language. Android Native Development Kit (NDK) allows developers to create apps in C and C++. This method appears to be much more complicated and maybe a time-consuming task.

Xamarin, on the other hand, is a better option for developing C# apps. With Java, you can do anything and enjoy the benefits of the added functionality. If you are a C# programmer who does not want to learn other programming languages, you can use Xamarin to create cross-platform apps. Visual Studio allows you to create mobile apps for Android, iOS, and Windows. You can use the same library in Xamarin if you are familiar with .NET.

Why Use Xamarin?

Xamarin allows you to test mobile apps as they are being developed. It aids in the resolution of bugs and issues even during the alpha stage of mobile app development. Xamarin has the added benefit of code reusability. It enables developers to create innovative apps without investing a significant amount of time and money in cross-platform mobile app development. When compared to C#, Java IDEs are easier to implement.

For app development, Xamarin developers must rely on third-party libraries. This can be extremely inconvenient for Xamarin developers. Creating bindings to use third-party libraries can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive task.

Visual Studio is approximately 543 MB in size. Because mobile app development with C++ consumes approximately 4 GB, bandwidth and internet connection issues may arise. You may have to re-download the components, which will waste a lot of time and internet bandwidth.

The most recent version of Xamarin provides the following:

• Visual state manager, flex layout, style sheets, and right to left support are all included in the new version of xamarin 4.2.0, which aids in the development of feature-rich apps.
• The IntelliSense engine of WPF and UWP now supports the new Xamarin, which improves matching, binding completion, resource completion, and markup extension completion in your program.
• The engine serves a dual purpose in that it not only supports Xamarin but also improves light bulb suggestions, lining, and code navigation.
• The new Xamarin 4.2.0 alerts you to download SDK in the background while you start an Android project with an uninstalled SDK, which is an advanced Android SDK Management feature.
• Android Project Templates have been updated and are ready to use.
• The new version does not end there; it also aids in the development of smaller programs, reduces memory use, and speeds up application.

Advantages of Xamarin:

Open Source Platform:

Microsoft’s Xamarin is an open-source platform for all that includes a variety of free components. Developers have unlimited freedom and flexibility to alter, change, and detach such components as needed.

Single technology for all platforms:

As an open-source platform, Xamarin employs C# to create and develop apps for Android, iOS, and Windows. Xamarin allows developers to use.net tools and libraries to create apps for Android, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, macOS, and Windows, making it the most cost-effective and preferred option for developers and clients.

Mobile App Testing made quick and easy:

The new xamarin version provides the added feature of cloud-based automation testing. With this powerful xamarin cloud testing functionality, any program may be tested on any version of the mobile device, whether it’s Android, iOS, Windows, or any other. As a result, this has resulted in a significant adjustment that allows you to make any necessary changes while also saving you time and money.

Xamarin Forms:

Xamarin.forms is a prospective framework for constructing a cross-platform application using.Net. It allows you to create a variety of user interfaces. When creating an iOS or Android application, xamarin.forms make it easier and faster to design a working application.

In layman’s terms, it’s a cross-platform toolkit for creating native interface layouts that work on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

Complete Access to the API:

Xamarin has finally defeated the restrictions of not linking native libraries, system updates, half access, and API control. Specific APIs of the native app can now be integrated with the latest 4.2.0 Xamarin upgrade, allowing for common functionalities for Android and iOS.

Why Android Studio Popular?

Android Studio is the official Android IDEA. When you select Android Studio, you are only able to create Android apps. If you want to develop Java apps for other platforms, you may need to learn another ID.

The file structure of the IDEs differs significantly between Xamarin and Android Studio. Gradle, a tool used by Google for Android Studio, is included in Android Studio. It also aids in the management of the compilers and the APK Packager.

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) in Android Studio makes it easier for coders to manage the visual elements of their applications. Modules are used by Android Studio to organize and manage the core modules. The modules each have their own Gradle built files that can specify their own dependencies. When compared to other mobile app development tools, Android Studio appears more natural.

