Category: How-To

I like cooking. I don’t cook often, but when I do, I want to make something special. And meal kit food delivery companies are the best choice for people like me. Meal kit services, especially subscription-based, are quite popular. 17% of adults between 25 and 44 currently receive meal kit delivery services in the U.S. 

If you want to see the bigger picture of the growing fresh-food meal kits in the United States, here are some figures. 

The global meal kit delivery services market size was valued at USD 15.21 billion in 2021 and is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.4% from 2022 to 2030? according to Market Analysis Report. 

The online segment dominated the market for meal kit delivery services and accounted for the largest revenue share of 63.2% in 2021. The offline platform is expected to register a CAGR of 17.8% in the market for meal kit delivery services from 2022 to 2030.

But wait, why is it so popular?  

The answer is because people want to eat healthy homemade food but have no time to go to grocery stores or supermarkets. For such people, it is more convenient to pay a company that will deliver fresh ingredients and recipes.

Below, you will find a ready-to-market strategy for starting a meal kit business in your neighborhood. By following the steps described below, you can create your own meal-kit business, find unique sales propositions, and even develop a website or mobile app. 

BALANCING THE SUPPLY AND DEMAND WITH AN ON-DEMAND GROCERY DELIVERY APP

What is a meal kit subscription service?

The idea behind a meal kit delivery business is simple yet smart. Such companies deliver pre-packed, and sometimes partially-prepared food ingredients with a book of recipes right to your doorstep. Meal kits already include all the ingredients to cook a dish. You can use ingredients and recipe cards to cook a meal within 30-40 minutes. So, you no longer stress that you forgot to buy milk or sugar, preventing you from cooking. 

Meal kit delivery business: history and numbers

Now, let’s make a quick overview of the meal kit industry, key figures, and issues meal kit business owners face. 

• Origins

The concept of meal kit delivery appeared in Sweden in the late 2000-s. This business model became popular and quickly spread to other Northern European countries. In 2012, meal kit delivery companies from Europe, such as Blue Apron and HelloFresh, entered the U.S. market and became popular among Americans. 

• Perspectives

In 2017, there were over 150 meal businesses in the U.S., and the meal kit business industry was estimated to reach $2.2 billion globally. Experts predict that in 2020, the meal kit business will make up 1.3% of food and beverage sales. 

Such growth of meal kit popularity concerned supermarket owners, who started to lose customers and income. In response, supermarkets began to make their own meal kits and sell them at their physical stores. 

• Main problems

Despite a rapid increase in customers, most meal kit business owners faced a low customer retention rate.

• New customers tried free meal kits from companies and never used this service again. 
• Most customers used the meal kit service for just 5-8 weeks. 
• Around 6-12% of customers continued using their subscription after 3 months. 

Thus, you need to concentrate your marketing activities on retaining your customers. 

Now, let’s find out how the meal kit delivery business makes money. 

STAGES OF LOGISTICS MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT

How meal kit delivery business model works

Most meal kit delivery businesses operate on a subscription basis. This means you pay a weekly, monthly, or annual service fee, and then, receive pre-packed meal kits and recipe cards. For example, let’s look at the HelloFresh business model. 

This most popular meal kit delivery service charges $7.49 in shipping fees. Five recipes per week for two persons will cost you $89.90. 

To attract new customers, the service offers discounts. So, if you visit the HelloFresh website for the first time, you will receive -$22.01 discount, and five recipes per week for two persons will cost you $67.89, while you save -$22.01 on deliveries. 

HelloFresh offers four types of weekly menu:

• Meal and Veggies
• Veggies
• Family and friends
• Low calories menus

The company changes the menu for each meal category every week in order to increase the customer retention rate. As a customer, you will receive new meals each week, thus never get bored eating the same food. 

If you want to skip one week, you can unsubscribe weekly delivery without paying any penalties. 

Now, let’s see what you need to do to start your meal-kit business. 

HOW TO BUILD A FOOD DELIVERY APP LIKE UBEREATS

The APP Solutions Experience: Success Story

Alfred Ibiza is an on-demand delivery mobile app that connects restaurants, stores, couriers, and customers in Ibiza. The app allows customers to order from restaurants, pharmacies, and supermarkets, listed on the platform.

Our main goal for the Alfred Ibiza project was to build a platform that would simplify ordering and delivering products on Ibiza island and help party goers to receive their orders on time. We wanted the platform to be equally useful for business owners, couriers, and customers.

We managed to develop the Alfred Ibiza platform within just three months, at a total project cost of $70,000, 50-60% cheaper than the average development cost of a food delivery app.

The platform includes an app for customers, couriers, an admin panel for restaurants with only necessary functions. Besides this, we also developed a marketing landing page to promote the Alfred Ibiza platform.

You can find more fascinating stories in our portfolio.

WHAT TECH STACK TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR PROJECT

Launching meal kit delivery in 5 steps 

You can launch an ingredient and recipe meal kit service even without significant investment. However, starting a meal kit delivery startup still requires some operations as listed below. 

Step 1. Get Legal Licenses

The first thing to do when launching a meal kit delivery service is to get all the licenses and prepare other legal documents from your government. 

Below, we list essential legal documents for U.S. citizens. 

• Business License

To open and operate your business in the United States, you need a business license that legitimizes your company as a legal entity. Each state has its regulations for issuing business licensing and related fees that could be a flat rate or a percentage of your total sales. 

To get a business license, search for your state + business license on Google search. Then, follow the application procedure on your state government’s site. 

You’ll need to pay approximately $50 for the registration and $25 to $7,000 for the license. The total cost will depend on your business type and expected profit. 

Don’t forget to renew your license each year and pay for it on time. 

• Employer Identification Number (EIN)

EIN, a tax ID number, is the document you need to get from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You can apply for an EIN through the IRS website. You can also apply by fax, phone, and even mail.  But don’t expect immediate results. The IRS only issues one EIN per day. The good thing about EIN is that it is free. 

• Food Service License

You can receive a food service license from the city or county health department. The health department will inspect the place where you are going to make meal kits to check out whether your business complies with all restaurant food safety regulations or not.

To receive this license, you need to apply to your local health department via the internet or in-person. During the application process, you need to give the name of your food service, an address for a permanent kitchen facility, and the owner’s personal information. 

A food service license cost varies from $100 to $1000 depending on your location and number of employees. 

Now, it is time to analyze your competitors. 

Step 2. Analyze competitors

By knowing your competitors, you can make a bullet-proof business plan. 

Let’s analyze the biggest food kit services in the U.S., such as HelloFresh and Blue Apron, with half of the whole U.S. meal kit market share. 

HelloFresh 

HelloFresh was launched in 2011 in Berlin. Now the company has 850,000 customers and operates in nine countries across three continents. Its 2,000 employees work to deliver 9 million meals a month. 

The reason for such success lies in HelloFresh’s business model. The company delivers groceries right from farmers, cutting out all the middlemen, such as supermarkets and grocery stores. 

In such a way, using HelloFresh meal kit delivery is 75% cheaper than shopping for ingredients at grocery stores.

In 2017, HelloFresh, together with other meal kit services, was criticized for using wasteful packaging and viewed as environmentally unfriendly. 

Since 2018, the company has tried to reduce food waste by keeping and preparing ingredients in the appropriate proportions. 

Blue Apron Inc. 

Blue Apron has operated in the United States since 2012. The most successful year of Blue Apron was in 2017 when the company received $881,19 million. But, with time, the company’s income has decreased. 

In 2019, the company generated $455 million global net revenue, down from $668 million in 2018. Currently, the company receives 2,482 orders per month, with a $258 average revenue per customer. 

In 2017, the company also received extensive criticism for wasteful packaging. In response, the company has tried to limit environmental impact by using recyclable ice packs and packaging. Besides this, BlueApron has a portion control that calculates the portion of ingredients to reduce food waste. 

Step 3. Build your brand

Since you are serious about opening a recipe kit delivery service, you need a unique sales proposition (UCP). In plain words, you need the answer to the question, how you differentiate from other meal kit companies.

Below we gathered several ideas on how you can differentiate from your competitors. 

• Eco-friendly meals 

Since your competitors were criticized for being not eco-friendly, you can turn this into your advantage. Moreover, the continually growing number of eco-friendly and environmentally aware people only proves that this is a win-win idea. 

You can implement this UCP by selling veggies from local eco-farms, packaging meal kits in eco-packages from recycled cardboard, and delivering your meal kits in an eco-friendly way – exclusively on bicycles. 

• Recipes for any occasion 

Your menu can include meal kits for special occasions, such as birthday parties or outdoor activities with friends. 

In a B’ day meal kit, you can include only recipes that take about one hour to cook. This is a great idea because most of us believe that you need to spend at least 3 hours to cook something for your guests. 

As for outdoor menus, you can deliver meal kits to individual’s homes and nearby locations where people make barbecues. Thus, your meal kits can include mushrooms, sausages, corn, cabbages and steaks for the best outdoor party. 

• Special diet meal kits 

You can turn preferences in food and cultural differences into your unique sales proposition. For example, your menu could include gluten-free ingredients. Another option is to sell kosher, vegetarian, or halal meal kits to locals. 

FUNCTIONAL VS NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS: MAIN DIFFERENCES & EXAMPLES

Step 4. Gather meal kit recipes and find suppliers

Once you know the core mission of your meal kit business, it is time to gather recipes that will reflect it. 

You can rate recipes with stars by the level of their complexity. For example, meals that are easy to cook will have one star, and the most complex – five stars. Don’t forget that you need to gather as many recipes as possible, so you can change the weekly menu and always surprise your customers. 

During this step, you also need to think about where you will get ingredients. Thus, you need to find grocery and meat suppliers among local farmers and vegetable warehouses.

Step 5. Develop a meal kit app or a website

For selling and delivering meal kits, you will need a mobile app or website that will charge your customers’ subscription fees and send you their details. We already have an article on how to hire the development team, so check it out. 

Once you select the development team, ask them for a quote. If you will develop your project with us, the software development process will look like this:

Pre-sale

You fill in the contact form, and our business development managers get in touch with you to clarify your requirements for the project and send NDA (a non-disclosure agreement). Next, a business analyst analyzes your requirements, breaks your project down into modules and features, and sends it to a developer for an approximate estimation of your project. 

After you agree on this estimate, we will start the Discovery phase. 

Discovery phase

We need around 1-3 weeks to create a technical specification for your project. We also suggest the app’s or website’s architecture, mockups, and even clickable prototypes of the main project screens during the Inspection phase. 

Project initiation

Once you have a project specification at hand, we will develop more detailed project development costs. After we agree on the project costs and essential features to implement first, we will send you an agreement to sign. Then, we will arrange a small video call to introduce you to our team. The typical team composition includes developers, project managers, quality assurance specialists, and designers. 

Project development 

Next, the team will break-down all project features into iterations to schedule the project development process. One iteration length is 1-2 weeks. 

Once the new functionality is implemented, QA specialists test it, find bugs, report to the project managers so that the developer can fix the bug. 

Then, the developer deploys the code to the project’s prominence, with the rest of the projects developed parts. 

During the project development process, we send you reports every two weeks. In such reports, we explain how much work was done, and what features the team is going to implement next. 

After the team implements all features, we will run the final demonstration session for you, and give all accesses to your project so that you can manage it without external help. 

HOW TO MAKE AN APP: LIFE CYCLE OF MOBILE DEVELOPMENT

Launching an online meal kit delivery business: the final word 

The meal kit delivery services industry is a very prospective niche for investment since it is expected to grow in the next few years. At the same time, to start a food and recipe delivery business, you do not need significant investment. 

There are only two main objects of expenditure – receiving necessary licenses and web or mobile app development. At the same time, you can create unique sales propositions, write a business plan, gather recipes, and find suppliers without hiring extra specialists. 

What our clients say 

We no longer associate the word “marketplace” with grocery shopping early Sunday morning. Now, thanks to Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, marketplaces are strongly associated with digital shopping websites, where you can buy any product you can imagine. But why are such trading websites so popular?  

Two-sided platforms offer small businesses an effective selling channel. In such a way, marketplaces eliminate the need to spend money and time maintaining their own online shopping store. 

For such a service, site owners change commissions and earn money without actually selling anything. 

If you can’t wait to launch your own marketplace business, you are in the right place. This article is about developing a marketplace start-up in six steps and turning it into a profitable business. 

But first, let’s define the ultimate meaning of a digital trading platform. 

What is the digital marketplace?

A marketplace is a platform that gathers retailers who offer their products and numerous buyers who buy from them. In a nutshell, the website performs as an intermediary between buyers and sellers. Such a website could be in the form of a website or mobile app, targeted to different users. 

Types of marketplaces

You need to select the type of marketplace and define end-users. There are B2C (business to clients), B2B (business to business), and P2P (peer to peer) marketplaces. 

Let’s look at each marketplace type in more detail.  

• Business to clients

B2C marketplaces serve small businesses and individuals. While some marketplaces, like Amazon, offer products, others, such as TaskRabbit, offer services.

• Business to business

There are also B2B marketplaces, which means sellers and buyers sell and buy wholesale products. The list of B2B marketplaces includes websites like RapNet that sell diamonds and Alibaba B2B.  

• Peer to peer

Don’t forget about P2P marketplaces, where both buyers and sellers are individuals. One example is Airbnb that offers apartments and houses for rent. 

However, the market of trading platforms is even more granular, and each project varies with the products and services it includes. 

There is a marketplace for selling used products such as Decluttr and Ubup. 

There are also job marketplaces, like UpWork and Fever, where you can find freelancers for various tasks. 

Let’s concentrate on developing true online marketplaces where vendors can sell physical products to consumers.

But how does such a marketplace differ from a regular e-commerce website? 

