Android is a favored platform for business owners around the globe to get started due to the perks and possibilities it claims to offer. This makes it important for you- as a business owner- to know what’s likely to change and how you can alter your ways of operations to keep propelling.

The ever-changing market demands give birth to new trends and call for suitable solutions supporting your marketing as well as development strategies so that you don’t fall back. So, here is what most of the top Android app development companies will be looking out:

Android app development trends for the year and beyond

Blockchain in Mobile Apps

There is a tie between risk vs. loss vs. limitless potential with crypto-currencies like Blockchain. It records digital transactions. All such transactions are encryption secured and decentralized. Big investors, financers, retail chains and bankers – FedEx, Walmart, IBM, and Mastercard, invested a fortune in Blockchain. Mid-size companies are bucking up with this trend. Facebook is about to launch Diem, Libra – which is a blockchain-based payment system.

Internet of Things

Internet of things implies interconnecting various devices via the internet. Applicable use cases include: IoT in healthcare – helping medical professionals take care of their patients better. Medical equipment connect with sensors that update doctors about their patients in real-time.

The Internet of Things in manufacturing will feature IoT-enabled devices analyze manufacturing data, participate in trends/analysis and forecasting market, reduce downtime and maintenance. Industrial automation reduces human effort, decreases time and increases productivity and simultaneously reduces workplace hazards. Commercial users take the route to cutting-edge technologies. Primary operations in manufacturing affected by this change include cloud deployment, professional services, smart surveillance solutions, real-time workforce tracking, discreet manufacturing.

Office initiatives will become intelligent and include wearable gadgets, RFID sensors, home automation, biometric locks – these will make for a smart and convenient living.

5G Wireless Services

5G chronicles high speed without congestion. It is promising and expects to scale up in 2021. It will bring about faster download speeds and data sharing in real-time. Plus, many network providers are offering 5G. World’s best Android Phones now feature a 5G network.

Instant Apps

Users do not need to download, install and get themselves registered on Instant Apps. E.g.: ‘Appclip’ for iOS, ‘Google Play Instant’; These are different from Progressive web applications as these are accessible through browsers. We have app clips for many Video Games, Apple Maps, Apple Messages, NFC tags, QR codes, App Clip Codes. These work instantly by tapping on the icon – “Try Now”; These save space, are fast and provide a decent user experience.

Flutter Development

Google’s Flutter is an upcoming cross-platform development framework that comes with native-like functionality. It can be used in conjunction with Java code or is used to create android apps from scratch. It is easy to use, easy to understand and learn. For these reasons, startups prefer it.

Mobile Wallets

NFC payment apps/P2P payment apps like PayPal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Samsun Pay and many such localized applications process digital transactions, accounting for frequent cash payments. These are quick, accurate, secure that makes them compatible and approachable.

On-demand Apps

Recently pandemic (2020) gave people a reason to order everything online, owing to widespread social distancing norms. Ordering 24*7 is highly convenient. It helps to satisfy both business and user’s needs in time and in a cost-effective way. Providers and consumers connect, communicate and collaborate in a peer-to-peer model, ensuring the best customer service. This trend is here to stay with an increasing percentage of mobile devices.

Android Jetpack

Android developers use Android jetpack to create Android Apps with complex features quickly. It comes with libraries and tools to facilitate developers to include four prime elements like UI, architecture, behaviour, and foundation.

Final words

To compete against the app leaders, you need to know the latest trends and related actions to be taken because outdated tools and techniques won’t work for your business. You need to evolve with time and act as the market wants you to.

This article is just an idea of how the app market will structure in the coming months as far as Android app development is concerned. Learn from the app behemoths; if you innovate as per the market requirements, success won’t be far.

The post Top Android App Development Trends to Dominate the Market (Updated 2021) appeared first on Top ITFirms - Result of In-depth Research & Analysis.

Though, it is all obvious and has been established time and again that iOS and Android have their own orientations, approaches, persona and traits to appeal different user groups, but that does not seem to sufficiently answer a business or brand asking you the answer on what to go with when planning for mobile app development.

Making this question easy to answer we have come up with 5 precisely chosen and finely curated ideas that will help you decide which one you should be picking as your first choice.

Demographics

If you compare both the platforms on the basis of user demographics, Android is spread across a wider range of age, profession, social grade and other category groups, when compared to iOS users. However, iOS targets users with the need of higher service value propositions. So, if you need to cover a wider userbase and diverse range of needs and use cases, you should better go with Android. Otherwise, if you want to focus on a premium user group with quality preferences and accessibility traits, you should keep iOS app development at priority.

