5 Myths About Mobile Apps for Business, Debunked

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Mobile apps are marking a new frontier in the digital mobile revolution. The penetration of smartphone devices alongside internet infiltration extends limitless opportunities for mobile users.

Already, the mobile app uptake is on the rise accounting for over six billion mobile app users globally. Because of the rising popularity of mobile apps, organizations are gradually upscaling their uptake and streamlining their operations through mobile apps.

Below we debunk five myths surrounding mobile apps for business:

1. Mobile apps fall way cheaper than web

There’s a popular myth that mobile apps are cheaper to develop and maintain than web applications. This myth is because mobile phones are physically smaller devices and have less computing power than computers. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that mobile app development is as complex as software development. Indeed, software developers collaborate with many professionals – designers, analysts, programmers, and data architects – to develop mobile apps.

2. Cross-platform app conversion is faster and nominal

Most clients assume that converting an app from iOS to Android and vice versa is a simple process. Unfortunately, they fail to understand that cross-platform app conversion is a complex, time-consuming, and strenuous process involving code rewrites and re-programming. Cross-platform app conversion is not an automated process; the programmer has to code from scratch.

3. I don’t need an app

Most users presume that their phones contain all information and applications they need. Unfortunately, this is not true. Today, we live in a world that’s interconnected and where everything is digital. For instance, things like communication, shopping, social interactions, entertainment, news, and education are being conveyed via the web. That automatically means that users must adopt applications that support these diverse functions.

4. Apps crash or slow down your device

Software crashes are caused by many things, including bugs, hardware issues, and viruses. However, things like outdated codes, malicious attacks, and hardware failures can cause delays and crash your device. . Regardless of the cause, poor app performance isn’t always a result of a poorly-designed app. Sometimes, crashes and slowdowns can happen because you installed a malicious app. It’s advisable to be vigilant for malicious apps disguised as add-ons.

5. Mobile apps don’t need promotion

Individuals and organizations do the hard work of investing in a mobile app but fail to promote it. Like any other product – a shoe, an electronic, a commercial building, an entertainment hotspot, or a new brand – an app needs to be marketed and promoted vigorously.

Proper planning and promotion are a must-have because of the stiff competition. It’s not enough to invest in your app and post it on a platform like AppStore or PlayStore. It takes an intensive investment to promote your app to the relevant markets.

For instance, an app like TikTok leveraged digital marketing strategies and worked with brand activation agencies to promote itself. Influencer marketing and public campaigns like FightTheDarkness, GarBaithoIndia, and Chipotle: Boorito Challenge are some of the earlier promotion campaigns by TikTok. Your app also needs rigorous campaigns and promotion to reach the right audience.

You can contact NS804 for mobile app development and promotion solutions.

The 13 App Ideas That Could Change Your Business

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by

Mobile apps have transformed many things, among them user browsing experiences and online shopping patterns. Mobile apps have reinvented business communications allowing businesses to optimize on financial and operational performance.

In addition, mobile apps continue to accelerate digital retail practices, especially as online retailers view mobile apps as a frontier in mobile commerce. There’s no doubt that mobile applications have dominated businesses, from small enterprises to large establishments.

Mobile apps continue to push boundaries in business process developments. So, if you’re looking to build your first app, here are some app ideas that could change your business.

1. Scan and Shop App

The “scan and shop” app lets users scan items they find physically so that they can order them online. The scan and shop app allows users to physically translate their physical shopping experiences to online. The app allows you to scan items and track them back online by images. This approach allows customers to buy products easily from online stores. Scan and shop apps allow vendors to add more features to make the app experience interesting. Businesses looking to transform their online shopping experiences can invest in scan and shop apps.

2. Mall Navigation

Although the Covid-19 pandemic saw shrinking mall spaces following social distancing measures in public areas (stores and malls), digitization has the potential to debunk this anecdotal talk with mobile commerce. Mall navigation apps will secure the digital maps of all the physical malls in a specific area, allowing users to locate specific stores in malls.

These apps allow shoppers to physically locate a store and use navigation to physically visit and shop. This app can navigate directions and maps, check restaurants, stores, bathrooms and locate parking spaces. So, if you’re a business enterprise or an individual running a commercial building, a mall navigation app is a must-have.

3. Restaurant Booking

Among the most hit businesses by the pandemic was the hospitality industry, hotels and restaurants being the biggest culprits. Luckily, the pandemic revealed that apps could bridge gaps in customer service through graphical restaurant reservations.

Nowadays, couples, families, individuals, and groups can use mobile apps to book hotel reservations. To what’s known as the graphical restaurant reservation, this booking app gives you access to a restaurant’s physical layout and general appeal. Graphical restaurant apps allow you to select your preferred dining spaces (and tables) for a specific time.

4. Supermarket Checkout

Supermarket checkout apps let users compare prices in different product categories. In addition, these apps let you automatically scan products and make purchases using e-payment gateway integrations. Integrated e-payment options provide improved shopping capabilities and superior experiences for prospective customers. Businesses can use this app idea to bolster online retail experiences.