Online marketplace vs. online store

You need to be aware of six differences between the marketplace and an e-commerce website:  

• The number of sellers. As an online store owner, you perform as a single seller at your e-commerce website. As a marketplace business owner, you do not need to sell anything to receive profit, since many sellers offer their goods, through whom you can earn money. 
• Product variety. Typical online stores offer up to 10 product categories, but marketplaces include products from different industries. For example, Amazon, the biggest online marketplace, counts 36 categories and over 12 million products, including books, media, wine, etc. 
• Features. The online store consists of two parts – an admin panel to manage users and products, and a customer profile to add products to a shopping cart and complete the checkout. The two-sided platform includes features for three types of users. They are an admin panel to manage users; a seller profile to list products, manage orders, receive payments; and a buyer profile, which has the same functionality as one in an online store. 
• Traffic load. Even popular online stores hardly count over 10,000 users per month. Online marketplaces should be powerful enough to handle substantial traffic loads. For example, Amazon counts 5.7 billion shoppers each month. 
• Tech stack. To build an e-commerce website, you can leverage e-commerce platforms. But to build a vast marketplace, those platform capacities wouldn’t be enough. Thus, consider using such popular marketplace builders as Zielcommerce, 3Dcart, Arcadier, or Yo!Kart. If their features are still not enough for you, you can hire developers to build a project from the ground up. 
• Monetization. When you are managing an online store, direct purchases are your primary source of income. However, owning a marketplace opens new streams of earning money, including service commissions, promotions, etc. We will look at them later. 

In a nutshell, an online marketplace is like an e-commerce website on steroids. Such platforms include more products provided by multiple sellers and substantial monthly traffic loads. 

Now, let’s see how to develop a marketplace start-up from scratch or using existing platforms? 

Building an online marketplace website: SaaS vs. from scratch 

When building a marketplace you can leverage an existing e-commerce platform with pre-build features. Such platforms are known as SaaS solutions, which means the software as a service. You also can hire a development team to build an online marketplace from scratch. 

In both cases, you end up with your own two-sided platform. But, there are essential differences between these approaches to pay attention to. Before deciding in favor of a platform-built or custom-built marketplace, consider the following: 

• Customization

By customization, we mean adding features and changing the design to meet your business needs. In the case where you need a UI/UX design tailored to your brand and a bunch of sophisticated features, consider building a project from scratch. If, however, you want to create a simple project with essential features and template design, you can use a pre-coded platform. 

• Traffic load

A high traffic load negatively impacts marketplaces that are not ready for it. Thus, they can crash and cause inconvenience to users. If you expect your platform to handle around 10 000 users per month, a platform-built site will perfectly meet your needs. 

However, if you are going to develop a marketplace like Amazon with a high traffic load, you need custom marketplace development. In this way, developers will create the infrastructure on cloud servers that automatically expand operating capacities. So, the project architecture can work without downtimes, even with 1,000,000 website visitors per second. 

• Timeframes 

In case you expect to launch your platform in 1 or 2 months, rely on existing marketplace builders. Thus, you need to make very few changes to the SaaS marketplace to launch it within a short period. 

When timeframes are not your main priority, build such a project from scratch. 

• Addons 

Take at least some time to research the additional features you can add after launching your trading platform, since, as your business grows, you will need something more than just a shopping cart and checkout for buyers, and a product catalog for sellers. 

Investigate whether your platform’s store has add-ons for email marketing and advanced product recommendation tools, as you will need them sooner as you think. 

In the case of needing more add-ons,  developing a custom online marketplace will work the best. 

Once you find room for new features, your development team can code and add it to your custom project within several weeks. Thus, you receive total control over marketplace website functionality. 

• Tech complexity

If you have at least a basic knowledge of coding, know how to buy a domain name, and set up a server, choose SaaS. 

If you have to google what  “server” means, then hiring web developers is your option of choice. Even if you are not going to create a unique marketplace and the primary SaaS platform meets your needs, we suggest you team up with a development team to set up your marketplace. 

Now let’s see what it takes to launch such a project. 

How to start an online marketplace in 6 steps  

Creating a marketplace includes numerous activities. You need to define your business model, make a feature list, and hire developers. Let’s find out what it takes to develop such a project. 

Step 1. Choose your revenue models 

The first thing you need to do is decide on how the website will bring you money. You need to select your monetization plan among the following options: 

Commission model. You charge a commission on any purchase made via your website, added to the product cost. Thus, when a buyer purchases a product, one also pays your commission during the checkout. Marketplaces that successfully use commission models are AirBnB, eBay, and Amazon. 

Listing model. You offer retailers to place a limited amount of products for free. If they want to extend their product catalog with more goods, they must pay you for such an option. For example, eBay allows vendors to place 50 products for free each month. In order to add more products, the platform charges retailers 5 and 30 cents depending on the product category. 

Paid promotions. Vendors pay you a promotion fee so their products appear first in the search results. Promotion fees work great for marketplaces with numerous products within the same category and are currently applied by Etsy, a platform with DIY products.  

If you don’t know which strategy will work for your marketplace, ask your development team for additional business analysis. 

Step 2. Gather core features 

Below we have listed must-have features for all types of users – buyers, sellers, and administrators. 

Features for a customer app 

The customer application should include all the functionality to find products, add them to the shopping cart, and checkout. Thus, the main features of a customer’s app are: 

• Buyer profile with personal information, shipping address, and bank details
• Search bar to find products 
• Shopping cart to gather products one wants to buy 
• The payment gateway for buying products during the checkout 
• Review and rating to share one’s experience with a particular vendor or  product 
• Push notifications to track the order and delivery status 

Features for a seller app 

To list and sell products, the seller app requires the following functionality: 

• Seller profile with detailed information about the seller, one’s location, and bank account details
• Product catalog to add, edit, and delete products
• Product page to upload product images, set the price, and add product description 
• Order page to manage upcoming orders 

Features for an admin panel 

The admin panel is aimed at managing communication between both sellers and buyers. Thus, your admin panel should include the following functionality 

• Dashboard with information about new and completed orders 
• User management to add, edit, and delete users 
• Product management for changing the information on the product page 
• User analytics to show the number of buyers and sellers, buyer purchase patterns, etc. 

Now that you have a business plan and feature list at hand, it is time to hire your development team.  

Step 3. Hire a development team 

We advise partnering with a development team for both custom marketplace development and setting up a SaaS website. If you are looking for tips on finding a reliable tech partner, check out the article about hiring web developers with handy tips. 

Once you select developers with relevant cases in their portfolio, you need to contact them and explain what type of project you want to receive. You can also send your idea about monetization models and features you want for your project. 

At the APP Solutions, we can estimate your project based on your feature list and monetization models. 

Our customers receive a more detailed project estimation at the end of the Discovery phase. It is a 2-3 week period during which we conduct an in-depth technical and business analysis of your project, create project documentation, suggest architecture components and technologies that apply. 

After we send you the final project estimate, we arrange a kickoff meeting with you and our development team members. During the meeting, we will define the high-level project goals and agree on the communication plan. 

We schedule demonstration sessions to show you our progress in the communication plan. Next, we start creating designs for your website or searching for the most suitable design template. 

Step 4. Create UI/UX design 

The design defines how your marketplace is convenient for users. Besides this, the design should also reflect your unique brand and be recognizable. Thus, even template designs from SaaS platforms require personalization, such as changes in color scheme, adding your logo, and others. 

If you decide to develop a project from the ground up, designers create the look of your website that meets your business needs within the following steps:

• Wireframes. We create the layout of all elements, define how product categories will look, and design elements for the home page. 
• Clickable prototype. We gather all the elements and emulate the customer journey and several project scenarios in a clickable prototype. To create such prototypes we leverage Figma, a professional online tool for mobile and web designers. 

[The APP Solutions clickable prototype]

• Polishing the result. Apart from critical scenarios, we also create other screens for your platform, such as the vendor cabinet, checkout, admin panel, and its features. 

Once the design is ready, we start the coding process. 

Step 5. Coding the MVP 

The MVP means the minimum viable product, the first project version. It includes core features enough for sellers and buyers to use the platform and rate it. 

We define the functionality for the project’s MVP during the discovery place. In such a way we reduce the time for the development and the project costs. 

Thus, you can receive a ready-made website within 2-3 months, whereas the development of such a project with bells and whistles requiring 6-8 months can cost you a fortune. 

• Our solution architect defines the core project elements and considers technologies for the project infrastructure. 
• Developers set up the architecture on the cloud or on-premise servers. 
• Developers begin to add features from the technical documentation. 
• Once the new functionality is built, quality assurance managers test the code and fix errors. 

• Developers deploy the tested functionality to the life environment for the rest of the project.
• Developers integrate third-party services via API, such as payment gateways and shipping tracking tools. 

After we ensure the project works without bugs, we run a demo session with you. We show you how the seller,  buyer, and admin panels work during such a demo. If needed, we can also create instructions on how to manage your project.  

Step 6. Launch the marketplace 

We make your two-sided platform available for users and give you total access to the project’s code, infrastructure, and third-party services. 

We also provide technical support during the first month after the project launch to fix any errors. If you want us to monitor the site performance for a longer time, we can sign a support agreement for two or six months and even a year. 

Now you have a marketplace with all the necessary features and a development team to maintain it. So, the last thing remaining is to attract buyers and sellers. 

As you can see,  marketplace development requires both time and resources. But only partnering with a reliable development team ensures a decent result. Thus, finding good web developers with relevant tech expertise is the only way to successfully launch a project. We can provide you with full-cycle web development services – from project documentation to technical support after the marketplace launch. Our team is here to discuss your business idea and suggest top-notch solutions to bring it to life. 

What our clients say 

Related readings: 

Calmerry Telemedicine Platform Case Study 

Nioxin Consultation App for Coty-owned Brand Case Study 

Just when the world thought app innovation had reached its peak, and the app market is at a saturation point – the Clubhouse app happened. The arrival & success of the Clubhouse app is conclusive evidence that technology keeps evolving. 

This article offers insights into the podcasting industry, including the technologies required to develop a social media app like the Clubhouse chat app. 

What is the Clubhouse App?

The Clubhouse app is an audio-based social media program; the first of its kind. It hosts talkback radio, house-party, & conference call live podcasts. Just as Instagram took the spotlight in 2010, and TikTok in 2020, so will the Clubhouse app in 2021. Within a few weeks of its release, the application amassed 600,000 users. And now, at the time of writing this article, it has leaped to over 2 million people. 

[Source]

The Clubhouse app is getting traction at an unprecedented rate. While its popularity is growing, so is its valuation. Talking about valuation, a few weeks after the app was launched, it was valued at $100 million. Over time, this figure has soared to a staggering one-billion dollars!

Clubhouse Isn’t the New TikTok. It’s The New LinkedIn. Although Clubhouse is a social media, it does not operate like most of them. It tries to balance business and pleasure, more like LinkedIn. The Clubhouse community also comprises individuals who normally would talk business on Twitter. 

To make this audio-based chat app worthwhile for important activities, it comes with a few very important features, e.g. the Clubhouse rooms. Members can create profiles and link them with their Twitter & Facebook profiles.

Clubhouse may be better than LinkedIn because of its ability to strike a perfect balance between professional and personal activities in the rooms. This is an important attribute.

How Does the Clubhouse App Work?

The Clubhouse social network app is only available to iPhone users. Joining the platform is only upon invitation. To open a Clubhouse account one has to pay subscriptions. One of the rights reserved by the Clubhouse administration is the ability to change the prices at any time.

To get started with the Clubhouse social media app, you open the app and go to your profile to see a list of rooms. Clubhouse allows you to join a room of your choice, or create one.

Every Clubhouse room has a distinct topic hosted by either a pioneer or an expert in the field. It’s not uncommon to find journalists, celebrities, and venture capitalists hosting Clubhouse rooms.

If you wish to contribute something to the Clubhouse rooms, you have to “raise your hand”. The host of that particular Clubhouse room will decide whether to invite you to the conversation or not.

Clubhouse app: what is it and how do you get an invite to the exclusive audio app?

The Clubhouse is very exclusive. For one to become a member they should receive an invite to join the app. The invite will only come from a friend who already has a Clubhouse account. After the invite, and when you have become a member, you can also invite 2 exclusive friends. Members can invite their friends to download the Clubhouse app via their phone numbers.

Some of the world’s top thought leaders who have already made appearances on the Clubhouse voice chat app are Elon Musk (Tesla CEO), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder). Their presence caused quite a stir. The Clubhouse app may still be smaller than its social media predecessors. But, its growth curve confirms it’s the next big thing, it will conquer social media.

How do you set up a clubhouse Club?

In order to start a club in Clubhouse, the first thing is to create an account to become a member. Subsequently, go to your profile and select the gear icon; this will get you to settings. On the settings page, go straight to the FAQ section and click “How can I start a club”. A detailed description of how you can start to open a club is given.

To be eligible for starting a club, a Clubhouse member should have hosted a room before. In order to host a room, you open the app and start a room. A room is started by inviting friends to come and join or enabling any persons who want to join to get in. After starting at least 3 rooms, you can then proceed.

What do clubhouses do?

The Club’s functionality enables members to create and join private groups. These private groups will have your specific preferences. Three types of users can be found in private groups/ Clubs and these are the founder, members, and followers. Clubs will receive notifications based on their interests.

Are there alternatives to the Clubhouse App?

If you would like to develop a podcasting application such as the Clubhouse voice app this year, you are on the right track. Android users have forever searched for a similar app on the play store, but to no avail. It’s high time someone started some competition.

There is enough revenue to go around for prospective investors in the podcast industry. Analysts anticipate that the global podcasting market will grow at an annual rate of 27.5% from the year 2019 to the year 2027. 

[Source]

What is a podcast, and how does it work?

Simply put, a podcast is an audio broadcast that is made in episodic series. People listen to podcasts while relaxing after a hectic day, driving long distances, or doing some exercises. Any activities that people do while listening to something else fit the category. Podcasts are gaining popularity compared to media such as blogs and vlogs. The reason is that people find them both entertaining and less distracting. 

How to play podcasts

There are two ways through which people can listen to podcasts:

• Downloading/ Streaming online

People can go online using their devices to stream or download content from the RSS feed. The podcast may be played on the podcast website or in a feed reader. 

• Using a player

The alternative to streaming from the RSS feed is to download and use a media player application. Examples may include Pocket Casts or Apple Podcasts. People who subscribe to the RSS will access their podcasts through the player. 

The player will simply synchronize data from the RSS feed. This enables the user to get current episodes and additional details such as file name, notes, and the link to the file (in MP3 format).

