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Predictive Analytics and Data Mining: Know the Difference

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura
Content:

Today, there is so much information in the world that no human brain can process it. Just imagine, when surfing your favorite social network, you see, not relevant content from friends and interest groups in the feed, but in general, everything that anyone has ever added there. In a word, chaos and confusion! Few people would like this.

To avoid this, companies working with big data use various methods to analyze the video/audio and text content they have so that every consumer of goods or services remains satisfied and active on the site for as long as possible.

predictive-analytics-and-data-mining

These methods include predictive analytics and data mining. They are often confused, considering that they are about the same thing. However, there is a difference, although it can’t be denied that the goal is the same – to lure as many consumers as possible under your commercial umbrella. One comes out of the other.

To explain the difference between data mining and predictive analytics, let’s first talk about each method.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HEALTHCARE?

What is Data Mining?

Data Mining is the process of simplifying and generalizing a colossal amount of data in a humanly-understandable way using machine learning technologies. During this process, various clusters of information are discovered, analyzed, sorted, and classified.

Thus, patterns are revealed based on which it is possible to draw certain conclusions and decide what to do next with the results obtained.

data-mining-process-benefits

Depending on the subtlety of the customization, you can get hyper-precise results that will work for almost every client in a personalized way. According to a Microstrategy report, 92% of respondents plan to roll out advanced analytics capabilities in their organizations.

Data mining is also used in risk management, cybersecurity, and software optimization in addition to forecasting the demand for goods/services and predicting behavioral factors.

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS VS. MACHINE LEARNING: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE

What is Predictive Analytics?

Predictive analytics is the process of extracting valuable data from an existing system and then identifying specific trends and tendencies, based on which you can plan further business steps. Then, based on previous experience, future results are modeled by using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

This does not mean a 100% likelihood of events. Still, a high proportion of predictions helps marketers and business analysts navigate which course to lead the company in the near or distant future.

predictive-analysis-benefits

What is the Difference between Data Mining and Predictive Analytics?

Data mining helps organizations build a background and understand the current situation. In addition, predictive analytics is taking on a more proactive role, allowing users to anticipate results and develop preemptive strategies for a wide range of future scenarios while avoiding crises.

Simply put, these are interconnected high-tech processes. Without data mining, predictive analytics could not have appeared in principle since there would be no place to get information for further predictions. And without predictive analytics, data mining would not make much sense either, since the mere presence of structured information, without a further action plan, is not a very useful tool. Data mining illustrates today’s picture, while predictive analytics tells you what to do with it tomorrow.

Thus, data mining turns out to be a stepping stone for predictive analytics. Apart from this, data mining is passive, while predictive analytics is active and can offer a clear picture.

HEALTHCARE CYBERSECURITY: HOW TO PROTECT PATIENT DATA

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RPA IN HEALTHCARE: A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW, BENEFITS, AND USE CASES 

How Data Mining Works

Imagine that you have gathered three friends and decided which pizza to buy – vegetarian, meat, or fish? You just poll everyone and conclude what exactly needs to be ordered in your favorite pizzeria. But what if, for example, you have three million friends and several hundred varieties of pizza from several dozen establishments? It’s not so easy to deal with an order, is it? Nevertheless, it is what data mining specialists do.

 how-predictive-analytics-and-data-mining-works 

KEEP A PULSE ON EPIC APP ORCHARD AND HOW IT BENEFITS THE HEALTH SYSTEMS

According to this principle, when you go to an online store to buy earrings, you will immediately be offered a bracelet, pendant, and rings to match. And to the swimsuit – a straw hat, sunglasses, and sandals. 

It is precisely the ideally structured array of specific information that make it possible to identify a suspicious declaration of income among millions of others of the same kind.

Data mining is conventionally divided into three stages:

  • Exploration, in which the data is sorted into essential and non-essential (cleaning, data transformation, selection of subsets)
  • A model building or hidden pattern identification, the same datasets are applied to different models, allowing better choices. It is called competitive pricing of models
  • Deployment – the selected data model is used to predict the results

 

Data mining is handled by highly qualified mathematicians and engineers as well as AI/ML experts.

HOW TO CREATE A MEDICAL APP: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE 

How Predictive Analytics Works

According to a report by Zion Market Research, the global predictive analytics market was valued at approximately $3.49 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach approximately $10.95 billion by 2022, with a CAGR between 2016 and 2022 at about 21%.

Predictive analytics works with behavioral factors, making it possible to predict customer behavior in the future – how many will come, how many will go, how to change the product, and what promotions to offer to prevent consumer churn.

predictive analysis for big data

You can make predictions based on one person’s behavior or a group united by a specific criterion (gender, age, place of residence, etc.) Predictive analytics uses not only statistics, but ML, teaching itself.

Business analysts interpret forecasts from inferred patterns. If you don’t predict how your regular and hypothetical customers will behave, you will lose the battle with your competitors.

WHAT IS EHR (ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD), AND HOW DOES IT WORK? 

Data Mining and Predictive Analytics in Healthcare

The healthcare system was one of the first to adopt AI technologies, including data mining and predictive analytics. It includes detecting fraud, managing customer relationships, and measuring the effectiveness of specific treatments. And, of course, there is such a massive layer of developments as predictive medicine based on predictive analytics.

Step-By-Step Guide On Mobile App Hipaa Compliance

Using the example of the latter, we will explain how it works. Let’s say you have a cancer patient like thousands of other patients in your hospital. Based on their treatment, you decide which regimen to choose for this particular patient, taking into account all of the characteristics. The more patients you add to the database, the more relevant solution will be given by the self-learning application for future patients.

Video Streaming App Proof of Concept

Another example: you can adjust the number of medical personnel in a hospital depending on the reasons for the visit. If most of the patients who come to you are kids, it’s time to expand the pediatric ward. AI will help the HR department see an impending problem before it becomes urgent. Also, such a system can predict peak loads in hours/days/months of hospital operation, which will make it possible to intelligently plan the shifts of doctors and nurses.

predictive-analytics-and-data-mining-in-healthcare

Clustering patients into groups will help assign a patient to a risk group for a particular disease before getting sick. For example, those prone to diabetes or disseminated sclerosis need to stick to diets  so as not to worsen their health. If the patient prepares in advance, the course of the disease will be far less intense and more effectively treated.

But data analysis tools can be helpful not only for doctors. So, a special application can remind the patient that it is time to replenish the supply of prescription drugs, and if necessary, automatically pay for them at the nearest pharmacy and order home delivery.

MICROSOFT CLOUD FOR HEALTHCARE: HOW MS CLOUD SOLUTIONS ARE BENEFITING HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS

Outcomes

According to spending data reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the United States’ national healthcare expenditure reached $ 3.5 trillion in 2017. Applying a 12-17% savings to that number, the estimated cost reduction from system-wide data analytics efforts could earn between $ 420 billion and $ 595 billion.

