MobileAppDaily Recognizes Credencys Solutions Inc. As A Top React Native App Development Company

Credencys Solutions Inc. is an agile full stack application development company that was founded over a decade ago. The primary objective of their team of app designers and developers is to help their clients in driving profits. In addition to this, they also focus on helping businesses succeed through cutting edge digital transformation across multiple domains.

With a team of more than 150 skilled technology professionals, Credencys Solutions Inc. is here to create highly competitive digital business solutions while making use of the latest web and mobile tech across a wide range of platforms which also includes WordPress, PHP, Angular.js, Android, iOS and React Native, as well as emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), IoT (Internet of Things), and Chatbots.

Why MobileAppDaily Chose Credencys Solutions Inc.?

MobileAppDaily is a leading news and media portal that has made a well-known presence for itself in the tech industry. Being a reliable source of all the latest and trending updates from the mobile application sector, hundreds and thousands of tech enthusiasts follow this platform.

From the very start, this portal has kept the mobile app users up-to-date with what’s happening in the tech industry, be it the latest app funding or launch of a new mobile application in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

From innovative startups to well-established Fortune 500 companies and large-scale enterprises, Credencys Solutions Inc. has offered only the very best app development and digital services to its clients. This is one of the main reasons why MobileAppDaily decided to feature Credencys in its exclusive Leading React Native App Development Companies report.

Apart from in-depth annual reports, readers will also find detailed Android, as well as iOS app reviews of the mobile & web apps that are ruling in their respective categories. The annual report consists of only top mobile app development companies belonging to different industry verticals. A few reports that were highly requested by the readers were Top iOS App Development Companies, Top Beacons App Development Companies, Top Mobile App Developers in the U.S. and many more.

10 Reasons You Should Know Why Kotlin is Better than Java for Android App Development

According to Statista, in the second quarter of 2018, 88 percent of all smartphones sold to end users were phones with the Android operating system.

kotlin-vs-java-stats

When you speak about Android development, the programming language that comes to mind is Java. It is because Java has been popularly used for Android app development for years.

It is true that the majority of Android apps are written in Java. However, it is not the only option for Android app development. You can build Android applications using other languages too that can compile and run on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Recently, one JVM-compatible programming language has caught the attention of the Android community, and it is Kotlin.

What is Java?

Java is a popular programming language developed in 1998 by Oracle Corporation. It has been widely used for Android app development because of its core benefits that include: it works on different platforms, open source & free, simple to use & easy to learn, and many more. Besides, Java is old, verbose, error-prone, and slow to modernize.

Moreover, OpenJDK developers have begun to bridge the gap with Java 8, but Android does not utilize all the features of Java 8. Therefore, developers are stuck in the old Java 7 and 6 worlds. As they cannot completely rely on Java for Android app development, Kotlin came to the rescue.

The Rise of Kotlin for Android App Development

Kotlin is a programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) developed in 2011 by JetBrains. It can be used where Java is used virtually. It has gained an astounding amount of interest among developers in the last 2 years, specifically after Google announced it as an official language for Android apps.

Kotlin offers a broad array of benefits over Java while developing Android applications. Let us take a look at the key benefits as below.

10 Reasons for Choosing Kotlin Over Java for Android App Development

1. Completely Interoperable with Java

Interoperability is one of the greatest strengths of Kotlin. It works as a potential alternative to Java when it comes to Android development. The benefit is that you can use Java and Kotlin code side by side in the same project without disturbing any of the factors.

It means when you want to integrate Kotlin into the project, you only need to add its tools and frameworks without any change in the project.

2. More Concise than Java

Kotlin is considered to be more concise than Java, as it solves the same issues with only a few lines of code. It enhances code maintainability and readability. As a result, developers have benefited from writing, reading, and changing code more effectively and efficiently. It offers conciseness through features such as type inference, smart casts, data classes, and properties.

If you are planning to develop your Android app using Kotlin – Consult Credencys

3. Safer Code

Kotlin is essentially safer than Java code, as it prevents the occurrence of common programming errors by design, which results in fewer system failures and application crashes. When writing Java code, certain errors are likely to happen, while Kotlin pushes developers to write robust code.

4. Write Less Code

Kotlin is easy to use once you understand its syntax. It is not redundant like Java. Kotlin is crisp, concise, and minimizes a lot of the boilerplate code for developers in the daily routine.

5. No more Null-Pointer Exception

Kotlin offers the benefit of implementing APIs on NonNull parameters. It will not compile if you specifically put null into a non-null API. Moreover, the IDE will also notify you about your mistake.

Thus, if you are to re-write APIs, and you have a runtime null going into a non-null API, then Kotlin will force a crash with a null argument exception. It tremendously benefits, particularly when you are busy rewriting your APIs and communicating with your team.

6. Helps Reduce Errors and Bugs in the Code

The Kotlin compiler informs system failures rapidly in relevant cases. As a result, it becomes more convenient and easier to search for bugs and even prevent them beforehand. The compiler performs several checks, thereby avoiding runtime errors and reducing the cost and effort of error fixes.

7. An Enterprise Language

Kotlin is developed by JetBrains and has been in the market since 2011. It is primarily, designed to solve practical and real-world development problems, and unlike other JVM-based languages, Kotlin does not emerge from an academic or research background. It has been built keeping the enterprise in mind.

JetBrains did not want to create something revolutionary, but to offer something that is usable and cost-effective to enterprises who aspire to have an Android app development.

8. Kotlin has Better Support for Functional Programming

Developers use functional programming to solve several tasks easily and consistently. Functional programming was also introduced in Java 8. However, Kotlin has better support for functional programming.

It suggests that you can concisely and explicitly use functional concepts with proper function types. Kotlin also helps improve performance with the help of inlining, which is not currently possible in Java.

9. Speeds Up Everyday Development Tasks

In addition to the features we discussed above, Kotlin offers a wide range of handy features that expedite the daily development tasks, which Java does not provide. These features include parameter values, object declarations, extension functions, and many more. Moreover, they also help speed up the development time, along with maintaining the code base efficiently.

