What Is Mobile App Localization?

The process of software localization is no longer limited to merely text translation, as it was common decades ago. Instead, modern-day localization is a complex set of measures aimed at adapting a software product to different markets and cultures. Usually, the localization plan is detailed long before the product release, and the software development process takes this plan into account.

The core of the localization process is still the translation of text throughout an application. This includes the app’s interface, text on images and videos, and on any external resources, for example, PDF files or web pages that have links leading to them from within the app. This is the case, for example, when various documents, such as a user agreement or license, are presented as external files. This way, it is easier to amend them when necessary without extracting the required text from the application.

Cultural peculiarities are very important for localization. For example, this involves the support of different types of script, such as Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, and Japanese characters, and so on. Even the same language may still have large and small differences in various countries. They include spelling, the meaning of words, and other linguistic features created throughout the history of a particular language variant. Developers must also take these differences into account. That’s why, for example, Google Play supports seven variants of the English language, three variants of Chinese and Spanish, etc.

Another important element of localization is the choice of measurement units. Nowadays, the Metric system is generally adopted worldwide. However, three countries, including the USA, still officially use the Imperial system. Several states, such as Canada and India, occasionally use the Imperial system in certain contexts. For example, even though such countries adopted the metric system, inches are used there to measure the diameter of pizza, wheel rims, pipes and tubings, etc. This cultural feature may be important if a software product is targeted at those markets, especially in the case of online shopping or other retail apps.

If an app has audio speech resources, they may be localized as well. For most purposes, modern text-to-speech engines provide sufficient quality at a relatively low cost. Real voice recording is expensive, especially when it is performed by professional actors in specialized studios. Usually, only large development companies that release AAA-class mobile games, such as Activision Blizzard or miHoYo, have budgets for several voice-over language options. Their strategy is to offer users the best possible experience in their preferred language and maximize customers’ satisfaction that can lead to higher profits.

Localization also involves adapting software to those methods of payment and delivery services that are popular in the target region. For example, Mastercard, Visa, or Paypal may not be available in some countries, so an application must substitute them with local equivalents. The format of postal addresses also differs in many countries, which is important for retail applications.

And last but not least, in the case of mobile software, localization must include adapting software to the relevant requirements of Google Play and Apple Store. This process includes a translation of in-store titles, descriptions, and text on screenshots, adding keywords, and so on. If done properly, this will increase the ranking of the localized application, which will lead to more downloads.

Why It’s Important to Localize Your App for Different Markets

Localization is essential to make a software product available in its target markets. If a mobile application supports many languages, it can cover larger audiences, earning more money. Moreover, it offers a better user experience and makes it much more comfortable to use the application. And a handy application is likely to become preferred among users and gain a competitive advantage over rivals.

Additionally, a well-performed localization shows users that the owner of an app decided to adapt it specifically for them. This means the owner increased the app’s budget to improve the experience of potential users as a sign of respect, to acknowledge the importance of that audience. This way, potential customers feel that this particular software is targeted at them and its owner is interested in their appreciation and support.

Benefits of Mobile Application Localization for Businesses

Software localization is a reasonable investment that greatly improves the final product and offers valuable advantages. They can be presented as three main benefits:

• Ability to reach a wider audience.
• More market coverage.
• Better user experience.

Together, these perks lead to more downloads and higher user count. Better user involvement leads to more profits from sales, advertising, or other monetization strategies utilized by an app. If it is an enterprise-oriented application, localization may improve productivity and interactions between offices and branches of a multinational corporation.

Technical Aspects

Localization (often shortened to “L10n”) is more effective if it is planned in advance together with internationalization (i18n). Here, internationalization refers to designing a future application in such a way that allows easy adaptation to different languages. That is, i18n is the development approach that promotes the L10n of an application without engineering difficulties.

Software developers have to foresee the necessity of editing the localized resources after the release. So, they have to find a way to extract only the required part of those resources, such as one string of text or one image. Additionally, specialists need to implement the possibility of integrating new localized resources into the existing application in a fast and seamless manner.

Extracting the text is just a part of the process. To make localization easier and more effective, it is necessary to maintain the original structure in the extracted text. This way, the localizing specialists will be aware of the context throughout the translation process. This is especially true when the interface has a lot of options, dialogue windows, or separate text elements, such as labeled buttons.

If software has a lot of text, especially in the case of mobile games or educational apps, developers need to ensure the consistency of terminology. This means the same specialized term or a proper noun must have the same translation throughout the whole text. Otherwise, users will be confused, for example, if they notice that the same interface menu is referred to as “Options,” “Settings,” and “Preferences.” One of the most effective ways of working with terminology is the use of translation memories and termbases that are stored in the cloud.

Tips and Best Practices of Localization for Mobile Applications

Here are a few tips to consider before planning localization for your mobile application.

1. Research and select your target markets carefully. Extending the market coverage of a mobile application is tempting, but it is also costly and time-consuming. As a potential owner of a future mobile application, you need to devise its strategy. So, first of all, you have to decide whether you want to focus on one local market, several markets, or go global.
2. Choose languages for your software. Usually, those are the languages of your initial and potential target markets. If you intend to launch your mobile app globally, you should consider covering at least five or six most spoken languages: English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, French, and Arabic.
3. Prepare your software for localization. The ability to add localized resources must be provided by the design of an application. If this feature is implemented properly and in advance, it allows extending the market coverage of your mobile software even after its release.
4. Choose a mobile app localization service provider depending on the budget. The process of software localization has changed a lot over the past years. Nowadays, it involves far less manual labor and more automation of routine and time-consuming tasks. This includes analyzing the software design and determining the resources that must be localized. Then, specialists need to extract those resources carefully to preserve their structure. The localization may be performed by the development company that builds your software if it has a relevant team. Otherwise, it may be done by a separate company that specializes in localization services. Crowdin, Onesky, Trados, and POEditor are among the most popular translation providers these days.
5. Ensure the quality of localization. Quality assurance also applies to localization and should not be neglected. Translations should be approved by skilled editors and native speakers. The user experience of localized versions should be on the same level as in the original application.

Conclusion

Adapting software to different markets involves a lot of steps, so this brief article described just the tip of the iceberg. The process of localization is rather complex, even with the help of modern automated tools. It requires dedication and knowledge. It involves the hard work of translators, copywriters, editors, and other localization specialists.

To fully enjoy the benefits of mobile application localization, you need a competent team. Intellectsoft specializes in mobile development services and has experience in delivering software solutions for worldwide or local audiences. If you need a top-notch mobile application with the potential to go global or focus on a particular market, contact us.

The post Mobile App Localization: Definition, Advantages, Methods appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

First of all, cross-platform approaches are different in software development for desktop and mobile devices. The core principle in cross-platform mobile app development is the concept of single, reusable code for all potential platforms. This is not always the case in cross-platform software for desktops and consoles, where versions for different platforms may have different codebases.

Also, some specialists tend to use terms “cross-platform” and “hybrid” as interchangeable synonyms. This is not entirely justified in the case of software development for mobile platforms, so this article distinguishes these two types of applications.

Progressive web applications can be also considered “cross-platform” in a sense that they are accessible across various platforms and operating systems with the help of web browsers. They can run on mobile devices but are not built exclusively for mobile platforms, so they will not be described in this article.

What Is Cross-Platform App Development for Mobile Devices

The term “cross-platform mobile app development” refers to one of the approaches to building a software program for mobile devices. Overall, there are three approaches to mobile software development, and all of them have their pros and cons. They are:

• Cross-platform. This type of software application is designed for use on different mobile platforms. The distinguishing feature here is that a cross-platform app usually has a single codebase. This means that the whole code, or at least its significant percentage is shared or reused on versions for different mobile operating systems. This is possible thanks to a variety of specialized frameworks. They help developers to minimize the limitations of this approach while attempting to deliver a “native-like” user experience.
• Native. This type of application is written exclusively for one particular platform. It is designed to utilize all relevant software and hardware features available on that platform. Because developers focus on one mobile platform, the same code cannot be reused on other platforms.
• Hybrid. This approach to mobile app development combines native and web technologies.  The code is written in programming languages for web development, such as CSS or HTML, and then is wrapped in a “native” shell. In many aspects, hybrid applications are similar to cross-platform apps, and their differences are often rather subtle. That’s why many specialists choose not to distinguish these two types for the sake of simplicity.

There are only two operating systems that dominate the industry of mobile devices: Android and iOS. Combined, they cover over 99% of the market, while the share of all other operating systems is negligible. That’s why, these days, a “cross-platform mobile application” generally means a software product designed to work on Android and iOS devices.

Main Advantages of Cross-platform Mobile App Development

1. One code for all platforms. The main concept of cross-platform mobile apps is the single codebase that can be fully or partially used on all target platforms. The realization of “reusable code” has its limitations but also leads to several further benefits.
2. Lower costs to cover platforms. “One code fits all” is a cost-effective approach that makes the most out of a limited budget. For example, there is no need for two dedicated teams to cover separate Android and iOS versions of software. Besides, native app developers charge more and are not easy to find. Cross-platform development reduces costs by using a single team with a single stack of technologies to deliver a software product on both mobile platforms.
3. Less time to deliver a final software product. Using one codebase and one team simplifies the process of software development compared with managing two teams at the same time. For example, managers do not need to synchronize the progress of two teams to release the software product at the same time on iOS and Android. Two native versions of an app would mean double coding, double testing, etc.
4. Larger user coverage. Thanks to cross-platform development, an application can reach more users. This approach offers a sufficient level of compatibility for different operating systems. It also maintains some level of “native” experience, so users feel more comfortable with their interaction with an app. That’s why cross-platform development is preferred if a project’s budget is not large enough to build two separate native applications.