It would be a crime to ignore such a lucrative market, where supply will not soon outstrip demand. Try trading with The APP Solutions now. Our company has excellent experience in developing health apps.

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

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BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura

In the year 2021, health is a topic that is discussed more than others. And people are navigating this challenging domain more and more. 

In the year 2021, health is a topic that is discussed more than others. And people are navigating this challenging domain more and more. 

The App Solutions was always ahead of the curve, with its healthcare projects, both R&D and users facing ones. So it was only a matter of time when we would implement all our knowledge and expertise and encompass it in one app, one that has all the health tracking functions needed and leverage cutting edge technologies, at the same time. BuenoPR became this app.

BuenoPR Project Description

Bueno is the app that gathers all health-related information in one place. On the one hand, it is made to provide patients with comprehensive knowledge about their conditions, prescriptions, and lab results, with the ability to contact their practitioner or care team anytime via chat. On the other hand, Bueno provides up-to-date information about the state of the patient’s insurance, including individual deductible and benefits highlights.

pr-bueno-prototypes

How does Bueno make a difference in this niche? 

  • Preventive medicine powered by AI

Bueno leverages machine learning to analyze all the health data from its user’s EHR to ensure the preventive care they need. Then, powered by Orb Health, the app provides the analyzed data to the care team to make suggestions to patients regarding time to do a check-up, make lab tests or pay attention to particular symptoms. 

  • All the info about user’s condition in their pocket

Integration with Mayo clinic helps to provide users with comprehensive and 100% science-based information on their conditions. It also serves educational purposes with articles on different organs and systems in the body, and lab tests. 

  • Tracking down all the metrics from one app

Users can track all life-important metrics such as height, weight, activity, blood glucose, and others, all in one place. The app supports both manual entry of these measurements and receiving info from the doctor’s office. It also has integration with Validic so that the data can be pulled from health devices.

  • Virtual care 

The app provides a 24/7 possibility to contact the care team, including the user’s practitioner and trained nurses who can answer any bothering questions at any time, help with understanding a care plan, and schedule the next visit to the doctor’s office.

  • Gamification 

The app presents a system of goals and badges to keep people engaged while improving their health. Achievements are given both for regular app usage, including its functions and reaching personal health goals (e.g., steps count).

  • Insurance insights

Using integration with Change Healthcare, we can provide information on the health of our users and let them track how it affects their Health insurance. In addition, it allows total transparency and zero worries when it comes to expenses. 

The main goals of BuenoPR are the following:

  • Provide users with comprehensive insights into their health using their Electronic Health Record (EHR) data processed by AI
  • Ensure 24/7 health support
  • Reduce stress to a minimum with transparent info, excellent UX and gamification techniques 
bueno-app

This combination of functions makes the app unique on the market.  

Project technical specification

The main product is a mobile application for patients. Its features include: 

  • 360° overview of patient’s health (metrics that are collected from the devices, doctor’s office and manually logged, social activity, allergies, medications, health challenges) 
  • Chat with the care team (doctor and nurses)
  • Knowledge base with all the info on the body, lab tests, and conditions
  • Lab results
  • Care activities prescribed by the doctor
  • Insurance information
  • Notification system
  • Achievements

The other elements of the service include:

  • Subscription website – to submit registration forms and subsequently, for subscription management; 
  • Admin Dashboard contains the following features: 
  • General application activity overview; 
  • In-app analytics;
  • User management
  • Customer support operations.
bueno-app-development

Key Solutions

Orb Health

Orb helps connect Bueno to the doctor’s office and ensures users only see the most up-to-date information on their conditions. At the same time, Orb is the primary source of info in the app, including raw data from the EHR and results of AI processing. Its predictive algorithm is used to detect negative health trends and alert nurses about at-risk patients.     

For Bueno users, this means that their care team knows exactly when to reach out to schedule a doctor’s appointment or do a necessary lab test. Statistics show that this approach prevents 2 out of 3 visits to ER. 

Validic 

Validic provides one API connection to access data from the best mHealth apps and devices. Since it covers most of the popular devices, our users don’t have to worry about not connecting their particular one to our app. This was one of the main problems we discovered in the competitor’s apps during the inception phase. 

Change HealthCare

Since our solution has provided clinical information and insurance info, we needed to connect a third-party solution that would collect data from insurance providers on the user-specific data about their plans. Change really helped us to ensure complete transparency regarding health expenses to our users.

Mayo Clinic

One of the problems we aimed to solve in the Bueno app was the lack of correct patient information. So often, people tend to rely on posts on the internet, leading to a lack of professional help and even usage of harmful practices. So, instead of searching health-related info on Google, we wanted them to have all the relevant information that would be 100% science-based and backed up by research all in one place. The Mayo Clinic integration serves this aim perfectly, providing articles based on research and 150 years of medical practice.

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

Download Free Ebook

Firebase integration

You can’t go far without proper data analytics. An understanding of the state of things regarding the application, the way customers are using it, and how efficiently it operates, hangs on through-and-through analytics. 

The app needed a practical and accessible mobile analytics solution to gain insights regarding application use and user engagement.

We have used Firebase because of its ease of use and flexibility. With its help, the company can see what is going on in the application and react appropriately.

It is also used as a platform for push notifications delivery. 

bueno

Data security and HIPAA

Data security is one of the significant challenges that come with developing any application that deals with sensitive data. And with health apps, it becomes even more important. 

A Step-by-step Guide on HIPAA Compliance

The main requirement was HIPAA compliance which is usually identified with foundations secured by the law:

  • Emergency clinics.
  • Corporate medicinal services associations.
  • Research establishments.
  • Insurance agencies that manage patients and their data.

However, since HIPAA PHI security necessity likewise applies to partners of these offices, it was extremely important to follow these guidelines for user data management, transparent data use, and guaranteeing the safety of data. 

The following solutions were used to provide appropriate data security measures:

  • HTTPS, TLS, SSH for data-in-transit encryption; 
  • Activity Logging + Access Management;
  • Handling all the secure data on the backend;
  • Making sure all the third-party solutions are HIPAA compliant;
  • Limited access to the production database at the network level.

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Healthcare App Development 

A White Label Telemedicine Platform

Tech Stack

  • Subscription website – JavaScript/С# 
  • Patient Apps – Swift, Kotlin
  • Devices connectivity – Validic 
  • Analytics and Notifications – Firebase 
pr-bueno-ui-ux

Personnel

  • Project Manager
  • Business Analyst
  • 2 QA engineers
  • 2 iOS developers
  • 2 Android Developers

Conclusion

BuenoPR is an absolutely unique app and another great case in the large portfolio of our healthcare projects. It provides all the necessary data for users about their health, and connects them with their care team, but it also uses cutting-edge technology to prevent conditions and complications. 

For our company, it was a great experience, applying all our expertise both in the Native mobile development and healthcare domains to create an app that would save people’s lives.

Using the Agile approach, and receiving quality feedback from users, each iteration really helped us deliver a product that would be useful, rich in functionality, and extremely easy to navigate.