5. Health Check-up and Food Planner

Health is a priority today more than ever. That’s why health insurance has skyrocketed in the last decade with rising emphasis on disease prevention and management. The health check-up and food planner app checks your health on a daily basis and suggests the meals that you should consume to remain healthy.

Health check-up and food planner apps incorporate temperature measures, body mass indices, blood pressure, body weight, and calorie count metrics. Collectively, these metrics can be used to boost your dining experiences, especially if you run a fast-food, groceries, hotel, tours and travels business.

6. Voice Translation App

There’s no doubt that business is about communication and agreements. In the contract management process, a central part of negotiation is establishing clear communication that supports all procurement needs. Businesses engage in “buy-and-sell” processes that often involve communication between people of different cultures.

A voice translation app understands the rising globalization and multiculturalism. This app responds to differences in languages, especially between employees, customers, professionals, and associates of different cultures. A voice translation app is a superior tool if you’re looking to foster communication in a multicultural workforce environment.

7. AI-Based Picture Translation

We all have challenges translating road signs, pictures, images, and signatures – especially when traveling to another country or exploring a foreign culture. So, just like Google Translate or Lens, an AI-based picture translation app allows travelers to translate pictures, texts, images, and objects. AI-based picture translation apps would transform business experiences, especially enterprises looking forward to transforming and reinventing how they communicate to multicultural audiences.

8. Criminal Alert App

Businesses in warehousing, logistics, and procurement definitely need a guaranteed security solution. A criminal alert app is embedded in warehousing computers, personnel devices, and procurement endpoints to detect any anomalies in inventories. A criminal alert app is important for monitoring inventory inflows and outflows, and monitoring warehousing activities. This app provides end-to-end visibility to procurement processes, enabling store owners and warehouse floor supervisors to keep track of inventories.

9. Exam Study

Virtualization is changing traditional education with online distance learning opportunities. New learning platforms such as Coursehero, Coursera, Doordash, and Quizlet are at the center of traditional learning transformation. Already, schools are implementing software and adopting technologies to support this transformation. In responding to this shift, businesses in education and higher learning sectors may consider investing in these apps.

An exam study app is a virtual study app where students can meet virtually and revise for upcoming exams in a particular discipline. By using exam study apps, learning can be facilitated using discussions, study tools, and study materials. This app would definitely be a win for enterprises in research, academia, higher and Montessori curriculums.

10. Call Recording App

Cybersecurity is a rising issue in enterprise security especially with the uptake of digitization solutions in business processes. Unfortunately, despite the significance of cybersecurity in today’s online shopping, most customers still fall victims of phishing and spam calls.

Most businesses are investing and downloading call recording apps so that when they’re harassed by scammers, they can record, save and share the audio file with anyone. This app is critical for all enterprises that want to share scamming and phishing audio calls to internal personnel as a measure against cybercrime.

11. Tip Calculator

The tipping culture is forever changing and affecting businesses differently. This app has a calculator that allows faster entry of food bills when you’re dining with friends and family and you want to split the bill. The tip calculator calculates the total amount to tip. This app is a critical component for hotels, restaurants, and businesses in the hospitality sector where tipping is nigh.

12. Sell, Buy, Rent Apps

The sell, buy and rent app is just like the Facebook app but with added functionality. This app lets users hire products online, buy or sell. Apps like Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Vrbo, and Plum Guide let you hire properties for a specified duration. However, a sell, buy, or rent app allows active customer-buyer engagements, facilitating property and goods transfer either through buying or renting out.

13. M-Commerce Apps

Mobile commerce, popularly referred to as M-Commerce, refers to shopping on a mobile device, especially a smartphone, tablet, or wearable. The future of m-commerce is bright with customers turning to mobile shopping solutions. This means that for forward-thinking organizations, a simple m-commerce app can put you ahead of competitors.

Mcommerce allows you to operate contactless ordering and delivery applications. This improves the entire customer service experience by using innovations such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and mixed reality. For instance, virtualization and mixed reality allows shoppers to try out new outfits before purchasing. That means that malls and fashion retailers must look at Mcommerce apps as the next frontier in retail fashion.

Contact NS804!

There’s no doubt that a superior digital retail strategy combines an intuitive, user-friendly digital store and a fully functional website. However, mobile apps are complementing digital retail strategies especially with the accelerated uptake of mobile solutions. Rising adoption of smartphones and infiltration of internet connectivity continue to define new shifts in mobile app adoption.

Contact NS804 to transform your business with intuitive mobile applications.

4 Things You Can Learn About Your Clients From Their App Use

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Every savvy appreneur should monitor app use to gauge whether an application meets your desired goals and expectations. And that’s easy to do due to the many excellent analytics and monitoring tools available today. Of course, users and various governing bodies, such as the EU, have expressed concern about how companies handle user data and privacy.

As someone that releases or plans to release apps, it’s your job to ensure that you comply with all regulations applicable to the target territory. But the good news is that you don’t need to harvest an extraordinary amount of data to gain a clear picture of app use. After all, you primarily care about your app’s performance and whether users easily complete tasks available to them. 

You don’t want to know users’ home addresses or pet names unless that’s necessary for the functionality of your app. But even for such cases, you’ll need to gain user consent via a mobile opt-in option. Ultimately, you want to operate under an ethical and legal framework that fosters trust with all your users.