10. Easier to Learn and Maintain

One of the biggest advantages of Kotlin is that a Java developer can understand the majority of the code even without having written a line of Kotlin. It is because JetBrains had aimed to make the transition from Java simple, with a language that nearly resembles what you already know.

With the simplicity of Kotlin language and the help of the IDE & compiler, it is easier to handle the basics of the language. The only complex part to understand is the concepts that Java lacks rather than the Kotlin syntax.

Kotlin is considered as a one-stop language for all kind of Android application development, as it supports lots of IDEs, along with Android Studio. Therefore, you can use all the tried and tested development tools that help you in maintaining your codebase at scale.

Final Thoughts

As Kotlin is 100% interoperable with Java, you can use Kotlin code with Java and vice versa. You can also migrate large software projects from Java to Kotlin step-by-step, and it allows you to use Java libraries with Kotlin seamlessly.

At Credencys, we provide excellent Android app development services to our valuable clients. Our Android app developers are dedicated to offering high-quality applications. We deliver effective Android solutions to enterprises, startups, and digital agencies and help them achieve high performance.

Software Outsourcing Company v/s In-house Team v/s Freelancers – Which is Better to Hire iPhone app Developers

Today, the app development market has grown so big that not only many people can develop an app, but there are too many ways you can choose/hire iPhone app developers for your project.

We have seen CIOs and Managers get quite confused when it comes to hiring developers to build mobile apps. The confusion is both obvious and invalid. It is obvious for the people who don’t know how the mobile app business works. A straight forward answer to this question is, “It Depends.” It depends on your requirements, needs, and desires.

We all know that in software development changes are inevitable. Because of this “change,” you might as well have to consider another model. For example, you have hired an offshore development firm to build a mobile app. While the development was going, you found that for the app to work well, you need to develop a new module. If this new module requires the skills which the offshore company cannot provide, then you’ll have to rush to another company or hire a freelancer or work out with the in-house team.

Before we proceed to identify which model is the best, it is essential to know that there is nothing like “a perfect choice.” Of course, there can be “a better choice” when it comes to choosing a hiring model.

Three Options to Hire iPhone app Developers – Choose the One Smartly

1. Offshore Software Development Company

Offshore development is often suitable for large size or long-term projects. Offshore development firms can provide you developers on full-time as well as part-time basis. Hiring these remote developers can save you a lot of bucks. If you’re looking for a reliable yet cheaper development center, then offshore software companies can be your best bet.

Pros

1. Before you hire iPhone app developers from an offshore company, they sign a legit contract which has deadlines, privacy policy, development cost, etc. written on it.

2. Offshore companies save your time on recruiting talent by providing you a team of hard-working professionals and subject matter experts.

3. The quality of work is guaranteed in offshore development companies because of their experience and expertise.

4. For offshore companies, you don’t need to check their performance every now-and-then. Companies hire only talented people who are beyond questionable.

5. Hiring developers from third-world countries like India, Vietnam, South Africa, etc. can help you save money to a great extent.

Cons

1. The most prominent drawback of hiring an offshore company is dealing with the time difference. It becomes a huge barrier for companies and their clients.

2. It might take a bit longer for you to hire iPhone app developers from a company than to hire freelancers because unlike freelancers, you can’t hire developers from a company on the click of a mouse.

3. Hiring a dedicated developer might be a bit costly than hiring a freelancer. It won’t be a huge concern for you if you’re not on a tight budget.

2. In-house Team

Similar to outsourcing software companies, an in-house team is also recommended for long-term projects. You can have great control over an in-house team rather than outsourcing companies or freelancers. Based on your requirement changes, you can increase or decrease your team capacity. An in-house team is a better choice if your project demands you to communicate with developers continuously.

Pros

1. You’ll be able to engage more often and better with your team members because of their all-time physical presence on the floor. Because of it, the collaboration will also increase.

2. Another benefit of the in-house team is that they dedicatedly work on your project only and not any other.

3. Communication is more effective as the team members are physically present all the time, and there won’t be any language barriers as they will be from the same country and culture.

Cons

1. The cost of having a full-time in-house team is higher as you’ll not only have to pay the developers a handsome amount but also require a proper infrastructure to execute the process.

2. Recruiting new people to your organization to do a specific job full-time is a tough job as not every employee you hire is going to have the required skills and talent.

3. Your dependency on the people you hire will become a huge concern if any one of them falls sick and take leave. In that case, you’ll need to hire a replacement which may or may not be a good fit for the project.

4. You’ll need to consider a part of your revenue to train the new hires. Even though they have the required skill set if you want your project to be a success, then you’ll have to train the employees regularly.

5. After the project completion, the maintenance of the software is also crucial. For that, you’ll again need to hire people which is costly even though you hire them ‘on-call.’

3. Freelancer

Hire a freelancer if your project size is small or you need someone to finish a half-done task, or you require a developer to fix a few bugs in your new software. For these applications, freelancers can be not only a cheaper option but also an efficient option.

Pros

1. Freelancers are economical to hire. The pricing models of freelancers is mostly based on time, which means they’ll cost you by the hour. However, if your project turns big with time, freelancers will no longer be an economical choice.

2. Finding a perfect fit for your project requirements is easy as there are millions of options available.

3. Freelancers can work out of office hours as well, which will help you to develop software faster.

Cons

1. As freelancers work alone, they don’t have the exposure to work in teams. An essential element of software development is learning. But, as freelancers have less exposure to other developers, they won’t be able to learn and implement the same in your project.

2. In a way hiring a developer can be easy because of platforms like Upwork, Freelancers, and more. But, it is also tough as you’ll need to decide based on factors such as nationality, experience, etc.

3. Freelancers are called “Free” because they are indeed free spirits. They cannot make them available for you all the time. They lack discipline. A majority of freelancers care more for their income rather than your company reputation.

4. Most freelancers work from their homes. And, a significant disadvantage of working from home is that a home can also be full of distractions which can deteriorate the quality of work.

5. Your idea is valuable, and not all freelancers understand it. Sharing your idea with a freelancer whom you haven’t met or even seen his/her face without signing an NDA can be dangerous. Unlike companies, freelancers don’t have a well-structured NDA to protect your idea.