 

BuenoPR Project Description

Bueno is the app that gathers all health-related information in one place. On the one hand, it is made to provide patients with comprehensive knowledge about their conditions, prescriptions, and lab results, with the ability to contact their practitioner or care team anytime via chat. On the other hand, Bueno provides up-to-date information about the state of the patient’s insurance, including individual deductible and benefits highlights.

pr-bueno-prototypes

How does Bueno make a difference in this niche? 

  • Preventive medicine powered by AI

Bueno leverages machine learning to analyze all the health data from its user’s EHR to ensure the preventive care they need. Then, powered by Orb Health, the app provides the analyzed data to the care team to make suggestions to patients regarding time to do a check-up, make lab tests or pay attention to particular symptoms. 

  • All the info about user’s condition in their pocket

Integration with Mayo clinic helps to provide users with comprehensive and 100% science-based information on their conditions. It also serves educational purposes with articles on different organs and systems in the body, and lab tests. 

  • Tracking down all the metrics from one app

Users can track all life-important metrics such as height, weight, activity, blood glucose, and others, all in one place. The app supports both manual entry of these measurements and receiving info from the doctor’s office. It also has integration with Validic so that the data can be pulled from health devices.

  • Virtual care 

The app provides a 24/7 possibility to contact the care team, including the user’s practitioner and trained nurses who can answer any bothering questions at any time, help with understanding a care plan, and schedule the next visit to the doctor’s office.

  • Gamification 

The app presents a system of goals and badges to keep people engaged while improving their health. Achievements are given both for regular app usage, including its functions and reaching personal health goals (e.g., steps count).

  • Insurance insights

Using integration with Change Healthcare, we can provide information on the health of our users and let them track how it affects their Health insurance. In addition, it allows total transparency and zero worries when it comes to expenses. 

The main goals of BuenoPR are the following:

  • Provide users with comprehensive insights into their health using their Electronic Health Record (EHR) data processed by AI
  • Ensure 24/7 health support
  • Reduce stress to a minimum with transparent info, excellent UX and gamification techniques 
bueno-app

This combination of functions makes the app unique on the market.  

Project technical specification

The main product is a mobile application for patients. Its features include: 

  • 360° overview of patient’s health (metrics that are collected from the devices, doctor’s office and manually logged, social activity, allergies, medications, health challenges) 
  • Chat with the care team (doctor and nurses)
  • Knowledge base with all the info on the body, lab tests, and conditions
  • Lab results
  • Care activities prescribed by the doctor
  • Insurance information
  • Notification system
  • Achievements

The other elements of the service include:

  • Subscription website – to submit registration forms and subsequently, for subscription management; 
  • Admin Dashboard contains the following features: 
  • General application activity overview; 
  • In-app analytics;
  • User management
  • Customer support operations.
bueno-app-development

Key Solutions

Orb Health

Orb helps connect Bueno to the doctor’s office and ensures users only see the most up-to-date information on their conditions. At the same time, Orb is the primary source of info in the app, including raw data from the EHR and results of AI processing. Its predictive algorithm is used to detect negative health trends and alert nurses about at-risk patients.     

For Bueno users, this means that their care team knows exactly when to reach out to schedule a doctor’s appointment or do a necessary lab test. Statistics show that this approach prevents 2 out of 3 visits to ER. 

Validic 

Validic provides one API connection to access data from the best mHealth apps and devices. Since it covers most of the popular devices, our users don’t have to worry about not connecting their particular one to our app. This was one of the main problems we discovered in the competitor’s apps during the inception phase. 

Change HealthCare

Since our solution has provided clinical information and insurance info, we needed to connect a third-party solution that would collect data from insurance providers on the user-specific data about their plans. Change really helped us to ensure complete transparency regarding health expenses to our users.

Mayo Clinic

One of the problems we aimed to solve in the Bueno app was the lack of correct patient information. So often, people tend to rely on posts on the internet, leading to a lack of professional help and even usage of harmful practices. So, instead of searching health-related info on Google, we wanted them to have all the relevant information that would be 100% science-based and backed up by research all in one place. The Mayo Clinic integration serves this aim perfectly, providing articles based on research and 150 years of medical practice.

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

Download Free Ebook

Firebase integration

You can’t go far without proper data analytics. An understanding of the state of things regarding the application, the way customers are using it, and how efficiently it operates, hangs on through-and-through analytics. 

The app needed a practical and accessible mobile analytics solution to gain insights regarding application use and user engagement.

We have used Firebase because of its ease of use and flexibility. With its help, the company can see what is going on in the application and react appropriately.

It is also used as a platform for push notifications delivery. 

bueno

Data security and HIPAA

Data security is one of the significant challenges that come with developing any application that deals with sensitive data. And with health apps, it becomes even more important. 

A Step-by-step Guide on HIPAA Compliance

The main requirement was HIPAA compliance which is usually identified with foundations secured by the law:

  • Emergency clinics.
  • Corporate medicinal services associations.
  • Research establishments.
  • Insurance agencies that manage patients and their data.

However, since HIPAA PHI security necessity likewise applies to partners of these offices, it was extremely important to follow these guidelines for user data management, transparent data use, and guaranteeing the safety of data. 

The following solutions were used to provide appropriate data security measures:

  • HTTPS, TLS, SSH for data-in-transit encryption; 
  • Activity Logging + Access Management;
  • Handling all the secure data on the backend;
  • Making sure all the third-party solutions are HIPAA compliant;
  • Limited access to the production database at the network level.

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Healthcare App Development 

A White Label Telemedicine Platform

Tech Stack

  • Subscription website – JavaScript/С# 
  • Patient Apps – Swift, Kotlin
  • Devices connectivity – Validic 
  • Analytics and Notifications – Firebase 
pr-bueno-ui-ux

Personnel

  • Project Manager
  • Business Analyst
  • 2 QA engineers
  • 2 iOS developers
  • 2 Android Developers

Conclusion

BuenoPR is an absolutely unique app and another great case in the large portfolio of our healthcare projects. It provides all the necessary data for users about their health, and connects them with their care team, but it also uses cutting-edge technology to prevent conditions and complications. 

For our company, it was a great experience, applying all our expertise both in the Native mobile development and healthcare domains to create an app that would save people’s lives.

Using the Agile approach, and receiving quality feedback from users, each iteration really helped us deliver a product that would be useful, rich in functionality, and extremely easy to navigate.

 

The APP Solutions will attend Web Summit 2021

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura

From November 1 to 4, Lisbon, Portugal, will host one of the unique technology events in the business world – the Web Summit. Here you can see representatives of the so-called Fortune 500 companies and newly created startups. Of course, The APP Solutions is not a newcomer to the high-tech world, so we can’t miss such an event!