Popular Cross-platform Mobile App Development Tools and Technologies

Over the years, developers have created many tools for building cross-platform applications. Here are the top 5 most popular frameworks that are currently used for this purpose:

1. Flutter. Created by Google in 2017, Flutter uses the Dart language to create software compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and other platforms. Thanks to its versatility and performance, this is the most popular framework with a high potential for further improvement. Google Pay and eBay applications are examples of using Flutter for cross-platform software development.
2. React Native. This framework was created by Meta in 2015 and allows building apps for mobile and desktop platforms. It also supports operating systems for smart TV, such as tvOS and Android TV, as well as virtual reality devices. For example, Facebook, Skype, Shopify, and Microsoft Office mobile apps are created using this framework.
3. Apache Cordova. This framework is almost exclusively focused on mobile platforms: Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. Its predecessor, PhoneGap, supported a much larger variety of phones and operating systems, such as Blackberry, Nokia Symbian OS, Tizen, etc. Apache Cordova uses the combination of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript and the capabilities provided by native WebView.
4. Ionic. Though Ionic focuses on building hybrid apps, it is considered the fourth most popular cross-platform framework these days. It supports Android, iOS, and the Universal Windows Platform. Ionic allows developers to combine web code written in such languages as Sass, CSS, and HTML with native code.
5. Xamarin. Microsoft bought this framework in 2016 and maintains it as a tool for building applications for various types of smart devices. It allows developers to use Microsoft .NET and Visual Studio to create software for Android, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS. Xamarin enables reusing and sharing code written in C# across different platforms. It also supports the Universal Windows Platform and macOS.

Tips For Developing Mobile Cross-platform Software

There are several factors you need to consider before deciding to make a cross-platform mobile application.

• Your target audience. Should you cover both Android and iOS? Is it better to narrow down your audience?
• Your budget. Will it be enough for two teams or only one?
• Your potential development team. Does it have enough specialists? What tech stacks do they use?
• Your time to market. When would be the optimal time to release your software? Can a team meet this deadline?

Do marketing research. Analyze your plans. Find answers to these questions before moving to development.

To sum up, you should consider cross-platform development instead of a native approach when:

• You lack budget for two native apps;
• You need to release your software as fast as possible;
• You need to cover both Android and iOS at the same time.

However, the benefits of cross-platform app development come at a certain price. There are certain drawbacks you need to consider if you decide to make a cross-platform mobile app.

• Lower performance compared to native apps.
• More testing is required to ensure compatibility with several versions of different mobile operating systems.
• Inability to use the full extent of hardware and software features provided natively.
• Higher maintenance requirements to adapt to system updates on all target platforms.

All those drawbacks can be mitigated to a certain degree by a proper choice of cross-platform mobile app development technologies. A skilled team will be able to make the most out of the selected framework and other tools to ensure good quality.

Conclusion

As you can see, cross-platform development can be confusing at first glance. But once you learn more about it, you become impressed by its numerous advantages. Modern frameworks for cross-platform development are supported by such IT giants as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and many others. Thanks to the efforts of the loyal community, these tools have become very effective in delivering native-like experience across various platforms.

At Intellectsoft, we have skilled specialists in various cross-platform technologies. We offer a wide range of mobile app development services to create software for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. Whether you want to release your application on all these platforms or just one, we can deliver the solution. Contact us and tell our solution advisor what kind of native or cross-platform mobile application you want.

The post A Brief Guide to Cross-platform Mobile App Development in 2023 appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

What Is Mobile App Security?

In the context of mobile applications, security refers to a specific set of measures, standards, and practices. Some of those are generic and apply to all types of devices and applications. Others are designed specifically for mobile devices and focus on their unique features, such as the presence of cameras, various sensors, GPS, etc. Mobile security features are designed to protect both hardware and software from unauthorized access, data theft, and various other threats.

Common Types of Mobile Security Threats

Considering the importance and highly personal nature of data on mobile devices, it has become the priority target of various criminals. Nowadays, smartphones are often less valuable than information that can be accessed via them. Mobile platforms usually keep users logged into their accounts even when mobile devices are turned off or put aside. This applies to most mobile applications installed on smartphones or tablets, such as email and social network clients, messengers, streaming or shopping apps, and so on.

If a thief manages to crack a password on a stolen device, such sensitive data may be used to steal the owner’s identity or simply to blackmail them, harm their reputation or try to drain their bank accounts. The same problem exists when a person loses their mobile device and a finder decides to keep it. Moreover, the information may be stolen even when the mobile device is not: a malicious software program may secretly transfer private data to a hacker.

Engineers define several categories of threats depending on their origin or targets. For example, one of the basic classifications involves passive threats and active threats.

Passive threats are vulnerabilities left in the code of a mobile application or operating system. They are potential entry points for a hacker to perform malicious actions. For example, if an application sends data without encryption or uses an outdated security protocol, it presents a potential risk.

Active threats are tools in a hacker’s arsenal. Malware, spyware, viruses, phishing web pages, and scripts are among many instruments to actively breach mobile security and steal information. They can mask themselves as harmless software or websites or may remain hidden on devices and leak personal data for months.

The Importance of Security in Mobile Applications

Considering the importance of personal data, mobile app developers put great effort into maximizing the security of their software. The adherence to mobile app security standards enhances the safety of user data. In its turn, this offers numerous benefits, some of which are listed below as examples.

5 Main Advantages of Mobile App Security

1. Better protection against identity theft. To steal someone’s digital identity means to get digital copies of identification documents, a social security number, passwords to essential accounts, and other means of authentication. All this data may be obtained from a person’s mobile device, for example, by checking the internal and cloud storages or by bypassing a two-step verification using the victim’s phone number. Mobile applications designed and tested according to the newest standards have specific means to prevent this from happening.
2. Higher safety of banking information. Many mobile apps that provide access to goods and services store payment information, such as credit card numbers, delivery addresses, order lists, and so on. So, a software client of your favorite taxi service, fast food chain, or online shop may potentially leak this confidential information if an app has security flaws. Proper approaches to Quality Assurance minimize such risks.
3. Enhanced privacy of personal media and messages. Users usually keep many personal photos and videos directly on their mobile devices or in cloud storage accessible from said devices. If such visual media falls into the wrong hands, it can be used for blackmail or to embarrass people just out of spite. The same is true for messages that in modern mobile applications can also be in the form of photos, videos, or text. Mobile app security ensures that personal communication is encrypted and media files are hidden from intruders.
4. Improved resistance to massive infrastructure breaches. Over the last decade, there have been several large-scale online breaches in global corporations where millions and even billions of data records were stolen. Usually, such enormous databases are sold in the Darknet and lead to smaller, personalized attacks, most likely scamming, phishing, and so on. As a rule, corporations are very reluctant to admit that such breaches take place, so for a while, users do not even know that their data is compromised and their privacy is in danger. Again, software built and updated according to security standards has a much higher chance to avoid data leakage during such massive events.
5. Increased protection against hardware hijacking. As mobile devices become more and more advanced, they get better sensors and chips combined with powerful AI features. This makes them incredible spying tools if someone controls them remotely. They can record and transmit audio and video data, current geolocation, and other information about the device’s surroundings. Moreover, mobile devices infected with malware may become a part of a botnet that can be used for various malicious purposes, from spamming to DDoS attacks. During the cryptocurrency frenzy, smartphones and tablets were used for mining, though this tendency has declined but never disappeared completely. Mobile app security ensures that software can successfully fend off attacks and recognize infected files or malicious links to inform users in advance.

Ultimately, security in mobile app development aims to prevent all types of threats and keep users’ data and devices as safe as possible. If a mobile application is created according to modern security protocols, its users would prefer it over other similar solutions that are outdated or have known safety flaws. A secure mobile app is much more appealing because it satisfies one of the basic needs: people want to feel safe not only physically but also in terms of their privacy and finances.

Ways to Improve Security in Mobile Application Development

Mobile app security is an ongoing race. Hackers’ methods and tools have become more sophisticated, and security measures have to evolve to match those. Such measures are adopted by the software development community and include specified standards and methods to organize the development process. So, the best way to ensure the safety of a mobile app is to follow the existing guidelines and satisfy the standard requirements.

By far, the dominant security standard in the field of mobile app development is provided by the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) foundation. It is continuously amended and improved by a worldwide community of professionals. The OWASP Mobile Application Security initiative includes three components.

The Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS) lists numerous requirements for mobile software. The testing guide (MASTG) describes the proper procedures, methods, and tools for mobile applications security testing. Conveniently, this guide comes with several illustrative test cases as references. The mobile app security checklist is a handy tool that is available in the form of PDF files in various languages. It lists all 80+ requirements of the MASVS and matches them with the appropriate test cases of MASTG.

Such an impressive amount of criteria means that the standard is very strict. Developers have to put a lot of time and effort to satisfy all the requirements and maximize the security of their mobile applications. Generally, it is better to start with a few basic improvements that have a great positive effect on security, such as the following:

1. Enforce software updates. Nowadays, the majority of mobile app updates improve security rather than add new functionality. An outdated application is potentially more vulnerable. It is the developers’ duty to maintain the security of an app with updates or patches and deliver them to user devices as soon as possible.
2. Make sure that an application complies with local laws and industry regulations regarding security. For example, it is a widespread policy that users’ data must be kept on servers in their respective states. This means that no country should store the personal information of other countries’ citizens.
3. Ensure that an application handles sensitive data with the utmost care. First and foremost, it means using encryption and secure protocols while transmitting such information. A user interface of an app should conceal private information, such as passwords or PIN codes, by default. Sharing such data with third parties must be strictly forbidden unless it is required by an app architecture. No logging of personal information must be allowed. Sensitive data must be stored in an encrypted form preferably remotely or in a “sandbox” within the app.
4. Enable two-factor authentication. A combination of two different means of authentication has become a de-facto security standard for a good reason. A password and an SMS code, or a biometric scan, such as a fingerprint or face scan, and a PIN code are among the most popular combinations that are widely used in mobile devices.
5. Make sure that an application recognizes tampering and end-of-session events. After a predetermined number of failed authentications, an app must lock and prevent any further attempts of breaking in. An application also must “log out” a user after a predetermined idle period.

Ensuring top-notch security in mobile applications is possible with the help of effective QA practices and comprehensive security testing. The process is exhausting, but the established standard and checklist make it somewhat easier.

Why You Should Hire Intellectsoft to Ensure Mobile App Security

Ensuring mobile app security is a highly important task. That’s why it should be assigned to skilled engineers who have the required experience and testing tools. Intellectsoft has such experts who work in well-coordinated teams and offer a wide range of mobile app development services. We perform careful, comprehensive testing and ensure the highest standards of quality and security throughout the whole development life cycle. Contact us to get a mobile software product built according to the leading quality and security standards of the industry, including OWASP, ISO, GDPR, HIPAA, and others.