Verdict

As you can see, every hiring models have their pros and cons. Choosing from any of these models will entirely depend on your needs and desires. Still confused? Go with an offshore software development company as they have Triple “E” or EEE. Offshore companies have the required expertise, experience, and are also economical. Freelancers might be cheaper than companies but, they don’t provide the true value which offshore companies do. If you think budget is a huge concern you can check out different engagement models to hire iPhone app developers which every offshore development company offers.

How to Enhance the Security of Mobile Banking Apps

The world has shifted from manual to mobile with the emergence of smartphones and mobile applications. The banking sector is one of the many to have drastically transformed by the rise of mobile banking. Banking customers today, no longer have to go to a bank, or even to an ATM, all thanks to the mobile banking apps.

They can carry now carry their accounts in their pocket through a smartphone. Mobile banking apps have unquestionably changed the scenario of overall banking transactions. However, there are more than 1.5 million applications available in public mobile app stores, and there are thousands of downloads of various apps every day.

With the increased use of mobile banking apps, the chances of fraud are also on the rise. Yes, hackers or fraudulent are always on their high alerts to find their way through these apps to hack an account and take advantage.

Moreover, security researchers are on the continuous hunt of discovering malware that targets mobile banking apps. For example, there is a spyware called FakeBank that monitors SMS activity for incoming verification messages from a customer’s bank. When a user of a mobile banking app gets an SMS with a verification code, the spyware copies the details and send them to fraudsters.

Today, hackers have become tech-savvy, and they are well aware of the use of different technologies. They use them to their advantage in the purpose of hacking accounts. Therefore, it is critical to be thoughtful and cautious in choosing your mobile banking app development team and also examine your existing banking apps for vulnerabilities.

There are certain security measures you can take to secure your mobile banking apps. Let us take a look at these.

10 Ways to Secure your Mobile Banking Apps

1. Build Mobile Security Standards & Apply them

While developing mobile banking apps, all banks have some standards and guidelines to follow when they develop their applications. However, they often forget to focus on the security factor while following the other details. Also, there are differences between Android and iOS when ensuring that auto-complete is turned off or the password field is appropriately protected.

It is critical to assure that you have solid security standards and guidelines for all technologies that are in use.

2. Conduct a Manual Verification

Once you have performed design or architecture reviews with threat modeling, you should conduct some level of manual verification. You can determine the scope and level of difficulty by the amount of risk posed by the application.

Moreover, the size and complexity of the app will ascertain multiple levels of verification through iterative code reviews and penetration testing. Financial service providers must employ mobile verification experts to work alongside internal teams. They

should keep an eye towards building a strong testing group within the staff.

3. Introduce Fingerprinting Device

Introducing Fingerprinting devices can add a dimension to mobile banking apps. The integration of this feature will help confirm a user identity with the use of a unique set of signals offered by the device. These signals consist of an IP address, location, screen size, browser, time of day, device type, etc. You can hire Android or iPhone app developers from a mobile app development company to build an app that will integrate fingerprinting feature or the one that is compatible with fingerprinting devices.

4. Add Multi-Factor Authentication

We mentioned earlier that frauds have increased with the use of the latest technologies. Therefore, submitting a password to access a customer’s bank account in a mobile banking app is no longer adequate to avoid fraud. Banks need to add an extra layer of defense like one-time generated passwords or biometrics to increase mobile banking security.

Biometric authentication can be based on static physical characteristics or human behavioral patterns. Besides, static biometrics examine peoples’ physiological characteristics, such as fingerprints, iris, retina, etc. While behavioral biometrics deals with a person’s voice, typing rhythm, scroll speed, swipe patterns, and other traits, revealing the unique ways people interact with their devices. It is impossible for fraudsters to mimic these factors.

5. Provide Real-Time Text & Email Alerts

You can safely assume that someone using mobile banking on their smartphone has direct access to their email or text messages. Banking service providers can prevent fraud by notifying a customer account activity through a quick, real-time email or text alert. For example, some mobile banking apps allow you to be notified if more than a customer-specified amount of money is spent.

Such a notification can easily let the concerned customer know if their information has been compromised. As a result, they would likely be aware of such a large amount of money being withdrawn from their account.

6. Behavioral Analysis

With the latest technologies hitting the market, specialized software has emerged that monitor and analyze the login location and activity, along with the online account activity of consumers. Due to this technology, your mobile banking application could signal abnormal behavior for further investigation.

As part of further investigation, it can send an email or text alert to the customer advising of suspicious activity. Also, a call from the bank further investigating the suspicious activity can occur.

7. Use Secure Access

Banking and financial service providers should always encourage their customers to use secure connections via technologies like HTTPS. These technologies can protect their accounts against data theft and fraudulent logins.

With the increasing use of the latest technologies, the risk of fraud both for the bank as well as the customer is growing. With cyber-criminals continually finding their way through apps, there is a need to constantly improve the security of mobile banking apps.

8. Implement Safe Digitalized Documentation

Banking service providers can effectively increase the security of their mobile banking apps through Safe Digitalized Documentation. It consists of setting up an electronic signature, which helps in several verticals like eCommerce, call centers, retail branches, etc.

Digitized Documentation helps in bringing a major part of the documentation on mobile, which enables financial service providers to offer various benefits to their customers, particularly, helps in preventing fraud.

9. End-to-End Encryption

In many online transactions, several entities like payment cards, merchants, card brands, and the issuing bank play a significant role. Moreover, the exchange of a lot of sensitive data worth billions of dollars takes place in a year, which has become a hotspot for hackers.

End-to-End encryption comes to the rescue in such situations. It ensures that the data is secure and sound even during online transactions. It performs security audits and penetration tests, which takes the security measures to the extra mile.

10. Encourage the Use of NFC-Embedded SIM Cards

Though you cannot force this security option to your customers, you can highly encourage them to have it on their mobile banking apps. An NFC-embedded SIM card is a SIM card that allows consumers to securely download their credit card information into the Near Field Communication (NFC) SIM card.

This security option enables consumers to protect their overall account information without carrying their actual card. It reduces the risk that their credit card information could be compromised, potentially giving access to their mobile bank application.