We also understand that it’s not always clear what you must look for when monitoring app use. So, we’ve compiled this handy list to help you laser focus on the key indicators that will reveal more about your clients and users.

1. Does Your App Use Data Reveal A Distracted User Base?

Unfortunately, in our information-rich world, attention spans have declined significantly. Digital and social media have played a significant role in reducing attention spans, and so has a constantly online way of life.

But what does this mean for your upcoming app project? Your app should have an easy-to-understand and easy-to-navigate user interface (UI). And keep it simple by making it easy for users to complete tasks quickly. Once you launch your app and monitor app usage, you should achieve favorable results by keeping users engaged.

If that’s not happening, you may have added features and UI elements that cause confusion or distraction. Users will often leave an app and even delete it altogether if they don’t understand how to use it or are not presented with the most crucial information as early as possible.

You’ll also want to know whether your app’s response times lag longer than usual. Therefore, you should monitor all response and system feedback times. If these exceed 50ms for response times and 400ms for web-based system feedback, you need to patch up your app immediately, as most users won’t put up with any application that seems slow and clunky or hinders productivity.

2. Where Are Your Clients Spending Most Of Their Time? 

It’s essential to track the time users spend on your app. And not only that, but you should also track how much time they spend on each page of your app.

For example, you may have created a food delivery app that promises users a one-click checkout experience. Now, users are excited about the prospect of quickly and conveniently ordering their food, so they flock to your app. But then, you notice that few users are completing orders timeously, and many abandon products in their virtual carts.

So you decide to check your analytics to determine what’s causing the bottleneck. You start by analyzing how much time users spend on the homepage of your app and right through to the checkout page. And the data reveals that users quickly find the products they want. Also, they don’t experience any noticeable problems when adding products to their carts. 

Everything seems good so far, but then you get to the data regarding your checkout page. Surprisingly, users spend three times longer on the checkout page than on the rest of your app. And this is not good because it negates the whole purpose of your app, which is to provide a hassle-free checkout.

However, you still don’t have enough information, so you decide to drill down to a more granular view of your data. And doing so reveals information that you didn’t expect, which shows that users spend an excessive amount of time filling in their payment information. Thus, you decide to improve the payment form and enhance its format by refreshing its credit card and other payment method icons.

3. Are Your Users Cheating And Ruining The Experience For Everyone?

If you’re a mobile game developer or creating a competitive and interactive app, you should care whether users cheat. Yes, you heard correctly; users will act in bad faith and cheat in mobile games. And that’s especially true for games that offer money prizes, gems, and in-app purchases. Furthermore, Android games are particularly vulnerable to cheating and game modification apps, such as Creehack, Game Killer, and SB Game Hacker APK, to name a few.

And while it’s common practice to hack and modify PC games, we should bear in mind that the PC is a fairly open platform. On top of that, some PC game developers encourage mods and even provide their own modification tools. And the reason they do this is that it helps extend the longevity of their games, as users will create and share additional content that’s mostly free. 

But even on the PC, hacking a game for the purpose of cheating is unacceptable, causing developers and publishers to ban users that attempt such an action. Therefore, mobile game developers should never take cheaters lightly, as they can cause monetary loss and reputational damage.

You should implement a pattern detection system that analyzes users’ device memory and storage for any cheat apps. Also, some popular cheat apps attach their debugger to a process, so make sure that you’re scanning for these. And if you’re creating a multiplayer game using the Unity engine, then use Guardsquare’s DexGuard and iXGuard to harden the security of your Android and iOS games.

4. Do Your Users Face Too Many Choices? 

The best apps often have a simple UI and are designed to serve a singular purpose. Therefore, you never want to create an app that tries to do too many things. Or it does one thing well but presents users with a plethora of features and options.

Ideally, your app should focus on a singular purpose and its features pared down to the bare minimum. And that’s because users struggle to navigate apps that offer them too many options. They may feel anxious when facing too many options, many of which may be unnecessary or be too complex. 

Furthermore, when users face too many choices, they’re forced to spend more time thinking before coming to a decision. But if they have less choice, users feel less burdened to engage in a complex decision-making process. And navigating the app feels like a more fluid and natural experience, especially if they can complete the most crucial tasks in a short amount of time.

And if users use your app to complete a complex task, then break it down into several smaller and manageable tasks. Always offer an enjoyable and straightforward user experience, as many users may not have the required technical skills.

The Bottom Line 

As we’ve seen, app use can reveal much about your clients, provided you’re using the correct monitoring and detection systems. And this information provides you with greater insight into what you’re doing right or wrong with your apps. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create phenomenal apps that will amaze even the most demanding users!

What Makes a Good UI Design? 7 Features

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by

The user experience is the most common front-end, interactive feature in any app, website, or dashboard. The user interface supports all human-computer interactions.

The user interface provides a navigational platform to control software. Think of a user interface as an application programming interface that links users and a computing system, the back-end.

Although a user interface can take many forms, it accomplishes two fundamental purposes:

  • conveying information from users to machines
  • conveying data from machines to users.