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14 Reasons Why Businesses Need Mobile Apps

Let’s face it: people have become addicted to smartphones. There is no other type of portable device that has achieved similar popularity. That’s why many companies use the opportunity to reach potential and existing customers by creating mobile applications. The advantages described below will help you realize the immense importance of a mobile app for business and possibly persuade you to invest in developing an application for your enterprise.

Since the list of positive effects is rather big, it has to be divided for better understanding. While all the listed features will ultimately benefit a company, they are aimed at two groups: business managers and customers.

Mobile App Benefits for Business Management

Companies that have invested in their custom mobile applications may fully employ a number of highly useful perks. These benefits help in gaining a competitive advantage in the market by making the business more productive and flexible. In competitive markets, your company needs to seize every opportunity to be ahead of your rivals. A high-quality mobile app will provide a range of such opportunities.

• Reaching out to larger audiences. This benefit comes from the fact that people spend most of their days with smartphones in their hands. It means that people would have access to your services or goods virtually anywhere. More importantly, customers would easily make an order using a mobile app whenever they are in the mood or feel the right impulse. If your business has a mobile app, in some cases you don’t even have to open “offline” offices to cover new areas. Generally, it is easier and more cost-effective to reach a partnership with a trustworthy delivery company to expand your business to new territories. Larger coverage leads to increased sales and bigger profits.
• Optimized sales. The use of a mobile app makes it easier for your sales managers or consultants to reach customers and confirm their orders, set delivery dates, or provide useful information. For example, we have developed app for Harley-Davidson that helps turn exhibition visitors into customers. It is also an efficient way to deliver information about new goods in stock, new features of the app added in the latest update, and so on. Generally, such mobile applications also provide search functionality that allows customers to find required items without communicating with shop consultants.
• Better statistics gathering. Mobile operating systems offer a lot of ways to collect information related to the interaction between the user and your software. Personal data is useful to learn customers’ preferences, predict their future needs and suggest an optimal way of delivery. For example, if a person buys a baby crib, your app may suggest other wares for toddlers during the same or the next interaction with this client. Depersonalized data is invaluable for business analysis in order to build and alter management plans, marketing strategies, and so on.
• Easier promotion. Your company can announce new merchandise, services, discounts, and other offers much more effectively using the potential provided in every smartphone. Your software can use push notifications to inform users in a less intrusive way than, for example, pop-ups on a website. We have implemented similar functionality in our custom solution for a major clothing retail chain. Another mobile app business opportunity is the ability to promote your services or engage customers via in-app suggestions powered by analytics algorithms.
• 24/7 availability. Unlike offline shops or offices with specified working hours, mobile apps can be accessed at any time. This means that your company’s services or goods are available for browsing and ordering. This way, you will not lose clients when your offline outlets are closed. Even when your staff is not at work, the application can use a specially trained chatbot to communicate with customers and relay information to respective departments.
• Better image. A company-branded mobile app is a certain milestone in business development. If a startup releases a mobile software product, it declares that it has both funds and tenacity to expand its presence on the market. Building and maintaining a mobile application requires a well-planned budget and a thorough business strategy. That’s why it strengthens your reputation and makes your position among rivals more formidable.
• Enhanced security. Websites are notoriously vulnerable to hacking or DDoS attacks. Mobile applications are additionally verified by Google and Apple before appearing in their respective app stores. This way, your business operations and interactions with customers are better protected from malicious activities of botnets, viruses, or other digital threats. Additionally, smartphones have built-in means of security, such as face recognition, fingerprint authentication, etc. Those features will make customers feel more secure when using your mobile application, so they will potentially spend more time in it and make more orders.

Benefits of Mobile Apps for Customers

Mobile software will also help your company by offering numerous positive perks to your clients. This will lead to better customer satisfaction and increase their loyalty and trust in your brand. Your clients will love a convenient application that works fast and has a user-friendly interface. Their positive impression of the app will transfer to your brand’s image in general. Simply put, a good mobile application will make users like your company more.

• Time saving. A mobile app will ensure easy and fast access to goods, services, and customer support from a smartphone or a tablet. For instance, instead of spending hours browsing shelves in warehouses, users can go through your entire assortment in mere minutes. Similarly, if you are in a car rental business, clients can easily use an application to check the whole selection of vehicles available to them.
• Convenience and new experience. Mobile applications are designed to use smartphone hardware to provide a unique customer experience. For example, with the help of a camera and augmented reality technologies users may be able to try on clothes virtually. Regardless of the industry, it is hard to overestimate the potential perks of digital technologies provided by the combination of modern hardware and mobile apps in business.
• Delivery monitoring. Using their smartphones, customers can check the status of their orders as they are being processed and delivered. This gives users the feeling of control and assurance that they would get what they want and when they expect. An application can schedule a push notification to appear on the device screen on the delivery day.
• Easy access to loyalty programs. After logging in to a mobile app, eligible customers can see and utilize the perks for regular clients. Those perks include rewards, bonuses, discounts, and other tactics to build long-term clientele. For example, your app may recalculate the prices automatically and apply the discount earned by a particular client who uses the mobile device.
• Personalization. To increase customer engagement by providing personalized deals and offers, the application may utilize data analysis and targeting algorithms. This will make users believe that your company cares about their needs and may even predict them to a certain degree. The research conducted by Google showed that 58% of mobile users prefer when a company’s app “remembers” them. The software can also have several color schemes to appeal to the personal preferences of each particular user.
• Offline interaction minimization. Many people dislike offline shopping because they associate it with long queues, crowded and noisy environments, as well as tedious waiting for their spouses. A mobile application can become a blessing to introverts or anyone who is not overly fond of human interactions. This advantage turned out to be extremely important during the COVID pandemic. The use of mobile apps allowed many businesses to continue their work while minimizing personal contact.
• Ability to give and receive feedback. Users of a business mobile app may view comments and responses from other clients. The software may automatically mark the reactions from verified clients and hide messages from unconfirmed users. This way, both positive and negative feedback can only be provided by real customers. This measure will prevent spam attacks where fake users attempt to leave numerous negative comments regarding your services or goods.

Conclusion

As you can see, mobile app benefits for business are numerous and indisputable. They can create an appealing user experience, increase brand loyalty, and make your company more recognizable and trustworthy, in addition to many other advantages. With the help of a mobile application, your business will be able to reach more customers and answer their needs with greater accuracy and care.

However, those positive effects involve certain expenditures and provisions. To make an informed decision, you also need to know how mobile applications can affect the business process in a negative way. Poor-quality mobile apps may discourage your customers from using them. For instance, customers won’t be able to buy from you if your mobile app doesn’t allow them to add items to their cart. And it is only one example from many when something may go wrong.

That is why you need a highly qualified team to develop, test, release, and support your mobile software. Intellectsoft has 15+ years of experience in this field and provides custom solutions for businesses in many industries, like eCommerce, Fintech, Real Estate, Healthcare, and others. Our company offers a wide range of mobile app development services: from initial consulting and prototyping to maintenance and support.

If you want to fully enjoy the business benefits of a custom-made mobile application, contact us. Intellectsoft will deliver you an optimal software solution tailored specifically to your needs.

The post 14 Main Advantages of Mobile Apps for Business appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Although the competition is fierce nowadays. According to Statista, as of the third quarter of 2022, Android users were able to choose between 3.55 million apps, making Google Play the app store with the biggest number of available apps. Apple’s App Store is the second-largest app store with almost 1.64 million available apps for iOS.

Applications generate revenue in several different ways, such as charging users a small amount of money for the use of an app (an average of 1.02 U.S. dollars per app in the Apple Store), charging for access to premium features of an otherwise free app, or simply selling ad space.

It’s worth noting that Statista also estimates the revenue of mobile apps worldwide will increase over the next few years and overall will reach around 613 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.

Source: Statista

To succeed in this battleground, it is essential to choose a suitable mobile app architecture. Most of the apps fail due to poor architecture. Here’s our expert overview of mobile app architecture and mobile app development process basics.

Importance of a Good Mobile App Architecture

In the process of creating any mobile or web application, you should make sure every component is well-built. Even the smallest problems that may arise in the process of creating a mobile app architecture can undermine the quality of the final result. As the saying goes, if you want to do something, do it well. This is why every popular Android and iOS application has a highly reliable mobile app architecture and successfully wins over its users.

What is mobile app architecture? It is a set of structural elements and their interfaces from which the system is composed, as well as their behavior in the framework of all structural elements. It can be said that this is the skeleton of a program, and the whole work of the mobile application is determined by its quality. By missing an important element in creating a mobile app architecture, you endanger the success of your project. The complexity of building high-quality architecture depends on the size of the application. The proper architecture will allow for saving a lot of time, energy, and costs in the future.

If the application is developed without any architecture, it might result in multiple negative outcomes. These include higher development costs and longer processes, difficulties with app testing and maintenance, higher risks of errors, etc.

What makes a good mobile app architecture? A matching mobile application architecture can make a big difference. It can fully reinforce and accelerate the software development processes, and provide a clear path for data flow which will make it easier to scale up the application in the future. The right architecture can also enable better flexibility as well as the implementation of Agile development methodology. In its turn, it will allow testing processes to be more simple and efficient, and future app maintenance to be streamlined. Therefore, a mobile app architecture will significantly save time and money for businesses.

What Is a Mobile App Architecture Diagram?

First of all, having the right architecture means that your mobile application is independent of external resources. All successful projects that are now running on iOS and Android were created by the manual labor of developers and were not subjected to the use of frameworks or similar means. Architecture should not rely on the existence of any library. So you can use frameworks as tools, and not try to drive your system into their limitations. Your mobile application architecture diagram should not be exposed to other operating systems and databases so that it can function regardless of the status of other programs.

Good architecture is, first and foremost, a profitable architecture that makes the process of developing and maintaining a program simpler and more efficient. A program with good architecture is easier to expand and change, and also to test, debug, and understand.

For example, Clean Architecture is a good fit for large-scale projects with big budgets.

This type of architecture is universal, allowing for the installation of various plug-ins and quick troubleshooting, but it should not be created using frameworks. The program code must be written from scratch.

Let’s look at an example of a successfully implemented mobile application architecture:

Each layer of such a mobile application is independent of other programs and components and entitles a key fragment containing the logic of your application and important objects. All layers are connected by the Dependency Rule, which states that in the source code, all dependencies can only be specified internally. For example, nothing from the outer circle can be mentioned by a code from the inner circle. This applies to functions, classes, variables, or any other entity.