Summing Up

Mobile apps and online platforms have undoubtedly made banking transactions easier and more convenient for us. However, with the increasing use of the latest technologies, hackers have also become quite tech-savvy. Therefore, the key to improving the security of mobile banking apps is to deploy the security measures we discussed above.

Credencys has been providing secured mobile app development services for years. Our team consists of highly qualified and experienced Android and iPhone app developers who offer a broad array of expertise to help you build your robust mobile application.

How Mobile Banking Apps are transforming the Banking Sector

Technological disruption has impacted every domain, including the banking sector. The growing dependency on mobile devices has led to the increased popularity of various mobile apps. Today, everything is going mobile, and in this tech era, if you do not have a mobile application, you do not exist.

The rise of mobile apps has immensely influenced the banking sector. Gone are the days when you had to stand in a long queue to transfer, deposit, or withdraw cash. Mobility has transformed the way we used to do our banking transactions.

Instead of going physically to a bank, you can perform your relevant tasks on a laptop, desktop, or smartphone in no time through a mobile banking app. These transactions may include paying credit card bills, utility bills, transferring funds, and others to list a few.

From going paperless to making transactions ultrafast, integration of mobile apps has tremendously transformed the banking sector. Customers love doing their banking transactions globally in their comfort zone without physically going to a particular bank.

Thus, a majority of people prefer using mobile applications on their smartphones. It means they have also replaced their physical wallets with these banking apps.

As we now know the significance of mobile banking apps, let us understand how they have transformed the banking sector.

Key Features of Mobile Banking Apps to Consider

Cashless Payment

According to World Payments Report 2018, Global non-cash transaction volumes grew at 10.1% in 2016 to reach 482.6 billion and is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7% through to 2021.

Digital payments are on the rise, and with mobile banking apps joining the scene, it has taken the banking sector to new heights of providing benefits. Additionally, non-banking applications are also capable of offering a variety of payment services, which has increased the significance of mobile banking apps.

Moreover, there is remarkable growth in Peer-to-Peer payments as well, where customers can send or receive money with each other directly through an application.

Simple & Secure Sign-In

Security has become the topmost priority of any mobile app, and when it comes to a mobile banking app, it holds a critical significance. Multi-factor authentication is secure but its a time-consuming technology. It irritates most of the users, particularly when compared to authentication based on biometric data.

Biometric authentication technology includes examining physical metrics to identify and verify a person. It consists of recognizing a user’s voice, typing rhythm, and gestures as well. However, a lot of other characteristics can also be used for the same.

Intelligent Chatbot for Customer Support

Every business aims at providing personalized benefits to their clients. When it comes to banks, it is utmost crucial for them to offer support, professional consultation, or advice 24/7 to their customers.

Therefore, banks have utilized AI Chatbots to support their clients. Through an intelligent Chabot, they can easily answer hundreds of customers at the same time without letting them wait for a long time. Chatbots work around the clock, always polite, and never get exhausted. Wells Fargo Bank has taken the benefits of its customer support Chatbot.

Voice Payments

In the popularly emerging tech world, the perception of doing things is continuously changing every single day. Among the growing technologies, Voice Search has taken a significant place in our lives. You can ask your connected devices and smartphones to do any task simply by telling them verbally.

Now, in this scenario, what if transferring money was as simple as saying hello? Yes, you read that right. Voice banking is gradually finding its way into the banking sector, bringing immense benefits for customers. You can take examples of successful leaders in the banking sector in this relevance. The Royal Bank of Canada and Barclays are the early adopters of voice technology. Apart from security concerns, this change can bring a new revolution in accessibility.

Financial Planning

Budget management is one of the biggest challenges among many. There are several apps that facilitate financial planning. However, if a mobile banking app can take care of that facet as well, then it will be the cherry on the cake for customers.

Mobile banking apps assist in making the right financial decisions and also provide tips for thoughtful money management, increase savings, improve investments, and a lot more. As a result, it helps in increasing brand loyalty, which is an essential aspect of the sustainability of the banking sector.

ATM Locator

Earlier, it was tough to find an ATM if you wanted to withdraw or deposit cash. With the increased use of technology, you can get its locations on the Internet. However, with the rise of mobile banking apps, a few have come up with the ATM Locator feature to help their customers to find an ATM.

The Royal Bank of Canada has demonstrated how this feature works. Also, RBC has added a unique feature to its mobile app that allows users to locate the nearest branch or ATM with the help of Virtual Reality technology. The bank spokesperson reported that about 90 percent of users updated to avail of this feature on their mobile banking app. Also, there have been about 25,000 new downloads of the application since the time, the new feature integrated.

Advanced Security

Today, threats, breaches in confidentiality, etc are on the rise, and the banking sector has been upgrading itself to secure its customer base. Therefore, banks have started offering mobile apps that are coming up with security features in the form of facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, etc. apart from the regular sign-in. If reports are to be trusted, then the trendsetters in the banking sector are also testing the Voice security systems.

Notifications

Digital marketing has been utilizing Notifications feature to enhance the customer experience. Banks are on the path of coming up with context-based notifications, considering privacy and security issues. However, if this feature can be executed well, then it could be the next big thing in the banking sector. It will be a trend that could take personalization to the next level.

Geolocation

It is not worth traveling to an ATM where there is no cash. Time is money for everyone, and when it comes to bank customers’ time, it is more critical. It can be an utterly thoughtful thing if mobile banking apps come up with the location-based service. The Geolocation feature can help in locating the nearest branch or ATM with accurate digital updates, along with the details of the availability of cash.

QR Code Payments

Scanning QR codes directly from a mobile banking app is an efficient, fast, and convenient method of paying for goods and services. Additionally, all that is needed for users to do is to scan the QR code is a smartphone.

QR codes are not a new technological thing in the market. However, only a few bank apps have executed payments via QR code until now. For example, Dutch banks ING and Rabobank were among the first with their mobile app Payconiq, released in January 2018. It simplifies online and in-store payments with the help of a QR scanner inbuilt in the app.

Wrapping Up

The Banking sector has been an inevitable and integral part of our lives. However, in the cut-throat competition, it needs to come up with innovation and advancements similar to other sectors. With the integration of mobile apps, the banking sector has transformed in several ways.