This year our company decided to introduce itself as a software developer for medical services and solutions. Our interests include:

• Medical Practice Management Software
• Electronic Health Record Software (EHR/EMR/PHR)
• E-Prescribing Software
• Healthcare CRM
• Data Management/Warehousing
• Predictive Analytics Software
• HIPAA/GDPR Compliance
• Medical Devices Integration

A solid portfolio backs our skills and expertise. The APP Solutions clients include companies with names that speak for themselves. Сase in point, together with Google, we have implemented an ambitious for streaming processing of DNA sequencing data collected from Oxford Nanopore Technologies MiniON sequencers. You can familiarize yourself with our other solutions in the Portfolio section. More to come soon, don’t miss it!

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

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Web Summit is a technology conference that has been held annually since 2009. The event was founded by Paddy Cosgrave, David Kelly, and Daire Hickey. From 2009 to 2016, the event was based in Dublin, then moved to Lisbon permanently.

Orb Health – Сare Management as a Virtual Service

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura

Our company had the chance to work on such an amazing service. In this article, we are going to tell you about it. 

Our company had the chance to work on such an amazing service. In this article, we are going to tell you about it. 

Orb Health project description

Orb Health’s Care Management as a Service enables health centers, systems, hospitals, and unions to scale contact centers and deliver care management programs as a guided service. It simplifies the healthcare journey, maximizes patient outcomes, and enables financial success from fee-for-service to value-based care, without adding staff, apps, or infrastructure. 

Orb Health scales patient access through remote contact centers that seamlessly deliver care management as an EMR-connected, data-driven virtual service. We rapidly enable unparalleled clinical patient outcomes and satisfaction while transforming the economics of patient service for health systems, FQHC/community health centers, payers, and unions without adding staff, apps, or infrastructure, 

How does Orb Health help customers? 

  • Reduce ER/Hospital Visits 
  • Seamlessly Extend Practice 
  • Expand Critical Services 
  • Provide Interactive Patient Care 
  • Increase Patient Engagement & Satisfaction
  • Keep Patients In-Network 
  • Increase Revenue 
  • Improved HCC Scoring
  • Reduce Patient Leakage

 

What did We Do in the Project?

From obsolete to technology-driven tech stack:

  • Migrate data storage from on-premise to cloud to improve accessibility, security, and cost-efficiency
  • Setting up fault tolerance infrastructure with monitoring, alerting, data backup, data recovering, and autoscaling
  • Implementing automation testing before release to prevent human factor in the production 
  • Actualize technologies to increase maintenance and speed of delivering new features 

Complete redesign and development of a new way of interaction with patient clinical information. Medication, Problems, Allergies, Appointments, Demographics, and much more in a new and easy to navigate format.  

We created a new approach to working with patients in customer practice, maximizing efficiency. This allows navigation between assigned patients, easily keeping up on priority and general que.

A powerful tool aimed to process the Orb Data Base quickly. This allows identifying patients by specific parameters to group them for further treatment.

This cutting edge feature allows creating connections between smart health devices at the patient’s home, gathering, analyzing, and processing data for making peoples’ lives more secure and accountable.

We worked closely with a clinical team to make logging time more manageable and effective – complete redesign legacy Time Tracking with a new and modern look. 

Complete redesign of dashboards, created new metrics, making executive board accountable for every vital indicator.

A new tool aimed to create patient programs. Powerful  enhancements that allow adding programs and campaigns in a couple of clicks.

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

Download Free Ebook

Project Technical Specification

Universal Patient Engagement Center Experienced, licensed, and certified medical practitioners empowered by Orb Health’s EMR-centric patient intelligence provide care delivery that exceeds expectations. The core functionality of the Orb Health app is:

Mix and match services to meet your various patient population needs without adding resources.

Scalable patient access and high-quality care management empowers a new level of careful attention that keeps patients healthier, more satisfied, and in-network.

Repeatedly proven and independently validated Care Management as a Service drives significant outcomes while lowering costs and increasing revenue.

There are two web applications for internal users: Clinical Site and Program Manager Site.

A Step-by-step Guide on HIPAA Compliance 

Key Solutions

Connecting digital health products to provider systems is fundamental to delivering value, but the industry hasn’t made that easy. Healthcare providers are running dozens of different EHRs with various protocols, which means connecting can be a tangled mess of ad hoc solutions. Product teams who use Redox skip the mess and get every provider’s connection in a single developer-friendly API designed to support their product’s functional needs.

Protect your existing workforce management software and technology investments with off-the-shelf integrations that hook into your current solutions. Out-of-the-box integrations with a CRM system, PBX, ACD, workforce optimization, case management, and other legacy systems reduce time to value and quickly get a contact center up and running.

Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to turn your unrelated data sources into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. For example, your data may be an Excel spreadsheet or a collection of cloud-based and on-premises hybrid data warehouses. Power BI lets you easily connect to your data sources, visualize and discover what’s important, and share that with anyone you want. 

Data security is one of the significant challenges of developing any service that deals with sensitive data. Therefore, the first requirement was to be able to store patient data as securely as possible.

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

  • C# .Net 
  • Angular
  • WebAPI 
  • Azure SQL
  • Project Manager
  • Business Analyst
  • Power BI Engineer
  • QA engineer
  • AQA engineer
  • 2 Frontend developers
  • 5 Backend developers
  • Designer
  • DevOps

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Healthcare App Development 

A White Label Telemedicine Platform

Conclusion

During the development of this project, we utilized a streamlined, agile workflow. This approach helped us deploy an operating prototype of the system, ahead of the planned date, and dedicate more time to its testing and refinement.

 

Orb Health’s Care Management as a Service enables health centers, systems, hospitals, and unions to scale contact centers and deliver care management programs as a guided service. It simplifies the healthcare journey, maximizes patient outcomes, and enables financial success from fee-for-service to value-based care, without adding staff, apps, or infrastructure. 

Orb Health scales patient access through remote contact centers that seamlessly deliver care management as an EMR-connected, data-driven virtual service. We rapidly enable unparalleled clinical patient outcomes and satisfaction while transforming the economics of patient service for health systems, FQHC/community health centers, payers, and unions without adding staff, apps, or infrastructure, 

How does Orb Health help customers? 

  • Reduce ER/Hospital Visits 
  • Seamlessly Extend Practice 
  • Expand Critical Services 
  • Provide Interactive Patient Care 
  • Increase Patient Engagement & Satisfaction
  • Keep Patients In-Network 
  • Increase Revenue 
  • Improved HCC Scoring
  • Reduce Patient Leakage

 

What did We Do in the Project?

From obsolete to technology-driven tech stack:

  • Migrate data storage from on-premise to cloud to improve accessibility, security, and cost-efficiency
  • Setting up fault tolerance infrastructure with monitoring, alerting, data backup, data recovering, and autoscaling
  • Implementing automation testing before release to prevent human factor in the production 
  • Actualize technologies to increase maintenance and speed of delivering new features 

Complete redesign and development of a new way of interaction with patient clinical information. Medication, Problems, Allergies, Appointments, Demographics, and much more in a new and easy to navigate format.  