The difference is that Xamarin uses MSBuild while Android Studio uses Gradle to complete this task. However, this is a simplified conclusion, and based on the documentation, there is a lot more to this subject.

It is true that when using the Android SDK, you can take advantage of the native UI. This does not imply that Android only provides this option. Xamarin has also created user interface design environments for Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio. As with Android, they have specialized UI and UX design tools. It means that when you use Xamarin instead of Android SDK, you get the same look and feel as well as the same power.

Features:

Auto-recommend Memory Settings:

When an android developer’s project requires more RAM on a machine, he or she can change the setting.

UI Freezes:

Because typing latency has decreased, XML typing has become faster.

Disk I/O File Access Speed:

Now, Android Studio assists in guiding users through the process of integrating an optimal setup; with this feature, window users have improved access time for Disk I/O.

Apply Changes:

Google has made changes in a “instant run” framework that allows Android Developers to edit code on the device itself without restarting the application.

Will it be updated?

When you use the Android SDK to create a mobile app, you will have access to the most recent Google APIs. You can also get support for the new APIs as soon as they become available.

Xamarin also has immediate access to Google’s most recent Android APIs. Xamarin keeps up with the latest releases and provides complete support for Android APIs.

Conclusion

Xamarin Studio provides numerous advantages to both developers and users. But we can’t ignore the benefits of using the Android SDK in a fully supported environment with C#.

Author Bio:- Tarun Gurang is a Sr. Digital Marketer at .NET Development Company – iFour Technolab Pvt. Ltd., having years of experience in SEO, Google AdWords, Bing Ads, FB advertising and other digital marketing strategies.

Yоu’d аgree thаt the deсisiоn tо build mоbile аррs is influenсed by business requirements аnd user exрeсtаtiоns. While bоth web-bаsed аnd nаtive аррs hаve аdvаntаges, hybrid mоbile аррliсаtiоns hаve grоwn in рорulаrity. It is due tо their аdарtаbility асrоss multiрle рlаtfоrms thаt they аre аble tо build аррliсаtiоns thаt рrоvide соnsistent рerfоrmаnсe regаrdless оf рlаtfоrm. Moreover, aside frоm being less exрensive, hybrid аррs аllоw yоu tо seсure а sроt in the арр stоre mаrket fаster.

In this аrtiсle, we’ll lооk аt sоme key аsрeсts оf hybrid арр develорment tо helр yоu deсide if it’s the right аррrоасh fоr yоur соmраny.

Whаt Is Hybrid Арр Develорment?

Аs the nаme suggests, this аррrоасh entаils сreаting а single mоbile аррliсаtiоn thаt is соmраtible with vаriоus орerаting systems – Аndrоid аnd iОS.

Hybrid develорment аdорts аn аррrоасh tо write the соde оnсe, run everywhere tо build аn арр. Moreover, It leverаges different рlugins tо enаble unrestrаined ассess tо the feаtures оf the mоbile deviсe. Besides, web teсhnоlоgies like HTML5, СSS аnd JаvаSсriрt аre the соre оf these аррs while deрlоying а nаtive соntаiner. In fact, Sоme рорulаr exаmрles оf аррliсаtiоns thаt аmаze сustоmers with their high рerfоrmаnсe, interfасe & funсtiоnаlity inсlude Twitter, Instаgrаm, Uber, Gmаil, аnd mоre.

Whаt Аre Hybrid Аррs?

It is а sоftwаre аррliсаtiоn thаt соmbines feаtures frоm bоth nаtive аnd web аррliсаtiоns. They аre рrimаrily web аррliсаtiоns thаt run in а nаtive арр envirоnment аnd соmmuniсаte with the mоbile рlаtfоrm сараbilities embedded in the арр.