Mobile banking apps have made our lives easier by empowering us to accomplish our critical tasks related to funds and finance hassle-free. The features we mentioned here are the most significant features of any mobile banking app, which you must know.

At Credencys, we aim at providing the highest level of services to our clients. Our team of experienced and skilled mobile app developers offers promising iPhone and Android app development services. You can hire a full stack developer from our team to help you build your business app.

How to Build an Awesome M-Commerce App: Top 10 Features to Consider

Since it’s inception, mobile commerce or popularly known as m-commerce have been a booming business. The number of mobile commerce users is increasing with the number of people being able to access the Internet on mobile devices is increasing.

According to the statistics released by OuterBox, 79% of the total smartphone owners in the US have purchased products online via their smartphones. Out of 230 million smartphone users in the US, 182 million uses their smartphone to make an online purchase. These numbers are enough to identify the importance of m-commerce app development in this day and age.

Have you ever heard of Progressive Web Apps? No? Well, they are websites which look and feel precisely like mobile apps. If you have a full-fledged e-commerce website up-and-running, and you’ve heard recommendations to go with a PWA development rather than an Android or iPhone app development, then please consider these aspects before making the final decision.

If you’ve identified that m-commerce app development is your way-to-go to boost your retail business, then here are a few features that you must consider to make your app stand out.

Below are the top 10 features for m-commerce app development

#1 Smooth Registration and Login

One of the first actions that a user performs is the registration or login. Including a lot of information in the registration process will ruin the customer experience. It is not necessary to take all the personal data from a user in the first go. You can take them later (probably, at the time of check out) once you have the basic information such as name, email, and phone number.

Registering users through their social media profiles is also a great hack to onboard new customers.

After the registration, a user should directly be redirected to the landing page or product page.

#2 High-quality Product Images

The image quality of your product can either make or break your retail store. Especially for the customers who just moved from offline shopping to online shopping. If these customers receive a realistic shopping experience similar to a brick and mortar store, then they can become your lifelong customers. In the case of regular customers if you want to increase customer retention showing high-quality product images should be your way-to-go.

#3 Full-length Product Description

Similar to your e-commerce site, your mobile app must also consist of a detailed description of your products. But, there is has to be slight variation in it as the mobile screen size is small the description length must be adjusted accordingly.

While creating descriptions for your mobile devices, you must remove all the unnecessary paragraphs which are not related to the product. Also, you must consider writing information in bullet points rather than paragraphs as it will increase the readability in mobile devices.

#4 Simple Navigation

A lot of times, customers will come to your app looking for very specific products. At that time if a customer will find it challenging to navigate through the app, it will ruin his/her experience. Organize your products properly, based on categories and keywords. Including a search bar with proper search optimization can immensely help a user as they usually don’t have time to browse through various products to find the one they have been looking.

#5 Personalization

Personalizing the app for customers is one of the critical elements which will deliver an excellent user experience. Personalization can be done in two ways:

Customizing the home page or landing page of the app based on the shopping activities of a user.
Showing offers and products based on the season or the location of a customer. For example, Let’s say you own an online cloth store and you sell clothes starting from shorts to winter coats. Now, to increase sales, you must show winter coats in the home screens of customers living in Manhattan and Shorts in the home screens of customers living in Southern California.

#6 Show Discounts and Run Flash Sales

Despite providing fantastic user experiences via an intuitive user interface, you need to give your customers a reason to buy from your store. Of course your products are the first reason they are here, but giving discounts and offers on your products will motivate them further to make a purchase.

Adding a separate section during the seasonal sale will upscale the customer experience instantly as they will no longer have to ponder here and there in the store to search for products with the offer.

#7 Retail Integration

The term “omnichannel commerce” is getting popularity nowadays, and for a good reason. Even though your customers are physically present in your retail store yet, they can virtually wander around in your competitor’s store via their mobile app and compare your products with yours. Because according to Retail Dive, 54% of the customers use their mobile phones inside a store to check and compare prices of products.

consumers use mobile phones

To deliver an excellent omnichannel experience to your customers, the simplest thing to do is to provide them free wifi inside the store so that they don’t have to rely on mobile data to access your app.

You can also provide a feature in your app that’ll help customers identify where (which aisle of which floor) is the product that they are looking for is located in the store.

To deliver true omnichannel commerce experience, your app must have a reverse feature. It helps customers to purchase something from the offline store that they have viewed on your app and vice-versa. This feature will help you get more app downloads.

#8 Smooth and Secure Checkout

After putting all the efforts and money to deliver a great digital experience to your customers via an app if the checkout options aren’t user-friendly, then it will ruin the entire customer experience till then.

So, whenever you decide to go with m-commerce app development, make sure that your app has faster checkout options, integration with popular mobile wallets, and multiple card saving options. Following these basic practices will help you to increase customer retention.

#9 Push Notifications

Push notifications are an essential element to awake your customers if they haven’t shopped from your store for a long time. It is also one of the most vulnerable features to have in an m-commerce app. According to Kahuna, the CTR for Retail industry is the least at 12% among the eight sectors.

push notification industry

One of the primary reasons for this is the number of push notifications per day or week. Sending too many push notifications can overwhelm the customers even during festive seasons. Therefore, even though, push notifications are a great way to engage with your customers; it is recommended to understand your customers’ shopping behavior and send personalized push notifications to each customer in the apt amount accordingly.

#10 Simplified Customer Service

Despite providing amazing product images, detailed product descriptions, simplified search, and FAQs, customers are always going to have questions in their heads. They are inevitable. As your store will grow, these questions are only going to increase. If you succeed in addressing all these questions, you’ve won the war.

It is recommended that you provide multiple customer support options such as live chat, phone call, or email. The main agenda behind providing all these options must be to solve queries of your customers at any cost.

Conclusion

All the features mentioned above are quite useful to create a good m-commerce app. However, if you want to achieve massive success through m-commerce app development, always listen to your customers. It can be in the form of feedbacks or analytics. Leverage this data to identify the features which are lacking in your app. Include those features in an update and repeat the same at every fixed interval. It can be a month, a quarter, or six months.