Work Listing View

We created a new approach to working with patients in customer practice, maximizing efficiency. This allows navigation between assigned patients, easily keeping up on priority and general que.

A powerful tool aimed to process the Orb Data Base quickly. This allows identifying patients by specific parameters to group them for further treatment.

Integration with Remote Patient Monitoring Vendors

This cutting edge feature allows creating connections between smart health devices at the patient’s home, gathering, analyzing, and processing data for making peoples’ lives more secure and accountable.

We worked closely with a clinical team to make logging time more manageable and effective – complete redesign legacy Time Tracking with a new and modern look. 

Complete redesign of dashboards, created new metrics, making executive board accountable for every vital indicator.

A new tool aimed to create patient programs. Powerful  enhancements that allow adding programs and campaigns in a couple of clicks.

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

Download Free Ebook

Project Technical Specification

Universal Patient Engagement Center Experienced, licensed, and certified medical practitioners empowered by Orb Health’s EMR-centric patient intelligence provide care delivery that exceeds expectations. The core functionality of the Orb Health app is:

Mix and match services to meet your various patient population needs without adding resources.

Scalable patient access and high-quality care management empowers a new level of careful attention that keeps patients healthier, more satisfied, and in-network.

Repeatedly proven and independently validated Care Management as a Service drives significant outcomes while lowering costs and increasing revenue.

There are two web applications for internal users: Clinical Site and Program Manager Site.

A Step-by-step Guide on HIPAA Compliance 

Key Solutions

Redox integration

Connecting digital health products to provider systems is fundamental to delivering value, but the industry hasn’t made that easy. Healthcare providers are running dozens of different EHRs with various protocols, which means connecting can be a tangled mess of ad hoc solutions. Product teams who use Redox skip the mess and get every provider’s connection in a single developer-friendly API designed to support their product’s functional needs.

Protect your existing workforce management software and technology investments with off-the-shelf integrations that hook into your current solutions. Out-of-the-box integrations with a CRM system, PBX, ACD, workforce optimization, case management, and other legacy systems reduce time to value and quickly get a contact center up and running.

Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to turn your unrelated data sources into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. For example, your data may be an Excel spreadsheet or a collection of cloud-based and on-premises hybrid data warehouses. Power BI lets you easily connect to your data sources, visualize and discover what’s important, and share that with anyone you want. 

Data security is one of the significant challenges of developing any service that deals with sensitive data. Therefore, the first requirement was to be able to store patient data as securely as possible.

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

Tech Stack

  • C# .Net 
  • Angular
  • WebAPI 
  • Azure SQL

Personnel

  • Project Manager
  • Business Analyst
  • Power BI Engineer
  • QA engineer
  • AQA engineer
  • 2 Frontend developers
  • 5 Backend developers
  • Designer
  • DevOps

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Healthcare App Development 

A White Label Telemedicine Platform

Conclusion

During the development of this project, we utilized a streamlined, agile workflow. This approach helped us deploy an operating prototype of the system, ahead of the planned date, and dedicate more time to its testing and refinement.

 

DooGooD – an app for doing good

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura
In this issue:

DooGood is a social nonprofit network that supports other nonprofits by connecting them to donors and organizations. The company helps donors make safe and easy donations to vetted, locally-driven organizations worldwide.

Our company had a chance to work on such an amazing service. In this article, we are going to tell you about it.

DooGood Project Description

DooGooD is a social network created to encourage people to do good things to improve this world.

Each user or charity organization can create a profile to present themselves to the community. In addition, DooGood allows anyone to create a donation campaign to start collecting funds for those who need them. Volunteering is another way to help others; the app creates a unique environment full of compassion and support that brings together like-minded people to do good things. 

doogood-app

What Problem does DooGood Solve?

No mobile application or another social network can make the donation process fast and easy. Most companies have obsolete sites without the possibility to talk to people, keep up with what the money was spent on, donate in a couple of clicks, or check who needs help nearby.

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Healthcare App Development 

A White Label Telemedicine Platform

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

How can DooGood Help to Deal with the Problem? 

This “boon” application allows:

  • Locating people, volunteers, or charity organizations who need help
  • Finding like-minded people, volunteers, or charity organizations to work together
  • Creating and managing donation campaigns
  • Talking to everyone within the network
  • Sharing donation status, reports, thoughts, ideas, news, etc., through posting
  • Keeping up with the local territory for emergency events

doogood payments

Project Technical Specification

The core functionality of the DooGood app is to gather like-minded people to do good things to improve the world. There is a mobile application for customers. It includes the following features: 

  • Manage personal or charity organization profile
  • Follow volunteers or charity organizations
  • Find people/organizations nearby who need help or donations
  • Post, read, and discuss articles, news, reports, etc. with others
  • Chatting
  • Start and manage donation campaigns
  • Donate


The other element of the service is the Admin Panel that manages all the mentioned functionality by admins.

What solutions can we offer?

Find Out More

Key Solutions

Payment Processor Integration

stripe-payment

With the rapid pace of innovation in the digital economy, digital services need a robust payment platform. The DooGood application requires a reliable and accessible payment processor to handle donation payments worldwide. After exploring the market, we found that Stripe was the most suitable choice for the application. It was the best gateway in terms of fitting the requirements: 

  • Easе of use
  • Merchant account features
  • Multiple payment methods
  • PCI DSS compliance + AVS, SSL, CCV features

Map Integration

map-box-map-integration

The other significant component that needed third-party integration was a map. 

  • The application required a solution for showing users’ and organizations’ points on the map, such as places that need help or donations and volunteers. 
  • In addition, the map should have an option to provide detailed information about the points after clicking on them.

We’ve used MapBox for mapping and showcasing places that need donations or volunteers.

Firebase Integration

firebase

ChatsIn-app chat is a great way to increase engagement, but implementing a user-friendly chat feature can be difficult. We overcame this problem by integrating with Firebase Realtime Database to sync chat messages between millions of users.

Seamlessly authenticate with Firebase Authentication, then set up a chat room in the Realtime Database. Messages appear on all users’ devices in real time.

Healthcare App Development 

Analytics

The app needs a practical and accessible mobile analytics solution to gain insights regarding application use and user engagement. We have used Firebase because of its ease of use and flexibility. With its help, the company can see what is happening in the application and react appropriately.

Firebase analytics shows data about user behavior in iOS and Android apps, enabling you to make better decisions about your product and marketing optimization. View crash data, notification effectiveness, deep-link performance, and more.

doogood-map

Handling Data Security

Data security is one of the significant challenges that come with developing any application that deals with sensitive data. The first requirement was to be able to store users’ passport data as securely as possible. The second requirement is GDPR compliance with its strict guidelines for user data management, transparent data use, and guaranteeing the safety of data.

