5 Tools That Simplify Mobile App Design for You

Design of the app is crucial to ensuring its performance in the market. A good design ensures that users continuously use the app, not just visit it once and move on. The main aim of your app design should be to create a better user experience. At each stage of design and development, you must ask yourself, how is it going to benefit my customer? And if what you’re going to do doesn't, then better be done with it. This is how you identify what stays and what gets out. So, without further ado, let us look at the 5 tools that simplify mobile app design for you.

Android App Patterns – This website offers a wide range of impressive designs, exclusively designed for Android. It has in total 31 categories that contain more than 16,000 screen shots of attractively designed and functional apps.

Pttrns – Offering more than 3K iPad and iPhone user interface patterns, this site is akin to a curated library. The popularity of this site can be attested to by the fact that it’s got over two million views till date. The website is already quite popular among users and has over 2 million page views per month. When designing your app, this provides one of the best platforms to get a design inspiration. The designs of this can be adapted for android apps too.

Unsplash – Photographs form an important feature of every app irrespective of its type. Unsplash is a great resource wherein you can find good quality stock photographs free of cost. You can avail these high-resolution photographs, free of copyrights, use it for app and its associated micro site. In addition, for iPhone app marketing also, adding catchy graphics and photographs is of great value.

 iOS Fonts – This resource features a collection of iOS fonts with above 260 faces for iPad and iPhone. Here, you can have the visual of all of the available fonts and gives you the ability to enter text and view result in preview box how it overall appears.

App Icon Template – Yet another good resource to create exciting designs, App icon template lets you create app icons for just about any version of iOS. It is a free Photoshop tool that has built-in textures, colors and gradients with easy to export actions that delivers a smoother output. Having an appealing app icon along with an impressive design, plays a great role in iPhone app marketing as well.

If you seek a development partner who can create mobile apps for your company with the tools like these, then reach us at openwavecomp.com – 212.209.1537!

How Analytics Can Help You Build a Successful Mobile App?

With more and more businesses investing in mobile app development, apps can today be used as a medium to assess user experience. The performance and usage of mobile apps therefore needs to be constantly monitored to meet consumer expectations. In addition to Google Analytics, we now have a variety of paid tools like Adobe Analytics, Localytics, and Playtomic etc. This article looks at how Analytics play an important role in determining the success of your app and how you can leverage them to increase app visibility.

What can Analytics do for your mobile app?

Check the Actual Usage of Your Mobile App:

Downloads alone are not the right indicator of your app’s reach. It is important to know if your app is actually being used by customers. This is where analytic tools come in, as they help you analyse usage, the nature of usage as well as the uninstall rate. This data helps you engage users, and improve downloads in your target market.

Optimize the Mobile app marketing strategy

You choose the features of your app based on the latest trends. But there could always be some features that need to be improved upon for better UX. Mobile app analytics help you identify those features (that help your app become more popular). Analytics also help identify the bottlenecks that stop a user from downloading it. This can greatly aid you in your app marketing strategy.

Identify the Features that Keep the Users Engaged

As a business you need to know what features or functionalities will have a great impact on users. Analytics help you in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your app, so that you can explore options to deliver improved user experience.

Keep Track of Your Competitors

Market data provided by analytics tools make it easier for the end-user to know the performance of similar applications in the app store (in terms of number of downloads, price, etc). A business can further analyze the market data to identify the positives and negatives of its competitors' marketing strategies. This way it can beat competition by capitalizing on where its competitors fail.

Calculating Return on Your Investment (ROI)


Every enterprise needs to track the ROI, and explore options to garner higher returns. App analytic tools help you make informed decisions based on a finer reading of your mobile application's performance. Apart from measuring the performance of your app, analytics data can also be used to efficiently manage the application. 

What’s with the Dearth of Enterprise Apps?

Today, there’s no lack of mobile devices as such in enterprises however there is quite a shortage of apps with complete enterprise capabilities. In spite of the productivity and efficiency gains that could be realized by supporting the devices and ways of working that employee, only a few dedicated mobile apps are available for their employees.

Data is one of the most valuable assets in any organization, and mobile is simply a way to put data to use. This post hosts a few highlights like FIPS certification for government use, creating a team-focused app development server, and the incredible adoption of  iOS 7 and its enterprise-focused features.

Enterprise Mobile Apps Are Set to Explode

Did you know that only 15 % of mobile developers are targeting this audience? When employees are consistently demanding better user experiences in the tools they use for work, developers still consider quicker path to monetization, over the long run the enterprise market offers a much larger opportunity. In 2013, about 900,000 of the world’s 2.3 million mobile developers were primarily targeting the business world.