What’s RSS?

RSS is an abbreviation that stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is a computer-readable (XML) format used for sharing web content. The RSS enables users & apps to receive updates to a specific web platform. 

If the user prefers to use an aggregator (an application that collects, & displays content or links from various websites), the RSS feed reader will first convert the data into a readable format.

The RSS feed collects information which includes headlines, notifications of updates, summary notes, and links that direct the user straight to the website. Updates are done in real-time and the latest files published by websites will go on top in the RSS feed.

Reasons podcasting apps are the new content platforms

In the US alone, a growth from 51% to 55% of podcast listeners was observed between 2019 and 2020. 

[Source]

Podcast listenership is surging across the globe with no signs of plateauing. The factor contributing to this growth is the emergence of podcasting apps such as the Clubhouse app. The app Clubhouse, and other social media platforms, are instrumental in boosting podcast listenership. Applications like the Clubhouse audio chat app are starting to take center stage everywhere because of the points that follow.

Easy consumption. Podcast apps such as Clubhouse allow consumers to easily find podcasts presenting on topics they like. People today have busier schedules and appreciate something that apps like the Clubhouse allow them to stay entertained and updated while also working.  Clubhouse requires less attention compared to vlogs, blogs, & TV. Other than working, people can also listen to the Clubhouse voice chat app while driving, exercising, or relaxing at home.

Accessibility and diversity. Gone are the days when people relied solely on the radio to listen to programs. The disadvantage with Radio-cast was that listeners needed to be at a certain place to listen to a show. Moreover, only a limited number of topics could be aired. With smartphones, people are not place and time-bound. One can open apps such as the Clubhouse anywhere and at any time. And, the app Clubhouse provides countless topics on-the-go. 

Intimate connection with listeners. With the advent of the Clubhouse social platform, podcasters can now have intimate time with their audience. The platform allows listeners to easily identify their favorite hosts and topics.  When an audience is listening to these hosts presenting on their favorite topics/ show, they connect and hear them talk directly to their hearts and minds.

Social Media Marketing. Many podcasters are using the podcasting platform to promote their other businesses through podcasts. According to a blog by Midroll, about 61% of listeners have admitted to buying a product after a podcast advert.

Podcasts consumer types

Podcast producers can be grouped into 5 major segments:

Large Indies 

This group makes a larger population of Clubhouse podcasters. It comprises independent podcasters who are either influencers or celebrities. Rumor has it that Clubhouse is grooming over 40 influencers (moderators) to succeed on the Clubhouse app. These individuals are getting tools and other help from the Clubhouse executives. Concerning monetization, Clubhouse is currently ad-free. But, Large Indies on other podcasting apps get money through adverts, donations, or commodities. Examples of independent podcasters out there are Sam Harris, Joe Rogan, etc. 

Media Companies

These are big companies that offer media content through several formats. Examples would be newspapers, magazines, and radio-casts. On Clubhouse, several media companies, e.g. Barstool Sports, can be found. Media companies get their money from adverts mostly. Other means involve circulation revenue. Circulation can be described as the number of subscribers. 

Hobbyist Creator

 In the podcast industry, hobbyist creators are persons who produce content, usually without getting revenue. These individuals may not be influencers or celebs. The clubhouse also welcomes hobbyist creators.

Non-Media Businesses & Non-Profits

This group is not driven by revenue but focused on building a brand. Each show produced is for promoting the brand.

Podcast-Only Production Companies

These are organizations that produce their content but rely on platforms such as Spotify to reach their audience. They get revenues through adverts, or broadcast licensing to local and international TV networks, etc. Furthermore, they can produce content for a film.

The Clubhouse app is unique in that it accommodates the producers mentioned in each group. And, the clubhouse can make it possible for these podcasters to reach their audiences effortlessly.

Market predictions of the Global Podcast Hosting Software

The podcast market is expected to grow tremendously between 2019 and 2026. Already, over 1,750,000 podcast shows & not less than 43 million episodes have been produced. These numbers will only grow throughout 2026.

For you to catch a glimpse of the growth rate, there were only 550,000 podcasts at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in 2018, but in 2021 the estimation is close to two million.

The podcast market key players

The major players in the podcast at the moment are Apple, Pandora, iHeartMedia, Amazon.com, Spotify AB & Sound Cloud Limited. 

These players own the following shares of the podcast market:

• Apple Podcasts (32%)
• Spotify (26%)
• Google Podcasts (3%)
• CastBox (2%)
• Embedded Player (2%)
• Podcast addict (2%)

Key formats 

The podcast market is categorized into the following: panels, interviews, conversational, solo, and repurposed content.

Podcasters on the Clubhouse app uses all of them. The two popular formats that you should know are:

• Interview. This format is currently the highest in terms of revenue. Analysts revealed that in 2019 alone, it accounted for a share of over 30%. Another name for this format is “facilitator”, used when a variety of guests are being hosted by the same individual. What’s believed to make this format attractive is the freshness and originality of each cast. Every guest will bring with them new content, thoughts, and experiences, etc. The audience likes to be continually inspired, engaged, and stimulated by various opinions on different subjects of life.
• Solo. This format is slightly below the Interview format in terms of its revenue share. Concerning how it works, it involves a single person who is a professional in a certain area. This individual may record content giving their views and experiences in their area of specialty. Most independent podcasters entering the podcast industry are picking this format since it’s easy to start. The only requirements are free editing software & a microphone. The Solo format is expected to grow up to 2026.

Key perspectives 

The year 2021 has seen a lot of services implementing podcasts. And, startups in the industry are getting funded & growing and, or, acquired by larger organizations. Below are examples of some of the things you should know.

Spotify

Starting this year, Spotify confirmed that it will allow podcasters to use its platform through paid subscriptions. People can already start signing up. However, before this begins to work, Spotify will test new functionality in its podcast creation tool. Part of this new functionality will enable existing and prospective podcasters (in the US) to publish paid content to their fans. The first to enjoy this functionality, however, will be existing customers.

[Source]

Podchaser

This is a startup that raised over USD 4 million in the creation of what they call the ‘IMDB for podcasts’. Podchaser works the same way as the Internet Movie Database developed by Amazon. Users are given the ability to spot new podcasts as they come. They can review and rate them before adding them to their lists. The CEO also spilled that content of over 8.5 million podcasts which had already been produced, awaiting the launch of the startup.

Acast

Acast, an advertising company for podcasts, bought Radio Public, a company that joined PRX a few years ago. Radio Public started with a podcasting mobile application. But, with time, its leadership shifted focus to providing products and services for podcasters. Examples of the products and services provided include an embeddable web player, pod sites, etc. Today, while part of Acast’s business is to provide these services to podcasters, the other part is still involved in the podcasting mobile app.

Tech Stack for a Podcast App Development 

Entities that need to venture into the podcast industry can do so with The App solutions. If they choose to develop a mobile-only app, The App solutions recommend that they know the SDKs (Software Development Kits) and technologies for their project tech stack. If the client may need help, the CTO, Igor Kopaniev advises the following solutions:

Agora.io

Agora.io enables developers to add HD voice & video communication to applications via a dynamic SDK. Since the tech used by Agora.io can manage billions of minutes of real-time communication annually, developers can support over two thousand users in one call. Regarding implementation, Agora.io is easy, inexpensive, and seamless. While all this is great, clients and developers should also consider data security. Agora.io was formed by a Chinese company, thus, has reliability issues.

Instead of Agora.io, here are some alternatives you need to know:

Live Streaming On AWS

The abbreviation AWS stands for Amazon Web Services. AWS offers 2 Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming solutions for live videos. These two solutions are AWS Elemental MediaPackage and AWS Elemental MediaLive. 

The above solutions offer viewers smooth live streaming of content. The MedialLive channel comes with dual outputs and inputs, plus some for the MediaPackage. When Live Streaming on AWS, the MediaLive, and the MediaPackage are both configured to encrypt & pack your content via an adaptive bitrate streaming on screens through HTTP Live Streaming.

Storage. The AWS Elemental MediaStore is augmented to store media. It provides great performance at low latency, the very thing needed for quality live video streaming.

Latency. To effectively minimize latency, the MediaStore works with the Amazon CloudFront. The Amazon CloudFront connects at the MediaStore’s endpoints to deliver content at high speeds and low latency. Also, an Amazon CloudWatch will work as a dashboard that monitors every request made to the MediaStore. It reveals the overall performance of the workflow.

Security. Live Streaming On AWS is reliable concerning security. CloudFront provides sophisticated security that includes full HTTPS support and encryption at the field level. CloudFront also comes with an AWS Web App Firewall, Shield, & Route 53 to prevent many forms of attacks, including DDoS attacks.

Jitsi

Libjitsi is a sophisticated Java media library that allows secure communication of media. Apps can securely stream, capture, playback, encrypt, decode video and audio flows. Additionally, it allows for advanced functionalities, e.g. audio mixing, management of multiple streams, and the attendance of video & audio conferences to be possible.

Libjitsi was initially a part of Jitsi but it was tweaked to allow other projects to utilize it. The distribution of Libjitsi will follow the Apache license terms. 

On the other hand, Jitsi is a collection of Open Source projects that offer advanced video conferencing as well as Jitsi:

• Videobridge is a server that is created to route videos between conference participants. This server also works with WebRTC, which is a framework that allows Real-Time Communications in the browser.
• Meet is a JavaScript app that works with the Video bridge server to give top-quality, expandable video conferences. It’s also compatible with Web Real-Time Communication.
• Gate-way to SIP is an app (server-side) that enables SIP users to become part of Meet conferences.
• Conference Focus is a focus item (server-side) that is utilized in Meet conferences. It handles sessions amongst participants & the video bridge.
• Jibri is a recording/ streaming tool used in Meet conferences.

Storage. Any available recordings are stored on the company’s servers waiting to be uploaded to a location that you pick (Dropbox). If no action takes place within 24 hours, the recordings are permanently deleted.

Security. Someone can activate end-to-end encryption when using Meet on a Web browser that allows streams that are insertable. To activate the end-to-end encryption, find the menu, open it and click on the tab that reads “end-to-end encryption” and click on it. All people who attend the conference should fill in a similar phrase or password that you use.

Ways through which Jitsi meetings operate:

Peer-to-peer (P2P). Users can use the Peer-to-peer mode to conduct one on one meetings. With the P2P mode,  communication is secured through DTLS-SRTP encryption.

Jitsi Video bridge. This is used when the meetings involve multiple participants. In this scenario, encryption of communications (both video and audio) still uses DTLS-SRTP. But, the outer layer of the encryption is eliminated allowing the Jitsi packets to cross over the Video bridge. The packets only stay in memory when being routed to other people in the meeting. They are not stored persistently. In the event where even the packets are e2ee, the outer encryption layer will not be removed.

Akamai

Content producers can use Akamai Adaptive Media Player for simplified player settings & to ensure that their audience has access to top-quality online media playback. This Adaptive Media Player (AMP) does not only provide optimized bitrate playback algorithms but also gives users extra online media services.

Monetization. Producers can monetize their activities through ads with Freewheel/ Auditude, mid-rolls, VAST, companions, pre-rolls, or overlays.

Latency. Akamai only allows a 10-second e2e latency. This is enough to give online audiences a real TV experience while streaming. Akamai uses liveOrigin™ to manage low-latency video fragments while streaming HTTP-based media.

Security. To ensure that content is securely transported, e2e, Akamai allows users to get content via a Transport Layer Security (TLS). Users can also prevent unauthorized link sharing through Token Authentication. 

Other security features:

• Akamai supports platforms that do not use cookies for tracking
• It provides an additional protection layer (Access Revocation) which allows unauthorized video streaming sessions to be revoked
• Uses AES-128 encryption to protect HLS media against unsanctioned viewing

We recommend you use cloud-based services for your application’s back-end. Examples include AWS and Google Cloud. To learn the differences between these platforms, click here.

Related reading: 

Video Streaming App Proof of Concept

Conclusion 

For investors or media companies that have been looking for fresh and profitable ideas, the podcast industry is the way to go. The success of the Clubhouse is proof that it is a viable business. According to statisticians, the Clubhouse is small today, but it will only continue to grow in the future.

Regarding monetization, there are many ways of monetizing a Clubhouse-like podcasting app. Clubhouse started lean, without ads, but can still make profits. This means a prospective investor has more than one way to make money from a Clubhouse-like application. 

To get started with the development of a Clubhouse-like app, The APP Solutions can offer help. We can develop your application from beginning to end. While building your Clubhouse-like product, we also prioritize data security. Thus, we are against the use of Chinese-based software. It’s better to choose from other trustworthy software vendors.

According to data from the National Alliance for Mental Health, 1 in every 5 adults in the US experiences mental illness, while 1 in every 6 youths in the US aged 6 – 17 experiences a mental health disorder every year. More abysmal is that suicide is the leading cause of death for those aged between 10 and 34 in the US. This data alone is proof that there is a need to make mental health applications available to the general public. It would also explain why there is an influx of mental health apps in app stores ranging from those helping relieve symptoms to those that help healthy people remain healthy.

Reasons why developing a mental health app is a great idea

There are several reasons why developers, who are keen on helping those suffering from mental health problems, consider creating a mental health application. Here are three reasons.

It will help bring mental health services to those who cannot get them

Data from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America shows that approximately 18% of adults in the US suffer from anxiety disorders, yet only 36% of these individuals receive treatment. Furthermore, according to data from the National Council Medical Director Institute, 77% of US counties have a severe shortage of psychiatrists. This implies that, even if more patients decided to get help, there would come a point where the current practicing psychiatrists may be unable to help many people. With mental health apps, more people can receive help from the comfort of their homes from different mental health practitioners from all over the world.

High demand

The Coronavirus has caused havoc, not just to the physical health of individuals, but also to their mental health. Many people have lost their jobs, lost family members, and some industries like the healthcare industry have been severely affected. According to a report by The Standard in 2020, 46% of health workers interviewed from a sample size of 1400 said they were suffering from a mental health issue. This is compared to 39% in 2019. This increase implies that more people will be looking for mental health apps in the future.