The following solutions were used to provide appropriate data security measures:

  • HTTPS, TLS, SSH for data-in-transit encryption
  • bcrypt for database encryption
  • DDoS protection
  • PCI DSS compliance
  • Activity Logging + Access Management
  • Limited access to the production database at the network level

Tech Stack

  • Consumer App – Flutter 
  • Admin Dashboard – Symfony 
  • Stripe Payment Processor
  • MapBox Maps
  • Firebase

Personnel

  • Project Manager
  • Business Analyst
  • QA engineer
  • 2 Flutter developers
  • 2 Back-end developer

doogood-account

Conclusion

The DooGood application brings together people who need help and those who are ready to help. 

  • The application provides an opportunity to create donation campaigns right away.
  • On the other hand, the application’s use of social networking greatly expands its opportunities to gather like-minded people.

For our company, it was a great experience in applying a new field of charity to make this world better. We have developed a solution that is easy to use both for users and admins.

During the development of this project, we utilized a streamlined, agile workflow. This approach helped us deploy an operating prototype of the system ahead of the planned date and dedicate more time to its testing and refinement.

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

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Femtech in Healthcare: How to make it effective

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura
In this issue:

As we move forward, the Western world’s medicine becomes more specialized and narrowly focused, adapting to the personal needs of almost every patient. Such an ambitious goal requires new and more advanced technologies.

What is the Meaning of FemTech?

For example, FemTech is responsible for meeting women’s healthcare needs. This term is not new: it appeared back in 2016 when Ida Tin, the CEO of the period-tracking app Clue, came up with the idea of marking the trend of a surge in FemTech startups that provide services at the intersection of technology and women’s health.

Essentially, FemTech is about solving health and other biological needs through technology.

However, FemTech has begun to gain popularity now. The term falls under the  categories of:

  • Products
  • Services
  • Software
  • Apps

HOW TO INTEGRATE YOUR HEALTH APP WITH EPIC EHR/EMR

smartphone-app-for-womens-health

The only condition is that they specialize in women’s health (reproductive, menstrual, sexual, pelvic floor, vaginal, oncological, bone, brain, autoimmune, heart, mental health, and even migraines). Recently, FemTech has been looked at even more broadly – as a specialization in any factor that somehow improves a woman’s life.

For example, gender has come to be recognized as a social determinant of mental health in the United States since it is widely known that women suffer from depression about twice as much as men. Physiological diseases also affect women in 80 or even 90% of cases. Also, illnesses that occur differently in women than in men (like osteoporosis). We can discuss specialized care specifically for women’s health in such cases.

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON MOBILE APP HIPAA COMPLIANCE

FemTech companies deal with solutions specifically designed to address women’s health issues, not just products that have been rebranded or repositioned. These may include:

  • Wearable tracking devices (bracelets, rings, patches, etc.)
  • Any solutions related to artificial intelligence
  • Applications and non-invasive equipment
femtech-startups-categories-by-funding

The FemTech Revolution

The surge in FemTech popularity coincided with COVID-19. At that time, both patients and medical institutions themselves were forced to get to grips with digital technologies, even if they had previously made do only with offline services.

According to a study by Medi-Tech Insights, in December 2021, the global femtechnology market was estimated at $22 billion. Over the next five years it will grow by 15%. And a new Global Market Insights research report predicts that the FemTech market value will exceed $48.5 billion by 2025 and $65 billion by 2027. Statista shows even more blushing investment expectations:

fem-digital-health-market-potential

Why Should Femtech Companies Protect Data?

It’s very important to keep data confidential when developing any FemTech solution. Health data is a sensitive topic in itself. But what if a woman’s personal data about her menstrual cycle, sexual activity, contraception, or even abortion were hacked? Such data could be used by states where abortion is illegal to hold a woman legally responsible.

HEALTHCARE CYBERSECURITY: HOW TO PROTECT PATIENT DATA

Note that this is not just a matter of software or app technology vulnerability, but also a breach of the privacy policy. So, the first thing FemTech companies should do is inform users what data they plan to collect and what they intend to do with it.

main-reason-women-death-cardiovascular-disease

The Future of FemTech and Women’s Health in General

The increasing spread of chronic diseases and the growing prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles and diets will increase the burden of disease, thus contributing to the growth of the FemTech industry. In addition, the increasing prevalence of infectious diseases among women in low-income countries due to unsanitary conditions will stimulate business growth.

KEY DIFFERENCES IN EHR VS. EMR VS. PHR: WHAT TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION

Distribution of FemTech companies worldwide in 2022:

femtech-market-represent-by-continents

It’s not unusual for first-world countries to be on the front lines of general health conditions. But it’s not all bad for other continents, either.

The market outlook for FemTech looks promising. Currently, most FemTech companies are focused on fertility, pregnancy, and maternal health, however that scenario should change in the next 5 to 10 years. New and prospective areas such as longevity, menopause, sex technology, and breastfeeding are expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

CASE STUDIES:

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Orb Health – Сare Management As A Virtual Service

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

addressing-diagnostics-challenges

Why is FemTech Important?

Right now, the world’s population is 8 billion people. About 3.9 billion of them are women. Isn’t such a huge target audience the most obvious fact that proves we need specialized women’s health solutions? Unfortunately, not every woman on the planet has access to femtechnologies. Therefore, this may be an additional incentive to develop your FemTech products in the direction of those the digitalization process has not yet reached.

How To Make A Medical App: The Ultimate Guide

Promoting FemTech health services:

  • Improves healthcare delivery (e.g., through online appointments, remote surgeries, etc.)
  • Enables better monitoring of one’s health (tracking of various indicators in the body will immediately signal to the woman when something is wrong, which means she will seek help faster)
  • Reduces the problem of gender inequality in technology (it gives an additional opportunity for female engineers and scientists to prove themselves)
  • Solves the stigmatized problems (women no longer have to hide their physiological issues from men, which also allows them to solve problems faster if they arise)
  • Provides culturally sensitive and individualized solutions to more women (LGBT community, black population, low-income segments of society)
doctors-and-technologists-diversity

Conclusions

Even though women make up half the global population, and despite the estimated $500 billion annual medical expenses attributed to women, only 4% of all healthcare research and development is targeted at women’s health issues specifically, according to PitchBook.

Perhaps your product can be a go-to tool for a particular group of women from whom you can derive income and the moral satisfaction of grateful feedback.

THE APP SOLUTIONS – CUSTOM HEALTHCARE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

If you have some idea or project with a FemTech focus that you would like to pursue, we can help with that. The APP Solutions has significant expertise in healthcare services. This means we can not only implement the project, but also bring it to perfection. We are always aimed at long-term, mutually convenient cooperation in making your product unique and in demand.

Want To Build a Healthcare Mobile App?

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Keep a Pulse on Epic App Orchard and How It Benefits the Health Systems

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura
In this issue:

Although the increase in available mobile applications has created a good opportunity for consumers to access a large pool of available applications, it also introduced a new problem. Today, consumers are spoilt for choice and confused about which app suits their needs among the legions of mobile applications jostling for their attention.

