Month: July 2020

July 30, 2020

Tips for Starting a Food Delivery App

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the food and entertainment industry, it is now more than ever that consumers are looking for takeout/delivery. Here are a few tips on how to start your own food delivery app.

Ease of Search and Location-Based

If you plan to have a food delivery or takeout app, you’ll want to make sure your customers can find what they are looking for and not get frustrated and close the app. The same goes for when they are perusing a restaurant’s menu. Ease of use and simple ordering methods will make your app more successful.

Estimate Delivery/Pick-up Time

Most people, when looking for takeout or delivery, are hungry and want their food as soon as possible. An app with a time estimate will provide customers a sense of patience as they are aware of when to expect their food. It will also help inform their decision of where to order from as I’m sure they won’t want to wait hours for their food.

Payment

This is a crucial factor in a food delivery/takeout app. Customers should be able to pay and tip through the app. No one wants to have to search for cash or hope that the delivery driver can swipe their credit or debit card. A payment processor in the app will ensure customer satisfaction and an increase in sales.

Ratings/Reviews

This is a no-brainer, most people, when making a decision, will look at reviews and ratings. If those reviews and ratings are easily accessible, the customer will most likely go somewhere else and spend their money on a competitor. Make sure to include ratings and reviews for all partnered restaurants.

Delivery/Pick-up Options

Ever since the pandemic began, the way we interact, shop, and travel has been changed, so has the way we want our delivery or pick-up. Make sure your app includes options for your customers to choose from whether your customer doesn’t mind meeting the delivery driver at the door or if your customer opts for a contactless approach. Options are everything.

These were just a few tips to get you started on the road to your mobile app development. For more tips and advice, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus

July 30, 2020

Best iPhone Apps of July 2020

Your phone is capable of nearly anything these days, from boosting your dating prospects to looking up recipes. If you have an iPhone or iPad, Apple’s App Store offers a large collection of applications to download and enjoy. With so many various apps available — and in so many categories — where do you start? Also, since prices can vary between different options, which ones are worth the higher cost and which ones aren’t even worth it for free? We’ve gathered the best apps, showing which options rise above the rest.

Best Android Apps of July 2020

With every passing year, it seems our phones play an ever-evolving role in our lives. As our needs change so too must the offerings of our smart devices, and not every needed tool and task is available right out of the box. To unlock your phone’s true potential, you’ll need the best apps. From the top Android flagships to the best value budget phones, a few taps is all you need to place a takeout order, live stream your local news, or play a new fun game. If you’re looking to get really fancy, you can even call people, too.

App Redesign – When Is It Needed?

Let’s say your business is already up to speed and has an app. When is an app redesign needed, and how do you decide what you need to change?

Design changes just as quickly as technology, so it’s important to know that at some point, your mobile app is going to need to go through a remodel. So how do you know when it is the right time?

Low Conversion Rates

Is your user base not growing? Are users bored or not impressed with the app? Are sales weak? If any of these apply to your app, it might be time to polish up your app’s UX. (Read more about UX vs. UI)

Low Ratings and Negative Comments

Is your app getting negative reviews and minimal stars on the app store? If so, take advantage of the negative comments and determine if your UI/UX design needs changing. If you are getting low ratings, it’s probably a good time for a redesign.

Modifying your Target Audience

If you modified your target audience just like changing your tactics to captivate your audience, you’d need to change the design of your app. Your app will have to be modified to accommodate your new audience, as well as your product vision and marketing strategy.

Your Company Rebranded

This seems pretty straightforward; if your company has just undergone a rebranding, you’ll want to ensure that your branding is consistent across all platforms, including mobile. This is an indicator that a mobile app redesign is needed.

How to Know What to Change

Like above, user feedback is incredibly valuable when understanding the changes needed to ensure your app’s success. Analyze all user feedback as well as analytics to get an idea of the changes necessary. Don’t be afraid to conduct some research, whether it is surveying your users or researching the competitor, research can lead you in the right direction when determining app changes.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus

July 22, 2020

How Hotels Impacted by COVID-19 Can Re-Engage Their Travelers with a Mobile App

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and continues to impact businesses worldwide, it is hard to miss one of the most impacted industries, hospitality. Within the hospitality sector, hotels have lost a significant amount of revenue. As hotels begin to reopen, they are being met with low occupancy and wary travelers. How can hotels re-engage with their travelers, make them feel more comfortable and willing to stay, and combat low occupancy and lost revenue?

A poll shows that a smartphone is the most valued travel companion of 76% of travelers, while 70% of travelers book their hotel on a smartphone. In 2019, there were 204 billion mobile apps downloaded worldwide and 3.2 billion smartphone users. That equates to an average of roughly 63 mobile apps on each smartphone. This seems like a no-brainer, hotels, inns, bed & breakfasts, and motels should have a mobile app to keep up with the evolving hospitality world.

What can a mobile app do to help your hotel?

Reserve on Mobile

With a mobile app, your guests can book their rooms directly in the app. This is great for travelers who are on-the-go, stuck at the airport with limited access to a computer and prefer mobile.

Virtual Check-In

No longer will you force your visitors to stand in long check-in lines. With a mobile app, your guests can skip the lines, check-in, and access their room right through the app on their smartphone.

