Apple is well known for the exacting standards of quality that they have made an integral part of their work ethic. This standard of quality is clearly discernible from the classy elegance and finesse of Apple products and the kind of immersive user experience that they routinely provide millions of people.

These same stringent standards are also a part of their approval process for apps to be features on the Apple App Store. Many iOS developers remain wary of their apps being rejected while under review by Apple, owing to the fact that the Apple App Store remains a realm where it is difficult and painstaking for developers to enter and be recognized.

If you are an iOS developer, you can do your work without the anxiety if you develop a deep understanding of the iOS app approval process, and design your apps with the process in mind from the ground up. Having this understanding helps you to see the challenges, be in tune with the standard requirements, and create apps which easily pass the test with Apple.

Getting Apps for iOS Approved the Right Way

Since its inception, the Apple App Store has had a strict approval process in place to control the quality of the apps that they make available to their users. Here is a brief step-by-step outline of the approval process –

1. Submission – As a developer, you need to first read and understand the app review guidelines that Apple has in place. Keeping them in mind from the start is a more efficient way of doing things than developing first and making tweaks later. When your app is complete, debugged and performing the way you want it to, it is time to submit it to the Apple App Store for review. During submission, you need to furnish all the information that Apple requires in an accurate manner.
2. Guidelines – Apple has compiled a detailed and exhaustive list of guidelines for developers. Once you submit your app, it is time for them to review it based on those guidelines. The guidelines involve all possible aspects and factors relating to mobile apps, including metadata, notifications, data storage, API use, content, design and user interface, transactions, privacy issues, legal implications and more. Apple reviews your app based on the totality of this list of criteria, and when the approval process is through, informs you about their decision.
3. Communication – Apple provides you with detailed review data throughout their review duration. If your app is rejected or close to rejection, they provide you with a list of factors and reasons which you can use to correct your mistakes and resubmit your app for further review. The key is to communicate transparently with Apple regarding your development project, to pay heed to their feedback and suggestions, and to fine-tune your app so that it meets the stringent guidelines Apple have set to maintain their standards. Once you are through with this process, your app gets released for public use and you get featured as an iOS developer on the Apple App Store.

Hope this interesting read will help you in your iOS app approval process in the near future. All the best!

Apps for Teachers

Technology has changed teaching trends significantly. Today, the focus has shifted to STEM education and more emphasis is being given to STEM classes. The educator has also become the student and requires more than just a workbook to teach and motivate students to learn and understand using technology.

Just like every sphere of life has an app, there are numerous apps available specifically for teachers to engage students, improve student behavior and make classroom sessions more interesting and fruitful.

Here are 5 must-have apps that all teachers should have to get desired results in the classroom.

1. The ClassDojo App

The ClassDojo app acts as a classroom tool that provides techniques to bring quick changes to classroom behavior. One good thing about this app is that it allows the teacher to capture and generate date related to student behavior and share with parents as well as administrators.

Teachers also can use the app to give feedback and encourage or motivate students. The app allows teachers to submit and view data and reports related to student behavior.

https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/classdojo/id552602056?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.classdojo.android&hl=en

2. Edmodo

The Edmodo is a wonderful support aid for teachers. This amazing app helps teachers improve their level of interaction with students, even when both are not physically present in the school. The Edmodo app lets teachers and students enjoy secure classroom discussions and easy sharing of assignments. Besides these features, the app lets teachers upload important files related to projects and lessons that students can use and refer to.

https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/edmodo/id378352300?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fusionprojects.edmodo&hl=en

3. Remind 101

The Remind101 app helps teachers send announcements and notices to parents and students. Although a common functionality, this app has a unique feature – it prioritizes privacy.

The app lets the teacher hide their contact details and/or identity when sharing information with parents and students. In addition, the personal details of recipients too are kept hidden. The ‘privacy’ feature offered by the Remind 101 app makes it different and more effective compared to apps that offer the same features and functionalities.

https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/remind-safe-classroom-communication/id522826277?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remind101&hl=en

4. Math Formulas

It is quite difficult to remember all the math formulae related to different equations and mathematical concepts. Not remembering the formula in a classroom setting can send teachers into a tizzy. This is where the Math Formulas app comes to the rescue.