The most important features of a great user interface design are:

1. Simplicity

Simplicity is the centerpiece of any navigation. Easy navigation depends on a highly simplistic user interface. So, the user interface design must be succinct: it must communicate the most with the least. The designer must ensure less navigation and fewer mouse clicks to accomplish any app or website task. It’s important to add new features only if they’re essential and bring substantial value to the application.

2. Consistency

Your user interface must deliver consistent browsing and search results. Consistency achieves stability and eliminates ambiguity and information chaos. Designers should apply size, typeface, and style conventions to screen components to improve readability and learning.

3. Intuitiveness

Intuitiveness is the most important detail of a great UI design. Intuitiveness means that users can easily learn your interface and quickly pick it up. Intuitiveness implies the ability to get accustomed to your app’s interface, element spacing, and overall layout. Intuitiveness means something that can be understood easily and applied with ease.

4. Familiarity

Familiarity is a critical feature of a great UI design. While many designers aim to create intuitive designs, few stop to ask themselves what does an intuitive design mean? Well, intuitiveness means making things understandable and easy to remember. Creating a great user interface concerns familiarity. Designers must aim to create apps that deliver personalized user experiences. Aiming for familiarity will reinforce your app design.

5. Responsiveness

A great user experience must be responsive to users’ needs. Today, most website visits come from mobile endpoints, which is surprising given that it’s convenient to leverage an Android or an iPhone. You encourage users to visit your website frequently and stay longer by having a mobile-responsive interface. Responsiveness is about reducing the latency time and offering a rewarding experience.

6. Clarity

Clarity is an important element in the user interface design process. Clarity signifies that you know what you’re doing and that the interface or platform your users leverage is trustworthy. Achieving clarity in user interface design involves consistency, truth, and simplicity in your messaging. If you aim for consistency, it’ll be simple for users. In addition, if you eliminate ambiguity and incorporate only relevant elements, your interface will be rewarding.

7. Attractiveness

Attraction is about aesthetic appeal. Attraction concerns making elements and layout appealing for prospective and existing users. Attractiveness aims to make the site enjoyable and thrilling to navigate. You can make your site or app efficient, simple, easy to use, and concise – but it will only do well by making it attractive. Your clients or prospective users will not only use a stirring interface; they will look forward to using it once again.

Contact NS804 to achieve a great UI design.

 

How To Grow Brand Awareness with An App

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by

Business leaders often want to find effective ways to increase brand awareness. You’re likely one of those business leaders looking at how technology can positively impact your brand. And since we live in an era with so many options, technology-wise, it may seem incredibly daunting to make the right choice. 

Now, you may be wondering if apps can help grow brand awareness. And the short answer is a resounding yes, especially if you’re thinking of mobile apps instead of desktop or web apps. However, haphazardly releasing a mobile app for your brand will likely yield negative results. Instead, it’s best to follow these handy tips to make your app development endeavors worthwhile.

1. Increase Brand Awareness With A Quality Native App

Sadly, the mobile app stores have too many cheaply done, low-effort, and redundant apps. Users will often download apps that pique their interests, try them out, and eventually delete them. And what’s worse, most of these apps won’t get downloaded again in the future.

Obviously, as someone that wants to grow brand awareness, you don’t want such an outcome. So, how do you go about developing a mobile app that will do your brand justice?

Start by creating a native app that will run smoothly on Android and iOS. And while it costs more to develop a native app versus a hybrid app, your users will appreciate the better performance your app will deliver. Another benefit of releasing a native app is it will have a native UI that corresponds with the target platform’s guidelines and specifications.

2. Focus On UI Design And Usability

Your app must have an attractive and easy-to-navigate UI, as you want it to appeal to users while not frustrating them. After all, an ugly and unintuitive UI makes it harder for users to navigate the app. And this is usually a tell-tale sign of a low-quality app, which will reflect poorly on your brand.

Then, ensure that the design language of your app is on-brand. So use color schemes, graphic design, images, fonts, logos, and patterns associated with your brand for your UI. Ultimately, you want users already familiar with your brand to ‘feel right at home’ once they run your app.

Also, you want users to quickly associate your app with your brand by having a cohesive design language. The cohesion must be so strong that when you release other apps, users will instantly make the connection by simply looking at a screenshot of your app on social media or in the app store.

3. Grow Brand Awareness And Increase Retention With Push Notifications

Push notifications are a powerful tool that every savvy brand should utilize. Users love having announcements and content delivered that’s tailor-made for them.

For example, you’ve created a food delivery app meant to serve customers of your pizza brand. But to engage these customers, you offer them discounts on pizzas they’ve bought before based on their prior purchase history. And to keep them hooked, you provide them with pizza eating and making tips and run contests at a regular cadence. 

The beauty of push notifications is that they’re relatively easy, cheap, and quick to set up. And if users know that they’ll be receiving discounts and handy tips via upcoming push notifications, they’re more likely to engage with your app and keep it installed on their smartphones.

In Conclusion

Increasing brand awareness can and should go hand-in-hand with creating quality native apps, implementing UI design with usability in mind, and using push notifications. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you develop phenomenal apps that will help grow your brand!