Android Mobile App Architecture

Back in the past, developers did not have any libraries to work with the network, and AsyncTask was still an important component in the creation of Android mobile app architecture.

Let’s look at the classic system of creating architecture for Android applications:

In today’s reality, the implementation of Clean Architecture is the best solution for reliable operation. This architecture will allow your application to be independent of frameworks, databases, and more. Transitions between layers in such Android mobile app architecture are carried out through Boundaries, that is, through two interfaces: one for the request and one for the answer. They are needed so that the inner layer does not depend on the outer layer (following the Dependency Rule), but at the same time, it can transmit data to it:

In order for a dependency in such an Android mobile application architecture to be directed towards the reverse flow of data, the principle of dependency inversion is applied (the letter D from the abbreviation SOLID). That is, instead of Uses Cases being directly dependent on the Presenter (which would violate the Dependency Rule), they depend on the interface in its layer, and the Presenter must implement this interface.

iOS Mobile App Architecture

The standard iOS mobile app architecture can be divided into four blocks:

• Kernel level (Core OS) — works with the file system, and controls the validity of various certificates belonging to the applications. Also responsible for the security of the entire system. Contains low-level access to the elements of the device.
• Core Services (Core Service) — provides access to databases and file controls.
• Media level (Media) — contains tools that allow for processing most media data formats.
• Interface level (Cocoa Touch) — has many elements for creating mobile interfaces, and also provides the remaining layers with information coming from the user.

An MVC (Massive View Controller) and its prototypes are used to create a high-quality iOS mobile application architecture. Cocoa MVC encourages you to write a Massive View Controller because the controller is so involved in the View life cycle that it is difficult to say that it is a separate entity. Although you still have the opportunity to ship some of the business logic and data conversion in the Model, when it comes to shipping work in View, you have few options:

In most cases, the entire responsibility of the View is to send actions to the controller. In the end, it all ends with the View Controller becoming a delegating part and a data source, as well as a place to start and cancel server requests.

Hybrid Mobile App Architecture

Hybrid mobile apps architecture is pretty powerful as it can leverage native as well as web solutions. They are the fastest apps that it’s possible to create across different platforms. Although it’s really easy to update, it won’t be the best option to deliver complex and feature-rich applications.  Hybrid applications use native applications as the foundation for the backend whereas for the frontend they use neutral HTML/CSS and JavaScript. In addition, hybrid applications also use typical plugins like Ionic Capacitor or Apache Cordova in order to get full access to all the features of native platforms.

Hybrid mobile apps are among the fastest apps to create across a variety of platforms and are easy to update, but are not appropriate for complex, interactive, or feature-rich applications.

Cross-Platform Mobile App Architecture

Cross-platform architecture of mobile apps is very similar to the hybrid one. It also leverages the most-used codebases with specific platform abilities in every native shell. It’s worth noting that cross-platform application architecture relies not on web languages but more on frameworks like React Native and Xamarin. Cross-platform applications ensure a smooth user experience that is very similar to native and, therefore, more attractive. Here are some benefits of cross-platform architecture:

Enterprise Mobile App Architecture

For the successful functioning of their businesses, many companies use corporate applications that make it easy for the client and employees to communicate with the company. Inside the application, functions of monitoring, purchases, communication, and filtering services and products from the company are used. For a modern business, one of the priorities is the strategic use of IT technologies and the implementation of business objectives in such a way as to gain a competitive advantage in the market.

At the same time, in the enterprise mobile app architecture, there is often a discrepancy between the IT infrastructure and business requirements, which is caused by rapid market changes. The problems of the information architecture of business solutions are most often associated with insufficient speed and low scalability, unreliability, as well as the complexity of updating and maintaining software.

Mobile Application Architecture Properties

Now we know that for high-quality, uninterrupted operation of your mobile application, it is recommended to use the Clean architecture of mobile applications. When creating a suitable platform for the convenience of your client and employees, you need to follow a few tips that will help ensure your mobile application architecture is of the highest quality. It is important to put together the right technical requirements for the development team so that the experts have a joint goal and working methods.

Mobile Application Architecture Best Practices

In the process of creating a high-quality architecture of a mobile application, it is necessary to keep the synchronization of all the processes and capabilities of the application. What features really will be in demand in the future application is still a big question. Therefore, including all ideas in the first version is not the best solution. This will increase the development time, overload the interface, and postpone the “combat” product launch.

Here we can see the standard model of the data system in the classical mobile enterprise application architecture:

Architecture for Mobile Application & Tips for Making It

A well-designed architecture is needed for all applications, both complex and simple. Using architecture for mobile applications saves time, effort, and costs. A program with a reliable architecture is easier to tweak, test, and debug.

How to understand if your application has a good architecture? Here is the checklist:

• Efficiency: the application performs the tasks and performs the functions in any condition. The system is effective, reliable, and copes with all the loads.
• Flexibility: the chosen solution is easy to change, and errors are few. You can change one element, and it will not be fatal, influencing the other one in a negative way.
• Extensibility: you can add as many functions as you like to the application.
• Scalability: time for development and updates decreases. The solid architecture allows you to direct development in several parallel threads.
• Testability: The architecture for mobile applications is easily tested, which means that the number of errors decreases and its reliability increases.
• Understandability: the code should be understandable to as many developers as possible. A lot of people are working on the application. Good architecture allows beginners to understand the project quickly.

Elements to Consider Before Developing Your Mobile App Architecture

For a solid background for a mobile app, some things should be considered first and foremost. Precisely, building a mobile app requires your foresight in four key dimensions:

1. Choosing the mobile app dimensions that fit your preferred devices
2. Prescribing scenarios for a different quality of Internet connection
3. Polishing UI details for your target audience
4. Picking the proper navigation between the elements on a screen

Here are the specifics for each of these elements.

Determining the Device Types

The parameters of smartphones determine the specifics of your mobile app. Think in advance of how it will run on each screen (meaning its size and DPI), how the app will be compatible with the processor (CPU), and how much memory it needs. The proper attention to these hardware and software details will make your mobile solution more stable and reliable.

Also, make sure your app will work great not only on a smartphone and tablet but also on different smartphone models.

Considering Bandwidth Scenarios

Another thing to consider is the compatibility of your mobile app with different types of Internet connections. Many developers don’t acknowledge this nuance while working on mobile app architecture. Be more prepared and get ready for the worst scenario.

This problem is worth your attention while meeting your remote target audience. All over the world, the availability of the Internet network will differ. Some countries already have 5G, while others still survive on 3G. Moreover, the speed and battery usage characteristics matter here. Thus, ensure your mobile solution has everything needed to guarantee a comfortable experience for your users anywhere.

Defining User Interface

An awesome UI is always a must for a mobile app. Built on the basic presentation layer, it becomes the point of interaction with users. The key to success is to give them a solution that is both simple and creative. Besides, your mobile app architecture design choice should always meet the demands of your target audience.

Picking the Right Navigation Method

Finally, proper navigation is about finding a fair compromise between user expectations and app restrictions. It’s the result of exquisite artistry in linking the frontend and backend in one solution.

Among the possible options, pay your attention to these top 5 methods that users like:

• Stacked navigation bar — you design a fixed bar and put there links to all other elements within your mobile app
• Tab controller — a container that allows switching between the groups of tabs with links
• Modal controller — the screen menu that allows switching between tabs and links
• Single view — a screen with one element and an option to go back
• Gesture-based navigation — the intuitive tool that encourages to use finger combinations or efficiently interact with the Home button to cause an action on the screen

To pick the best navigation method, learn your customers! Some styles are intuitive for them, while others make them confused or bored.

How to Choose the Right Architecture for Your Mobile App?

When it comes to the specifics of building an app, everything starts from these fundamental layers:

1. Data layer — the data-related platform within a mobile app
2. Business logic layer — the place for all the domain processes and operations
3. Presentation layer — all the technical details connected with the user interface

This multitier architecture dictates the rule for software development: your team should build each dimension separately and make them work together smoothly. At the same time, this initial complication ensures addressing complex issues fast and without changing the entire app.

Let’s see how each of these layers works.

Data Layer

This layer is all about the safety of data maintenance — including access, utilities, and service tools. It’s the background from which you can further develop business logic and presentation peculiarities. The patterns you choose for the core operations determine the way your app will work.

Make sure the design you’ve built here is flexible enough to meet the changes in your business needs or your customers’ expectations.

Business Logic Layer

This platform hides all the management work done to create a mobile app: you will have separate tasks for logging, caching, validating, and other technical operations. Also, this is the place for complex business procedures and corporate policies. In other words, here you have an application facade with underlying workflow, components, and entities.

In short, the business logic layer is the place for everything connected with logic and business.

Presentation Layer

The important step here is to define the customer profile so that the images on the screen and the arrangement of elements satisfy your users. Now, your customer is always right — even in the decision on the data format. This layer is not about the exact choice of your data, though — it’s about designing the format that prevents invalid data input.

By considering these specifics, how to choose the right architecture? The answer is simple: start with the end. Meet your customers.

5 Steps to Help You Choose the Right Architecture for a Mobile App

Meet Your Customers

To make a successful mobile app, think of your idea as a solution to particular customer pain. Find all the information about your future clients: who they are, what applications they use, and what they need. And then, think of how you can make a comfortable mobile app for them. For example, the older your clients are, the more simplistic design they like. Youngsters enjoy motion design while the elderly get confused about it.

To supplement your findings, investigate some industry-specific requirements. Here, your corporate peculiarities can give you some clues about the work of your mobile app. For example, fashion retailers get the most from a web app (where users can see all the product categories and photos in big dimensions). But taxi providers are more convenient for use through a mobile app.

Start Developing a Test App

From the very beginning, don’t save on this stage. Start building a native program — this solution is ideal for intuitive functionality and smooth operation. With the information about your users, make everything possible to create a solution that will deeply satisfy their needs and solve their sharp problem.

If your users need various platforms to perform their tasks other than Android and iOS, adopt cross-platform development. If these two most popular platforms are enough, be safe to work with native app development only.

After making this decision, develop the main functionality on its basis. Create the environment your customers dream about: whether they want to work offline, have a specific navigation method, reach interesting content in a feed, etc.

And of course, don’t forget to check with users whether they like it! The choice of the right architecture is always closely linked with your app’s ability to satisfy your target audience. In the end, customers don’t mind better convenience, which means the presence of the home menu, notifications, and widgets, along with high speed and stored content. Make sure your app will meet all these requirements — both audience-specific and general preferences.