Must Read: Top 5 iPhone App Development Trends to Dominate the Market in 2018

Revenue model

iOS is more inclined towards fetching revenues through paid apps. This is essentially because the user group using iPhone comes from a segment that has higher capacity and propensity towards spending on apps, as proven by different research reports and market studies over the years. That is the reason why If you want to put up with more direct and upfront revenue model and want to keep your monetization strategy aggressive, there are more chances to strike success going with iOS app as compared to Android app.

Fragmentation

As a proprietary platform, Apple comes with a combined ecosystem of software and hardware, which allows it to have a more control over the release cycle. This collective approach to offer mobile solutions makes iOS more secure and quality driven in its offerings. However, at the same time it becomes more rigid and bolted in its offerings. Android on the other hand, is more flexible with its approach as It invariably combines with third-party tools and services to offer you more performance possibilities. So, if you weigh compatibility over security, you should go with Android app development.

User experiences

iOS platform is all based on the idea to offer a higher user-driven entity and better user experience. The platform is equipped and validated to serve developers with ability to build apps based on rich feature properties, fine detailing and advanced communication interface. Be it device, software program or the connecting APIs and services, iOS has the reputation of offering better user value than Android. This is primarily because unlike iPhone which is a proprietary platform, Android is an open-source community platform that allows different third-party resources and services to fuse in and act together, which allows it lesser control over maintaining user experience standards. Thus, that sums up to the fact that if you need to go with better user experience, go with iOS.

App marketplace

Most of the businesses and product ventures today look for a platform that offers them a highly promising marketplace experience. They want things to be well defined, aptly arranged and resourcefully appointed to get them broader and richer exposure to more opportunities. iOS offers providers with a plush and viable platform to connect with and sell to users that are better oriented, highly perceptive and more qualified to be app customers. Putting that in simple words, if you want to have a more receptive marketplace experience it’s better to go with iOS over Android.

Must Read: Mobile App Development Trends

Conclusion

Putting all that together, you can simply find that when it is more about quality and value it is iOS that wins over the game in almost every department. However, when you talk about numbers, compatibility and range, Android gets you the most favors. So, practically if you see, these are altogether different factors to compare these two for validity and value. However, if you compare them aggregately, keeping every fringe aspect and seeming possibility on neutral, and of course comparing them more on their absolute properties and traits, iOS should come first for you in the current scenario.

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Change is inevitable but needs to be propelled in the right direction. Cheat the competition before they get a chance to knack you. The customer is king. Mobile App Developers have to provide them what they need in just the right proportion at just the right time.

Android app development companies are swift enough in coping up with emerging competition. Understanding human behavior turns out to be more important than latest prototyping tools. Mobile Apps are developed to be used by people and they must be happy to use it. Twirling around, it is not unusual for Android App Development Companies to make use of psychological principles in developing the product. Additionally, classical behavioral tools pave the way to understand their customers in a better way and also prove to be a powerful marketing tool.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory in UX/UI Design

It is not necessary to be a psychologist in order to understand human needs and their growth pattern. A team (small or big) within an organization can pass through a similar growth pattern. Their needs can go from basic to a higher level. Needs at core like functionality and information must be met, before going towards top level needs like aesthetics and usability.

Functionality

It is well said that an application is bound to fail without proper testing. It requires passing all phases of software development lifecycle to be successful. It is not possible to think about aesthetics if basics requirements are not clear. This is appointed where developers need to work really hard and put a lot of effort.

Information

It is important to make the content interesting, lucid and informative at the same time. Users must get hooked to your content and it can only happen when you provide a varied platter at their disposal and target just the right person at right time.

Aesthetics and Usability

Theme, colors, and layout are the first things that clasp a user’s attention in the mobile app. It must essentially include all of the below features:

• Fuzzy
• Interactive
• Multi-objective
• Optimizable

Furthermore, it is the face of your business on the internet. You will never want your customers to run away. You would always want them to review a 5 star for your app and want them to keep coming back for more. A happy client has more potential to spread the word of mouth which is exponentially powerful than any other marketing campaign. This often includes putting everything together in a perfect beautiful application that is easy to work and beautiful to look at, and that passes all kinds of usability tests. This is the final stage of the application and is followed by user acceptance tests and final deployment. Users have to be actively involved at this stage and their suggestions are incorporated to provide the best usability.

The Gestalt Phi Phenomenon for UX Design

The app developers have to constantly keep these three things in mind while designing a mobile app – It must be intuitive, beautiful and functional. Gestalt is a German language word that stands for shape or design. A flawless interface structure can significantly improve the design of the application.

This theory illustrates human visual perception by means of six coherent principles:

Figure and Ground

Various people perceive the app interface in their own unique way, they consider focusing on the figure or in the background.

Principle of Closure

It relates to perceiving a group of dots in form of the figure, whether it is a logo or a diagram. This principle revolves around pleasing the eye.