The 5 Features a Business Needs in App

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , /by

All businesses will need apps in the near future, whether you’re a fast-food vendor or a fast fashion store. Small businesses are already using apps to communicate to customers. Big boy brands are leveraging mobile apps for brand positioning purposes.

So, mobile apps are adopted differently by businesses depending on the scope and the size of their business operations.

The adoption of mobile phones alongside high internet penetration rates dictates new developments in smartphone usage. Already, mobile apps are ushering new frontiers in web experiences by offering chatting, browsing, and payment services.

Mobile apps are transforming legacy communication patterns by providing digital avenues for communication. A classic example is the chat apps: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct, Line, Skype, and WeChat.

Research shows that mobile applications could generate up to $930 billion in revenues in 2023 alone. Already, shocking estimates show the power of mobile apps, reinforcing the talk of why it’s critical to get started with mobile apps. For instance, users spent over 3 trillion hours on mobile apps in 2021 alone.

The ever-changing face of mobile applications and the desirability of mobile apps to young demographics make it a target for tech-savvy enterprises. Most importantly, young developers are embracing application programming as a new frontier of mobile usability.

While apps are crucial in transforming legacy enterprises and shaping customer experiences, it’s critical to identify particular features that make apps desirable.

Important features a business needs in an app:

1. Usability

Usability is a critical consideration in any app development exercise. That means that developers must approach any mobile app development process with usability in mind. The app must be creative, simple, and easy to navigate. Most importantly, the app must focus on robustness and intuitiveness by incorporating the things people see in apps.

2. User-friendliness

Always aim for a user-friendly app design that’s simple to navigate and highly responsive. Navigation and responsiveness are the cornerstones of any successful app design work. Therefore, ensure that your business app is user-friendly and responds well to the evolving user needs.

Some tricks to make your app user-friendly include:

  • Focus on your target audience
  • Offer superior design
  • Prioritize user security
  • Optimize graphic and font size
  • Make wise use of push notification
  • Aim for intuitiveness

A user-friendly app is highly adopted and has higher retention rates.

3. Chat and call-back

Your business app must incorporate chat and call-back options. Business communication is forever changing, making mobile apps the go-to platform for business communications. Alongside emails, chatbots, and web portals, mobile apps offer a unique avenue for users, mostly clientele groups, to communicate and interact with brands.

4. Intuitive user interface

All apps must incorporate an intuitive interface, and proprietary, discretionary privacy. Users must own their information and privacy for apps to make meaningful sense to prospective users. The fact that enterprises are accelerating their app adoption efforts means that enterprises must find new ways to retain customers. One of these ways is by offering discretionary privacy solutions, including the possibility for privacy notifications in mobile apps.

5. Payment gateway

Payment gateway integration is a no-brainer for any business app. As a business owner, you are involved in the “money” business. That means that your services and products are sold or leased out to customers, making payment gateway integration altogether important. Therefore, a payment gateway is a critical feature of your business app.

NS804 – Aiming for Excellence!

Other vital tips for business apps include:

  • User experience is your ultimate objective
  • Always aim to deliver a superior typography
  • Aim for smooth edges, soft app elements, and creative color
  • The logo is the centerpiece of your brand positioning. Keep it first.
  • Remember to keep users updated. Users must not feel lost.
  • Be accommodative in scope. Let your app encompass many features and functionalities.
  • Aim for an interactive design. You can do this by testing, fixing, and testing once again.

At NS804, we guide businesses in mobile app development.

Contact NS804 to get started on your business app development journey.

 

The 5 Features a Business Needs in an App

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , , /by

The adoption of mobile phones alongside high internet penetration rates dictates new developments in smartphone usage. Already, mobile apps are dictating new frontiers in web experiences by offering chatting, browsing, and payment services.

Mobile apps are transforming legacy communication patterns by providing digital avenues for communication. A classic example is the chat apps: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct, Line, Skype, and WeChat.

Research shows that mobile applications could generate up to $930 billion in revenues in 2023 alone. Already, shocking estimates show the power of mobile apps, reinforcing the talk of why it’s critical to get started with mobile apps. For instance, users spent over 3 trillion hours on mobile apps in 2021 alone.

The ever-changing face of mobile applications and the desirability of mobile apps to young demographics make it a target for tech-savvy enterprises. Most importantly, young developers are embracing application programming as a new frontier of mobile usability.

While apps are crucial in transforming legacy enterprises and shaping customer experiences, it’s critical to identify particular features that make apps desirable.

Important features a business needs in an app:

1. Usability

Usability is a critical consideration in any app development exercise. That means that developers must approach any mobile app development process with usability in mind. The app must be creative, simple, and easy to navigate. Most importantly, the app must focus on robustness and intuitiveness by incorporating the things people see in apps.

2. User-friendliness

Always aim for a user-friendly app design that’s simple to navigate and highly responsive. Navigation and responsiveness are the cornerstones of any successful app design work. Therefore, ensure that your business app is user-friendly and responds well to the evolving user needs.

Some tricks to make your app user-friendly include:

  • Focus on your target audience
  • Offer superior design
  • Prioritize user security
  • Optimize graphic and font size
  • Make wise use of push notification
  • Aim for intuitiveness

A user-friendly app is highly adopted and has higher retention rates.