It is a compilation of innumerable math formulae. These formulae cover almost every topic in math, from trigonometry to geometry and algebra to matrices. However, this particular app is available only for Android devices, but you can get similar apps for iOS devices, as well.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nsc.mathformulas.lite&hl=en

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/maths-formulas-free/id645431389?mt=8

5. Geddit

The Geddit app is designed to help teachers identify students’ weaknesses and strengths. This amazing app lets teachers understand a student’s attitude to learning and their ability to understand different aspects of a lesson.

This interaction through the app allows the teacher to cater to the individual needs of students, conduct a one-on-one session for better comprehension and assist students get confident to progress to the next level.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geddit-student/id827542924?mt=8

If you are an educator, these are the 5 apps you should have on your smart device to improve interaction with and make learning fun for your students.

Mobile app testing for iOS

After you have finished developing the mobile app for iOS, you have to test it to ensure all the functionalities and capabilities are working properly. This will ensure two critical successes –

1. The app will pass Apple’s stringent app store release guidelines
2. Post release, the app will have better chances of success.

You have the option of testing the app in the iOS simulator and your own handheld device, but it makes sense to run the app on compatible devices and in real world conditions rather than simulated ones. This will ensure your app works perfectly when you launch it for users.

Beta Mobile App Testing

If you want to run your mobile app in actual conditions, you have to perform beta testing. While you can use the iOS simulator to run preliminary tests, remember the simulator doesn’t run similar threads as the devices and unfortunately Xcode tends to disable watchdog timers.

The only way to truly test the app is to use it in different devices and get actual users to use it. As a result, you will have an accurate picture of the performance of the app and how it behaves in the real world in terms of looks, navigation and functionalities.

Using Beta Testers

In the Developer Account, create an ad-hoc provisioning profile. You can get the instructions for this from the iOS Developer Library. Ensure the testers use the latest firmware for the device and get them to perform usability testing. Once they finish testing, ask for a comprehensive test report.

The beta testing phase costs money. So, do create a budget for it. On the other hand, if funds are tight, you may want to find testers through sites, like TaskRabbit and Craigslist. It is important to screen potential testers to shortlist the ones you want.

Self-Testing

There are many app developers, who prefer performing the tests themselves on multiple iOS-enabled devices. However self-testing is not recommended, as you may overlook characteristics that could cause problems to users when they use your app.

Unit Testing

This type of testing ensures that smallest element or units are tested for functionality, navigation, and look and feel.

Functional Testing

It is a system level comprehensive testing that checks for proper functioning of app from a user perspective. Tests written in JavaScript are executed as a part of the QA process to check test cases, call flows and user interface.

Third-Party App Testing Tools and Services

There are several third-party services that you can use. You also can implement an SDK, if you like. These tools and services offer a much better alternative than testing the app yourself. You can glean a lot of important information on how beta testers use the application.

Some of the information you can get using third-party testing tools and services include:

• The actual person who installed the application
• The number of beta testers you managed to get through the checkpoints you had established
• Getting feedback via the application from the testers
• Crash reports

If you are keen on implementing SDK, there are free SDKs, such as TestFlight, that offer detailed reports on users’ interaction with the app and ways to improve the application. Free SDK is the perfect choice if you are on a budget. However, do remember you would have to find the beta testers first.

Mobile app testing for iOS can sound ominous and time consuming. However, testing your app before the big launch will help you fix all bugs and develop a user-friendly app.

With the advent of smartphones, a transformation has been effected in every area of life. With a remarkable change in personal habits, preferences, and choices, many sectors have also seen major change in the light of the mobile boom. The healthcare industry is one such domain which is currently in the midst of a mobile transformation- one which is already apparent and showing signs of becoming a long-term feature.

With immense market penetration, smartphones and mobile apps are gradually making their presence felt in the healthcare sector. According to independent research, it has been found that eight out of ten doctors regularly use their smart devices while at work, and most of them use these devices for purposes that have a direct influence on patient care. As mobile technology has become better, more feature-rich and more portable, their popularity among medical personnel has also increased significantly. Currently, they present a cost-effective solution for those in the medical professional for most data access, communication and other important needs.

Important Uses in Healthcare

Mobile apps and technology now find prolific use in the field of healthcare. Both general use and dedicated, specialized applications created specifically for medical professionals have found substantial use in the field. Daily requirements like the maintenance and access of patient records, consulting and communication, patient management, training, medical education, time management, references and gathering valuable medical information are all being satisfied through the use of specific mobile apps and technology. Here are some compelling reasons behind this phenomenon –

• The Availability of Mainstream Apps – With thousands of mobile apps being developed and released on a daily basis, there is now at least one or more mobile apps for every conceivable requirement in the medical profession. Whether you need an app for calculating drug doses (Medscape mobile app – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.medscape.android) or a comprehensive database to store medical records of patients (mMR mobile app – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.klouddata.mmr.main&hl=en), there is an app for everything.