Continuity

When users recognize a pattern they want the same pattern to repeat/continue to the next webpage. Most of the menu navigations in Android apps are based upon this principle.

Similarity

Grouping similar content and links are fun to write as well as to be interpreted by users.

Common Direction

This principle illustrates, drop down menus and slide menus, more commonly used in websites and create an illusion of common direction.

Proximity

Differently colored lines, when combined together can form a beautiful icon E.g – Google Drive Icon.

Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory for Team Change

This can be possible one of the best solutions to explain the various developmental phases an Android Application and corresponding developer goes through. It is divided into three basic phases: Unfreezing the scenario, supporting the change and then reinforce that change.

Unfreezing

Developing an application in a specific way for a long time might make it monotonous and unproductive. Instigating change, knowing the loopholes and analyzing the current behavior of them all go hand in hand.

Processing / Supporting the Change

Unfreeze the team -> Make the change happen -> Make the teamwork in a brand new way -> Leave the obsolete ways of doing things and implement the improved way of doing things

Refreezing in a New Equilibrium

Leave old, adopt new. This includes embracing new technologies and churn out your application in a brand new way.

The post How Does Jotting Down Behavioral Policy Refine Android App Development? appeared first on Top ITFirms - Result of In-depth Research & Analysis.

We have seen how Android app development has captured the fantasies of businesses at global level in the preceding seasons. Here’s what makes it rule it again in 2018 based on its cumulative offerings best complementing the latest ideas and transformed trends.

Well, we all know how Android has grown over the years to be on the top of the mobile operating systems chart. The way it has penetrated the market over time, giving tough competition to the market leader iOS, is commendable and inspiring. And something that is worth-noticing is the way it has allowed masses to have and use advanced smartphone technology taking the range and scale of mobile apps to another level of significance and value.

Now, as we have entered 2018, most of the progressive businesses are already prepared to go with some way of connecting with the smartphone users. And rest are looking to extend their existing range of users to a larger audience base capturing the Android userbase. There’s a lot happening at both the ends. Which brings us to the need to appoint and furnish reasons to go for Android in 2018. Here are a few most noteworthy of the ideas:

Reason 1: The growing share of Android OS Usage in the Market

If we compare the figures of last 5 years, Android is capturing the market at a steady pace and making its presence count across a wide geographical and demographical range of smartphone users. There’s this direct impact of the growth of the mobile market suggesting the figures reaching $189 billion in revenue from the stores that goes in favor of Android. Further adding to the Android’s feat are the numbers affected by the changing ownership trends. To which Android responds well and captures around 2/3^rd of the market share, necessarily by reaching out to the markets that were meagerly explored earlier. And this has been made possible by spreading beyond the markets of USA, Canada, Australia and Europe. So, if you go with Android app development in 2018, you get a better chance to spread up globally and operate on a higher investment model to generate more revenue.

Reason 2: Hiring a freelancer or an Android development company, both are easy

When you are looking to get your app developed on Android, you can go either with a freelance option or a full-fledged company to avail services. Because you have a lot of Android developers coming up across the globe, which makes it easier to get the most suitable option. Also, as the allied facilities and supporting resources for Android app development are more openly available and accessible, you can find even freelance developers offering you the value you are looking to have. All you need to do while hiring the Android development services is looking at the requirements of your project well, determining the type of expertise and skillset you want to have, and weighing the factors like time-zone and communication to help you reach optimum value. Once you have answers to these questions you will be in a better position to achieve better value out of it in the year 2018.

Reason 3: Android App Development – A Low-Cost affair

Another important reason you should look into getting your app developed on Android is the affordability factor. As always, Android developers can access tools and systems mostly for free as it is all built on a freely available open source model. Windows, Mac, and Linux OS can be used for developing a solution on Android and there’s no cost to acquire and implement these in a development facility. Also, Android devices and supporting hardware are cheaper and there are least compatibility issues you face working with different versions of Android OS. With more developers joining in as expected, it is going to be highly reasonable to choose a developer and get an app developed and launched on Android. Topping all that up, as you know there are more Android users, you get to reach a larger number of people going with the platform, which makes the per-user-cost of developing Android apps lower and profitable.

Reason 4: It’s quicker and easier to develop Android app

Android’s open working model and flexible ways to commit to development factors along with the easy availability of resources make it highly easy and quick to develop an app on Android. The growth of Android as a mobile app development community has been phenomenal in the last couple of years and it would see an exponential rise moving forward. Therefore, the cost and time matrices come out to be lucrative when you build an app on Android. Its lenient approval process and fast facilitation will continue to make it highly easy and quick to launch an app. Also, the fast-growing community-driven repositories will make it further easier to take references and look for support from the makers and members – making it really smooth and easy to develop an app on the platform more than ever.