Let’s see the function of Apple Pay introduced very recently by the company. It has got many features to help companies strive to be the first to provide this functionality to their customers. With Apple Pay, it is possible to create intuitive and “surprisingly well-designed” consumer app that offers customers helpful information like transaction details and rewards points. Also, it is easier for customers to spot and address fraudulent charges, and to connect their Capital One credit cards to Apple Pay to quickly visualize purchases made in this manner.

There is more emphasis on custom mobile apps, robust enterprise app stores and app management capabilities as well as offering bring-your-own-device (BYOD) to improve customer service and general safety. The impact of mobile apps on business is as significant and fundamental as it is on consumers more secure, robust and capable of linking to back-office databases and repositories. 

Despite deploying so many potent tools, the challenges still remain.

Why Enterprises to Develop Cross-Platform Apps with HTML5

What do you think from a customer’s end regarding User-experience? Doubtless, there could be only one answer.  Regardless to what device they have in front of them, be it a Windows PC at work, or an Apple  iPad at the local coffee shop or an Android* phone on the go- the mobile application must work, intact.

So... why HTML5?

Instead of deluging in programming technologies such as C# and Windows APIs and Visual Studio, ObjectiveC and iOS APIs and Xcode; Java and Android APIs and Eclipse, etc cross-platform HTML5 languages focuses your efforts on the things that really matter, starting from developing the right features for your app without failing user experience.

Today’s cross-platform apps need to adapt to varying screen sizes, resolutions, aspect ratios and orientations and, yes this is both an opportunity and challenge. HTML5 code are packed and been deployed as a locally installed hybrid web app rather than running within a sandboxed browser window frame.

This article will explain the following best practices for building cross-platform HTML5 apps for enterprises:

Supportive to All the APIs Used By Your App

ü  HTML5 browser is a first-class programming language supported by some of the latest development tools, including Microsoft Visual Studio, Appcelerator Titanium and Node.js.

ü  Also, the HTML5 runtimes implemented on your target platforms will always support slightly different APIs but a nuisance for app development. However, using Cordova, you can take advantage of device capabilities to deliver rich and contextual user experiences.

Adaptive To Provide A Good User Experience

ü  Based on screen dimensions and, adjust padding around the UI components to better accommodate various aspect ratios, you can scale your UI components and fonts.

ü  Instead of loading a different image asset optimized for a different resolution, propose web standards for support of responsive images.

Managing “Quirks

The fast evolution of the HTML5 standard behaves differently as a function of the target platform, optically different in the behaviour of platform runtimes to complicate cross-platform development. Say, Android platform shows inconsistent behaviour over audio and video playback across various manufacturer implementations. Such differences can be easily overcome by the use of cross-platform JavaScript library APIs that mask runtime implementation differences such as Modernizr.

In order to serve the app developers, HTML5 technology is applied to building device applications that will help you to write once and deploy across multiple platforms.

Modern Health Care Apps To Reduce Readmissions In Hospitals

Addressing to various shortcomings in healthcare delivery, mobile technology to impact outcomes in chronic disease management, care coordination and population health. Mobile health applications like Text4baby can give patients extremely easy access to health information, as in like health messages to pregnant women, or women with an infant less than one year old.

The mobile health market reached over $718 million in the United States alone which means beneficial applications already created and in use by the healthcare industry. So, what’s now?

The Problem of Readmissions

One of the widely tapped areas in mobile health market is the widespread issue of preventable readmissions. Not only that it cost so high but with new CMS regulations like the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and the proposed Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program- hospitals are facing a lot of issues. It is believed that high levels of preventable readmission rates could lose a portion of federal payments. On the other hand, many patients miss what is communicated during the discharge process the likelihood of mistakes increases.

How Mobile Apps Can Be a Potential Solution

Smartphones like Android and the iPhone have mobile-based applications that offer providers and patients a method for accessing and sharing health information. More than 17,000 mobile health applications in major app stores can capture treatment instructions and build a HIPAA-compliant personal website where the instructions are easily accessible by the patient.

How the app works

The app works with a camera on the smartphone or tablet to record a provider giving instructions to the patient. Post the recording, all that the user will need to do is to press a button to upload the content and publish the video or audio recording through the mobile app. The provider can even add additional resources and treatment information later on. Currently, there are many mobile health applications use the same techniques to meet HIPAA regulations.

As a bottom line, mobile health can help reduce readmissions, manage chronic diseases and improve accessibility of health information benefitting both providers and patients to become more accountable for health outcomes.

Top 5 Inspired Educational Android Apps in 2013

Very recently, Google officially launched “Google Play for Education”.  This has of course gained the attention of many Mobile Application Development firms, which is why app developers are geared up to create fun ideas and exciting solutions to problems and showcasing their work on a global platform.