Don’t get too confused as to who will you be able to do all these things. Start by including these features into your app and leave the rest on your customers. They will be your ultimate guide throughout your entrepreneurial journey.

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[Infographic] Top 12 Frameworks for Web App Development to Look Forward !!

Web development frameworks are the most crucial elements in Web app development. They do the job to facilitate the development of websites, web portals, e-commerce platforms and every other type of web applications. Choosing from hundreds of web development frameworks might be tough. One must select a web development framework based on his/her goal and what he/she wants to achieve at the end of web app development.

Once the goals are clear, the developers need to select the right front-end and back-end frameworks which suites best to their application. Before choosing the frameworks for your next web app development project here are a few questions you should keep in mind.
1. Does the framework provide support for rapid app development?
2. Does the architecture of the selected framework match your goals?
3. Does it support all the features required in your project?
4. Does it have a massive community to back the development process?

Below is the list of top 12 front-end and back-end frameworks from which you’ll need to select the ones who answer all the above questions and meets your technical goals.

 

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Top iOS 13 Features & Their Impact on Future of iOS App Development

On June 5th 2019, Apple announced iOS 13 along with a lot of new stuff during their annual WWDC 2019 event.

As we anticipated, iOS 13 will have a number of notable features, with a bunch of updates to its built-in apps.

However, in this blog we’re going to focus on the iOS 13 features that will impact the future of iOS app development.

So, without any further adu, let’s have a quick look on the new features of iOS 13 and how it will impact iOS app development in the coming years.

Top iOS 13 Features to Consider for Your Next iOS App Development Project

Apple introduced a lot of interesting updates to its built-in apps like advanced Siri, Apple Health, Memoji, and a new Map experience, but we would like to highlight features which will specifically impact iOS application development.

Let’s dive right in!

1 – Core ML 3

The all new Core Machine Learning (ML) 3 will come with lots of improvements.

Unlike the previous version which could only assist for AI-based game development, the latest Core ML 3 is expected to let iOS app developers use the quantization for reducing the trained machine learning size by 75%.

2 – Create ML

In addition to Core ML 3, Apple has also announced Create ML using which the developers can develop machine learning models from scratch without having to write a single line of code.

In Create ML, Apple has provided a number of model training with different datasets that can be utilized like object identification, sound identification, and more.

3 – Power of AI Combined With Siri

Ever since its launch, Apple’s Siri has already received lots of traction. In fact, it has been a blessing for not just users but the developers as well.

In iOS 13, Apple has upgraded the SiriKit which will bring a lot of advantages for developers. To put it simply, developers can now leverage the SiriKit in various forms including hands-free counting, lock screen, payment, and many more.

This new update will ultimately help App owners in increasing their user retention rate through the new features of SiriKit.

4 – Swift 5

Though Swift 5 was actually released about two months ago, but it has proven to be a major evolution of the iOS programming language. And with iOS 13, the Swift 5 will also be compatible with Linux OS.

The latest Swift 5 has brought exclusive support for new data types and dynamically callable types along with access to memory during runtime. However, the best update of Swift 5 is the API (Application Programming Interface) which will allow developers to make modifications more easily.

5 – App Security

Apple has been known for its top-notch security both in its operation systems and smartphone apps. And with the announcement of iOS 13, Apple has said to include App Transport Security compulsory for all apps developed for iOS 13.

What this means for app owners is that they can assure users with best security.

6 – WatchOS 6

Apple Watches are one of the highest selling smart watches available in the market. And due to its popularity, businesses have already started building apps for Apple Watch.

So, the watchOS development trend is only going to rise in coming years. And as far as the features of WatchOS 6 are concerned, Apple has unveiled new Siri shortcuts, background audio app, and customized controls during WWDC 2019.

7 – SwiftUI

Aside from the new Swift 5 programming language, Apple has announced a new UI update to Swift which will ease the workflow for developers.

The all new SwiftUI framework will provide a bunch of new features and make automated moves. In fact, the SwiftUI framework will also be compatible to build Apple Watch applications and will be accessible to all platforms through a common API.

8 – Good News for Enterprises

The iOS 13 is expected to bring a better CRM functionality along with improved data security, stability, and enhanced user experience. As a result, Enterprises will now be able to build highly-secured iOS apps which will ultimately help them to efficiently manage their day-to-day operations.

Bonus: Few General Features of iOS 13

1 – Smart WiFi

Apple announced Smart WiFi with a variety of useful features for their smartphone users. For example, your iPhone will now remember the location of known networks and automatically turn on and off WiFi when you reach and leave those locations.

In addition, Smart WiFi will also turn off automatically when the battery is low. This will help users to optimize the battery life of their iPhones without having to do anything.

2 – Memoji

Apple has upgraded the Emoji search functionality in iOS 13. Previously, if you had entered ‘knife and fork’ in the emoji search bar, the emoji didn’t appear in the results because the correct name for that particular emoji was dinner.

But Apple has worked on this issue and launched a new smart emoji search where you will be able to find same emoji using different search terms.

3 – Maps

Apple Maps is serving millions of people across the world. And since so many people depend on it for navigating throughout the world, Apple has re-built the base-map from scratch.

In the new Apple Maps app, users will receive a whole different Map experience with precise address, broader road coverage, pedestrian data, and detailed landcover.

Though the new Maps app will be available to a selected cities and states in the beginning, but Apple has said that they will make the new Maps app available to entire US and more countries by 2020.

Conclusion

This concludes the top features of iOS 13 that will impact the future of iOS app development. Now, if you already have an existing iOS app for your business, the time has arrived to make it compatible with iOS 13.

If you need help with what iOS 13 features to include in your business app, our iOS app developers can help! – We’re a leading iPhone app development company with 7+ years of experience in building diverse iOS application.

Transportation App Development – How to Develop App Like Uber For Delivery Trucks

Ever since Uber become a worldwide success, nearly every transportation business wants to follow Uber’s footsteps.

And if you think about it, the ‘Uberization’ concept has brought a revolutionary change to the entire system of relations between customers and businesses offering transportation services.

In fact, because of the immense perks that the on demand apps has to offer, more and more trucking and logistics businesses are building an app like Uber for delivery trucks.