Essentially, these apps have transformed the medical profession and added value to smartphones as viable medical aid devices. They are actively helping doctors and physicians to manage, monitor and store health information and this utility has brought the use of apps to the mainstream.

• Improvement in Workflow – One of the reasons why doctors around the world are playing a willing part in the change is the ease with which mobile technology can be integrated into their workflow. Most medical personnel already own smart devices, and most medically oriented apps are flexible enough to correctly function on a variety of difference devices.

This enables medical professionals to bring their information and capabilities to the point of care, and use their mobile devices for better management of time and patients. Services like remote patient monitoring (https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/airstrip-patient-monitoring/id399665195?mt=8) and mobile-assisted ultrasound (http://www.mobisante.com/) are fast gathering popularity.

• Better Patient Engagement – Mobile technology has also transformed the relationship between doctors and patients. The technology can be successfully used to store information about individual patients’ physiological, environmental and lifestyle factors, and doctors can use this information to help them manage their own health with smooth exchange of information. With mobile technology, doctor-patient interactions are no longer limited to face-to-face sessions.

Do let us know your views on which other areas in healthcare have been impacted by this radical technology disruptor.

Messaging and push notifications are two of the most oft-used mobile marketing tools that have been known to yield excellent results. With billions of people around the world now opting to use smart mobile devices, mobile applications have now become a viable channel of communication for marketers. If you have a branded app and want to drive engagement and customer participation, messaging and push notifications can be incredibly effective when used in the right way.

The appeal of messaging and push notifications lie in the fact that they encourage users to take immediate action on the information provided by opening the concerned application and carrying out a set task. App-based notifications that are compelling and arouse interest have been extremely successful when it comes to driving engagement, and are being used to facilitate easier sales, acquire more customers and keep old customers interested in a particular brand or business.

How going local helps?

When it comes to using messaging the push notifications for marketing purposes, it is important to remember the local context. Most people use their mobile devices to gather information to help with their purchasing decisions. More often than not, these decisions involve purchases in the immediate vicinity or surroundings. Therefore, it is important as a business to focus on geo-targeting when it comes to the efficient use of messaging and push notifications to provide real utility for customers and providing enough value to encourage better adoption.

The benefits of geo targeting

The whole idea of marketing campaigns using messages and push notifications verges on a single concept- providing useful, actionable information that encourages users to make purchases. Most customer needs are local in nature (think daily needs items, plumber, electrician services etc.), and it makes sense to use geo-targeting to provide information that is really valuable and in context with the locality of specific users. Geo-targeting helps you meet your needs when it comes to the geographical boundaries of your target market. Here are some compelling advantages –

• Geo-fencing – With geo-targeting come the advantages of geo-fencing, which allows marketers to establish a virtual fence around a particular, defined geographical area for targeted marketing efforts. You can device the radius and coverage of the area, and use messages and push notifications to send important information to users who are inside the area.This way, you can leverage the local preferences of users to establish your business as a viable local milestone. The trick is to stress on the advantages of proximity between the value offer in your message and the user. This process is significantly useful for making the most of seasonal sales, answering surges in demand and trends for various products and services, and providing highly targeted value offers.

• Proximity-based Offerings – For particular business locations, messages and push notifications can be used to inform customers about the special offers and new products and services that you currently have on offer whenever they walk by your physical selling location. This way, you do not only provide value, but also convenience which becomes a convincing selling point, enticing customers to make a purchase and provide you with more business.

Have you used geo-targeting to take your business marketing endeavors to the next level? Write in to us and let us know your thoughts.

Most of you might already know about the latest version of Android OS, i.e. Lollipop. Also referred to as Android L, this version has turned out to be quite popular for one crucial reason – Material Design. Though there is a sustained interest in this design philosophy, there are very few pieces of published content that actually touch upon a holistic perspective of this radical new design thinking. Today, let’s check out some vital factors of Android L.

Why Material Design?