How To Make A Medical App In 2021: The Ultimate Guide

Room for improvement

Data from the Digital Mental Health Revolution report shows that there are more than 10,000 mental health apps available today, with over 100 startups each year. However, many of these apps are underperforming. Some applications do not cater to many users’ needs and preferences, and some need to be upgraded to meet the current needs and demands. There is room for more to be done, moving from traditional therapy techniques to apps encouraging patients to do more self-care practices.

With the aim of improving the quality of services they offer, we find platforms raising money. For example, Lyra Health raised $175 million at a $2.25 billion valuation to connect workforces to therapists and mental health services. Similarly, Calm raised over $70 million, and Headspace raised over $400 million. Some of these funds are being used to improve the services they offer, and making mental health services more readily available e.g. free in some cases.

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Healthcare App Development 

A White Label Telemedicine Platform

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

Types and examples of the best mental health apps

Not all mental health apps are created equal. There are many different types of mental health apps offering different services. Consider the different types and  examples of each;

General mental health apps

These applications help users to maintain their mental health by helping them maintain good habits and break bad habits. They also help them maintain their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual health, which all contribute to their mental health. These applications can serve functions such as mood trackers, giving positive quotes, and giving relaxation exercises like guided meditation. Mindfulness and Meditation apps fall under this category. One such application is Moodfit.

Moodfit

Moodfit is a free mental health app designed with tools and insights to ‘shape up’ your mood. It helps you get into mental shape the same way you would get into physical shape. Moodfit can help you feel better whether you are feeling anxious, depressed, stressed or have PTSD.

Here is how it works:

• You fill out a questionnaire that helps you determine the severity of your symptoms. You also get articles and audio files that can help you understand what you are experiencing.
• You can track your moods.
• Eventually, you can understand the effects certain things and activities have on your mood, for example, specific medications, amount of sleep, or exercise.
• Receive actionable insights to help you feel better and alter your mood

Education and assessment apps

Such applications help their users to get information on mental health disorders such as PTSD, bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression, eating disorders, and negative thoughts, among many others. These apps share materials used by mental health practitioners when identifying mental health disorders. One such application is Sanvello.

Sanvello

Sanvello’s mission is simple. ‘To help people build the life skills they need, anytime, anywhere, in any way they choose.’ To do so, they provide their users with clinically validated, evidence-based tools and techniques to help them deal with stress, depression, anxiety, etc. A randomized study of 500 adults who had mild to moderate anxiety found that Sanvello’s tools successfully decreased symptoms. These effects lasted even after the participants stopped using the app.

By using Savvello, you can:

• Find cognitive behavioral therapy tools
• Learn mindfulness skills
• Track your mood and health using their inbuilt tools, and use this information to improve your mental and physical health
• Follow the guided journeys designed to help you feel more in control of your life.
• Use the tools to cope with specific issues, for example, the fear of public speaking.

Mental disorder apps

There are many mental disorders apps. These help you deal with specific mental disorders by providing you with the tools necessary to help you function better. Current mental disorder apps deal with problems such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, and schizophrenia. They use techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy cbt, Mood monitoring, cognitive training, and rational emotive behavioral therapy.

More development is expected to help treat other disorders. For example, there is still room in the mental health apps market for PTSD, Bipolar Disorder Apps, Eating Disorder Apps, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Apps, and cognitive behavioral therapy cbt apps, among others.

WHY CREATE A CUSTOM MENTAL HEALTH APP IN 2021

MoodMission

One great application that caters to users with PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and stress is MoodMission. Here are some of its functionalities:

• Go through an available list of options and choose the problem you are experiencing.
• Receive five ‘mission’ suggestions based on the information you provide
• Go through each mission with mindfulness, understanding the activities in that mission together with how it may help
• Accept a mission, and after completing it, rate how distressed you feel.
• Your completed missions are logged, and you are ranked based on completed missions.

Online therapy apps

These apps act like banks when you swipe your card at Starbucks (they are intermediaries). They connect you to licensed mental health professionals near you. There are several ways to meet your therapists, depending on your preferences and what the app offers. Ideally, you can get onto an online call, a video call, or chat online. Some apps give group therapy sessions whereby several patients get on a conference call and have a group therapy session. One great example of an online therapy mental health app is Calmerry.

Calmerry

Calmerry will connect you with therapists that match your needs to get you the help you need in order to achieve your goals and meet your needs. There are many types of therapists available such as:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) 
• Gestalt therapy 
• Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
• Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT)
• Schema-focused therapy (SFT), etc

Here’s a gist of how using Calmerry will work:

• Get a brief assessment where you answer several questions
• Choose how you wish to get therapy
• Select a subscription option that works for you
• Get matched with the right therapist for you
• Start your therapy sessions.

HEALTHCARE APPS DEVELOPMENT: TYPES, EXAMPLES, AND FEATURES

Must-have Features for Mental Health Mobile Apps

While different mental health apps have different features, there are some features that every mental health app development team should strive to incorporate. These features can be broken down into two main groups: Features for patients and mental health professionals. Here is a breakdown of each.

For the patient

These features make it easy for you to track your progress. Some have mood tracking, guided meditation, breathing exercises, and mindfulness among other important features. Here’s a more comprehensive look at the features;

An entry survey – This survey is used to collect basic information concerning the user. This information includes their age, location, gender, family status, current mental health conditions, etc. This information can help the application match the client with the most relevant therapist. Some apps give an entry assessment test that helps users identify the cognitive issues they are facing, particularly if they have never been diagnosed before.

Matching flow – The entry survey and assessment data is used to match the patient to a  therapist. In the US, counselors practice in the states where they are licensed, so factors like the state may determine which counselors will be matched. The apps typically match users to a new counselor for free if they are not satisfied with the one they get.

Text messaging functionality – This feature is excellent for patients or therapists who prefer to communicate through online chat. It’s also an easy way to reach out, for example, if the therapist is currently in another session.

Video conferencing – This function is excellent for video sessions.

Subscription – This is how many of these apps monetize their applications and pay counselors. Users chose the subscription that fits their needs and can cancel at any time or ask for refunds in line with the terms of service. Some subscriptions unlock extra features, e.g., video conferencing.

Therapy space – Therapists use this space to record their patients’ goals and track their progress in real-time.

Therapy management – Patients can use this space to manage their therapy sessions, e.g., pause accounts for some time or put unfinished sessions on hold.

HOW TO BUILD A MEDITATION APP LIKE HEADSPACE AND CALM

For counselors

Short survey – These verify that the therapist is certified to work with patients. These can include asking for clinical permits, state permits, etc. They also give any necessary information about the counselor.

Text and video chats – This is how counselors access their patients

Caseload management – This allows the therapist to manage their caseloads and even determine how many clients they are willing to work with.

Tech stack for a custom mental health application

The tech stack creates an ecosystem allowing several technologies to run one application. Some technologies to use include;

• Angular for the front-end
• Daily.co for secured video calls
• Ionic for developing a hybrid mobile app
• Node.js for the backend
• S3 Bucket for developing the messaging feature from scratch
• MongoDB for secured database
• Redis for sessions queues
• Pusher to send push notifications without sensitive data
• Kafka for exchanging messages between microservices

Ideally, you want to find developers with experience in one or more technologies listed.

Related reading: 

Video Streaming App Proof of Concept

Developing mental health mobile apps

You would be hard-pressed to find one person to develop the application. You are better off hiring several specialists. The specialists needed include;

Business Analyst (BA)

The BA will bridge the gap between IT and the business by using data analytics to find solutions that will fit both your mental health business and your potential clients.

Project Manager (PM)

The PM is responsible for running the project on a day-to-day basis, including ensuring that it stays within budget, is done on time, and is done within the scope laid out.

System Architect

The system architect will write the technical documentation for the project data after receiving and analyzing data from the PM and the BA.

Developers

Developers offer one or more technical solutions,

Designers

Designers visualize the project by making prototypes, creating flow in the app, finalizing the project design, etc.

Quality Assurance Managers

Quality Assurance Managers test the lines of code to ensure that the parts of the project align with the technical documentation and that they work correctly.

As you can imagine, it may be very time-consuming and expensive to interview every person needed to make the app a reality. For this reason, it may make more sense to outsource to a development team. Here are six steps to hiring an outsourcing app development team to understand how to go about that process.

If you are wondering what it may cost to hire an outsourcing app development team, here are some numbers. These values depend on factors such as the team’s geographical location and the app’s features. A simple app may cost you between $25,000 to $50,000. A complex app with multiple features may cost from $100,000 to $200,000.

Costs aside, government compliance for sensitive patient information is a core issue you need to understand.

HOW MENTAL HEALTH CHATBOTS HANDLE STRESS?

HIPAA, PHIPA, and GDPR compliance

Many people opt to use mental health mobile apps over traditional therapy because they understand it to be more private. Some regulatory guidelines for mobile mental health providers ensure the app’s safety and, consequently, its reputation. Essential components include;

HIPAA compliance. When developing the app, it may be helpful to determine whether the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules apply. A healthcare app becomes Subject to HIPAA if it includes the user’s Protected Health Information (PHI) that can be traced back to the patient. Otherwise, most mental health apps in the app stores are not subject to HIPAA as they are meant for the patient’s private use.

GDPR privacy standards. GDPR requirements are EU regulations directing how businesses should manage personal data. If your app will serve users in the EU, it is advisable to meet these requirements.

Regulatory guidelines. Mental health practices are regulated on federal and state levels. Therefore, it’s essential that you only engage licensed therapists who are acquainted with the federal and state laws. If you are unsure which regulations your application should meet, this interactive mental health apps tool, designed by the Federal Trade Commission, might help.

Encrypting app data. Ensure that all stored or shared data is encrypted at all stages – Passcodes, usernames, and biometrics. 

These features help keep the user’s data private from prying eyes on their end, which helps them feel more secure.

HOW TO MAKE A PERFECT MOBILE APP IN 6 STEPS

TIPS from The APP Solutions

When developing Calmerry, The APP Solutions faced many issues. Below are some solutions that were useful in solving these issues

Therapist validation

To adhere to federal and state regulations about where therapists can offer their services, you need to develop a way of validating the licenses of the therapists hired. You then need to develop an algorithm that matches therapists and users from the same states only.

Architecture

The app’s architecture needs to handle hundreds of actions done by thousands of users regardless of location. An application with video conferencing capabilities functionality, for example, may require heavier loads on the servers compared to chat-based apps.

Unique session I.D. per call and token per participant

Session IDs are necessary to initiate calls. Participant tokens will be unique to the session IDs and will enable users to join the calls. The session IDs can also help prevent double-booking in the calendar if a calendar function exists.

Encryption

To ensure the safety of confidential and sensitive information, it is advisable to encrypt text messages and videos on both endpoints.

The bottom line

According to data from the KFF, more than 30% of adults reported symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, or depression during this pandemic period. This implies that the time is ripe for mental health app developers to develop health apps and online therapy platforms to help people cope with mindfulness and mental health.

If you are looking for a reliable tech partner for your mental health project, the APP Solutions is a mental health and therapy app development company. We can provide solutions for therapy app development and other similar projects.  Drop us a few lines and we will get in touch with you.

As a woman, I want to wear makeup and keep my skin healthy. As a project manager, I want my team to create industry-relevant solutions that solve customers’ business challenges. What’s the point? 

Not so long ago, I participated in a brainstorming session with other development team members. A skincare brand owner hired us for the Inception phase. So, we needed to suggest relevant solutions to the business disruptions COVID-19 had brought him. 

After two-hour discussions and liters of coffee, we finally came up with a conclusion – we would integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning applications into his online store. We communicated this idea to the client, and he agreed. 

So, I decided to write this article because the client’s case is a mixture of my main passions – beauty products and intelligent technologies. Using the client’s business challenges as an example, I’ll tell you how COVID-19 has changed the face of the beauty and cosmetics industry. I’ll also describe how intelligent technologies can turn the beauty industry gaps into gains. 

What COVID-19 has changed in the beauty and cosmetics industry? 

The industry of beauty and cosmetics was one of the most rapidly developing markets. In 2017, the beauty industry revenue was worth $474,179 million, and experts from Statista predicted the beauty industry to reach a market value of $571,696 in 2023. 

[Source]

But then, the pandemic came. As for 2020, the beauty industry revenue is estimated at $483,338 million, compared with $504,501 million in income received in 2019.  

[Source]

And there are co-dependent reasons for the beauty market fall: 

Global lockdown. Governments restricted the work of offline stores and shopping malls. For established beauty brands, such a limitation wasn’t very stressful because they already had operating online stores. But for indie brands with retail stores located in one region – such a situation was a disaster. 

No consultants. As a result, the lockdown left beauty brands without an opportunity to provide a personalized skincare experience to their customers. But, personalized suggestions of skincare products keep customers ( including me) from using products that don’t suit our skin type. 

Face masks. Even after governments opened shopping malls and other public places, some issues remained. Here is one example. You can attend offline beauty product stores. But how can you try a new lipstick while wearing a mask? Selling beauty products offline became challenging also because the virus can travel from one person to another via breathing. So, trying lipstick after someone had breathed on it could infect you with the coronavirus.   

Less income. Since beauty consultants couldn’t recommend products to customers offline, upselling and cross-selling also decreased. In contrast,  online beauty retailers, who integrated AI-powered product recommendations before the pandemic, significantly gained from these technologies. In current circumstances, product recommendation via AI is the single available method to upsell and cross-sell beauty products online. 

Late delivery. Closed borders complicated the provision of skincare and beauty products to warehouses. In contrast, online beauty brands with excess product stock faced decreased demand from customers. Many of them lost their jobs due to retrenchment or bankruptcy and weren’t ready to spend their last savings on makeup. In this case, beauty brands met the need to quickly distribute makeup products with a short shelf life to profit.  

In a nutshell, the pandemic impacted the whole beauty industry ecosystem – from shipment to distribution. Luckily, we are living in the age of intelligent technologies. So, let’s see how machine learning and AI in the beauty industry can smooth things over. 