Key Benefits Оf Hybrid Арр Develорment

Let’s lооk аt the соre аdvаntаges оf hоw this mоbile develорment аррrоасh helрs businesses frоm аrоund the wоrld seаmlessly leverаge multiрle рlаtfоrms. It is the mоst sоught-аfter аррrоасh thаnks tо the grоwth in the number оf mоbile users, арр usаge, deviсe frаgmentаtiоn, аnd mоre.

Enhаnсed UX/UI

Hybrid mоbile develорment соmbines the аdvаntаges оf nаtive аnd web аррs. It оffers а соnsistent аnd flаwless user exрerienсe асrоss iОS, Аndrоid рlаtfоrms. It is аbоut mаking it wоrk fоr mоbile by embrасing the web. Further, the lightweight hybrid арр UI helрs in lоаding соntent аnd grарhiсs quiсkly. The аррs аdарt tо different deviсe sсreens fоr quiсk dаtа disрlаy аnd seаmless dаtа streаming. The exсellent UI exрerienсe even imрrоves the сhаnсes оf the аррliсаtiоn’s аррrоvаl аt the арр stоre.

Wider Mаrket Reасh

They аre рerfeсt tо tаrget different рlаtfоrms with оne sоlutiоn. In this соmрetitive mаrketрlасe, it beсоmes а luсrаtive аnd соst-effeсtive орtiоn tо reасh оut tо а high number оf users using different mоbile рlаtfоrms.

Shоrter Develорment Timefrаme

Оne оf the mаin аdvаntаges оf hybrid mоbile аррs is thаt they аre eаsier аnd fаster tо develор thаn а nаtive арр. It enаbles оrgаnizаtiоns tо leverаge their existing web develорment tооl kit tо eliminаtes the need tо сreаte а new соdebаse асrоss eасh рlаtfоrm. With knоwledge оf JаvаSсriрt аnd HTML, the соde gets written while the аррliсаtiоn орerаtes асrоss аll mаjоr орerаting systems.

Eаsy tо Mаintаin

Hybrid mоbile аррliсаtiоn develорment оffers simрlified mаintenаnсe. Fоr nаtive аррs, the develорment teаms need tо rоll оut new versiоns fоr every рlаtfоrm with eасh uрdаte. А hybrid арр eliminаtes versiоning аnd mаkes арр mаnаgement аs simрle аs uрdаting а web раge, thаt tоо in reаl-time.

Соst-effeсtive

This аррrоасh enаbles the tаrgeting оf multiрle рlаtfоrms withоut mаintаining numerоus соde bаses. Unlike nаtive аррs, with а single соde bаse fоr vаriоus рlаtfоrms, the hybrid аррs enаble develорment teаms tо ассelerаte the develорment рrосess. It reduсes the time tо mаrket signifiсаntly. The арр саn be рublished оn multiрle mоbile арр stоres with а соmmоn соde.

Оffline Аvаilаbility

Mоbile аррliсаtiоns соmmоnly suffer frоm limitаtiоns аrising due tо the lасk оf оffline suрроrt. It is а сhаllenge fоr соmраnies whо саter tо сustоmers frоm rurаl аreаs оr рlасes where internet соnneсtivity is а сhаllenge.

Stаtistiсs indiсаte thаt 70 рerсent оf users аbаndоn аn арр beсаuse it tаkes tоо lоng tо lоаd. The оffline ассessibility feаture helрs оverсоme this сhаllenge. Therefоre, the end-users саn hаve uninterruрted ассess tо the арр’s dаtа withоut рerfоrmаnсe glitсhes.

Enhаnсed Рerfоrmаnсe

Hybrid аррs оffer high sрeed аnd рerfоrmаnсe just like nаtive аррs. In fасt, in sоme саses, they аre even fаster thаn рrоgressive аnd resроnsive аррs. The reаsоn being nо deрendenсy оn netwоrk соmmuniсаtiоn. Further, even аррs with а higher number оf users exhibit better sрeed оn аll deviсes. They hаve рrоven their рerfоrmаnсe stаndаrds with brаnds like Twitter аnd LinkedIn.

Whаt аre the limitаtiоns оf hybrid аррs?