In this blog, we will address inquiries that we’ve received from transportation businesses who are considering to build their own app like Uber for delivery trucks.

Let’s start with the most common question…

Why Does The Delivery Trucking Industry Need On-Demand Apps?

If we look at the data, trucks move about 71% of goods in the US. But the local delivery trucks businesses are still unprofitable.

Reason? – It’s mainly because the truckers usually drive back empty, which is almost as costly as the fully-loaded trucks.

According to the American Transporation Research Institute report, 20% of miles are driven empty.

So, for trucking businesses to become profitable, they need to improve the utilization of their trucks, which can be easily accomplished with an on demand app.

Another problem with the traditional trucking business system is freight brokers.

Freight brokers basically work as a liaison between carriers and delivery trucks companies. But the problem with freight brokers is that they take 20% commission.

In addition, the whole process of matching a carrier with shippers, finding drivers, and arranging transportation take about two or three hours, which is not quite efficient.

This is the part where on demand app like Uber for delivery trucks come into the picture.

Just like Uber connects taxi drivers with passengers, your own transportation app can connect truckers with shippers, eliminating the need for freight brokers.

Simply put, through transportation app development, you can establish a direct connection between truckers and those who need their goods to be delivered at some place.

In addition, the app can also prevent trucks from returning empty by improving the visibility of a company’s entire supply chain.

That being said, let’s find out how to build an app like Uber for delivery trucks of your own.

Step-By-Step Process to Build an On Demand App for Delivery Trucks

The Uber for delivery trucks app is not a new concept in the market. There are already a few startups like uShip, Uber Freight, Cargomatic, etc present in the market. But compared to the taxi industry, the competition is quite low.

So, needless to say, that if you work with the right professionals, you have an opportunity to become successful as Uber in the logistics industry.

Here are the steps that you should follow to build your on demand transportation app for delivery trucks.

Step 1 – Decide The Type of App You Want to Build

For building an app for delivery trucks, you have two options:

  • You’re running your own delivery trucking business and wants to simplify your day-to-day operations.
  • You aim to create a marketplace like Uber where you connect shippers with truckers.

Step 2 – Find & Hire Mobile App Developers

Once you decide the type of app you want to develop, you need to find reliable mobile app developers who can build your mobile app. At this point, you’ve two options:

Now, hiring mobile app developers in-house is basically not a sensible decision for several reasons. For starters, you’ve to go through the hassle of inviting candidates, conducting interviews, and creating infrastructure for them to work.

Therefore, it’s more convenient for people like you to outsource the entire mobile app project. Doing so will not only relieve you from all the hassle, but it also allows you to focus more on growing your business once the app is ready.

Step 3 – Validating Your Idea

Once you’ve found a reliable mobile app development partner, it’s time to validate your app idea.

Now, remember that idea validation is extremely important. And if not done properly, then there are higher chances of your app failing, resulting in wasted time, money, and resources.

However, if you’ve found the right partner to build your mobile app, they can easily validate your idea by performing in-depth market research and tweaking idea to fit in the market.

Step 4 – Deciding MVP Features

MVP is basically called minimum viable product where an app is developing with only core features to test an idea in the real market and gather feedback from early adopters.

For your transportation app, you need to build two separate apps for shippers and truckers. In addition to those apps, you’ll also need to develop a web admin panel to monitor all business operations.

Let’s start with shipper app features.

Shippers App Features:

  • Registration & Login

This is a traditional but must-have feature for your transportation app. In addition to a regular registration form, we recommend adding an option to register or login via email and social networks. Doing so will make the registration process quick and delightful to your users.

  • List the Type of Vehicles

In a transportation app, it is important to let shippers choose the type of vehicles available that will deliver their goods based on its size and weight.

  • Vehicle Booking

In Uber, passengers generally book a cab when they are ready to leave. But in logistics, that’s not the case. So, it is recommended to let shippers book vehicles in advance to avoid a situation where a suitable vehicle is unavailable.

  • Reminders

It’s normal to forget things. But, what’s not normal is making a carrier wait because you’ve forgotten the day and time of your shipment.

Making this mistake not only disrupts the schedule of both parties but it will also cost you more as many truckers charge shippers for wait time. So, the reminder feature is kind of necessary to include.

  • Real-Time Tracking

Real-time tracking feature can add a lot of value to your transportation app as it will reassure shippers by allowing them to track where their shipment is at any given moment.

This feature can be easily integrating by accessing the driver’s location via their smartphone’s GPS.

  • In-App Payment

Shippers should be able to pay for the shipment delivery right from your app. But, to add this feature, you’ll have to choose and integrate a payment gateway. Uber, for example, uses Braintree.

  • Reviews & Ratings

You should let shippers rate and write reviews for carriers they recently worked with. This will help other shippers to avoid working with the wrong people.

Truckers App Features

  • Registration & Login

The registration process will differ based on whether you’ve your own fleet or partner with local fleet carriers. If you’ve your own fleet, you can skip the registration process and directly add details of your drivers and types of vehicles.

If you’re partnering with individual carriers, then you can offer registration via email or social networks in addition to the traditional registration process.

  • Shipping Details

Before accepting a shipment order, you or the partnered carriers should be able to view all details about the shipment type, weight, pick-up & drop-off locations, day and time for pick-up and drop-off.

  • Bid on Available Jobs

In addition to accepting or rejecting shipment offers, the individual carriers should also be able to see the list of available jobs on a separate screen with all details and apply for the job.

  • Route Optimization

Though the route optimization is not strictly a must-have feature but it will make your partnered carriers happy when delivering shipments. So, if your budget allows, consider including a feature that will adjust the routes according to traffic situations, road repairs, or accidents to enhance your services.

  • Proof of Delivery

Most shippers ask for proof of delivery to truckers. Therefore, including this feature becomes a necessity. In your transportation app, you can do this by either uploading a picture or a digital signature of the person who received the delivery.

Web Admin Panel Features

An Admin Panel is extremely important for transportation app to monitor and manage daily operations. And it needs to have the following features.

  • Dashboard

This is where you’ll see all the orders – new, pending, and completed, – along with details like shipper name, carrier name, and date & time.