Reason 5: Based on Easy-to-learn Technologies

Android is all based on the practicing framework and methods that come from core development technologies like Java, that are known to most of the developers. Thus, it becomes easy to refer and understand Android as these technologies form the basis and idea of coding that you and most of developers around are familiar to work with. Further, it is based on object-oriented programming approach which is an extremely resourceful way to commit to the modern ways of coding. Also, a lot of Android development can be supported by ever-updated Java libraries which is highly contributive and reassuring for Android app developers to go with. Because of this technological backdrop and acquaintance with already proven and applied methods, Android app development gets far easy than other options.

Conclusion

Why 2018? This is the time when Android has touched its premium and has covered the finest of marks of reachability and viability. With a mammoth two-third share in the market it has claimed nearly the most of it ever, before hitting the plateau. Referring to the developing trends, most of the existing businesses will be trying to come out with sustaining force of maturity and excellence to prove their potential beyond their realm and area of operation. As keen would be the new entrants who would like to explore the massive mobile user market, which is today spearheading towards greatest of opportunities. So, quite obviously as you see top Android app development companies increasingly growing to serve such big benefits in all measures of utility, compliance and value, it makes sense to go with Android app development and make the most of your idea, raking in the best of cost and reach benefits in your bet of digitalization.

The post Reasons Why You Should Be Looking to Develop an Android App in 2018 appeared first on Top ITFirms - Result of In-depth Research & Analysis.

If the mobile apps you’re using aren’t crashing at all, the app owners must have adopted the best testing techniques. Don’t be a sloth when testing a mobile app; it’s as important as app designing and app coding.

While we have been in contact with the top Android app development companies for some time now, we have gained great insights into the various hows, whys and wherefores of the mobile app development. Lately, our team expressed the desire to know the process of testing that equally contributes to the app development as does the design and coding. We consulted with the top app developers India (that’s mentioned in our list) and brought out some surefire ways of testing your app before finally launching. This will lead to a flawless deployment.

If you’re also looking for mobile app development, your knowledge for testing an app will be even more necessary. So, we’re here sharing some dyed-in-the-wool strategies that’ll help you take the right way and stress test your app for a victorious app launch, mostly for the winning final product but sometimes for the joy of seeing them work perfectly. Make sure that these are the only rules but a broad overview of good practices that’ll help you as a tester and a business owner.

Test on all devices

Testing on emulators is not the key to a quality assurance procedure. In fact, the first rule of testing is “do not test on emulators.” Emulators or simulators fail to show the real results. Always choose real devices to test your mobile application. Well, mobile apps deal with a lot of variables and to test each one of them, real-time testing is the only way out.

Optimally, you should test your app on every single device. However, it isn’t possible. In this case, you must cover the major devices in the market and choose your sample wisely. Set your priorities as per the market demand of the devices; do not always select the current flagship devices.

Further, you’d want to check for the different OS versions because what works for Android 6.0 may not work for Android 7. This is why make sure you’ve hired a top app development company that comprises a team of expert quality analysts (QAs) having the acumen to test the app on more than one OS version and more than one screen size/resolution.

Beta testing is a must-have

You can’t really find out the faults until you test the app with real users. Beta testing is an extremely important phase of app development. Most mobile app development companies India do it.

Users of today are smart; you can’t trick them into anything. Even a small bug in the app can be recognized (maybe a little late) by the users and then that’s the time you’re abandoned by them forever.

Every app release must go through beta testing where a sample of the target audience tries the product in real and then share their feedback. Quality beta testing evaluates the overall user experience and ensures that the functionality of your app meets the expectations and requirements of your audience. If there are any improvements suggested by the users, you can enforce them before the final launch. Usability beta testing is the best way to understand the actual usage patterns and reactions, which will ultimately help the developers to re-design or re-code your app for better usability.

Execute Monkey stress tests

Have you ever put your app to monkey testing? Never? Then, learn to do it now.

Monkey testing refers to the tool that creates repeated and random user inputs for load and stress testing, finding bugs and crashes. There are different test cases that can be created in a monkey testing environment.

• To check theapplication response when the device orientation is changedcontinuously in different angles.
• To check whether the app screen is loading continuously without any network and data failures.
• To check if the application is crashing while scrolling the list up and down rigorously.
• To check if the application fails when the user performs multiple operations for different data calls.

Monkey testing demands the creativity of testers as they are expected to test the app for wildest scenarios. It may sound petty but is as important as testing on multiple devices.

Finally, go out in the field and test your application in the real-time environment because then only you’ll learn why and how it fails. Mobile testing will help you build an app that’s smooth-to-operate and fun-to-interact-with, so don’t circumvent testing during mobile app development.

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