3. Chat and call-back

Your business app must incorporate chat and call-back options. Business communication is forever changing, making mobile apps the go-to platform for business communications. Alongside emails, chatbots, and web portals, mobile apps offer a unique avenue for users, mostly clientele groups, to communicate and interact with brands.

4. Intuitive user interface

All apps must incorporate an intuitive interface, and proprietary, discretionary privacy. Users must own their information and privacy for apps to make meaningful sense to prospective users. The fact that enterprises are accelerating their app adoption efforts means that enterprises must find new ways to retain customers. One of these ways is by offering discretionary privacy solutions, including the possibility for privacy notifications in mobile apps.

5. Payment gateway

Payment gateway integration is a no-brainer for any business app. As a business owner, you are involved in the “money” business. That means that your services and products are sold or leased out to customers, making payment gateway integration altogether important. Therefore, a payment gateway is a critical feature of your business app.

NS804 – Aiming for Excellence!

Other vital tips for business apps include:

  • User experience is your ultimate objective
  • Always aim to deliver a superior typography
  • Aim for smooth edges, soft app elements, and creative color
  • The logo is the centerpiece of your brand positioning. Keep it first.
  • Remember to keep users updated. Users must not feel lost.
  • Be accommodative in scope. Let your app encompass many features and functionalities.
  • Aim for an interactive design. You can do this by testing, fixing, and testing once again.

At NS804, we guide businesses in mobile app development.

Contact NS804 to get started on your business app development journey.

What Makes an Effective Company App? 12 Features

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Mobile apps are transforming businesses by giving innovative solutions to legacy problems. With a well-customized mobile app, you can communicate directly to customers, improve customer engagement, and design a personalized marketing channel.

When investing in a mobile app, companies look forward to building robust apps that will attain success in the shortest time. But this is not always the case. Most mobile apps get drowned in the sea of apps out there. This is why it’s important to learn the ups and downs of building a great mobile app.

To ensure your app meets the minimum requirements and provides maximum value, you must be aware of features that make your app stand out. Below, our mobile app development team looks at features that make an effective company app.

1. End-User Simplicity

A great UX design is determined by superior navigation and a clear interface. Interface and navigation enable an app to rank higher among other alternative apps. So, if your app is well-customized and easy-to-use, potential users will not have to look for alternatives. The end-user simplicity is a fundamental characteristic of award-winning apps that collect and maintain a large audience or user base.

2. Integrates IOS and Android

These are two most common operating interfaces. However, a service provider can offer a cross-platform development as a marketing gimmick for targeted clients. The leading cross-platform frameworks are ReactNative, PhoneGap, and NativeScript. These platforms and frameworks enable businesses to save costs while entering the market with a minimum viable product MVP. The ability to integrate and cover both Android and IOS is a key element of a successful company app.

3. Performance

Performance is a critical attribute of any successful company app. Performance refers to the way the app functions according to set requirements. Optimum performance means that the app meets the highest levels of outputs and meets set requirements and expectations. On the other hand, a poor app performance means that the app negates its key responsibilities and expectations. The app must load faster and particular attention should be given when pages or objects take long to load. The latency time must be kept to a minimum with constant app optimization.

4. Security

Cyber-attacks are posing significant threats to protected networks and systems, including critical enterprise resources. The compromise of a critical resource like the enterprise mobile application may pose a significant threat to customers. For instance, compromise of mobile apps may reveal personally identifying information (credit card numbers and social security numbers), or even compromise the integrity of protected health information PHI. So, a successful company app must have the necessary security infrastructure and posture to detect threats and patch unprotected networks. Luckily, mobile app developers can design apps with robust security infrastructures, protecting information, networks, and crucial resources.

5. Personalization

A personalized application reinforces close relationships with targeted prospects. Personalized app experiences create loyalty, raising awareness and leading to higher user retention levels. Users love products (and apps) that offer lots of customization possibilities. For effective company apps, it’s advisable to offer users limitless possibilities for customization. Winner apps incorporate details such as flexible backgrounds, fonts, color, and settings.

6. Great Image Resolution

A great app balances speed, functionality, and resolution. Most importantly, you have to ensure that what’s displayed on the screen is clear enough to make the user experience delightful. The world is way past the blocky graphics and today users expect hi-definition, 3-D images and multiple colors. A great image resolution must also sync seamlessly with the overall app’s functionality to ensure a smooth and rewarding user experience.

7. Search Icon

Provide users with an easy way to search and locate items and objects. The search functionality particularly matters for software products with high complex content. Therefore, it’s advisable to make every page and content as clear and easy-to-locate as possible.

8. Feedback Systems

Providing feedback is a great way to build and garner a reputation. So, it’s advisable to let users report bugs, give comments, and feedback about the app’s functionality, products, or brands through an open app forum. Giving users an opportunity to air their views and give grievances about products and app’s functionality leads to enhancing credibility and trust.

9. Social Integration

Social integration is a critical component for users connecting in the app’s ecosystem. Integrating with social networking channels simplifies using the app by enabling users to easily sign-up in the app. In addition, social integration allows users to share posts about events thus remaining fully connected in their social channels.