As this challenge continues to plague the mobile application industry, the digital healthcare sector has not been unscathed. The presence of multiple digital health apps has made it nearly impossible for healthcare workers, healthcare organizations, and even patients to choose the application that is right and useful to them. This is where the Epic App market comes in. It helps to filter through the app space and helps healthcare providers, institutions, and patients to focus on only the essential medical app.

This article will take you on a tour of Epic App Orchard, its rival, some of its integrations, and how it improves clinical workflows. Let’s get into it.

HEALTHCARE APPS DEVELOPMENT: TYPES, EXAMPLES, AND FEATURES

epic-orchard-vs-epic-ehr

What is Epic App Orchard?

The Epic App Orchard, now known as the Epic App market, is a marketplace where third-party vendors and Epic customers can find Epic-integrated apps. The Epic App Orchard platform operates as a catalog that assists medical practitioners, healthcare providers, healthcare institutions, and patients sieve through the myriads of medical apps and find the right fit for their needs. 

Epic App Orchard makes venturing into the digital healthcare app space less turbulent for developers, entrepreneurs, and startup healthcare institutions. Epic achieves this by providing developers, entrepreneurs, and startup healthcare with APIs, data models, sandboxes, and testing demo tools. Also, it provides them with technical, training, networking, and marketing services. Today, Epic users can access 340 apps to help with clinical, organizational, population health, patient care, and research functions.

What’s more? The App Orchard provides support from Epic developers, thereby allowing third-party healthcare software developers to link their digital tools with Epic. This opens a treasure chest for Epic community users to discover and connect directly to various applications.

KEY DIFFERENCES IN EHR VS. EMR VS. PHR: WHAT TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION

Epic App Orchard streamlines the myriads of medical apps by offering key information users need when downloading and using any medical app. Some of this information includes:

  • The most recent version of the app and when it was last updated 

  • details that help in identifying, categorizing, and classifying an app

  • Description of the app

  • Reviews on the app

  • The institution that developed the app

What solutions can we offer?

WHAT IS EHR?

Does Cerner have an App Orchard?

Yes. Cerner has an App Orchard. Cerner is one of the major rivals of Epic. But unlike Epic, Cerner’s app store is known as Cerner’s motivation with Code or Cerner Open Developer Experience. Cerner’s motivation with code offers industry players a level playing ground to collaborate and address the needs of consumers in the health sector.

patient-enrollment-integration

Epic App Orchard Integration

Hospitals that use Epic systems can enjoy integrations with products that connect to Epic using standards-based interfaces and APIs, such as FHIR, SMART on FHIR, and CDS Hooks. Aside from that, they will be able to use Epic’s purpose-built interoperability technologies. 

HOW TO MAKE EHR/EMR EPIC INTEGRATION WITH YOUR HEALTH APP

Some of the popular integrations that readily come to mind are:

Healthcare organizations or providers that use Epic’s electronic health records (EHR) can integrate the PatientTrak app. This integration makes it easy for healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes and achieve the following: 

  • Interact with patients and family members via text messaging.

  • Keep patients and their families updated on their care status.

  • Patient-centric care delivery.

  • Reduce anxiety and improve patient satisfaction

  • Eliminates the need to keep patients waiting when a simple message is enough to address patients’ needs.

care-teams-in-epic-system

Healthcare providers can integrate PatientIQ smart on the FHIR app to enjoy the Epic-Integrated Patient Outcomes Program. This integration allows healthcare organizations to collect patient-reported outcomes quickly.

WHAT IS FEMTECH IN HEALTHCARE

Is Validic Software Now Available on Epic App Orchard?

The simple answer is yes. According to reports, the Validic remote patient monitoring (RPM) platform was made available on the Epic App Orchard in the first week of March 2022. Epic community members can now seamlessly link Validic’s Impact into their existing user workflow.

With the Validic Impact solution now available on Epic App Orchard, health system providers can grant caregivers access to patients’ personal health data without stress. This will help caregivers to provide personalized healthcare for their patients.

THE APP SOLUTIONS – CUSTOM HEALTHCARE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

personalized-care-pros-cons

Integrating with Epic vs. Being a Part of the Epic App Orchard

It is quite popular to hear companies say, ‘they are integrated with Epic.’ But is mere integration with epic tools enough? Why is it crucial? Let’s find out.

The most prominent benefit of being a part of the app orchard is the validity it introduces to your solutions. Before now, there was no process to certify an app’s quality. Developers, entrepreneurs, and healthcare providers only needed to integrate Epic’s tools with their sites. But now, Epic has established a test site that certifies apps and ensures everything checks out before it is accessible to the public.

Another advantage of being a part of the App Orchard is having direct access to Epic’s pool of resources and talents. This makes it much easier and faster to sort out customers’ concerns and keeps you ahead of the competition regarding technology and product.

HEALTHCARE CYBERSECURITY: HOW TO PROTECT PATIENT DATA

Conclusion

In an era where digital health apps are readily available, finding the right app that fits your clinical workflow doesn’t have to be frustrating. With Epic App Orchard, you can easily find the app for your needs without so much time scouting. Aside from that, Epic App Orchard offers developers, entrepreneurs, physicians, and small clinics access to patient health records and other digital tools. This ensures digital healthcare solutions are user-focused and HIPAA compliant with data privacy laws.

Do you want to build a digital healthcare solution that can meet Epic’s certification standard? Hit us up! We will be glad to help you turn your app ideas into viable solutions.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Chat App like Snapchat in 2022

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura

In this issue:

Imagine you’re a college student who develops a photo messaging app with your frat buddies. Everybody says that it’s a terrible idea.

But several years later, Facebook or Google offer you from $3 to $4 billion to buy it, but you reject the offer. In another three years, your company is worth $20 billion. It might seem like a dream, but it’s a true story.

This is the success story of Snapchat, a mobile messenger with text, photo and video content that disappears a few seconds after it is received. Snapchat’s success inspires a lot of entrepreneurs, and we receive a lot of requests to estimate the cost to build an app like Snapchat.

So, if you want to create a similar app, read on. In this article, you will learn how to create Snapchat and the estimated development cost.

READ ALSO:

HOW TO CREATE A MUSIC APP LIKE SPOTIFY

HOW TO CREATE VIDEO SOCIAL MEDIA APP LIKE TIKTOK

HOW TO BUILD A DATING APP LIKE TINDER

HOW TO MAKE A LIVE STREAM WEBSITE LIKE TWITCH

HOW TO DEVELOP AN APP LIKE NETFLIX

Current Snapchat stats

Currently, there are numerous social media platforms. However, the latest statistics show us that Snapchat is the leading social media network in the United States and France. 

You might also like How to Develop a Messaging App Like WhatsApp?

Snapchat copy app might be a good idea for a startup. You can create a Snapchat clone, add some new features, and get  a slice of the action. Just have a look at Snapchat’s stats below:

But there is more: 

From the beginning, Snapchat owners didn’t care about making money. But later, the app provided several ways of generating revenue.