• А limited user interfасe: hybrid аррs hаve а design thаt dоesn’t hаve а nаtive feel. The user interfасe thus isn’t аs seаmless. Роssibilities (3D fоr exаmрle) аre аlsо restriсted due tо the fасt thаt WebView is used аnd thаt this dоesn’t аllоw the exрlоitаtiоn оf the deviсes’ full роtentiаl.
• The diffiсulty оr imроssibility tо exрlоit the рlаtfоrms’ сарасities in full. Eасh рlаtfоrm, iОS оr Аndrоid, hаs unique сарасities thаt а develорer mаy wish tо exрlоit. If this is the саse, а соmbinаtiоn оf sрeсifiс рlugins аnd соde оf the рlаtfоrm will be used tо асhieve this оn а hybrid арр. This further соmрliсаtes the арр develорment рrоjeсt.
• Slоwer рerfоrmаnсe аnd trаnsitiоn between раges.

• Deрendenсy оn the brоwser’s sрeed.

Whаt аre the соnsequenсes оn yоur testing рhаses?

Autоmаted testing

Testing а hybrid арр саn be dоne in а similаr wаy tо а web арр. Fоr eасh test саse, а sсriрt will be written аnd аt first glаnсe the test рhаses seem tо be simрlified.

Complexity аrises when the аррliсаtiоn аlsо соntаins nаtive соde, whiсh is frequently the саse. Eасh test саse will соnsequently hаve multiрle test sсriрts, eасh written in the nаtive lаnguаge оf the рlаtfоrm оn whiсh the tests hаve tо be соnduсted.

Оne will hаve tо аddress bugs thаt саn exist individuаlly оn рlаtfоrms, whilst keeрing the versiоns synсhrоnized.

Mаnuаl testing

Mаnuаl tests fоr а hybrid арр will аlsо differ frоm the tests соnduсted оn nаtive аррliсаtiоns. If this is а given when the testing strаtegy is written the effоrt, the tyрe оf tests аnd the steрs will hаve tо be аdарted tо аddress the grарhiсаl аsрeсts thоrоughly.

• Firstly, calling а WebView intrоduсes аn аdditiоnаl risk tо the арр with а frаgmentаtiоn nоtiоn linked tо саlling а раge in а соntаiner: оne will hаve tо сheсk thаt the WebView integrаtiоn is рrорerly dоne (nо dоuble heаder оr menu fоr exаmрle) but аlsо thаt there is а рrорer аdарtаtiоn tо the deviсes’ sсreen resоlutiоns (whiсh imрlies thаt the sсорe оf the deviсes thаt need tо be tested will hаve tо be widened).

• Funсtiоnаl tests will аlsо hаve tо be mоre thоrоugh, раrtiсulаrly оn сliсk zоnes fоr exаmрle оr оn Саll tо Асtiоns (funсtiоning, size, …).

• Mоbile behаviоr соuld аlsо hаve аn imрасt (nо signаl, dаtа lоss, сhаnge оf оrientаtiоn, interruрtiоns) оn the web арр соmроnent. Therefоre, sрeсiаl аttentiоn shоuld be раid.

• Finаlly оne will hаve tо lооk intо the nаtive-WebView interасtiоns with regаrds tо the ассоunt / sessiоn dimensiоns. Fоr exаmрle, when а user lоgs intо the nаtive раrt оf the арр, а seаmless WebView exрerienсe is required (nо need tо reсоnneсt fоr exаmрle).

The сhаllenge with mаnuаl testing will therefоre be tо vаlidаte thаt the user exрerienсe is smооth. Moreover, the сhоiсe between а nаtive арр аnd а hybrid арр is рurely teсhniсаl аnd hаs tо dо with аn internаl аnd оrgаnizаtiоnаl deсisiоn оnly. It shоuldn’t hаve аny imрасt оr limitаtiоn fоr the users.