10. Customization

The app design process must consider customization as a key feature of aligning app features with customer preferences. By customizing the system functionality, layout, and content, the app viewing experience can be tailored to meet and respond to users’ needs.

11. App Analytics

The app must provide clear and accurate statistics and metrics. Clear visibility of user browsing trends enable businesses to monitor customer behavior, thus adjusting business practices to respond to consumer needs. Analytics is a critical component for mobile apps of all sizes and sophistication. Analytics track your app’s performance and optimize the app’s functionality.

12. Offline Access

Mobile apps work best where there’s a stable internet. Although connectivity is great for apps, there are apps where offline access would be appropriate. As a company, you must predict a situation where internet access would not be possible and provide features that work without internet connectivity. It’s difficult to categorize apps based on features because a majority of them depend on industry and app type.

Classifying The Features of a Successful Mobile App:

A successful mobile app integrates these features smartly: user, market and product. These elements need to integrate seamlessly and sync seamlessly to provide users with great usability, unique value, and superior performance. In examining what makes a successful mobile app, the features discussed above have been classified into two: customer-centric and business-centric features.

Customer-Centric Features

Customer-centric features denote attributes that evoke a positive emotional response to customers and targeted app users. Customer-centric features include:

  • Nice and appealing design and layout
  • Well thought out user interface and user experience
  • Reliable and stable workflow
  • Sufficient data protection
  • Quick access to service desk
  • Cover needs and specifications based on user needs

Business-Centric Features

Business-centric features refer to attributes that satisfy key business requirements. Business-centric app features include:

  • Offer quick, hassle-free payments
  • Encourage user retention
  • Protecting data breach
  • Easy update procedure
  • Low maintenance and development costs

NS804 – Transforming Enterprise Mobile App Adoption

Mobile apps are at the forefront of the digital mobile revolution. Mobile apps provide diverse capabilities and superior functions – communication, interaction, emailing, purchasing, billing, and payments – all integrated into a simplistic app solution. That’s the reason most companies are accelerating their app adoption efforts to keep track of new industry developments.

Companies must ensure their mobile apps function effectively to meet evolving consumer needs even with the rising adoption of apps. A streamlined app experience will provide growth opportunities. There’s no doubt that mobile apps are proving as innovative solutions to bolster growth and build a competitive positioning.

You can contact NS804 for innovative mobile app solutions.

Instagram App Updates in 2022

/0 Comments/in /by

Instagram has undergone quite an evolution over the past few years as it seeks to fight off competition from other photo and short video sharing services such as TikTok.

Editing Reels

One of Instagram’s biggest changes in the last year was the introduction of Instagram Reels. A new update to Reels in 2022 is enabling users to introduce an editing tool. Users can now trim and rearrange video clips in a few clicks. You can quickly record, trim, and post a Reel in less than a minute.

New Instagram Hashtags

Instagram has launched dedicated hashtag pages to allow users to get behind certain causes and show support. They picked 25 hashtags to begin with, including #blacklivesmatter. Users can create fundraisers for these causes and seek support from people in their network.

DM Options

In messaging, they have introduced an ‘Active Now’ section where users can see people who are online now. It’s meant to prompt people to use Instagram as an instant messaging tool. There is also a silent feature on DMs. This allows users to send a message without having a push notification sent to the recipient. This feature is useful late at night when users want to send a message without disturbing the recipient. There is also a new music sharing feature where you can send a 30-second clip of a song to friends via DM.

Enhanced Tags

Instagram has also recently introduced enhanced tags where you can tag all collaborators on a creative piece of work. For instance, an influencer can tag their make-up artist, photographer, designers, and other behind-the-scenes personnel who put in work on a project. Instagram has done this in a bid to help creatives find more opportunities by receiving the credit from previous work.

Instagram Subscriptions

Another notable addition to Instagram in 2022 is subscriptions. They are testing three models or opportunities for monetization through subscriptions. For instance, a person can go live just for their subscribers. Another option is to have subscribers marked with a subscriber badge. This makes it easier to spot their DMs and comments. Another subscription option is for Instagram stories. 

If your business needs to create an app, contact NS804 for a free consultation on your business app needs.

Machine Learning And Artificial Intelligence In Apps

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

It’s hardly possible to have a conversation about tech nowadays without mentioning machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). In a way, tech companies and the media have been responsible for pushing AI & ML into the mainstream consciousness for at least a decade. And one could say that they have been overwhelmingly successful in achieving this goal.

But why should developers care about machine learning and artificial intelligence? After all, we’ve done fine with apps and games that had no or only limited implementations of AI for several decades. So what gives — why the sudden interest in AI & ML? And how could rudimentary apps benefit from AI & ML — wouldn’t this drive up development costs and utilize additional compute power? 

Let’s give you the short answer first? No, most simple apps won’t need an AI or ML implementation. While your to-do list app or ‘Frogger’ clone will benefit from an AI implementation, you’ll likely roll out a basic logic system or finite state machine (FSM). And if necessary, you could integrate AI agents into your FSM if you’re building a more complex game, simulation, or AR/VR app. 