Polish the Key Functionality

Once you’ve completed the main preparations and the reality check, you can start working closely with specific platforms and offline functions. This step means determining how you will perform the app technically and according to some industry-specific requirements.

First, reconsider all the advantages and disadvantages of different architecture models from the standpoint of technical details. For example, native apps have the best performance and leading user engagement but require installation and are very expensive for users to download. In their turn, web apps are SEO-friendly and don’t require installations but need an Internet connection and have low performance. As a great compromise, consider Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) — they enhance the experience of web apps with greater reliability, engagement, and speed.

Then, make sure your app includes offline functionality. Users hate depending on their Internet connection while interacting with an app, so you should consider this request. Design the basic functionality you can move offline. Involve the synchronization with the server once the user is connected to the Internet. For offline functionality, you need either native apps or PWAs (note that they still depend on a platform). That’s why we recommend relying on these two mobile app architecture options from the very beginning.

Check the Readiness of Your Development Team

Your business can possess some constraints for the project. Thus, identify them by checking your team’s capabilities.

Among all, determine the exact development timeframe. Of course, each entrepreneur wants his/her business idea to become real ASAP, but your team needs time to complete it. Thus, discuss with your team whether they possess the resources and knowledge necessary for the development before the project actually starts.

Pay special attention to their skills. If you want a native app, knowing Swift, Objective-C, C, C++, Kotlin, and Java is needed. For web apps, the arsenal of HTML, CSS, and Javascript is enough. Also, ensure your team is acquainted with PWAs, hybrid apps (especially the solutions like Cordova/PhoneGap and Ionic), and Web Native. If you identify some gaps in knowledge, hire new specialists to make the app, or initiate training for in-house team members.

Optimize Your Budget

Once you’ve collected all the data concerning customer preferences, basic functions, enhanced features, and team constraints, you can calculate the costs. The right architecture of a mobile app is always a balance between the key requirements and your ability to cover them with money.

Check all the maintenance and support expenses. Revise the decision on native apps or multiple platforms, if needed. And, of course, weigh the benefits in terms of return on investment before making the final decision on the mobile app architecture.

Final Tips for Your Mobile Architecture

The creation of mobile architecture is a sequential plan that must be completed before the development process begins. This plan provides a map of how the various components of the application should be organized and connected to each other. It presents guidelines that should be followed during the development process and some sacrifices (usually associated with a large number of classes and templates) that will ultimately help you create a well-written application that will be easier to test, expand, and maintain.

We, at Intellectsoft, empower companies and their workforce with cutting-edge transformative solutions and data-driven insights. Our team has more than 15 years of experience in mobile app development and other software development services.

Also, don’t hesitate to take a look at the full list of client cases to see how we solved business challenges through effective digitalization.

Are you and your organization ready to shift the mindsets and get the most out of innovations? Talk to our experts in enterprise app development and find out more about the topic and how your business or project can start benefiting from it today!

The post Modern Architecture for Mobile Apps in 2023 appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Want to cope with all the books striving for your attention or find interesting ones quicker? Read our guide to find the perfect app for a book lover such as yourself.

How to choose among different apps for book lovers

Apps for book lovers serve different needs. So, before diving into their variety and choosing your best bookmate, ask yourself a question: “What do I expect from an app?” What matters are your wishes, the platform, and the frequency of usage. If you know your preferences, this guide will be of use.

Here’s a list of the top 14 apps for book lovers, ranged by your possible interests:

• Goodreads, #1 among the best apps for book lovers,
• Libby by OverDrive, the connection with your library to read the best free books for iPhone offline,
• Wattpad, the communication platform between writers and readers,
• Inkitt, our recommendation among the best book apps for Android,
• Litsy, the great combination of social media and reading in the range of the best Android book apps,
• Shelfie, the representative of the best iPhone apps for book lovers for managing notes,
• Blinkist, the easiest way to master non-fiction and one of the best iPhone apps for book lovers,
• Audible, the top choice among the best book apps for listeners,
• Epic!, the representative of the best book apps for youth,
• ComiXology, the top choice among the best apps for book lovers if you’re a fan of comics,
• Scribd, a top subscription-based choice among apps for book lovers (Android and iOS),
• Serial Reader, a bite-size reading among Android apps for book lovers,
• The Paris Review, the top lit-crit choice and one of the best iOS apps for book lovers,
• Amazon Kindle eBooks, the leader among best Kindle apps for book lovers.

Free reading apps

1. Goodreads

The leader in the list of free book apps for book lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, browser.

Top choice for everybody interested in books.

Interesting feature: mobile barcode scanner that allows adding paper books to your digital “to read” list.

Goodreads is the first platform in many rankings of best free reading apps for book lovers. Why so? It has plenty of information for various purposes: recommendations for you, recommendations from your friends, different collections (like Best Books 2019), a list of quotes, and a field for reviews. Also, it unites authors and readers, with 90 million users in general and more than a billion books.

2. Libby by OverDrive

The compilation of the best free books for iPhone from your public library.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, Amazon.

Top choice for true old-fashioned bookworms who miss their public libraries.

Interesting feature: Enter your library card information to feel the complete process of borrowing a book.

If you miss your favorite public library, you’re welcome to look through epub versions of its books in Libby! This app from OverDrive awesomely digitalizes the process of borrowing books, so it takes just a couple of seconds. If you use Libby in connection with Amazon, you can also enjoy the collection of audiobooks from your public library.

3. Wattpad

One of the best iPhone apps for book lovers and storytellers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, web.

Top choice for amateur writers.

Interesting feature: You can join a niche to connect with your special interest club.

Wattpad is much more than just an app; it’s the entire community. On this platform, you can share your talent in writing and make friends with other people interested in reading and storytelling. It’s one of the best iPhone apps for book lovers.

4. Inkitt

One of the best Android apps to read books (iOS-friendly).

Available platforms: Android, iOS.

Top choice for people who love reading and writing.

Interesting feature: Has a huge library of free books in different genres.

Inkitt is an app from a publishing house that allows accessing numerous books online for free and keeps them in your offline digital library. Besides, it encourages the self-promotion of new authors. The great design and usability make Inkitt one of the best Android book apps.

5. Litsy

A social media for book lovers.

Available platforms: Android, iOS.

Top choice for extroverts who love reading and sharing their thoughts about books.

Interesting feature: You can create groups with other users enjoying this top Android app for book lovers. Also, it supports hashtags.

Litsy is an app where each feature is developed to help you socialize. You can see the “reading moments” of your friends, favorite authors, and popular influencers. This in-app community makes you feel connected with other people while reading. And of course, you can share your thoughts about books with them instantly!

6. Shelfie

The digital version of your bookshelf.

Available platforms: iOS, macOS.

Top choice for people who want to arrange and categorize their bookshelf.

Interesting feature: Simply point your camera at a book — and let this representative of top iPhone apps for book lovers work its magic!

If you’re the type of person who always buys books in each bookstore, this app is just for you! In Shelfie, you can browse books and arrange your already bought samples and reading notes in one place. The app syncs your library with other devices, so you can instantly access it anytime and stop yourself from buying something that wasn’t on your list.

[Contact us to arrange Android app development and iOS app development together]

Book reading apps with monthly subscriptions

Let’s find out the top 7 reading applications with monthly subscriptions.

1. Blinkist

One of the best iOS novel reading apps for book lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: $7.49/month or $89.99/year with a 7-day free trial.

Top choice for iOS users who want to turn reading into a daily habit and lovers of non-fiction.

Interesting feature: Listening and reading mode — you’re free to choose the most comfortable format for you.

Blinkist is the top choice for people who’ve just started to read during this quarantine. Also, it’s an awesome pick for those wanting to increase their professional skills on the go. The collection of books features more than 5,000 bestsellers. In short, Blinkist is fully packed with revolutionary ideas that can change your life.

2. Audible

One of the best book apps with audio content.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Amazon Kindle, Fire TV.

Subscription price: $14.95/month with a 30-day free trial to download one audiobook.

Top choice for fans of audiobooks.

Interesting feature: You can hear how an author reads his/her book. Alternatively, Amazon invites a Hollywood star for this.

Audible is the top recommendation for audiobooks. No wonder: the size of its library and the compatibility of its service are incredible. Audible is a frequent host in lists of best book apps thanks to its Audible Originals, the creative series product of the Amazon team. Besides, the app is compatible with plenty of formats — smartphones, smart home devices, Amazon products, tablets, computers, and mp3.

3. Epic!

The top choice for comics lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: $9.99/month and Free for educators.

Top choice for young readers.

Interesting feature: Quizzes at the end of each book for better learning and entertainment.

Epic! positions itself as the top digital library for readers younger than 12 years old. It has everything to become one of the best apps for book lovers in this category: the age-based library range, books for learning languages, and materials in audio and video format. It’s a great choice for parents who want to get their children into reading!

4. ComiXology

The top choice for comics lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: $5.99/month with a 30-day trial.

Top choice for manga lovers and fans of comics from Marvel and DC.

Interesting feature: For greater readability, the developers have included the abilities to zoom and focus on the interesting parts of the comics in the app.

ComiXology has a library of over 100,000 comics, which is a true gift for the fans of this genre. Specifically, you can find graphic novels, digital comics, and manga in this one of the best iOS apps for book lovers.

5. Scribd

The top reading platform that offers useful apps for book lovers (Android, iOS, cloud, etc.).

Available platforms: Android, iOS, web.

Subscription price: $9.99/month with a 30-day free trial.

Top choice for bookaholics who use various devices and read in various formats.

Interesting feature: The huge library that contains not only books but also magazines, documents, sheet music, and audiobooks.

Scribd is a comprehensive book app that will expand your reading far beyond the limits of books. If you’re interested in expert opinions, piano playing, and discovering news—this offering is for you. The massive library combines the best features of Audible and Kindle Unlimited. And the result is one of the leading apps for book lovers, Android- and iOS-friendly.

6. Serial Reader

15-minute reading in one of the best reading apps for Android.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: Free with more sync opportunities for $2.99/month.

Top choice for Android users who want to turn reading into a daily habit.

Interesting feature: You can sync your reading progress with your Goodreads account.