Related reading: 

NIOXIN Consultation case study 

Top 5 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications in the beauty industry that confront COVID-caused disruptions 

Before digging into details, let’s quickly clarify some basic terms:

• Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is a sub-niche of data science. AI algorithms are smart enough to behave without human intervention. Artificial Intelligence algorithms have a wide range of applications – from AR filters in Instagram and Snapchat to self-driven cars and voice assistants. 
• Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence. Machine learning algorithms leverage different learning models, depending on a particular business use case. In this way, machine learning apps can automatically improve through experience. Netflix and Spotify adopted machine learning to provide users with more personalized content suggestions. 

Over the past years, both ML and AI algorithms have penetrated the beauty and cosmetics industry. Experts predict spending for AI in the beauty industry will grow to $7.3 billion by 2022.

Here are five major beauty AI applications cosmetic brands adopt:

• Augmented reality apps for virtual makeup try-on
• Dynamic content personalization
• Voice assistant for product recommendation 
• AI-powered beauty product search
• Demand and supply forecasting tools

Such well-known brands as Coty and Shiseido already leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to adapt to the new normal and keep customers engaged. 

Let’s find out how intelligent technologies work in more detail. 

1. Augmented reality for virtual try-on 

Augmented reality is a technology stack that enables adding virtual images to real-life photos. Augmented Reality technology powers Instagram and Snapchat filters. But how does AR work? 

• The intelligent algorithm detects the buyer’s face by analyzing 100 focal points to find facial borders.
• The AI algorithm analyzes data points around facial characteristics to map the makeup on one’s face.
• AR adjusts digital objects to the size of the face and overlays them to a photo or video, so artificial items fit perfectly.

In terms of beauty products and skincare, Augmented reality enhances the online shopping experience with the ability to try lipstick and eye shadows virtually and even see the result of anti-aging creams by detecting wrinkles, spots, skin texture, and dark circles. 

The pioneers in AR applications for beauty products were Perfect Corp and Modiface. Software providers used a combination of augmented reality deep learning and computer vision technologies for a virtual try-on before it became a mainstream trend.

Perfect Corp has been on the market since 2014. The company Beauty SaaS – in-store consultation, a mobile SDK, WeChat mini-program, and listing your products in our award-winning app, YouCam Makeup. Such beauty brands as Yves Saint Laurent, L’Oréal Paris, MAC Cosmetics, and Macy’s used Perfect Corp technologies for customers to have a virtual try-on experience. 

Watch the video below to check out how you can try various shades of makeup for the eyes, lips, and hair using your smartphone, create your look and even download results as you use it as a reference for your makeup artist.

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As for Modiface, it started in 1999 at Stanford University when one student-initiated research on automatic facial analysis. The student’s name was Parham Aarab. He continued his research on face processing algorithms at the University of Toronto, and only in 2006 Parharm founded ModiFace Inc.

In 2018, L’Oreal acquired ModiFace and used its technologies for an AI makeup app with augmented reality in cooperation with Facebook. Using Modiface, you can virtually produce products with a smartphone camera and then move to the product page to make a purchase.

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2. AI-powered dynamic content personalization

Personalized is one of the most promising applications of artificial intelligence in the beauty industry. As Tapestry research firm’s study shows, shoppers spend 80% of the time in the pre-search phase, while only 20% of website visitors add products to cart and checkout. 

This means if you shorten their journey by providing them relevant items in the first place, customers are more likely to buy them. 

There are several ways to use AI in the beauty industry for dynamic personalized content:   

• Capturing and digitizing product, content, and customer data
• Tagging and organizing data into easily usable structured formats
• Optimizing costs through data-driven decisions

Lazada, one of Asia’s leading marketplaces, adopted a dynamic personalization and the result was inspiring. The marketplace increased customer engagement by 101%, overall revenue per visit by 9.4%, the overall conversion rate by 11.5%, and customer retention by 35%. 

3. Natural Language Processing for total makeover product recommendation 

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a sub-niche of Artificial Intelligence. NLP combines linguistics, data science, and AI algorithms to enable computers to understand human language. The difference between NLP-powered applications and simple chatbots lies in data input and output. 

While simple chatbots engage closed questions with “Yes” and “No” answers or simple commands, you can communicate with NLP apps more naturally and receive relevant non-pre-defined answers. 

Beauty brands utilize Natural Language Processing technology for smart digital assistants that suggest products in a more personalized way. Since voice-driven beauty services work best combined with visuals, beauty brands target such apps for devices with screens. “Let’s Get Ready”, an NLP customer assistant by Coty, is a vivid example. The application was created for Echo Show, Amazon’s first Echo devices with screens. 

[Artificial intelligence makeup suggestions]

Coty, a multi-brand beauty corporation, launched “Let’s Get Ready” in 2018. By using the app, buyers can create personalized makeup, hair, and nail looks for any event. 

The app has the following workflow: 

• The app asks for details about your look preferences, hair, eye, skin color, and the event you are attending, to get started. 
• The app creates your profile, used by Alexa to recommend curated looks, visual tutorials, beauty tips, and recommended products from Coty’s consumer beauty portfolios. 
• The app then offers you a personalized total makeover look from over 2,000 combinations of makeovers using Coty-owned brands products (Max Factor, Bourjois, Clairol, Rimmel, and Sally Hansen). 

You can check out suggested makeovers on a built-in screen and ask Alexa to order beauty products via the “Shop the Look” feature. 

4. AI-powered beauty product search

Providing personalized skincare and makeup product recommendations online is challenging. However, AI search algorithms simplify this task. AI search engines don’t look like a simple search bar. Instead, such algorithms interact with buyer information during a short quiz. 

One example of an AI-powered search algorithm application is My Beauty Matches, an online marketplace. The website lists over 400,000 products on skincare, makeup, and body care. 

• My Beauty Matches offers a quiz for new website visitors. With the quiz, the AI algorithm collects information about skin type and condition, hair structure, and preferences in fragrances. 

• The algorithm analyzes your data, finds relevant products in the database, and displays personalized product recommendations. 

Maybe this is how beauty consultants will look in the future? 

5. AI beauty supply and demand forecasting

The pandemic made product shipment even more complicated due to closed borders and quarantine measures. Such a situation caused significant disruptions in the import of food, industrial products, and the beauty industry. 

We already described why AI is useful for effective supply chain management in our previous articles. Now, let’s see how beauty brands use AI applications in demand forecasting software. 

Machine learning algorithms are the leading tech solutions for supply and demand prediction. ML algorithms analyze historical data and make predictions of sales and shipping volumes. But, supply chain apps can predict future demand in another way. 

Predictive analytics create forecasts when historical data is no longer valid. Predictive analytics algorithms analyze the combination of external factors, including weather, seasonality, and public holidays to predict whether you need to order more red lipstick for a holiday season or not. In this way, predictive analytics help beauty businesses to adapt to changing demand conditions. 

NARS Cosmetics, a beauty product brand from France, leverages demand forecasting applications and customer data to learn more about their customers, skin tones, and other preferences to build new products. 

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Shiseido, a Japanese multinational personal care company, is another beauty brand that keeps an eye on demand forecasting. As for November 2020, the company is looking for demand planning specialists in the New York area to forecast their inventory in-house. 

[Source]

Using machine learning and AI in the cosmetics market

Adopting artificial intelligence and machine learning has become more critical for beauty retailers in the past six months. Cosmetics brands should remain proactive and continue investing in technologies because this is the best time.

People are bored of sitting at home with no ability to travel, so why not entertain them with virtual try-on or AI product search? 

Even well-established cosmetics brands doubt their supply chain and leverage data analytics to have information to rely on. Thus, you can’t be too careful about staying relevant to your consumers and balancing your product stock.

Next step 

Do you work in the beauty industry? Are you interested in developing artificial intelligence technologies? 

By leveraging AI technologies, we can help you to innovate faster so you can crush your competition.

What our clients say 

Related reading:

Biudee Personalized Skincare App Case Study

Nioxin Client Consultation App Case Study

If you think that flying on a private jet is accessible only for celebrities or bankers with at least a billion dollars in their accounts, you are wrong. Thanks to an on-demand business model, a luxury private jet is at your fingerprints. Also, private jets are becoming popular among wealthy Millennials and young entrepreneurs because they want to eliminate discomfort and stress from their travels. Thus, those born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s are expected to be the essential users of business aviation in the coming years. 

At the same time, the market of private jets is expected to grow from $24.7 billion in 2019 to $36.4 billion by 2030, making a flight-sharing app a killer tech startup idea. 

In this article, we describe how Uber for private jets works, the app’s essential features, and app development cost. 

But before hiring private jet charter app developers, let’s find out what problems Uber for private planes solves. 

Why is there a need for a private jet booking app?

As said before, Millennials will be the primary target audience of private jet providers for the next few years. To provide them with the most appropriate service, you should know that Millennials value their time, often travel for work, conferences, meetings, and appreciate flexibility. Also, they expect shared private jet services to be as user-friendly as Airbnb or Netflix. 

At the same time, to book a private jet, Millennials need to choose among the following options: 

• To book a flight through a third-party broker, which requires time and does not suit unexpected flights
• To book a share in a jet, i.e., fractional ownership. In this case, you can only use your share for a particular number of hours that may run out, and you would not be able to make the flight. 
• To buy a membership card and use it during a specific time. If you don’t use these hours within a specific period, all unused hours expire. 

Therefore, conventional means of jet chartering do not meet Millennials’ needs. 

At the same time, an Uber for charter flights app solves all the listed issues. 

How do apps for private jet share work?

To build your Uber for a private jet app, you should be aware of the app’s essential components and booking options. As an example, we take Victor, the first app for chartering private jets, launched in 2011. 

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• After you register in the app, enter the point of departure and destination to book a flight
• Now you can see all the jets available, together with instant pricing and estimated length of the flight 
• You can pay for a flight using a build-in payment gateway 
• After the app processes the payment, you receive a push notification that your jet has been reserved successfully 
• If you want to dine on your favorite sushi during the flight or take your nine dogs on board, you can ask for additional services in the FlyVictor Concierge section. 

[Source]

XO app, powered by JetSmarter, is another mobile solution for chartering private jets. The app offers unique jet booking options, including: 

• Private Fly is for when you want to book the whole plane
• Shared Charter to share the flight cost with other passengers you invite
• Fly by the Seat to find and book a single seat, or create a crowdfunded flight 

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Now that you know how an Uber for jet app works, let’s learn how to make it profitable. 

Monetization strategies for an On-demand private jet app

There are two basic pricing models private jet booking apps adopt:  

1. Subscription is the business model of choice for XO and Magellan Jets apps. To receive access to flight-sharing services, app users should buy a monthly or annual subscription. For instance, Magellan Jets annual card for 25-hour costs from $108,750. 
2. Pay-as-you-fly is another payment model used by JetVictor and Private Jet apps. App users pay only for hours spent during the flight. The cost of one hour starts from $2,800. 

Since jet booking services do not own plans, they perform as a middleman between customers and jet owners. Charging transaction fees is the essential monetization strategy of Uber for jet apps. 

• JetVictor charges a 10% fee per flight and empty legs booked via the app. 
• XO app charges passengers’ $395 service fee per flight. 

How to develop an Uber for private jets: essential features

What features do you need to include in your jet booking app? 

• User registration 

Once the user has downloaded the app, one should enter their email and phone number to create a user account. 

• Flight search 

To hitch a ride on a private plane, the user should enter the number of passengers, one’s location, point of destination, departure, and arrival date and time. Next, the private jet app will show all available flights with costs. 

[Source]

• Booking and payment 

The user can book a flight in the app and pay using PayPal, Stripe, or other payment gateways. 

• Push notification 

Your app should send push notification to inform your app users about changes of flight, and status. 

[Source]

How much does a private jet booking app cost? 

The cost to develop a private jet sharing app depends on the number of features, third-party integrations, the complexity of the app’s UI/UX design, and other factors. To give you an idea about a jet booking app cost, we created this table with a project estimated in hours. 

FeatureScreen	Functions required	Back-End	Android/iOS
Project Setup		12 hours	8 hours
App development
Login signup	Registration info Phone Number Login SMS verification in Sign Up	32 hours	24 hours
Profiles	Edit user profile Change credentials Change password	16 hours	16 hours
Google Maps integration	Google Map API integration Define the user’s location and show the nearest airport for private jets	8 hours	8 hours
Push notification	Inform user about changed order status	32 hours	16 hours
Flight booking	Create booking Booking confirmation by email	24 hours	12 hours
Payment getaways	Payment systems integration	24 hours	80 hours
Project Documentation	Technical specification Installation and deployment instructions Development documentation		30 hours
QA	Test all app’s features  Create bug reports Conduct re-testing  Conduct regression testing		50 hours

In a nutshell, to create a jet booking mobile app, developers need from three to four months per platform. The estimated development price of such apps starts from $70K. To receive a more detailed project estimate, use our project cost calculator.  

The APP Solutions tips for a private jet app like Uber 

Before starting the development stage, take into account that you need something more than making an XO or JetVictor apps clone. As experts in developing on-demand apps, we want to share tips to make your app successful. 

Smart Pricing Algorithm

The pricing algorithm is a sanctum sanctorum of all on-demand services, shrouded in mystery. Since you will gather transaction fees from each jet booking, you need to create an AI-powered pricing algorithm that will automatically add your commission to the total flight cost, while keeping prices competitive.  

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API integration

From the developer’s standpoint, such applications perform as deal aggregators, similar to KAYAK. Thus, to show current flights you need to integrate the app’s back-end with jet provider databases via API. We recommend the following APIs of private jet booking services:

• Tukijets
• PrivateFly.com
• Stratosjets

Jet interior preview

High-quality images might not be enough to provide your users with more details about the jet’s interior. Thus, to win a competition, consider empowering your jet booking app with 360°panoramic images, 3D preview, and even Augmented Reality. In this way, you will not only fascinate users with the interior of planes but also increase the credibility of your private plane sharing services. 

The business jet industry will remain profitable for the next several years. To receive a profit from booking private jets, consider developing an on-demand booking app. To stand out from the crowd and meet the high standards of Millenials, you need to make your booking service streamlined and easy to use. If you have an idea for your Uber for flights app, you can receive additional consultation after filling in our contact form. 