If you are deciding on creating one, Android App development might be a unique way to get yourself noticed and gain valuable experience. Let’s see how.

Some of the Useful Educational Apps for The Students

Skedule

Skedule is a cool app for students, or rather a duplicate of “time table” with numerous features. Some of its features include: adding instructors, to-do list and courses. Its calendar functionality helps to organize the overall academic structure like lecture schedules and exam schedules.

iReader

iReader is an excellent offline eBook reading Android application.  Be it any file formats such as TXT, CHM, PDB, HTML or Image files, along with a real book page flip, iReader supports auto-scrolling in cover mode.

Mathway

With Mathway, it is possible to solve difficult math problems on your android tablet. Whilst the free version provides instant answers, the upgraded one helps you with step-by-step explanations. The various Math sections covered are Basic Math, Calculus, Statistics, Algebra and Trigonometry. No wonder this math app is considered the one of the favourite apps among students in 2013.



WordNet dictionary

Android App Developers NYC came up with this brilliant idea of pocket dictionary with a huge lexical database. Unlike the classic format, this dictionary is standardized with a convenient and innovative approach.

eduDroid - Android in education

Are you a teacher or a parent? Application development for android inflicts many of them with eduDroid to help children learn. The content is aimed at children in KS1 and KS2 or children with SEN, secondary schools are also using it. Cool, right?


If you have any great idea for the students’ app and make profit, don’t keep waiting. This festival season is the right time to approach a Mobile Apps Development Company who can breathe life to your dreams. 

Features of Android App Development

With each day passing, the demand for mobile application development is drastically increasing. This is why professional Android developers focus on the apps speed, convenience, integration and security that the app has to ultimately offer to the end user.

Here Are A Few Features of Android App Development

Utility Apps: One of the main reasons why Android applications are getting popular is the utility of them. Whilst some are developed for mass users while others make apps on demand and these are the customized applications that serve the purpose of entertainment.

Healthcare Apps: The health care android apps are in much demand as people are getting cautious of their health. Android Applications features to monitor the heartbeat of the patient and even their blood pressure real time. So that contacting patient's doctor is ease whenever the numbers cross the alarming number the doctor will be send a message about patient's health.

Cross-Platform Compatibility
Android penetrates through the stereotypical standards of proprietary operating systems on mobile phones by using distinct application programming interface libraries. With OEM and cross-carrier compatibility, app developers make use of a consistent set of elements during the app development process.

Online Marketing Tool: The ultimate aim of making apps to reach out the masses and earn a good sum. Dedicated markets available for different platforms like Google Play for Android Apps, iTunes store for Apple and similarly windows store for windows apps. Thus, every mobile application is a very useful tool for marketing.

Thanks to the many professional Android app development companies, New York and developers who try hard to deliver an optimal user experience in the face of limited processing resources like RAM speed, restricted resolution capacity, unstable data transmission connections and limited battery life.


At Openwave, we build highly engaging & powerful mobile applications for every platforms, be it Android or iPhone.  Since our major focus, over the past 10+ years, is towards contributing creative mobile apps our experts build the right apps understanding the requirements and applying the latest technology to give shape to your business.

Simple 4 Questions before Hiring an Android App Developer

Globally, Android is spreading across like a wildfire. The increase in activations more than 500,000 every single day, Android OS is growing ignorable. In that case, cost effective app development is made possible by hiring Android apps developers from offshore locations. However, it is not that easy to find the right developer for your project. So, hope these questions help you in achieving the needful.

App Development Duration: Your first question must be about the development cycle for an average Android app. ideally it takes 2-6 months. In case, if you want your app fast, hire Android apps developers from a company that has the ability to work fast based on your requirements. Pin down the company to a certain date of delivery and ensure that the company has a track record of meeting deadlines. 

Previous Experience towards Working Similar Application Development Projects: A well-reputed mobile app Development Company will usually have developers who possess sound industry knowledge. They will bode well for the future of your applications as well. 

Security measures: while hiring an Android developer from either onshore or offshore location, check for their companies’ security possible. Check for chances if your source code be stolen or reused. Are they trustworthy developers to keep your idea under wraps during the period of development? If you have no idea, its better choose company that has ISO certifications ensuring the security of your code and your app. 

Cost effective: One of the known facts is that offshore companies charge less when compared to their counterparts in US or UK. Still the cost may differ from company to company. So, follow these rules:

·         Make a shortlist of the number of companies that interest you and ask them for a free quote.

·         Then take a look at the services they have been included as a part of the app development project.

·         Don’t fall for the cheapest one. Instead, go for a mobile development company that offers security, expertise and support at affordable rates.