Serial Reader is one of the best book apps for Android. It offers the same service as Blinkist but adopts it to classic literature instead. The digital library contains only 850 books but all of them are divided into easy-to-digest 20-minutes-max bites. With this download, you can fill the gaps in your school education hassle-free.

7. The Paris Review

The digital version of a top lit-crit magazine.

Available platform: iOS.

Subscription price: $30/year.

Top choice for people who are interested in literature criticism.

Interesting feature: Browse the magazine archives.

The Paris Review, one of the leading lit-crit magazines, has a digital version you must see! In its collection, you can browse any issue and look at your favorite book from a professional point of view. If you want to understand books better, subscribe to this app and you won’t regret it.

1-time payment book apps

And finally, let us introduce a 1-time payment reading solution.

Amazon Kindle eBooks

The representative of the best Android book reading apps for book lovers.

Available platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry.

Subscription price: Free from your Amazon account, but the price for books is different.

Top choice for people who shop books on Amazon.

Interesting feature: Page Flip — the navigation feature for working with bookmarks and viewing your book from a bird’s eye.

Amazon Kindle eBooks is the ebook app that is a perfect match for your Amazon profile — especially if it’s connected with Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Prime Reading. The app has many features for convenient reading: you can highlight text, search for meaning and translation of words in dictionaries, and change the font and size of the page. According to the rankings of Lifehack and Android Authority, Amazon Kindle eBooks is the top pick among the best Android apps for book lovers.

Summing It Up

We at Intellectsoft empower companies and their workforce with cutting-edge transformative solutions and data-driven insights. Are you and your organization ready to shift the mindsets and get the most out of innovations?

Our team always stays up to date with emerging technologies and market news. Talk to our experts and find out more about the topic and how your business or project can start benefiting from it today! You can also learn more about our mobile app development services.

[Create high-end software solutions for your company with Intellectsoft]

The post 14 Best Reading Apps for Book Lovers: Get Millions of Free Books appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

We read the Gmail app notifications, order food delivery on UberEats, chat with colleagues on Teams or Slack, and follow the people we like on Instagram.

All these things became available with the frameworks – the multicomponent tools that enable developing plenty of applications for mobile use.

By 2026, the global mobile app market size is expected to reach $407.31 billion at a CAGR of 18.4%, which is mostly caused by the rising number of Android and iOS smartphone users and the new technologies and services delivered to the app market.

Intellectsoft’s best experts will introduce the essential insights to know about the application frameworks and how they’re used for creating different app projects.

As a part of our discussion, you’ll uncover the top 10 most popular tools for Android framework development, the features they offer as well as the projects they’ll best fit too. This knowledge will help you to figure out which of the Android frameworks will work perfectly for your upcoming projects.

Let’s get this started!

What is an Application Framework?

As you might have already figured out, an application framework is a specific tool that provides pre-made templates, components, and structure for application development. It is mainly focused on building various types of application’s architecture, including:

• Native applications (the OS-specific apps for iOS, Android, etc)
• Hybrid applications (multi-platform apps, usually written on JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5)
• Web applications (accessible through a web browser).

Android framework features a component structure and customizable interface, provides the possibility to reuse the app design and code, and centralize the base code under one location. With all these features stated, we can summarize that the core idea of the Android framework is to help programmers create the app structure and write the code much faster.

According to Statcounter’s statistics, over 70% of the overall market share of mobile operating systems refers to Android OS.

Needless to say, the vast popularity of this niche has stimulated the development of different Android frameworks that can standardize yet speed up deliverability for Android devices.

Ionic Framework, Framework7, Xamarin Framework, NativeScript Framework, React Native Framework – these are only a few popular options developers can now choose from.

For sure, getting focused on the most popular Android frameworks is a key point for finding the right tools to create first-class Android OS applications. So, now let’s analyze the best framework for Android app development in detail, and which of those will help you to create competitive products for Google Play!

Top 10 Android Frameworks that Are Worth You Attention

Depending on the tools you’ll choose, the final choice of the Android development framework can vary for each specific project, its requirements, and major goals. Let’s now analyze the most popular yet effective Android frameworks for 2022 and uncover their most valuable features the developers can surely make use of.

Ionic Framework

Ionic is a free and open-source Android framework certified by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and allows developers to build progressive hybrid apps with the help of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Ionic has become one of the most famous frameworks for Android development due to its cross-platform functionalities and the ability to integrate AngularJS.

This Android framework hosts a simple CLI (Command-line Interface) that facilitates features like emulators, live reload, and logging. Being Cordova and Angular-based, Ionic has already gained a large community.

Around 4 million Ionic-based apps were built, with more than 5 million developers in over 200 countries worldwide using the framework. Moreover, it integrates with many services, including Google Play, Instagram, and other platforms.

Taken from: https://www.brainvire.com

Key features of the Ionic Android framework:

• Cross-platform mobile application development
• Default user interface with native experience
• Cordova plugins
• JavaScript components
• Released under the MIT license
• Framework compatibility with Angular, the latest JavaScript frameworks, and most of the front-end frameworks including React.js and Vue.js.

This tool is primarily designed for developers to build hybrid and interactive mobile apps. Today, the Ionic Android framework can be used by different startups and web development companies for launching mobile, desktop, and web applications for fast-growing companies and agencies from the pharmacy, health race, and insurance industries to hospitality IT and plenty of other different scopes.

Flutter Framework

Designed and maintained by Google, Flutter is a multi-platform mobile app SDK that can be used to build applications, but in a way that is different from other Android frameworks.

It simplifies the cross-platform development process and is written in the Dart language. When it comes to selecting a framework, Flutter is the best choice for hybrid app development.

Google’s Flutter Android framework uses a 2D rendering engine called Skia for visuals that are similar to material design and the Cupertino style.

Flutter also serves as a solid testing framework, enabling developers to perform UI, unit, and functionality tests. Moreover, Flutter has best-in-class hot-reload functionality, which allows for seamless testing without the need to restart the application.

Taken from: https://habr.com

Key features of the Flutter Android framework:

• Single codebase
• Huge widget library
• Optimized code development time and increased time-to-market speed
• Own rendering engine for rendering itself onto a platform-provided canvas
• Allows sharing the code between the target platforms
• Perspective to grow to a full-blown cross-platform development tool for Android, iOS, Web browser, Windows, macOS, Linux, and other platform-specific devices.

The Flutter Android framework is mostly used by creators who want to establish themselves in hybrid app development. For this reason, it’s now used by the world’s largest corporations including Google, Alibaba, eBay, and others, that use this Android framework for launching their mobile applications.

Corona SDK

Developed in 2009, Corona SDK is a perfect software development kit for building speedy apps and games. This general-purpose, cross-platform framework enables 10x faster development than other Android frameworks.

Corona achieves this by integrating Lua, a lightweight and multi-paradigm programming language, which is itself layered on top of C++/OpenGL and allows high speed, usability, and flexibility.

Highly popular among game developers, Corona is free and available on both Mac OS X and Windows, with real-time testing support.

In addition, this Android framework has native UI support, over 500 APIs, and a dynamic advertising platform built for developers. Its API suite features are feature-rich, with graphics, networking, widgets, particle effects, and more.

Simple to understand and integrate into Android, Corona SDK has gained notable popularity among Android app developers. As for the time of writing, this Android framework is known as Solar2D – a cross-platform engine for mobile, desktop, and TV app development.

Taken from: https://coronalabs.com/

Key features of the Corona SDK Android framework:

• Really easy to get started with
• The built-in library with over 1000 API’s and plugins
• Cross-platform development, applicable for other platforms
• Ability to call any native library, including C, C++, Obj-C, Java, or else use API
• Real-time device testing saves up tons of time for developers
• As it doesn’t provide an integrated development environment (IDE), it features different other plugins to access the specific platforms per demand

Being known as one of the best options for game developers, this Android framework is a solid tool for delivering general-purpose apps for Android OS. The most notable projects where the Corona SDK has been already implemented are Warcraft, Angry Birds, The Lost City, Hopiko, Civilization, and others.

Framework7

Being nearly the newest framework for Android development on the market, Framework 7 is one of the most effective open-source MIT-licensed Android frameworks that comes with various useful features for fast yet convenient app launching.

It features nearly all the basic and extra Mobile UI that can be effortlessly implemented in different projects. The great features developers like are the infinite scroll, Lazy loading, Pull to Refresh, Swiper Slider, and more.

Most developers say that Framework7 is the best Android framework for creating a PWA (Progressive Web App). Besides, it can easily integrate with Cordova to build hybrid mobile apps with the use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript languages instead of standard Android languages, such as Java, Kotlin, and XML.

Also, the Android framework features a simple, user-friendly interface, has a large user base, and is getting updated to the newer versions on a regular basis, which is essential for ensuring a stable, non-disruptive workflow.

Taken from: https://blog.framework7.io

Key features of the Framework7 Android framework:

• Features plenty of ready-to-use UI elements and useful plugins
• Easy to learn and customize
• Offers a jQuery syntax, that enables a quick start without delays
• Flexible Router API enables the dynamic loading of pages from the templates
• Built-in helper libraries
• No license fees

This Android framework is a perfect option for developers that have already worked with HTML and CSS, and have some knowledge in JavaScript. Though Framework7 is not compatible with all the platforms, it’s still focused on the iOS and Google Material concepts to deliver simple yet feature-rich app solutions for mobile devices.

React Native Framework

Backed by Facebook, React Native is a powerful open-source framework that offers ample support to other development tools and their IDEs. It is based on React, a JS library for web solutions.

Companies like Instagram, Walmart, Airbnb, Tesla, as well as many other Fortune 500 companies, use the framework to develop native mobile apps.

As most of the React Native APIs are cross-platform, developers can write code once and then run it anywhere, which improves development speed and helps cut costs.

React Native uses building blocks similar to the ones employed in most Android development frameworks. With the hot-reload option in React Native, developers can link updated files while retaining the current state of the app. The developer community of React Native has been growing much faster than Facebook’s expectations.

Google Trends indicates that the Android framework has been gaining more and more traction in the past few years. As of today, around 1600 developers have used the Native framework.

Key features of the Native Android framework:

• The app design and development is created within a single interface
• Code Push feature – an option that helps to push out the app updates immediately, without the user having to consent and reload the app on his Android device
• Supports incorporating external third-party plugins
• Spot the bugs much easier with the use of the declarative programming approach
• Hot Reloading feature speeds up building new features and bug fixing
• The possibility to share non-UI dependent codes

This tool is perfect for launching customized apps much easier and faster. At present, it has already been used in thousands of apps launched with the world’s largest companies like Tesla, Meta, Bloomberg, Uber, Walmart, Yahoo, and more.