What our clients say 

Read also:

• How to Develop a Luxury App for Boats and Yacht Chartering

Thanks to the on-demand economy, we receive numerous services via the mobile application, eliminating long waiting and paperwork. Popular in the food ordering and taxi-hailing industries, on-demand apps are also relevant for luxury yacht charter, which is extremely popular among wealthy Millennials. Yacht chartering businesses should concentrate on building streamlined and user-friendly yacht rental apps to meet the demands of young millionaires.

If you consider adopting a mobile strategy for your yacht chartering company, you should be aware of the industry leaders’ best practices, as well as app development steps. 

By the end of this post, you will know how to develop a luxury app for superyacht brokerage, have insight on essential app features, and the development costs. 

But, before digging into the yacht charter app development guide, let’s figure out why the standard yacht chartering process no longer meets luxury customers’ demands. 

The problem in the luxury yachting industry

An Allied Market Research report revealed that the luxury yacht market is a fast-growing industry expected to reach $10.20 billion by 2025 from $5.70 billion in 2017. The main industry drivers are the increased disposable income of customers and millennial buyers, who prefer yacht chartering over yacht ownership due to high costs. Also, Millennials expect luxury yacht chartering services to be as convenient as their favorite on-demand apps, including Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix. 

At the same time, to charter a yacht via a broker, you need to wait at least several days to find out about prices, and over two weeks to actually charter a boat and sign all the necessary documents and agreements. As a result, yacht chartering businesses that still communicate with clients in an old-fashioned way are losing millennial customers. 

If you want to keep your yacht-chartering business afloat and meet the expectations of wealthy young-adult travelers, an on-demand yacht finder app is a must. Using the app, your customers can find, book, and even pay for a charter within minutes, avoiding long waits and other inconveniences.   

Related reading:

• AI in the logistics industry 
• How to develop Uber for trucking 
• How to develop an application like Uber 
• HYPR taxi app development case study 

To build an outstanding luxury yacht charter booking app you need to have a clear picture of what the on-demand service model is and how it works. 

On-demand yacht booking app to connect yacht charters and yacht owners 

On-demand applications perform as a middleman between customers and service providers, allowing them to make business transactions in just a few minutes. 

In recent years, we have seen how the on-demand business model has revolutionized many industries. For example, Uber, a taxi-booking app, has completely changed the way we book a car. Now, you can hail a taxi in a few clicks in your mobile app, get the estimated trip cost and length, and even track the location of your driver via GPS.

This on-demand business model also fits the luxury yacht chartering industry. But, instead of taxi-hailing, where time matters, your yacht chartering app should be focused on visual representations of boats and their characteristics, additional luxury services, and social proofs. An app that completely nailed it is Ahoy Club, a leader in the superyacht chartering market.  

A bit of information about Ahoy

Ahoy Club is a digital marketplace where seekers of luxury marine adventures can find the best superyacht from 3,610 yachts in a quick and less costly way. At the same time, luxury yacht providers can list their boats and receive absolute control over charter scheduling and pricing. 

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The idea of such a service came to Ian Malouf, Ahoy Club founder, when he found that the yacht chartering process is cumbersome and slow, and no longer meets the needs of modern customers. To solve this issue, he decided to “make the chartering experience quicker, more informative and more fun” with the Ahoy Club app that allows you to “book a yacht in less than three minutes and save money.” And his idea paid off. Currently, the Ahoy Club app offers users luxury yacht chartering at all destinations worldwide. 

How Ahoy works

To charter a luxury yacht as a user, you need to sign in on a mobile app, select your member type, destination from 154 countries, departure and return date, the number of guests, yacht type and size, and a charter plan. 

Next, the app will show you the search results with available yachts for rent. You can compare and choose the best option for your marine adventures. To book a boat for luxury leisure you need to send a request to the yacht owner. 

Once the yacht owner approves your booking, which might take up to 48 hours, you will receive a transparent and independently recognized digital contract. Due to this contract, you pay a 25% deposit with your bank card via a build-in payment gateway. The next step is to discuss all the trip details and additional services with the yacht representative in build-in secure messenger and pack your bags for the most fantastic holiday ever. You need to pay 25% of the Charter Fee, the remaining 50% of the Charter Fee plus the Advanced Provisioning Allowance, the Security Deposit, and Additional Charges before the charter starts. 

After you’ve enjoyed your holiday, you can leave a review and rate luxury services received, the yacht, sailing crew, and the Capitan.  

To list your superyacht as a yacht owner, you need to sign in to the app as a yacht owner,  Capitan, Yacht manager, or Broker. Next, provide all technical characteristics of your boat, including the yacht’s name, length, year built, number of guests, the port of registration, and your country. 

Don’t forget to include high-quality images of the yacht, cruising regions, destinations, service type (one-day booking or only long-term cruise), and add additional amenities, such as jacuzzi, gym, cinema room, etc. Once you’ve listed your superyacht, you can manage booking and voyage schedules, set instant prices, and even promote your yacht in the app’s Targeted Marketing platform. 

Monetization model

To earn money, Ahoy Club applies a usage-based model and charges small fees and commissions on each charter made through the app and every yacht listed, including: 

• Payment Handling Fee in an amount of 1.5%, charges on each charter total deposited or refunded via the app 
• Central Agent Fee. The app charges 5% on each yacht listed by an agent on behalf of the owner
• Commission, a fee Ahoy charges owners on any yacht booking made via the mobile app. There are two main types of such commissions – 15% of the Charter Fee on yachts that are less than 24 meters, and 4% on a yacht more than 24 meters. 
• Software Charge, a 3% Charter Fee paid to Ahoy by the yacht owner, for providing digital services

Now that you know how to earn money with your yacht booking app, let’s take a look at the essential yacht app features and development costs. 

Steps to build a luxury yacht charter app

Below we list the essential stages of developing a great yacht rental app. 

Step 1. Analyze the luxury yacht booking app market 

By analyzing your competitors, and knowing their strengths and weaknesses, you can shape your project vision, mission, and monetization strategy. 

Step 2. Hire yacht booking app developers 

Once you have a vision of your project, you can start searching for developers of mobile apps with experience in on-demand services and ask them for a quote. 

Step 3. Create technical documentation of your Airbnb for yacht app

Technical documentation is a must for a successful boat charter app since it includes the app’s back-end architecture, user stories, technical solutions, and third-party integrations, as well as a detailed project estimate. 

Step 4. Start building boat rental app MVP

Before developing a feature-rich boat rental software, try your business idea by launching an app Minimum Viable Product with only essential features, and find out whether it is popular among users. 

Step 5. Empower your boat sharing app with advanced features 

Once users start chartering luxury yachts via your app, it is the right time to add more advanced functions to your Airbnb for boats and provide them with a more convenient booking experience.

Private luxury yacht charter app: essential features

Yacht charter booking software performs as a marketplace with different user roles, including a charterer, yacht owner, and an admin who manages operations between both parties. Thus, your yacht chartering software will consist of a Charterer app, a Yacht owner app, and a web app for the Admin panel. Below we list essential features to include to the MVP of your yacht charter booking system. 

Charterer app

A charter app aims to find the best yacht via search, book it, pay a deposit to the yacht’s owner, and leave a review about the luxury yacht services provided. 

Thus, essential features of Charterer app’s are: 

• Log in via email or social networks such as Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter 
• Yacht search with geographical regions, prices, number of guests, and charter plan (Weekly Charter, Day Charter, Specials, or All-Inclusive)
• Filters to allow users to find the best option according to cost, size, and location, year of manufacture, etc. 
• Schedule booking section where users can request the charter of a chosen yacht
• Built-in payment gateway integration via API for seamless money transfer between charterers and yacht owners via PayPal, Credit/Debit Card
• Rating and reviews to allow charterers to share their experience on luxury traveling 

Yacht owner app

In this app, yacht owners, or other members of the yacht’s management team, should be able to provide as much information about their boats as possible, manage yacht bookings, receive deposits, and communicate with clients. 

Thus, the yacht owner app should include: 

• User verification to find out about the user’s role in the yacht management (yacht owner, crew, yacht manager, etc.)
• Yacht listing, where the user puts info about the yacht, including name, country, the port of registration, size, type, etc. 
• Setting fees. Users can set prices on a specific period based on the yacht’s type, size, length of trip, etc.
• Approve or dismiss charter to show chartеrers whether your chart will be available on the requested period or not
• Schedule charters to show booked yacht charter dates via the in-built calendar

Admin panel 

In this web application, you, as an Admin of yacht chartering marketplace, can manage all the transactions, both charterers and yacht owners, see the number of booked charters, number of declined charters, and other information of your app. The essential features of an Admin panel are: 

• Dashboard to track crucial metrics of your app such as the number of users,  number of active deals, and number of deposits paid, etc. 
• Yacht listing management to edit yacht descriptions, add images, approve user reviews, etc. 
• User management to verify the user’s role in the yacht crew, resolve disputes, approve user profiles, block suspicious users, etc.
• Reporting and analytics are vital to keeping track of your app’s most active users, most popular destinations, yacht types, etc. 

Advanced yacht chartering app features to consider 

Once you launch your app’s MVP and start  attracting yacht owners and charterers, you may want to empower your app with the following advanced features: 

• Built-in messenger allows app users to communicate within an app on the trip details, entertainment, menu, etc. 
• Price comparison so charterers can check trip costs and choose one that fits their budget
• Weather checker, since the weather could be a reason to postpone a trip due to dangers in a storm or rainy seasons
• Cloud solution integration to keep all the information about your customers, deals, and prices on a secure cloud, while maintaining your app’s infrastructure on scalable virtual machines, and handle the massive traffic load. For this service, consider only Certified Cloud Platform Partners. 
• Online concierge is a chatbot that will help you to reduce customer support costs by providing automated answers on FAQs, necessary information about luxury yacht etiquette, safety tips, etc. 

How much does an on-demand yacht chartering app cost? 

So, how much does an on-demand app cost? Mobile app projects that include several types of users are the most difficult. Also, remember that you are going to develop two separate apps (one for the charterer and yacht owner), managed by one web-based Admin panel. Such a project requires, not only senior-level app developers but also time and money. Thus, to give you a clear idea of the app’s MVP project scope, we have gathered and estimated essential features in hours. 

FeatureScreen	Functions required	Design	FrontEnd	BackEnd
Architecture			12	24
Design	Development of UX/UX Design components	40
Yacht owner’s profile	Personal info Edit profile List of scheduled events	8	16	20
Charterer profile	Personal info List with preferences Booked charters	8	16	20
Search for a yacht	Choose yacht model Apply filter Send a charter request to the yacht owner	16	24	32
Charter request confirmation	Approve charter request Cancel charter request		16
Messenger	Charterer and yacht representative can send text messages	16	24	40
Payment	Third-party API integration such as Stripe or PayPal	8	4	40
Feedbacks and review	Rate yacht owners Rate yachts	10	20	20
Admin panel	Dashboard Catalog Management  User Management Booking Requests			64
Project Documentation	Technical specification  Installationdeployment  Instructions, development documentation			118

On average, to build yacht booking mobile apps, our developers will need from six months, which costs from $60,000 per mobile platform. However, the price is subject to change according to the feature list, the number of users, business requirements, etc. To get a more precise cost of a yacht booking app, use our project cost calculator.  

Streamline yacht chartering leveraging boat reservation software

New times call for new technological solutions, especially in providing luxury services. Since tech-savvy Millennials are the primary target audience for a super luxury yacht chartering business, the only way to meet their expectations is to develop a streamlined and mobile-friendly luxury yacht booking app. In this way, you will make the exclusive lifestyle more accessible, while receiving considerable revenue from a commission-based monetization strategy. 

Think it’s time to develop a luxury mega yacht chartering app? We are here to help. Fill in the contact form to ask for a quote.

 What our clients say 

 “Ah look at all the lonely people” sang The Beatles in their Eleanor Rigby song. Since the 60s, many things have changed, including the way people find soulmates. After the revolution caused by Tinder in 2012, the niche of dating applications is still up and running.

Below, we share the main Tinder features, explain its matching algorithm, and monetization strategy.

But there is more.

You will also find mobile dating app development, step-by-step guide.

Current Dating App Statistic

As we said, modern technologies have completely changed the way we find someone to date and online dating is no longer a taboo.

A quick look at some statistics:

•   Over 27% of committed relationships starting via the Internet.
•   Approximately 40 million people use dating applications and websites around the globe.  
•   The annual revenue of all dating apps is estimated at around $2 billion.
•   Being the most popular dating app Tinder counts around 50 million users across the globe, while 60% came from the U.S.
•   The total worth of Tinder is estimated at around $1,6 billion.

The dating apps market is growing, as well as the customers’ demands. Therefore, if you what to make a dating app, this is the right time. And in this case, you should look up to industry leaders, like Tinder.

Now, let’s learn how to make a dating app like Tinder. 

HOW TO DEVELOP AN APP LIKE NETFLIX 

What are Tinder’s Main Features?

As we said, Tinder is one of the most popular dating applications around the world, and the secret weapon of Tinder is a gaming spirit and swiping feature. If you like someone’s profile, you swipe right, if you don’t – you swipe left. 

Now we’ll look at Tinder app features in more detail.

Login via social networks. Users can log in with their Instagram or Facebook profiles. Then, users can connect their Facebook and Instagram profiles with a Tinder account. Such social authentication helps the platform to become more trustworthy.

Geolocation. Tinder use users location to see which social spots, like bars, coffee shops, etc. they visit more frequently. Other users who have visited that place receive a notification only after the app user leaves that place. Besides, Tinder uses geolocation to find interest-based matches. This way, the app improves its services. For instance, the app will remove cinema halls from the social spots list if a lot of app users keep deleting them from their lists.

Matching algorithm. The app algorithm compares the new user profile with other profiles that are already in the database and suggests relevant matches.

HOW TO BUILD A SOCIAL MEDIA APP IN 2021

How Tinder algorithm works. 