Author Bio

I am Vijay Chauhan working as a technical content writer with 4 Way Technologies. I am passionate about reading and writing content for Web application development, mobile application development, SMART TV app development and DevOps. I am also fond of creating applications (small) using the latest Javascript library. I am having close to 5 years of experience in a blogger avatar. You can reach out to me to discuss emerging technology trends and its impact.

Researchers have discovered that 96% of GenZ are addicted to their smartphones, and communication isn’t the only purpose of using smartphones excessively. Moreover, having Netflix apps at your fingertips makes your smartphone a constant source of entertainment. It is still hard for businesses, such as home service providers, to regain customers even though they are integrating the same apps into their bundles, such as the Frontier Package.

As the adoption of smartphones by the majority of the population increases, the number of mobile apps is continually on the rise. Mobile Apps have taken over the retail industry as a result of such a rapid and drastic increase.

As stated by Think with Google, 84 percent of shoppers at physical stores use their smartphones to obtain information about products and to compare prices. Today, the development of mobile apps is a crucial part of boosting customer engagement and providing a multitude of options for tailoring shopping experiences for everyone. 

Before throwing the lights on how mobile apps changed the retail industry, let’s discuss the drivers of digital transformation in the retail sector. 

How the Retail Industry Evolved Over the Last Decade

In 2010, different technologies, shopping habits, and consumer expectations transformed the retail sector, making the decade one of true change in the industry. Probably it is reasonable to say that the way consumers shop today is very different from how they did a decade ago, but do retailers keep up? 

Yes, retails are coming online and digitizing their business operations. From website and app development to maintain social media presence to performing internet marketing strategies, retailers are coming up with different ways to stay afloat. 

Indeed, digital transformation is at its peak, and entrepreneurs across the globe are making necessary changes in their business models. However, before the pandemic, retailers were quite skeptical about digitization, but retail has certainly been hit worst due to the pandemic, and COVID-19 was the straw that broke the camel’s back for some brick and mortar stores already struggling to keep up with a changing world. 

Let’s face it:  

With mobile devices becoming ubiquitous, the retail industry has forever changed for the better. Consumers and retailers can communicate in new ways, thanks to mobile technology. Mobile technology has become the driving influence on the industry’s future. As a result of the adoption of mobile applications, retailers are able to build stronger relationships with customers and streamline their operations.

From online shopping and ordering to digital payments to browsing content related to products on social media to performing online banking transactions, mobile apps have changed the face of the retail industry from its roots. 

Drivers of Digital Transformation in the Retail Industry

• Customer’s preferences keep evolving, and now they prefer to shop online rather than visiting the store. 
• The line between the physical and virtual stores is getting blurred due to the advancement of emerging technologies such as AR/VR, AI, and IoT. 
• Shoppers are expecting a personalized experience from brands
• Rapid access to information 
• Data is the new “oil” in the retail industry

In other words, the ”digital consumer” is really a consumer who constantly displays evolving behavior, regardless of how they use tools or channels or what experiences they seek.

Here you can consider how consumer’s grocery shopping experience got changed amid the pandemic. No doubt, customer’s inclination towards online ordering kept increasing, but the corona pandemic has acted as a catalyst and compel retailers to digitize their operations by designing a delivery app for business as it has the potential to fulfill the demands of modern patrons. 

Thanks to mobile app technology, retailers can collect hoards of data that provide context on customers’ product usage since there are more than 3.2 billion smartphone users globally. So mobile apps are here to stay and keep affecting retail business owners in several ways. 

How Mobile Apps Are Playing a Ubiquitous Role in the Retail Sector

With the constant technology innovation, its effects have begun across several industries, and the retail sector has not left something behind. Modern technology tools, especially mobile apps, have had an impressive impact on the retail industry and, on top of that, have evolved customer’s preferences. 

So, let’s jump right in and analyze how mobile apps are constantly changing the retail industry without any delay. 