Taken from: https://nebel.co.in

jQuery Mobile Framework

The jQuery Mobile framework for Android development is one of the HTML5-based cross-platform frameworks that is also known as the most straightforward tool for launching mobile and web applications.

The main hallmark of jQuery Mobile is that it enables “writing code once” and then executing it on various platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, Symbian, and Blackberry.

Another great feature developers like about this Android framework is that the complete basic app interfaces can be built in HTML, with minimal or even without using the JavaScript code at all!

Moreover, it’s one of the most popular tools for traversal and manipulation with the HTML DOM tree. The jQuery Mobile Android framework can greatly simplify various event handling, CSS animation, and Ajax.

It also features an in-built theme system so developers can customize the application styling for each project to ideally fit the colors, tastes, and preferences. Compared to other Android frameworks, Mobile jQuery’s size is extremely lightweight (about 40KB when minified), which makes it one of the most preferable frameworks on the market and helped it to establish a large community.

Taken from: https://designsmaz.com

Key features of the jQuery Android framework:

• Comes with various plugins, including Pop-Up Boxes, Image Slider, Content-Slider, etc
• Compatible with other mobile iOS, Windows, and Android frameworks
• ThemeRoller feature enables easier drag-and-drop functionality
• Simplifies the common manipulations with JavaScript
• Employs CSS syntax
• Lightweight, compared to other Android frameworks

An ideal user of the jQuery framework is any mobile developer aimed to create solid yet highly branded applications that will work on different smartphones, mobile devices, and desktop platforms.

Appcelerator Titanium

The best Android framework according to some developers, Appcelerator Titanium is an open-source platform for building native apps with a single JavaScript codebase. Titanium became popular as it allows for creating multi-platform mobile apps using around 60%-90% of the existing code. The framework employs the JavaScript programming language to ensure the high performance of applications.

Titanium can be used to develop solid games, while mobile apps built with Appcelerator Titanium can utilize hardware-specific features like Android menu buttons, OS-centric controls, and platform-appropriate notifications.

Currently, over 345,577,760 apps run through this Android framework. Also, it provides many other useful functions like automated testing on mobile devices, application monitoring, and performance regulation.

Taken from: https://githubplus.com

Key features of the Appcelerator Titanium:

• Runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS
• A free, open-source, software development kit (SDK)
• Apps are built in JavaScript language
• Rapid & flexible prototyping facilitates the app development process
• High level of code reusability (from 60 to 80%)
• Immediate support for the new OS releases

Built for the developers that work with different types of projects within multiple scopes, this Android framework features super-fast app development using a single JavaScript codebase.

Basically, it provides the same performance as the mobile apps built with native APIs. Moreover, Appcelerator Titanium enables access to native APIs for the systems like Android, iOS, Universal Windows, Web, and more.

Xamarin Framework

Owned by Microsoft, and one of the top Android frameworks, Xamarin offers an advanced toolset that enables developers to build native apps for multiple mobile platforms on a shared C# codebase.

With Microsoft’s cloud testing service, the apps built using Xamarin can be tested on numerous devices. Moreover, its code-sharing feature makes it a developers’ favorite as it reduces coding time and the number of bugs in the software development process.

Compared to other Android frameworks, Xamarin is one of the oldest cross-platform frameworks and is already used by 1.4 million developers across 120 countries.

Xamarin became a part of Visual Studio IDE, which made large companies in industries like healthcare, and energy shift to using this framework. Xamarin has been around for a while, but the number of developers using it has increased a lot over the years as compared to other Android frameworks.

Taken from: https://www.wildnettechnologies.com

Key features of the Xamarin Android framework:

• Native user interfaces, no switch between environments
• Single C# language
• Allows adding the components to apps right from the IDE using Xamarin Component Store
• Enables sharing from 60% to 95% of code across diverse mobile development platforms with Xamarin.Forms interface
• Offers comprehensive testing approaches, as well as tracking app performance and UI with Xamarin Test Cloud and Xamarin Test Recorder tools
• Continuous technical backing and fast issue resolving with Microsoft support

This tool is perfect for the developers that need sharable yet reusable code solutions, that can be tested across different platforms, as well as create cross-platform Android apps in C# language within a single interface.

NativeScript Framework

Listed as a top framework for hybrid app development, NativeScript is a free open-source framework that enables developers to create applications using Vue, TypeScript, and Angular. This Android framework is backed by a Bulgarian software company Telerik. From Gradle to CocoaPods, developers can easily reuse a wide array of plugins directly in the projects with NativeScript.

The framework enables web developers who are well-versed in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, as well as Native UI markup, to build outstanding progressive apps with NativeScript.

One of the biggest reasons to choose NativeScript for Android app development is that it offers UIs with the native platform’s offering engine, which results in native-like UIs and performance. With JS running on the UI thread, NativeScriptenables high-performance on all native platform APIs.

Taken from: https://www.folio3.com

Key features of the NativeScript Android framework:

• Easy authentication with different sign-on options
• Simultaneous usage of LiveSync and Webpack
• Employing various types of frames in an app
• The implemented platform-specific APIs from JavaScript allows eliminating the need to learn Cordova plugins
• Automatic generating icons and splash screens based on high-resolution images
• The ability to work with the third-party libraries

This framework for Android development is perfect for the specialists who want to launch multiple apps within different platforms with saving up on time and costs. This framework has been used mostly by various B2B-oriented tech companies and businesses, like Symantec, Xerox, Dell, Microsoft, and others.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, at present there are plenty of Android frameworks to choose from, with each of those providing its specific features for any sort of app project. Being used by the world’s largest tech giants, any of these options can become the best Android app development framework exactly for your idea development.

However, to successfully launch your app project, it’s not only enough to consider the framework for Android development you’ll use. In nearly all cases, you’ll also need the assistance of mobile app development services that will help you to implement all the creative ideas and most efficient features within a single app product for Android devices.

We, at Intellectsoft, keep our clients in the loop about the latest trends and innovative solutions in the app development field. Our team of developers is always ready for new challenges and exciting app development projects. Do you have the idea to put it into effect?

Contact our team and uncover how to launch your best Android app development project today!

The post 10 Best Framework for Android App Development in 2022 appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

According to Deloitte, the term Fintech refers to computer programs and other modern technologies used by businesses that provide automated and improved financial services.

Investments in the Fintech field have been growing since the latest global financial crisis. Nowadays, Fintech solutions are considered as the potential recovery from the pandemic, as a means to solve some real problems that emerge at present.

The pandemic has also shown that physical proximity is not so important. The digital activities and the fluidity of the information combined together represent success in the future.

Fintechs have already changed the financial industry structure, ways to provide services, and their consumption. They have also influenced customers’ expectations while setting new standards for user experience.

Deloitte reports that investments in Fintech have increased from $12.7 billion in 2020 to $23.4 billion in 2021.

Financial services are poised for transformative change, big corporations and startups alike are pouring money into fintech investments.

They embrace the agility and flexibility promised by fintech solutions to develop innovative financial products that help people manage their money in new ways.

In addition, the rapid adoption of mobile applications makes it critical for organizations to develop ones to bring their services to customers via this channel. Consider fintech trends and use them to reinforce your company’s performance and customer experience.

Fintech Industry Trends in 2021

Statista shows that the number of smartphone users is over 6 billion people worldwide, and this number will grow even further. As a result, the number of mobile application users is also increasing.

For example, according to Statista, 43.1% of smartphone users in the USA in the Q3 of 2020 used banking and financial apps. The figure will continue to rise as fintech app development starts a new phase, using the latest solutions and trends.

Here is a list of fintech trends you should pay attention to in 2021 and further.

1. Artificial Intelligence

Contrary to traditional data analytics and robotic process automation, AI has four unique features:

• It will detect changes in data patterns and tune the model by itself. You do not need a data scientist to keep adjusting the model;
• When the data quality is not perfect, it can still create helpful insights for businesses to make decisions;
• When the data is coming in, we do not need to store, process, and transform it before creating analytics. Instead, it can just stream through the neural network, and the AI engine can pick up the pattern and help businesses serve customers;
• It can handle unstructured data. Therefore, we can apply AI in places like image recognition and voice recognition.

In financial services, the technology can be applied in three major areas. The first one is ML (Machine Learning), to create a propensity model.

Banks and insurance companies put ML on the websites or mobile channels and create real-time target marketing. They actually predict the product propensity of their customers based on their behavioral data in real-time.

The second application of AI is usually around NLP (Natural Language Processing). Some applications like chatbots contract intelligence where the AI can read the free text in a contract and detect non-compliance in the documentation.

The third application is face recognition. For example, many fintech companies ask their customers to take a selfie and a picture of their identity documents.

The machine can automatically match these two and help them do KYC (Know Your Customer) and onboarding.

To have AI work effectively, financial institutions need to have a lot of big data. So, when they have accumulated a lot of big data, many banks and insurance companies can tap into this pool of resources and create helpful business insights.

It is expected that AI and ML will become a more regular practice, specifically in AI-based chatbots development and usage. It will enable organizations to provide instant customer support and enhance their experience.

2. Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is becoming one of the fintech industry trends and is no longer associated only with cryptocurrency. The technology has a lot to offer for financial services and other industries, as its hash algorithm allows secure data sharing across the industry.

With Distributed ledger technology (DLT), banks, corporations, insurance, and logistics companies, etc., can share documents along with the trade flow on a trade finance blockchain network.

With all the authentic documents hashed on the chain, there will be no more forged documents and forged invoices for financing.

Besides, you can also use the hashed information to detect duplicated purchase orders which another bank has collateralized. With that, you do not need to expose sensitive information or customer privacy.

Blockchain also comes with smart contracts. A smart contract allows events to trigger payment transactions automatically.

For example, when the invoice comes in, it will be automatically reconciled with the purchase order, which will trigger the payment for the banks. These are going to improve the efficiency of the ecosystem a lot.

3. Gamification

One of the financial technology trends is gamification. Gamification solutions incorporate gaming activities into other fields and industries.

The practice is used to enhance customer experience and increase engagement levels. For example, companies develop different types of personalized programs, quizzes, cashback rewards, educational videos, etc.