•   The app uses the score to rank people by the attractiveness
•   For this, the app counts how many people swiped a person’s profile right (or Liked). 
•   The more likes, the higher the user’s score 
•   The app shows their profiles to other people with a similar amount of likes
•   Thereby, the app makes the match from the most liked people

Swipe Surge. As we said, Tinder users can like other profiles with a right swipe and dislike them by swiping left. According to the Tinder press release, Swipe Surge increased user activity up to 15x higher. This feature also increases the user match-making potential by 250 percent. 

Image source: Luceverntech

Find matches. Users can set interests, age, gender, etc. as search criteria. Then, the app makes a match of users who like each other’s profiles.

Profile setting. Tinder users can set their profiles to make them more trustworthy and attractive.

Push notification. When the app algorithm finds a suitable match, the user receives a push notification.  

Private chat. When the app makes a match, users can chat in build-in unscripted messenger.

Our next step is to learn how to develop a dating app.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP AN APP: DETAILED FEATURE BREAKDOWN

How to create your own dating app: A Step-by-step guide

To turn your idea about a dating app into a reality, you need to go through the following stages:  

Step 1. Find our niche

Finding a niche is the first stage of starting a dating app. While there are many dating apps already present in the market, you still have an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. For that, you need to choose your niche.

Below you will find the most exciting dating niches, currently present in the market. 

Preferences in food

There are many people with particular menu choices, such as gluten-free people, vegetarians, and vegans. Still, it is hard for them to meet a soul make in everyday life with the same preferences. So, you can base your dating app on some individual diet preferences.

Example:  

Gluten-Free Singles. This dating website was created for gluten-free people so that they can find dating partners, friends, and activity groups with people of the same preferences.

Preferences in lifestyle

We are all different, having different ideas of the perfect place to live. While some of us are children of big cities, others might prefer living in the countryside. Shared preferences in lifestyle can be a solid basis for people to start their relationship.

Example:

Equestrian Cupid. This dating website, developed for country and horse lovers, is a perfect place to find a cowboy or cowgirl. Equestrian Cupid gathered millions of people who dislike busy cities and dream to live in the countryside. Even if the user does not own a horse, they can join the website if they share down to earth values.

Favorite pets

Favorite pets are another theme that may bring people together. Some of us are cat lovers, while others like dogs. Thus, you can base your dating app on common interests in pets.

Example:  

Purrsonals.This dating website brings cat lovers together, so they can look for love while discussing their pets.

So, what’s next?

DO YOU NEED A MOBILE ECOMMERCE APP FOR YOUR STORE?

Step 2. Choose a business model

There are several business models that Tinder and other dating apps use for earning money:

Premium business model

Users get a free set of basic app features, but they can buy a premium app version with the following advanced features :

•   Boosting profile. The app charges users a fixed fee to show their profile as the first in the search result.

•   Advanced swipe. This feature, powered by a machine learning algorithm, changes the way users see photos. 

what is the technology behind it? The smart algorithm adjusts the user photos on the basis of the interests of other users. In this way, the owner of a premium account receives more chances to get matched.

•   Unlimited likes. While users of the free app version have a limited amount of right swipes or likes, users with a paid account have an unlimited number of likes.

You can use other ways of app monetization, such as: 

In-app purchases

App users are pleased to give and receive gifts from each other. To do this, empower your app with paid gifts, such as greetings, flowers, and kisses.

Ads

Many applications use this monetization strategy. You can charge other businesses for running their ads in your app. These might be cost-per-click or cost-per-mile models.

Step 3. Choose the tech stack for a Tinder-like app

Now you need to choose the technologies that will power your app and the main thing you need to keep in mind is scaling.

But why does it matter?

As we look at Tinder as an example:

Since the app’s launch, the Tinder app developers used MongoDB, the NoSQL database, to match people. But, as the app becomes popular and gains users, it becomes hard for the team to maintain the MongoDB database performance. So, the team needed to move to the more powerful Amazon Web Services hosting.

With this in mind, consider the following Tinder technology stack for your dating app.

Now it is time to find some mobile app developers, right? 

BREAKING DOWN AVERAGE COST OF IPHONE APP DEVELOPMENT (THE APP SOLUTIONS EXPERIENCE)

Step 4. Choose a Dating App Development Team

With numerous options presented on the mobile app development market, you need to consider the following parameters to find the best app development team:

Developers Hourly Rate

It is no secret that developers from different countries have a different hourly rate. At the same time, they might have similar experiences and skillsets. Therefore, if you want to decrease development costs, you can consider partnering with developers from other countries.

Check the table with developers’ rates across different countries below.

Image source: Clutch 

Portfolio

The portfolio is another sign you need to check when looking for a mobile app development team. This way, you will receive insight into the company’s level of expertise. Besides, it would be great if the mobile development company have dating apps in their portfolio.

Our recent project is WizzLuck, a mobile dating application that connects people of similar interests. 

The client hired us to refactor the MVP, debug it, and make an upgrade for the new market.  For this project, the team remastered the code, fixed the bugs, and developed a new design.

We also integrated a geolocation feature to help WizzLuck users find matches nearby.

Now, moving on.

Previous Clients

Ask the mobile development team for a list of recent clients. By contacting them, you can learn about your future developers’ reliability, communication skills, and commitments.

Development Capabilities

The size of the development team is another thing to consider. If you want to create an enterprise-level solution, you need to find a big development team. On the other hand, to create a project MVP, you can cooperate with a team with one or two mobile developers.

Step 5. Develop and Launch MVP 

After you’ve selected the development team, they will start the discovery (inception) phase. This stage will include clarification of the project’s requirements, your business goals, and project prototyping.

Feature	Description	Estimated development time
Social sign-in	Empower your app with sign-in via social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn for a more seamless experience.	24+ hours
User profile	Each user has their own profile where one indicates interests and hobbies.	12+ hours
Geolocation	With this feature, the app users will choose the region where they want to find a soulmate and even choose nearby locations.	8+ hours
Matching	To make the matching process more accurate, use AI-based algorithms.	45+ hours
Chatting	When users have a match, they can start chatting and get to know each other better. Also, it is possible to add stickers and GIFs optionally to make messages more vivid.	6+ hours
Push notifications	Push notifications will inform your app users about their matches.	18+ hours
Settings	Settings include main features like select by categories, on/off the sound, customize different filters, and so on.	16+ hours
Total		From 129+ hours

 

The Bottom Line

The development of a dating app might be a very profitable investment. Still, matching app development is a complicated procedure that requires, not only financial resources but also significant experience from your mobile development team.

We hope that our guide on how to create a dating app has helped you to understand how to make your own Tinder app and monetization strategies you should apply.

The only thing left is to find an experienced development team to turn your ideas into reality.

Have you ever faced a situation when your freight brokers spend too much time checking the load board, your driver’s truck is broken at the mid-way point to a warehouse, while some of your truckers drive empty? It sounds like a nightmare for all logistics business owners. Such situations occur because the logistics business is very segmented and consists of several departments – warehouses, fleet, and delivery management. Also, the absence of visibility across logistics departments results in profit loss due to empty miles. In its empty miles research, FreighWaves said on average fleets drive 20% of empty miles or so-called deadhead trips, which reduce logistics businesses’ income. 

To make your logistics company work properly without losing income, you need to manage warehouses, ensure maximum truckloads, and track driver locations, while providing ultimate transparency across all departments. 

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS VS. MACHINE LEARNING: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE

The solution is logistics mobile app development that makes the work across all departments visible and predictable. 

After reading this guide, you will be aware of the essential logistics app types and how to develop a logistics app for your business. 

Essential reasons to create a mobile app for a logistics business

Logistics businesses need to integrate mobile application strategy to their workflow in order to receive the following benefits: 

Eliminates paperwork 

Logistics mobile apps provide instant access to a company’s database with freight accompanying documents, avoiding inconvenient paper order forms and service orders.  

Reduces delivery time and costs

Thanks to fleet management mobile solutions, you can schedule freight delivery, predict fuel expenses, and reduce empty miles. 

Optimizes dispatches and routes

Mobile solutions for warehouse management with built-in databases and barcode scanning features improve freight dispatching, while the delivery scheduling function gives you the option to choose the best way beforehand. 

Provides control over vehicle tracking

You can achieve more coordinated shipment and accurately predict the vehicle’s dispatch time by an integrated GPS tracking feature to a driver’s logistics app.

In a nutshell, you can leverage mobile technologies to automate routine tasks, manage dispatched inventory in real-time, and provide visibility across all departments, thus decreasing empty miles and increasing profit. 

Related reading:

• AI in the logistics industry 
• How to develop Uber for trucking 
• How to develop an application like Uber 
• HYPR taxi app development case study 

Develop a logistic mobile app step-by-step

We often meet customers who ask us to give an estimated cost of the logistics app development without knowing the app’s type or its main components and features, which makes the estimation impossible. Thus, before getting in touch with mobile developers, you need to select the app’s type. In addition, you need to be aware of the development phases to be on the same page with your dev team. 

To give you an idea of the app development process, we gathered essential logistics app development stages. 

STAGES OF LOGISTICS MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT

Step 1. Select the Type of a Logistics App

Since logistics includes several departments, logistics apps also vary by purpose, end-users, and the feature list. At this stage, you need to decide which app’s type you are going to build and select one among the following: 

Fleet Management Mobile Apps

If you have an excessive fleet, you need to track the information about each vehicle and maintain them in time. A fleet management app will help you to record, manage, and store all the information about your trucks. With such transport logistics software, you can track vehicle maintenance history, service costs, fuel consumption trends, and other essential metrics to give you deep insights into your total cost of ownership. Fleet management apps include a driver’s app where the user updates information on the vehicle and an Admin web-based app where you can assign the user’s role, track statistics of your fleet, scheduled maintenance reminders, and so on. To find out more about the fleet management app’s feature list, let’s discover Fleetio Go, a typical fleet management app. 

[Source]

Fleetio Go, a part of Fleetio Manage logistics management software, helps drivers to update information, track their fleet, and access fleet data anytime, anywhere. The app’s most essential features are:  

• Real-time inspections submissions (DVIR) and issues reports
• Barcode scanning for streamlined data updates 
• Digital gallery with photos, docs, and comments
• Integrated GPS for vehicle tracking 
• Submission of Work Orders

Logistics On-Demand Mobile Apps

Vehicles do not always drive fully loaded, and if your drivers have extra space in their trucks, they can take some extra fright for the delivery. If you want to increase the income of your logistics company, consider shipping on-demand mobile app development. 

On-demand delivery logistics apps connect company-owned vehicle drivers and shippers who need their cargo to be delivered. Thus, the app consists of a carrier app, shipper app, and an Admin panel. Now, let’s find out how such apps work. 

• Shippers post a freight request with cargo destination, origin, load, weight, size, and cost
• The platform notifies the nearest driver, ready for immediate pickup, who accepts the shipment request  
• Once the driver picks up the freight, shippers can track the vehicle location via build-in GPS, receive real-time updates and alerts on the delivery progress 
• After the driver delivers the cargo, the platform notifies the shipper about successful delivery and automatically sends an invoice for payment

To earn money, shipping an on-demand app charges a software service fee based on the delivery’s total. 

HOW TO BUILD A FOOD DELIVERY APP LIKE UBEREATS

To learn more about logistics on-demand mobile app features, let’s take a closer look at the Cargomatic Driver app. 

[Source]

Cargomatic is targeted at company-owned truck drivers who want to accept additional shipments during delivery routes. The Cargomatic Driver app’s essential features are: 

• GPS tracker to determine the driver’s location, suggest nearest shipping requests and show driving directions 
• Offers section, where the driver can view app shipping requests nearby
• Order page with information about the shipment origin, destination, size, weight, etc
• Built-in messaging to discuss all the details with the shipper
• Jobs with a history of completed orders, new shipping orders, and their status
• Digitized documentation, where the driver takes a picture of the bill of lading, the POD, and inputs the name of a representative 

Warehouse Mobile Apps

If your logistics business owns a warehouse, you need to ensure that all shipments will be delivered to the right origin within the stated time. At the same time, tracking, managing, and updating the status of hundreds of deliveries in real-time is almost impossible. To digitize the management of your warehouse, consider barcode scanning app development. Such applications are empowered with third-party APIs to recognize various barcodes and integrate with your warehouse database to update information in real-time. Also, barcode scanning apps eliminate expenses on barcode scanners, reduce human errors, and increase your warehouse employee efficiency thanks to bulk barcode scanning. To find out more about the essential warehouse management feature list, let’s take a closer look at the Logistics Plus Mobile Warehousing & Transportation App.

[Source]

Logistics Plus Mobile Warehousing & Transportation App improves warehouse management by streamlining the receiving process, checking details, and tracking domestic and international freight. The essential features of this logistics management app are: 

• Barcode scanner to read barcodes using a mobile device’s camera, and update the warehouse database within minutes
• Integration with resource management software (ERP) so warehouses and logistics businesses can track freight being shipped in and out 
• Shipment Tracking for finding a particular freight by the shipper, consignee, or PO#, and its status 
• Current Position to find out about shipping geolocation, speed, navigation status, times of departure and arrival, and ETA at the final destination.

Once you have enough information about your logistic mobile app and its feature list, it is time to find mobile app developers and contact them.

Related reading:

HOW IS AI REDEFINING THE LOGISTICS & TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRIES

Step 2. Quote from logistic mobile app developers 

At this stage, your goal is to consider not only technical expertise but also communication between the team and yourself as the client. But why does it matter? While there are hundreds of thousands of good developers, the project’s success directly depends on excellent communication among team members where soft skills are essential. 

Where to find the best mobile app developers:

• Clients review platforms, such as Clutch or GoodFirms
• Professional social media networks, like Linkedin 
• Technical blogs where industry leaders share useful tips with their clients 

Also, check out our previous article where we shared tips on hiring mobile app developers.  Once you select the best mobile developers, you need to get in touch with their sales representatives, usually via the website’s contact form.  

Step 3. Sign NDA and explain your business idea

Once your request is answered, a sales manager will schedule a call to receive more information on the project. However, there is no need to share all the details about your logistic app with people who are not yet your technological partners. Thus, a sales manager who respects your business idea will send you an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement). However, if you have strict deadlines, ask to sign an NDA before the first call. Now, tell the sales manager what logistics app you are going to build, its features, users, and so on. The sales manager will send this information to business analysts, who will roughly estimate the costs of your app.  