If you closely analyze the elements of Lollipop, you would find some significant differences when compared to the conventional Android aesthetic. The new design would seem more similar to a pastel and paper adaptation of the Metro theme from Microsoft. In the past four versions of Android, a lot of variations were seen mainly due to the branding done by the different carriers. In the previous versions of Android OS, the user interface lacked consistency. The elements in the previous versions were so inconsistent that they used to react differently in different situations, even though they were a part of the same OS. Similarly, there were few more negative aspects in the last four versions of Android that led to the inception of Lollipop.

What Lollipop’s Material Design Has to Offer?

One of the prime objectives of the Material Design is to strengthen the trust between the software and the user. The strict rules mentioned in the Material Design add more consistency to the way the user handles or interacts with the OS. This new design allows the user to drag objects more swiftly, add and destroy items, and choose the type of interaction to occur on UI elements. In other words, through the Material Design, Google has made an attempt to make the OS react in a way that the users expect. In this way, users will not come across any hiccups or unpleasant surprises.

Smart Paper- It would not be wrong to say that Smart Paper has been the core symbol of Material Design. Smart Paper can be defined as a concept that involves a fictional element, which is able to move and alter shape, accompanied with depth. I would definitely say that the Smart Paper concept can be compared to a magical notepad having layers of papers or cards. The respective cards come into action as you tap on them, and you can even drag and rearrange them. Meaning, the cards are quite flexible in nature, however predictable.

Virtual Physics- Yes, this time Google has gone a step ahead to improve the UI. Virtual physics concepts have been used in a detailed way to decide how the elements should move, how fast should they accelerate, how they should spring back, etc. Getting the elements off the screen and changing their size has become easier now.

The Appearance and Feel- The Material Design gives a lot of emphasis on the use of consistent graphic design, mainly across the OS and apps components. Numerous color palettes have been incorporated into the design, and the fonts have been standardized to give a better feel to the users. The level of contrast related to the texts has also been optimized for better reading experience.

Let us know in the comments below if any other aspect of Material Design has kept your interest level high.

Android’s flexibility makes it a smoldering favorite among both end users and developers. Powering millions of devices across 190 countries, it is the largest base for any mobile operating system. The platform is supported by a highly skilled open-source Linux community and a minimum of 300 software, hardware and carrier partners. Android development consequently can be a huge career. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned app development professional, you would never run out of projects! Here are some top resources that every Android developer needs to check out.

1.       OkHttp (http://square.github.io/okhttp/)

Developer by Square, OkHttp acts as an open source HTTP and a SPDY library for both Android and Java development platforms. As you would already know, Android comes with two HTTP frameworks; the HttpClient and the HttpURLConection. However, since Android has always been updating its firmware versions, there could be an imminent problem posed by bugs. OkHttp helps programmers/developers stay updated with the latest bug fixes by linking them to the Android Codebase. Consequently, you can easily solve compatibility issues.

2.       Picasso (http://square.github.io/picasso/)

Another tool developed by Square, Picasso acts as a catching and image downloading library. Along with a fluent interface, Picasso presents several options for customizations and integrates developer friendly tools to customize images including cropping, circle cropping, resizing, and other forms of transformations. Even if it is not a cached image, Picasso will download the image by itself and load onto the required target, thus avoiding linking and storage overheads. The most popular use of Picasso has however been for better image viewing.

3.       Android Weekly (http://androidweekly.net/)

If you should be reading anything regularly, it has to be Android Weekly. It is a weekly newsletter that provides information and news of the continuously upgrading and changing Android Community. This is also the only place where you can hope to find extensive information on new developer tools, libraries, blog posts, bug fixes and much more. Either subscribe to it or check out the official website on every Monday.

4.       DPI calculator for Android (http://jennift.com/dpical.html)

An important part of creativity is to be able to use unique colors in unique interfaces. For developers, DPI (Dots per Inch) can be a measure of the compatibility of an image for a specific purpose in the application. While responsiveness is going to be a new standard by April 21^st 2015, the DPI calculator for Android is something that every developer should possess. Offering an easy interface, it provides the developer with the dpi at any given point. This calculator is even capable of calculating tvdpi!

5.       Android Developers YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/androiddevelopers)

Google has been taking big steps to making Android more user-friendly and be a leader of the smart phone market. Consequently, a lot of changes are being integrated into the development framework, design and the elements of UI. The YouTube channel for Android development can be used as a tutorial and also a platform to stay updated with the latest technological trends.

The nuances of app development are going through rapid changes. If you are a developer or planning to become one, the resources mentioned above will definitely aid you in your Android App development projects.