  • Driver Monitoring

You must also include the feature to track drivers in real-time along with details like where they stop, for how long, and check if they’ve any pending orders for the day.

  • Billing Management

The billing management feature can help you easily organize, check, and approve all invoices that are generated from the truckers app.

  • Vehicle Monitoring

Vehicle monitoring, in addition to driver monitoring, is much needed because it will allow you to keep a check on each vehicle’s condition, speed, location, stops, and fuel consumption to better optimize all your vehicles.

So, with that we’ve now outlined every necessary feature for your transportation app. These features are enough to launch your own Uber Freight like app startup.

Conclusion

If you follow the above steps, you can easily build a solution for your transportation business or launch a new Uber Freight like app startup. But remember, the transportation industry is rapidly evolving, so it’s best to make the most of the opportunity while it’s available.

With the help of the right mobile app development company, you can easily develop an app like Uber for delivery trucks.

10 Mistakes (To Avoid) in Mobile App Development

The emergence and increased use of smartphones have given rise to mobile app development. Mobile apps have simplified the lives of people to a great extent. As a result, the mobile apps industry has emerged as the most lucrative one among all others.

Moreover, there is a neck-to-neck competition between iOS and Android due to which you get to see new apps hitting the market every single day.

Additionally, both of these play store value for more than 1 million applications each. In such a situation, companies face cut-throat competition for creating apps first-hand than others. As a result, often they make lots of common mistakes in the mobile app development processes.

Have you ever marked why some apps are simply better than others, even when they have a similar application?

Developing a mobile app is not an easy task. One mistake is enough to fail tonnes of coding produced after months of hard work in no time. The mobile app development market is growing tenfold globally due to which more businesses started to develop their apps to boost their marketing tactics.

Some apps are excellent in terms of features and functionality, whereas many others are trapped in common mistakes. As a result, they lose a significant number of their customers and business as well. The success ratio of the apps decides their future in the tech market.

Let us take an understanding of what mistakes you should avoid while developing your mobile app.

Top 10 Mistakes You Should Avoid In Mobile App Development

1. Developing for Too Many Platforms

If you go with a proper plan while developing your mobile application, then you are likely to avoid this mistake. However, companies fail to select the right platform for their mobile apps, as these platforms have become almost equally popular in the market.

As a result, a lot of organizations end up developing their mobile applications on all possible platforms at once. However, if you analyze the requirement and market trend beforehand, then you can avoid making such mistakes. For example, if your target audience is larger, then it would be better to build the app on Android because the number of Android users still outnumbers iOS users globally.

Moreover, if your app requires your users to pay you, then iOS becomes the better choice, as they are way ahead in making in-app payments compared to their fellow Android users. Still, if your app requires you to build it across multiple platforms, then it will be better to develop it on one platform at a time. It will give you the time to analyze what you can improve and what you can avoid on other platforms.

2. Not Considering the Target Audience

It is not sufficient to simply create an interesting product if you do not know for whom you are developing it. You must critically know your target audience before you plan to build a mobile app. If you are not sure of your end users, then your product may fail in the market, resulting in an increased budget for development, promotion, and iteration.

3. Including Too Many Features

If your app provides more than necessary features, users will certainly uninstall it. Almost every smartphone user has limited storage available, and therefore, it is crucial for them to select the right app than what the developer thinks. Often, people do not consider the optimization of app size significant aspect in mobile app development.

Therefore, it is essential to restrict the app to cater to the required needs, which enables the developers to optimize the app.

4. Poor App Testing

Testing holds a significant place in mobile app development. Testing is by far the most vital step of developing a mobile application. However, when you have specific requirements, they test the app for the given set of constraints and make its usage fairly limited.

For example, if the target audience is defined to around a million, then they will test the application for only around 1.5 million people. Thus, a spike in the number of users ends up with the app crashing frequently and ultimately closing up at the end of the market.

5. Inconvenient User Interface

Apart from aesthetics, user experience plays a pivotal role in the designing of an app. Only to offer a unique experience, do not choose for a layout that looks excellent but is complex to understand.

If the users will find it difficult to understand the layout of the application, they are bound to uninstall it in no time. Therefore, it is essential to select an easy-to-understand layout and functionality for your mobile app. It will ensure maximum user engagement.

6. Improper Deadline and Budget Estimates

It is significant to carefully study the project and scrutinize every single detail thoroughly to make the correct estimate and specify deadlines. You may take a considerable amount of time to complete this process. You are likely to triple your budget and deadlines if you insist on immediate project assessments.

You need to understand that quality mobile app development takes a lot of time. Usually, it takes around 3 months, but it may be more.

7. Not Rolling Out Timely Updates

A too often updated app and the one updated once in ages, both end up getting the same treatment. Users usually ignore them. It is crucial for you to roll out the right update at the right time, which something that companies should understand and hold onto for making the app a success that will last for years.

Updates should include addressing user complaints and the latest trend changes. It will help you make sure no competitor breaches your territory and replace your app.

8. Forcing Users to Disclose Personal Details

You need to think about this thing. Why would a torch flashlight app need to access your phone book? Users can get irritated and may not proceed to install your app if you ask personal details more than necessary.

9. Crude Usability

A mobile app has to be user-friendly when you specifically build it for your target audience. Apart from focusing on the specific functions, you should also make sure that your users find it easy to use.

If your app has issues in terms of ease of use, then it may lose its popularity. Also, it can cause a negative reaction from users who install it for the first time and try to use it.

Therefore, it is crucial to understand your end users and also how they will actually use the app. It will help you design the correct user-flow that will guide your users through the application.

10. Poor Technical Requirements

Many times, customers who want to build their mobile apps, provide a ready-made design that consists of a few screens, thinking that it is sufficient. However, you have to give detailed technical specifications regarding how you want your app to be for your users.

It is critical that all app scenarios should be clearly defined in the specifications in the app design. Every single scenario or element state increases the mobile app development time and cost.

Conclusion

Your mobile app is the most vital part of your business growth and development. Therefore, it is crucial that you should make sure you do not miss out on any essential task in mobile app development.

Moreover, it is crucial to select the right mobile app development services provider to skyrocket your mobile application.