Enhances Productivity In A Way Never Seen Before

Consumers can respond almost immediately to mobile apps thanks to their intuitive design. With the quickness of these interactive interfaces, the process of getting noticed has been dramatically shortened. A public reception can now be held without waiting for one to develop. With instantaneous handling, lengthy processes can be completed in seconds.

Mobile apps have allowed money transfers to be handled behind the scenes like second nature rather than a significant bottleneck in financial operations. Money shows up in seconds, and memos are sent at phenomenal speeds.

Take an example of a popular pizza chain, Domino’s, Domino’s. Pizza chain allows customers to place orders via different systems such as chatbot, Amazon echo and even using emojis. With the addition of a chatbot, that opportunity expands the ability of customers to place orders without having to leave the app they already use extensively, which eliminates friction.

With the recent announcement that Facebook will integrate native payments into Messenger, users may no longer need to make a profile on another app or website.

Want to Order any Products? Delivered!

The doorstep delivery market has been booming since the pandemic has entered the world. No doubt, the eCommerce retail market was skyrocketing even before the outbreak, but today folks are even ordering food, medicines, grocery apps, and other essentials online in order to stay safe and secure. 

These days, people can place an order to any grocery store or restaurant from mobile apps without even visiting the store. Everything can be done within the app, from digital payments to track stores and delivery provider’s activity, and products will be delivered at a preferred location without any interruption in our regular activities. 

Hence, food delivery applications such as Zomato, Instacart, Doordash, Postmates, and many various others have made their names in the retail industry in a short time. This is how mobile apps have changed the retail sector, and the days are not far when we will get products through drones or parachutes. 

Confused Over Product’sProduct’s Quality? Check Reviews

Users are able to place online orders and have products delivered, but they can also share their experiences through mobile applications. During the customer feedback, they describe the taste and the overall product quality, how the delivery provider or sales representative treats them and how the final product was delivered, and they rate the particular item or the company according to their experiences.

Reviews and ratings are a useful tool for the following users to decide if they are interested in using the same service or ordering the same product. Here you can consider the example of the restaurant industry as 94% of diners choose restaurants based on online reviews. 

This feature also allowed restaurants to improve food quality and service by reading customer reviews, enabling them to compete better with their competitors.

Beacon Technology Helping Retailers to Boost Sales

Beacon technology is being used by many retailers today. Several industries, such as restaurants, healthcare, hospitality, and others, have tapped into this technology. Any mobile application can be enhanced with beacons in order to enhance its features.

Despite being around since 2013, the importance of mobile app beacons has grown in recent years. Let us explain beacons to you if you’re not familiar with them. Let’sLet’s take the example of a pizzeria that has installed a beacon. You will be able to see the latest pizza deals at that store every time you pass by it when your phone’s Bluetooth connects with it.

That’sThat’s how a beacon works. Additionally, it provides proximity marketing by detecting the inside-store shopping behavior of the user. Mobile app beacons have a lot of benefits for consumers as well as retailers. 

Multiple Ways to Make Payment

Mobile payments have become more prevalent in the aftermath of the pandemic, allowing people to make payments safely without compromising on hygiene or social distance requirements. Digital payments are quickly replacing payment methods such as checks and cash.

Digital payments are now in the spotlight as banks and credit unions focus on strategies for the future of commerce. By relying on multiple payment methods, ordinary people can now shop at the grocery store without carrying their wallets and looking for petty, inconsequential details such as exact change, duplicate notes, and defective notes.

We can use our phones to pay from wherever we are; we have to download the mobile application and carry them around.  

Mobile Apps are the Boon for Retail Sector

From personalization to mobile payments to doorstep delivery to enhanced customer experience, mobile apps have evolved in the retail sector, and this transformation will continue to change the retail sector for the years to come. Mobile apps offer comfort to customers, whereas retailers can now digitize their operations to expand their business horizons. 

Author bio:- Riddhi Ganatra is an online marketing consultant and outreach expert at Viss Beauty who loves to write and review fashion and beauty products. She spent more than three years as content creator covering topics like online marketing, technology, motherhood, lifestyle, beauty, and more.