But as a general rule, you’ll want to rely on simpler systems for most of your apps. However, if you’re creating something like a photo editing app that autocorrects imagery, you’ll want to tap into the power AI & ML brings to the table. Below, we go into greater detail about what this means for your app development endeavors!

What Is Machine Learning?

Before we begin, we need to explain what machine learning is and how it differs from artificial intelligence. Machine learning attempts to emulate the way humans learn. And similarly to humans, learning is an iterative process where accuracy improves gradually. 

But how would ML help improve an app? Consider a game where enemies and non-player characters (NPCs) need to respond like real humans. Or self-driving vehicles that need to respond to varying traffic conditions in real-time. 

A solution based only on AI would rely heavily on pre-determined behaviors, which isn’t ideal. We’d effectively have a situation where some enemy characters respond the same when trying to dodge the player’s bullets. And self-driving vehicles would run into problems when encountering any non-predefined obstacles.   

Ideally, we’d want the AI to mimic human behavior as closely as possible. That means we don’t only want pattern recognition but also the ability to distinguish the slightest nuances in those patterns. Something humans are very good at doing, as our brains can analyze all surrounding visible objects accurately and rapidly. We can quickly determine the distance, color, shape, size, and texture of one object when compared to another.

However, computer systems are only good at rudimentary pattern recognition. At least, that was the case until the introduction of machine learning. And that’s why it’s making inroads in the fields of data science, customer service, and even stock trading.

How Does Machine Learning Work?

Machine learning relies on the following processes to work effectively:

  • The first phase consists of the decision-making process that ingests input data. This data could either be labeled or unlabeled, and the ML algorithm will compute an estimation of the patterns detected in the data. 
  • Then, an error function will compare and evaluate any predictive models and assess their accuracy. 
  • Once done, the model optimization process will kick off. These predictive models will undergo weight adjustments to fit with existing data sets. These data sets come from the training sets, which contain the most accurate example of what the ML algorithm should achieve. Furthermore, the algorithm will repeat this process and update the weights automatically until it reaches the desired accuracy threshold.

What Types Of Apps Benefit From Machine Learning? 

As we mentioned earlier, machine learning isn’t necessary for most apps. But given that more users and businesses require features that automate specific processes, AI & ML implementations have become indispensable. And that’s certainly true for the following kinds of apps:

  • Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR): Most mobile devices come with apps that recognize human speech, such as Google Assistant and Siri. And the most common uses include voice search and speech-to-text functionality. But even third-party apps can benefit from natural language processing (NLP) to deliver optimal speech recognition.
  • Chatbots & virtual assistants: There’s a greater need for chatbots in customer service. And that’s because they can serve customers around the clock and in multiple zones concurrently. Moreover, they’re a low-cost solution to employing human agents. 
  • Imaging technologies: AI & ML implementations work great for applications that use or manipulate images. Many modern applications need to collect and analyze data from digital photos, videos, and visual inputs. Furthermore, they can enhance these photos and videos with limited or no input from the user. 
  • Recommendation engines: Many e-commerce and mobile apps feature recommendation engines to help users make the right choices. AI algorithms and past behavior data help the app place the most adequate information in front of the user.
  • Crypto & stock trading: More investors and day traders utilize their mobile phones to trade cryptocurrencies and other financial instruments. But AI-powered platforms allow users to engage in high-frequency trading while on the go.

Implementing Artificial Intelligence In Mobile Games 

It’s not necessary to implement machine learning in mobile games. And the reason for this is that older mobile devices don’t have CPUs and GPUs powerful enough to handle intense ML workloads. And that’s not taking into account the GPU processing budget for the graphics and additional overhead the underlying game engine brings forth. 

But it’s still possible to implement AI algorithms that make NPCs and enemy characters convincing enough. And since most mobile games tend to be simpler experiences than PC and console games, it’s unnecessary to implement complex AI algorithms that may cause high CPU usage. 

And the good news is that it’s a relatively simple process to implement algorithms such as A* pathfinding, Alpha Beta search, Minimax, and Monte Carlo tree search, without stressing the CPU. These work remarkably well in action, arcade, puzzle, strategy, and mobile board games. 

If you’re developing a role-playing game (RPG), you’ll rely heavily on a custom-made database to store character and enemy variables. And to manipulate any of these variables, you’ll rely mostly on formulas. You’ll find that these formulas resemble those found in Excel spreadsheets.

However, you’ll need to implement AI for your NPCs and battle scenes. But how complex your AI will end up largely depends on the realism of NPC behavior and the intricacy of your battle systems. And if you’re planning on adding epic boss fights, implementing convincing AI will prove challenging. Your team members will need to put their engineering caps on to deal with convoluted behavior trees.

In Conclusion

Machine learning and artificial intelligence help make apps a lot smarter. And these apps often feel like they have human-like intelligence, even though it’s a bunch of cleverly-crafted algorithms running in the background. 

As mobile app development matures, AI & ML implementations will be standard practice. And that’s because tools and frameworks are getting better, and system-on-a-chip (SoC) vendors are implementing neural processing for ML applications. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you develop apps powered by advanced AI & ML.