Showcase and Sell Add-Ons Before and During the Stay

Does your guest want a bottle of champagne waiting for them in their room when they arrive? No longer will your guest have to call and request this, they can order it in the app before their arrival. A mobile app gives you the ability to market and up-sell to your guests before and during their stay. Does a guest want in-room dining? No longer will your guests have to call and order; they can do it all right in the app.

Provide Updates and Information

The mobile app can help you communicate with your guests in an easy, efficient way that is personalized to each guest. You can opt to send notifications before the guest’s check-in to ensure they know how to access the property or ask for in-app feedback after the guest’s stay. The options are almost limitless on how and what you can communicate with your guests.

Customer Loyalty Program

You can now build optimal engagement with your guests by launching an in-app loyalty program. Guests can receive upgrades, accumulate points, manage their stay preferences, etc. A rewards program is a great way to boost sales and keep your customers engaged.

The options available to hotels with a mobile app are almost unlimited. The mobile app can boost sales via marketing and upselling, but it can also keep your guests engaged and provide a more efficient and pleasant experience for the guests. We at Pioneer believe that mobile apps for hotels will begin to take-off once travel becomes normality again.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus

July 13, 2020

5 Testing Trends for Mobile App Testing

As the global market for mobile apps continues to grow, so does the global market for mobile app testing services. Let’s take a look at five trends taking over in 2020 in the mobile app testing services sector.

Real Device Cloud

As new smartphones and software continue to emerge with different resolutions, screen sizes, etc. it’s almost impossible to test your app on every device available.
The solution and trend for this problem are to conduct mobile app testing by combining real devices with cloud technology. This will help locate performance defects and is highly efficient because it can target numerous possible issues.

Internet of Things (IoT)

As smartphones and devices become more complex, it raises issues with areas that need to be tested.
Devices are now linking to almost everything, headphones, home accessories, smartwatches, etc. Because of this complexity, mobile app testing should begin to involve not only mobile phones but also numerous other devices to ensure quality.

Agile and DevOps

With the integration of DevOps and Agile, quality, and speed jump to the forefront and can be tested to ensure the creation of better mobile apps. DevOps’s accomplishment on speed requirements is expected to rocket shortly, and Agile’s reputation has escalated in the market giving testing teams a significant advantage with the combining of these two.

Automation

Testing teams’ quality assurance is expected to be done via automation, providing less time and more efficiency in the testing process.

AI Testing

Similar to automation is the ability of Artificial Intelligence to jump into the testing process. Implementing AI testing algorithms can create better test cases, scripts, reports, and data for efficient outcomes. It can also highlight errors and loopholes useful for mobile app development.

All five of these testing methods are expected to rise as 2020 continues. These five methods should be examined and considered by mobile app testing companies to improve the testing process.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus

July 8, 2020

Here we go again – more than two dozen Android apps caught stealing your data

Consider this your umpteenth reminder that for as much as Google keeps improving or promising it’s improved the company’s proprietary app marketplace, sketchy app developers will never stop coming and never stop trying to sneak into the Google Play Store — past all the company’s defenses — to put its apps into the mix and awaiting your download. Which we saw yet another example of in recent days, with the revelation that Google has booted another batch of Android apps from the store, this time 25 apps caught in a position to steal users’ Facebook log in data. Continue reading.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus

July 8, 2020

The (Justified?) War on TikTok

TikTok is a video-sharing social network service owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based internet technology company founded in 2012.

The Beginning of the End

On June 30, 2020, users began noticing that the app no longer allowed them to access the platform in India. All users were greeted with a message that stated: “Dear users, we are in the process of complying with the Government of India’s directive to block 59 apps. Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users in India remains our utmost priority.” The banning of TikTok in India gave a significant blow to the company as India was the company’s largest market. Hong Kong has since followed suit this week with the company announcing it will no longer be available in the special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China. Now the United States is on the verge of banning TikTok and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, is citing security concerns for the ban.

Why Would the U.S. Ban TikTok?

The app has been repeatedly accused of being a threat to national security. U.S. Politicians are alleging that the company may “support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.” The company has pushed back stating that all U.S. user data is stored in the U.S. and there is a backup in Singapore, in May a spokesperson for the company said that these concerns are “unfounded.”

Will the U.S. Ban TikTok?

As tensions are rising between the U.S. and China, it appears that national security and politics play a role in the potential banning of TikTok in the U.S. Whether or not the U.S. will ban TikTok is still up in the air. We’ll have to continue to monitor the situation and see how the United States handles TikTok.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus

July 1, 2020

The best Android apps (June 2020)

Through every yearly smartphone release, we are left more in awe of what our smartphones are capable of and in turn the apps that help make them great. From the top Android flagships to the best value budget phones, a few taps is all you need to place a takeout order, live stream your local news, or send your friends a funny GIF. If you’re looking to get really fancy, you can even call people, too. Continue reading.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus

July 1, 2020

The best iPhone apps (June 2020)

If you have an iPhone or iPad, Apple’s App Store offers a large collection of applications to download and enjoy. With so many various apps available, and in so many categories, where do you start? Price can also vary between different options, which are worth the higher price tags and which aren’t worth their free price? We’ve gathered the best apps, showing which options rise above the rest. Continue reading.

pioneerapplications.com | #pioneerwithus