Step 4. Receive a rough app estimate

A rough estimate of the app’s cost is not the final cost of your project because there are many tech details and requirements to be clarified. Thus, avoid companies who claim to develop a comprehensive logistics app for ridiculously low costs. 

Compare a rough estimation from mobile app developers, including timeframes, technologies, team composition, their hourly rate, and choose your winner. 

Step 5. Launch the discovery (inception) phase

The discovery or inception phase lasts from one to three months. During this period, your development team will come up with questions concerning the app’s business logic, functions, end-users, and the way they interact with the app, to create a project specification. A project specification, or technical documentation, is a document that describes project goals, all possible ways users will interact with the app (user stories), what the app will do in each case, the list of technologies, and architecture. 

Another deliverable of the discovery phase is an app’s prototype. The prototype is an interactive design of several screens that visualize the main app’s design elements. On the link, you can try our app prototype. 

At the end of the discovery phase, the team will run a demonstration of the app’s prototype, send you the project specification, prototype, final estimate, and wait for your feedback. 

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP AN APP: DETAILED FEATURE BREAKDOWN

Step 6. Build and launch your logistic app’s MVP 

Before developing the feature-rich app, the team will create an app MVP (minimum variable product). The MVP is the app’s version that includes only essential features required to prove your business idea. To build an MVP,  the dev team will do the following: 

Create an app MVP development plan 

Using the project specification, the team prioritizes the app’s features and creates an MVP roadmap. The project roadmap is a document that includes all MVP user stories and iterations for their implementation. 

Start the development phase

The team starts to implement user stories according to the development plan. At the end of each iteration, the team will send you the report, and each month they will conduct a demonstration to show you a ready-made part of the app. 

Release the app’s MVP on marketplaces

Once the MVP of your logistic application is done, the development team runs the final demo and releases the app to Apple Store and Google play for public access. At this stage, you receive entire access to your app, the database, the app’s code, and other project-related documents.  

Step 7. Empower logistics app with advanced features

After you receive feedback from the app’s users, you and your development team will decide what advanced features to build next. For this stage, consider adding such advanced logistics app functions as:

• Build-in messaging 
• Digitized documentation
• Changeable shipping order status 
• Digital gallery with freight images 
• History of completed shipments 
• Real-time inspections submissions 
• Barcode scanning API integration 
• Third-party payment gateway 
• Logistics optimization software

OUTSTAFFING VS. OUTSOURCING VS. MANAGED SERVICES: DIFFERENCES AND BENEFITS

The APP Solutions experience in logistics mobile app development 

We delivered two projects for customers from logistics domains. 

Transprolog Monitoramento, a logistics company from Brazil, hired us to develop a mobile logistics platform with GPS and message for drivers, and integrate it with a ready-made web-based app for logistics managers. 

To meet the client’s goals, we empowered a mobile app for drivers with the following features:

• Build-in messenger to communicate with shippers via text and voice messages, send them images and videos
• Order management to change the delivery status via the app 
• GPS integration 

Our team delivered the project within a tight timeline, and the client received the app after three months. 

Heavy Haul Route is another mobile app we developed for the logistics segment. Initially, the client needed a route planning app for long-haul truck drivers that offered the best route, and reduction in fuel expenses, to avoid getting off-route tickets and hitting bridges. Apart from coding, the client also needed a team to create the app’s design. 

After working with us, the client received:

• UX/UI design for all app’s screens
• Maps service integration via API 
• Advanced user data security measures 

WHAT TECH STACK TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR PROJECT

Leveraging mobile technologies in logistics and transportation management

In a nutshell, logistics management systems can improve performance across all your departments, from the warehouse to vehicle maintenance. To develop an outstanding mobile app for your logistics business, follow the steps we have described in this guide. 

If you are considering logistic mobile app development and still have questions, we are always here to help. 

Let’s play a game? The expected time to read this article is 9 min. But you can finish it sooner, right? Check what time it is now and start reading. We Promise the prize at the end will be worth taking the challenge. Go!

So, mobile apps…

Today, the mobile app market is enormous, and the numbers from Statista prove that: on Google Play, you can find apps totaling $2.5 million, Apple App Store – $1.8 million, Windows Store – $669 thousand, and  Amazon App Store – $489 thousand. In total, we have a number of $5,5 billion in mobile apps! For business owners, both exciting and disturbing at the same time!

Thus, it’s getting more and more challenging to create a mobile app that will stand out from other apps, be interesting for users, and kept on the shelves like a  favorite toy. Yes, users are quite spoiled children – so many toys in the stores to play with – no chance for boring toys to survive.

[Source: Mambo]

As a result, offering boring apps to users will lead a business owner, not only to a loss of user interest but, of course, the impossibility to involve new users and their money. In the end, we come to an unexpected mathematical equation:

No users = no reviews, comments from them = no leading positions in searches = no new downloads = no success.

But don’t be so quickly disappointed. There is a way to transform an app and achieve all your business goals in a much short period of time.

Interested? Keep reading so you don’t miss an opportunity that will really work for your app!

What is Mobile App Gamification and Why This is What You Need

According to research conducted by a neurology scientist, Matthias Koepp, adult brains release the hormones dopamine and serotonin while playing games and taking challenges. They feel that internal accomplishment that makes them happy, full of energy, and the motivation to continue and move to another level. This answers the question of why people desire to and actually play more and more. 

In real life, it’s harder to experience these emotions because for this to happen you need to achieve bigger goals. Emotional triggers are what returns us to one source of happiness – games – and we can be happy again and again.

So here we go – to the games or it would be better to say ‘mobile app gamification’.

Mobile app gamification is a marketing concept based on the use of such game techniques as rewards, progress display, leaderboards, competition, and social interaction. As people are more inclined to fulfill tasks when they know that at the end a reward will be waiting for them, mobile app gamification is a guide that leads you directly to the user’s production of dopamine and serotonin hormones.

Mobile App Gamification Benefits

Turning the user experience into playing a game can significantly increase the users’ engagement and encourage them to interact with the app more often. 

The possibility of winning influences the user’s behavior even more than we can imagine. But nothing negative here: this works both for a user and business owner as both of them are reaching their goals. In essence, a user is happy to accomplish a task and is rewarded for that, and a business owner has revenue growth and a delighted client who is likely to bring new clients to the app.

Gigya says that mobile app gamification can boost interaction with an app by one third, the number of comments rises by 13%, shares on social media by 22%, and content discoverability by 68%.

So,  what will you as a business receives from mobile app gamification: 

• A constant social presence without putting in any effort
• A leading positions in searches
• Growth of engagement with your app
• Active users on social media
• More and more positive reviews
• Increase in the number of new users who are your target audience, who are ready to start using your app right now

and one more important thing:

• Happy users whom you helped to make their lives better every day.

[Source: Mambo]

How gamification works

A user should accomplish a particular task in an app, and for this, one is pleased with different rewards. In this way, a user feels like a superhero who is struggling to succeed in something, and in the end, it is an enjoyable experience because everyone wants to win.

Let’s move to the practical issues and find out how to actually gamify an app.

There are different techniques of app gamification you can use, but your success depends on your imagination and how good you know your users. We give you insights, you turn them into the cherry on top of your app gamification strategy, ok?

Rewards

[Source: Forbes]

Remember being given a new toy for getting a good mark at school? That motivated us to study even those subjects we were not interested in as we knew that in the end, we would have that desirable present from our parents. Yes, it was hard to achieve, but the happiness we felt when we had finally got the prize couldn’t be compared to anything. More importantly, we are rewarded in both ways: an excellent mark and a reward for our success.

That works even now: we’re still those kids who are too lazy to do important things even while realizing the scope of their importance for us, but a possible reward is what encourages us at least to try. And when we try, the desire to get more and more increases.

Providing your users with rewards for the frequency of using an app, purchasing goods, accomplishing personal goals, participating in quizzes, competitions, sharing posts with their friends, and inviting them to join the app, will not only help to keep their interest in the app but increase their interest continually. 

What kind of rewards can there be: 

• Сash rewards – money is a never-changing motivation for everyone
• Digital goods that can be exchanged for real goods – this will give customers a chance to choose what goods inspire them more to fulfill tasks
• In-app currency to spend inside the app that will promote more purchases as a result  

In other words – anything that has value for your target audience. But avoid useless prizes – they are just a waste of time and money for a business. Identify exactly what will make users come back to your app again and again, and offer it to them. Yes, simple to say but hard to achieve, but we know that you will find the answer, or you can always ask us.

Progress Display

[Source: TrymyUI]

It’s important to see how far we have moved towards our goal, and what improvements we can see right now. This inspires us not to give up and do more. 

If we’ve succeeded, we want the whole world to know about it, that’s why we post on social media so much and share our results with others. Recognition is a huge need for every human being. And it actually works for business presence and promotion.

Leaderboards

[Source: Dribbble]

Improving ourselves is the right motivation, but often it’s not enough for users to stick to the goal. However, when talking about comparing our achievements with others, that becomes much more interesting and tempting for us to participate in the ‘race’ and prove who is the winner.

People love competitions, and they love to win. They’re striving to have the highest scores, and when they see someone’s above them in a leaderboard, they start to do everything to be in 1st place. That’s human nature.

Competition

[Source: Snake battle]

Your business can help people to fulfill this immutable desire to be the best while really becoming the best. Everyone benefits here – business has higher conversion and user activity, and the user has his/her need to win satisfied and a reward for their efforts.

Social Interaction

[Source: SaaSquatch]

Moreover, people are inclined to challenge their friends and compete with them, so involving new users is guaranteed! 

Successful examples of gamified apps

Starbucks

[Source: Zinrelo]

Starbucks is a coffee giant that offers a loyalty system to its clients.

Used technics:

• Progress display of your purchasing frequency
• Rewards for each order in the form of stars which can be exchanged for material prizes later

Duolingo

Duolingo is an educational app for learning foreign languages.

Used technics:

• Progress display of course completion in the form of a percentage
• A reward for actions – an internal currency called lingots 
• Competition – voting for the best  translation
• Leaderboards with scores based on learning achievements
• Social interaction with friends on Facebook

Fitbit

[Source: Modrsk]

Fitbit is a fitness app for the completion of different kinds of sports activities.

Used technics:

• Progress display while filling in a circle of your physical activity
• Rewards for walking a certain distance every day. Different badges for different distances.
• Social engagement – to find friends or invite them
• The possibility to compete with your friends in sport
• Challenge yourself with original tasks

Todoist

[Source: Todoist]

It is a tracker that allows controlling the completion of both daily and business tasks.

Used technics:

• Rewards for tasks – karma points (a user can also go minus if deadlines are missed)
• Progress is shown in a number of unlocked levels
• Social shares of a user’s karma on social media

SmartyPig

[Source: Philip Schriver]

This is an app to manage user finances and help them to achieve their financial goals, for example, to save money for a new car. 

Used technics:

• Progress bar to see how much money is saved and how much is left.

What to Remember: Risks and Challenges

Despite all the advantages of the gamification of an app mentioned above, you, as a current or future business owner should always remember that it is not a one-way working panacea that guarantees the success of your business. It might work, and, at the same time, it might not work. 

So, it’s vital to consider all possible risks and challenges that can prevent you from reaching set business goals. To be entirely sure you’re investing your money and time resources in the right direction, we encourage you to contact the App Solutions and leverage our expertise. 

And here are some tips that are taken from our practice to show you how to get the best of app gamification and build a successful mobile app gamification strategy:

• Set clear goals and monitor their status

If you decide to implement a solution, then you’re doing it for some purpose. Know your purpose from the very beginning, keep it in mind, and follow a plan or your actions won’t bring the desired result. Shape your app gamification strategy while focusing on both your needs and the needs of your users. Remember that you both need benefits. 

• Identify your target audience, learn it and always analyze

Even a well-developed gamification app strategy won’t work if it’s not developed based exclusively on your target users’ needs and interests. In this case, you will simply hit the wrong target. 

Data is what helps you to find out who is interested in you, how he or she behaves, why something is happening in a certain way, and how to make it play for you. 

• Find what has value for your users and integrate it into your app

Even if we’re sure that something will definitely work because we like it, it doesn’t mean our users will share our opinion – they have their own likes and dislikes. 

So here it’s important to discover what your users want the most, what will become their biggest motivation to complete the task, what will make them use your application, and not others. 

• Keep it simple 

Probably, it’s the biggest mistake to think that you have to rebuild your app entirely to make it gamified. That’s not always the case. If it works well, adding some unique gamification features to it will be enough. 

Don’t confuse both yourself and your users with complex systems, techniques, and approaches. The rules of the game you’re offering to other people should be easy to get and follow. You don’t want to make your users irritated, right?

• Keep it entertaining

The success of your app gamification is directly dependent on the user’s experience while using an app. The more playful and enjoyable it is, the more delighted your users are.

It often happens that, in the beginning, an app attracts a lot of users, but then, the app gets more and more boring and predictable and has nothing new to experience. So, users have no motivation to explore it further. 

To avoid this, build your app gamification strategy in a way users can be entertained throughout the whole game, not only at levels 1 and 2. They shouldn’t know what is coming next, but be curious to discover it by themselves.

• Encourage users to share

All people want likes and shares. So does a business. Make your users proud of the achievements they’ve accomplished with your app, and they will say ‘thank you’ with shares on their social profiles. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – communicate with your audience everywhere.

• Hear your users

Pay attention to what your users are saying; what they’re complaining about and what they’re complimenting about your app. This will give you a clear picture of what to improve, change, or keep.

The Game is Not Over Yet

Remember that game we started in the beginning? Congratulations! It’s almost at an end.

The point here is to see how gamification works as an example, influences your behavior, and how it can make a usually long and boring to read article fun, entertaining, and simple to finish. 

You’ve been challenged, you’ve won, and now, you get a price – knowledge of how to gamify any activity and achieve much better results than could be reached with a traditional approach. 

Now, imagine what scale of feedback you can get with mobile app gamification. Inspired? We’re here to implement your most creative ideas. Just contact us here.