4. Bots

Chatbots allow companies to have human-like conversations with their customers. Organizations try to incorporate chatbots into their fintech apps, as they are cost-effective, easily scalable, instantly available to the customers, data-driven, etc.  The chatbots in the financial field can be of three types:

• informational (provides general information, news, or push notifications);
• transactional (helps customers to complete transactions);
• advisory (provides information on the next steps based on customer interactions).

The technology has several benefits that include:

• user engagement: a chatbot can serve as a mediator between a company and its customers, providing instant communication;
• 24/7 and scalable: a chatbot can be one of your most loyal employees who is available all through the day and even at night. In addition to this, the technology is scalable and can be easily improved when necessary;
• intelligence advantage: chatbots deliver valuable insights about your customers that you can use for further business development.

Bank chatbots can help your customers check their balance, set financial goals, get spending insights, transfer money, pay bills, etc.

The technology is improving with the help of AI and voice recognition, thus enhancing the performance of the organizations and user experience.

5. Voice Technologies

Another popular trend in the finance industry is voice recognition. Some companies start to use voice-enabled technologies like Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa, so the customers can use them to make transactions and other operations.

In addition, voice commands will reduce phone calls, so these solutions are to save time, make things easier, and help organizations perform more efficiently.

Fintech App Development: Useful Tips & Main Features

Financial services have to develop innovative solutions and incorporate them into their fintech app to provide high-quality services to their customers, secure personal data, inform about the latest news and programs, etc.

What are the main features that your application should possess?

Main Features Your Fintech App Should Include

1. Security: the application will contain sensitive data, so it is essential to provide a secure environment for your customers. Use different solutions for the customers to sign in. For instance, integrate two-factor authentication with face, voice, or fingerprint recognition.
2. Notifications: Keep your customers updated about special offers, loyalty programs, news, etc. It is also essential to send out notifications once any transactions are performed.
3. AI-enabled chatbots: Make sure customers can instantly receive requested data 24/7.
4. API integration: Establish connections with other applications so that customers can get additional helpful information via your app.

Fintech App Development Process

The finance mobile app development process includes the following stages:

1. Define Your Product

You should know the purpose of your application and how it can help your customers. Your team should conduct profound market research to see what is in demand, understand customers’ expectations, calculate the risks, and predict the profitability the solution could bring. Then, use all the available data to design a version of your product.

2. Build a Team/Find a Vendor

Find necessary resources to bring your project to life. You can build your team by hiring professionals individually or use outsourcing. Numerous companies have vast experience in the fintech app field, and they can help you choose the right solutions for your project.

If you decide on outsourcing, pay attention to the company’s portfolio, its employees, read reviews of the previous customers, so you can make the right decision, and be sure that you will get a high-quality product that will work efficiently and bring you advantages in this highly competitive field.

3. Decide on Technology Stack

When you have a team of professionals working for you, you can discuss and choose a technology stack for your application. There are numerous languages to develop apps.

The vendor or your team of developers will help you to choose the right one. It is important here to know your customers and which operating systems they use.

Decide whether you need a native application (that will work only on iOS or Android devices) or a cross-platform one (suitable for all platforms).

4. Create User-Friendly Design

The application should be easy to use and appeal to your customers. Ensure that a dashboard offers all the necessary features and it is not difficult to find essential information.

5. Develop MVP

A minimum viable product is necessary for application development as it will help you run tests before you launch the product. Then, ask your customers to use it and share their feedback with you.

No one but your customers will point out the weaknesses of the application. What is more, you will see what else is needed to be added to the application after tests.

Fintech App Success Stories

Financial software development only starts to accelerate as new solutions come into the fintech industry and prove numerous advantages for organizations.

Some of the companies have already begun to implement solutions to enhance the performance of their organization. For instance, Bank of America has developed a virtual financial assistant Erica who helps make money management more effortless.

Another example of fintech solutions implementation is Lemonade, an insurance company that uses AI, apps, and chatbots to digitize the insurance industry.

We, at Intellectsoft, empower hospitality companies and their workforces with innovative solutions and approaches. Are you and your organization looking for some?

Contact our experts to discover more about the development of applications for your organization and learn how you can get the most of them.

The post Fintech Trends in Mobile App Development: Tips, Trends, and Success Stories  appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Among all the developed countries Deloitte surveyed, more than 90% of the population had smartphones, and one-third of them were really addicted to these devices.

This obsession creates a huge market for businesses to reach their clients and establish a profitable sales channel.

When it comes to the concrete mobile solution, you realize the types of app development can be different. If you’ve heard of hybrid and native app development but don’t really know what they are and how they are different, we’re here to help.

In this post, IT experts from Intellectsoft, one of the top mobile app development companies globally, explain how to choose between these two options in the mobile app development menu.

Hybrid App Development

As you can catch from the title, hybrid apps combine several elements from other types of mobile app development.

Namely, they are native apps and web apps: what you’ll see is the web page (in a very simplified browser) that is adapted to a mobile WebView display.

You can link the native elements to let the app be connected to a smartphone’s specific features (like camera, maps, or contact list).

Technically, this development type applies the simplest frameworks (like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS) and creates a unified codebase that works on several markets.

The technology is advanced by adding native code for the selected features. This significantly cuts cost and project timeline, which is highly attractive for business owners.

Pros of Hybrid Mobile App Development

The most popular benefit of hybrid apps is cutting time and spendings during the development stage. That’s why this type is the best solution when your task is to create a prototype.

Here are some other advantages:

• Ability to avoid strict app store limitations. This situation is especially relevant for the Apple Store that is known for its rigid regulations and the high possibility of being rejected.
• Quick validation. There is no need to wait long after submitting the proposal to the app store. Your customers can try your product right away.
• Available resources. Hybrid mobile app development doesn’t require sophisticated knowledge from coders. Thus, it’s easy to find a developer who can make it.
• Optimization. You need to create one code only to make the app work on several devices. This means creating one place to manage.

Cons of Hybrid Mobile App Development

Since hybrid app development technically requires building an additional layer between the platform and the source code, the applications may demonstrate poor performance.

Such a limited user experience is the main disadvantage for investing in hybrid apps, especially if your budget allows paying more for native app development.

Here are some other limitations:

• Partial native functionality. Hybrid apps have access to a couple of native elements only. All the rest are locked and require a separate native app instead.
• Speed problems. Hybrid apps are slow when it comes to transition between their pages.
• Not a cross-platform solution. It’s not that easy to scale hybrid apps on multiple devices. The more platforms you want to cover, the more costly it will be to cope with all the problems that will need your reaction. Native app development, in this case, will turn out to be a cheaper solution.

Native App Development

All the mobile app development that is compatible with a sole operating system is native. For example, iOS native app development means that the software solution will work on Apple devices only.

But if you want the same app to appear on an Android device, you’ll need to invest in the separate Android native app development for that. This way, cross-platform native app development will take place.

The difference between the various types of native app development lies in the difference between various platform-specific programming languages.

Mostly, iOS apps are written in Swift-C and Objective, Android apps use Java, and Windows apps apply C#. To get a native app, a user should enter an app store and find it there.

Native mobile app development is linked to an operating system exclusively to let the users enjoy the full functionality of their smartphones: device features, gestures, and push notifications.

Moreover, the software is normally designed to fit the screen and characteristics of each device accurately. All these elements make a native app highly enjoyable and fully functional.

Pros of Native Mobile App Development

Native apps, if built accurately, guarantee the highest level of user experience among all the mobile app types.

Here are some other advantages of native apps:

• Access to all native features of the device. A native app can use a camera, accelerator, GPS navigation, list of contacts, and other things and information stored on the device. It increases interactivity.
• Fast and enjoyable user experience. The mobile solution is native to the platform, runs fast, and fits the device parameters accurately.
• App store support. If used correctly, the external marketplace can serve as an additional channel for attracting customers to your mobile app.

Cons of Native Mobile App Development

Because of its overloading with numerous elements, the native app development process is complicated and requires careful attention. That’s why it’s not the easiest and cheapest solution to pick.

Here are some other disadvantages of native apps:

• Need to follow app store regulations. Native apps should pass the verification stage to appear on the app store platform and become available for users. This may become a severe obstacle for your business app.
• Multiple code bases. Each new platform requires extra costs on development, maintenance, and updates.
• Consistency of versions. App updates don’t come synchronized, so some users will experience delays and support problems.

Which One to Choose: Native vs Hybrid App Development

In practice, picking the right development type depends on the business goals and your budget limitations mostly.

Since both hybrid and native app development are advantageous in their own way, you should critically evaluate your project and pick the mobile app architecture that will maximize your benefits the most.

Ask questions about your audience:

• Who they are
• What are their access points
• Which app stores we target to appear at
• What’s the frequency of updates needed
• What kind of experience is desired.

Clarity on all these points to maintain the needed balance between business aims and customer expectations. Thus, ensure that the mobile app will satisfy them both.

Each development type has its beneficiaries, depending on your project aims and customer needs.

1. Long-term vs. short-term perspective. Native apps are costly but can become a wise investment move in the long run. If you’re going to scale and save the complexity of your mobile solutions, you’d better invest in the native application development right away. Alternatively, you can build workable and multi-device solutions fast by adopting a hybrid app development approach.
2. Quality-to-price ratio. The expensive price tag for native app development has its cost — the only problem is whether you really need to pay it. With a native app solution, you get the chance to get top-quality software, totally compatible with the selected operating system till the slightest detail. However, if your task is to test the mobile app solution on the widest audience possible, hybrid app development is a much wiser solution to make.

Whichever mobile app development type you’ve picked, remember that it’s important to implement it accurately! Use our checklist with 25 steps to building a mobile app that brings you real profit.

Where to Get Top-Class Hybrid and Native App Development Services

We hope now the difference between native apps and hybrid apps is much clearer to you! If so, it’s time to find a reliable provider for your business solution. Please check the list of our mobile app development services.

If you’ve found something relevant for you there, don’t hesitate to drop our experts a line, and we’ll contact you shortly!

About us: We’re Intellectsoft, a leading software development company specialized in providing innovative solutions and approaches to companies worldwide.

We have vast experience in addressing the business needs of corporations and startups alike. And we’ll be glad to help you too!

The post Native vs Hybrid App Development: What to Choose? All the Advantages and Disadvantages in One Place appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.