  • In 2022 Snapchat revenue amounted to $4,1 billion
  • In Q4 2021, Snapchat reported its first quarterly net profit.

As we can see, the Snapchat multimedia messaging app is very popular among users and generates significant revenue.

How to Make an App Similar to Snapchat in 7 steps

Now, let’s dig deeper into the Snapchat-like app development process, which includes:

Step 1. Discovery (inception) phase

The main goal of this stage is to find out the functional and non-functional requirements for the future project, estimate the project budget, and business needs.

Step 2. Documentation

During this stage, business analysts and project managers prepare the project’s specifications, user stories, and other project-related documents that describe how your app will perform.

Step 3. Prototyping

Then, the mobile development team creates prototypes of your future app scenes and user journey and sends it to you for further improvement.  

Step 4. UI/UX Design

Based on the screen prototype, the design team develops the design for your app.

Step 5. Development

When the design is ready, the mobile development team integrates all the necessary features to your app. As the development stage moves forward, your Snapchat-like app developer might clarify specific requirements toward the project’s functionality.

Step 6. QA

The quality assurance team conducts tests to ensure that the application is bug-free.  

Step 7. Deployment

When the messenger like Snapchat is ready, the team will deploy it to the workspace.

HIRING A DEVELOPER FOR YOUR BUSINESS: A SIX STEPS GUIDE

How Snapchat makes money

So, to generate revenue, Snapchat uses:

In-between Snap Ads. Snapchat shows users 10-second promoting videos. Users can swipe up and access more content, such as a longer video, app install, or blog post.

Branded GeoFilters. Depending on the geolocation, users can access fun augmented reality filters that stay available for 30 days. The app charges businesses $5 for coverage of 20,000 square feet.

Sponsored Lenses. This monetization strategy is similar to Geofilters. Businesses advertise through their own customized lenses that appear in particular locations. In this way, they can promote their brands or events. This ad type is popular among big companies. 

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

Example: 

A collaboration with KFC. When visiting KFC,  app users revive access to the Colonel Sanders lens filter, which turns users into the white-maned colonel himself.

The “Discover” section. The app place promotion content in the Discover section. The Snapchat live story costs $0.15 per view. Currently, the app is partnering with around 20 big-name publishers, such as CNN, Cosmopolitan, and People.

Sports Partnerships. The app is partnering with sports organizations to promote attendance at sports events. By using this strategy, the app is partnering with Adidas and Nike so that they can advertise their products to sports fans.  The app charges $400k to $500k for complete exposure to the company’s user base.

In-app purchases. App users can buy additional features such as Re-play to a feed such as a picture or a video that the user has already seen.

Premium access. The app users can buy premium access to new app features and experience new lenses.

Now that you are aware of Snapchat’s monetization strategies, move on, and find out the app’s core feature set to make an app like Snapchat.

HOW TO OUTSOURCE MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT

The Snapchat App Core Functionality

When you heard about Snapchat a few years ago, it was a simple messaging app with the primary feature of vanishing messages in one to 10 seconds. But, over time, it has added a vast amount of new incredible features that provide more immersive interaction with the app. 

In other words, Snapchat gradually evolved into a mix of private messaging and public content, including brand networks, video-sharing, and live events. Moreover, Snapchat expanded its capabilities and became a multi-entertainment app, transforming from a messaging platform into a media giant with 10 billion video views per day, Bloomberg has reported.

Read also:

Case Study: Video Streaming App Proof of Concept

How To Build a Mobile App With Geolocation

Memories are one of the features that provide a new way to save Snaps and Stories on Snapchat. Users can create new Stories from Snaps they’ve taken, or even combine different Stories into a more extended narrative.

Also, Snapchat has launched some new features, including new photo and video filters, the capability to add emoji stickers to videos, and changes in chat.

Snapchat social media app functionality comprises features that can be used for two purposes:

  • Message exchange
  • Public content

Message Exchange

Snapchat has added additional value to such a simple thing as chatting, providing it with a set of amazing features.

In Snapchat, app Users can create multimedia chats called “snaps.” These snaps can comprise of a photo or short video; they can be edited with filters and effects, text captions, and drawings. In the Chat 2.0 recent update, you can send audio notes, make video and audio calls. Snaps can be directed privately to selected contacts, or a semi-public “Story.” These personally posted messages can be self-destructed automatically after a few seconds.

Also, the app allows location sharing. When the user starts typing an address into chat, it displays a card that links to the Google or Apple Maps app.

FUNCTIONAL VS NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS: MAIN DIFFERENCES & EXAMPLES

Snapchat messenger

Automatically self-destructed messages

Self-destructing messages are a custom feature of Snapchat and one of the things that made it so popular among teenagers. 

Before you create custom features, you need to develop a messenger app. Answering the question “How to make a messenger app?” we recommend using the ready-made solutions as a basis for your future product to save you money and time.

You might also like: Android vs. iOS Development  

But how does it work?

  • When the user sends a message, it’s uploaded to the Snapchat server.
  • The user receives a push notification about the new snap, which is downloaded to a temporary location on the user’s phone.
  • When the user opens the snap, the app deletes the temporary message copy from the phone and alerts the app server.
  • Then, the message is destroyed from the Snapchat server. The app also automatically deletes messages if the user has not viewed them within 30 days.

Now, moving on.

WHAT TECH STACK TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR PROJECT

Stickers

Stickers have become an inevitable part of modern communication. Snapchat contains 200 stickers built into its app. You can use a custom solution (design your stickers) or use a ready-made solution that is much cheaper. 

snapchat stikers

Location sharing

By using this feature, Snapchat users can share their location with friends or other users. Their site will appear on Snap Map. App users can also choose who can see their place or update it only when they have Snapchat open.

 Image source: Techadvisor

Adding friends

It is an essential function of a social media app. Besides the standard methods of adding friends via usernames and phone contacts, Snapchat provides some smart ways:

  • Snapcodes. Black dots that surround the Snapchat Ghostface Chilla logo is a personalized QR code. Another user can scan it by using the Snapchat camera, and he instantly begins to follow you. Here, a  recognition algorithm is being used, and an algorithm for the generation of such codes.
  • Add Nearby function. This function uses your location to scan other users in your proximity who also have Add Nearby open. The app sends the device’s coordinates to the server, the server in its turn compares the geolocations of devices with the Add Nearby screen opened.
Snapchat add friends

Video and Audio Calls

In the updated version of the chat,  app users can start talking or video chatting instantly with one tap. If the recipient isn’t online, you can send an audio note.

This feature turns Snapchat into a phone alternative and brings it close to Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp.

Would You Like to Create an App Like Snapchat?

Get a Free Estimation

Geofilters

A feature, known as “Geofilters” is a unique graphical overlay that is available when the user is within a precise geographical location, such as a city, event, or destination.

To allow your users to mark their location on the images,  developers use geocoding. Geocoding is a computational process that converts the geographic coordinates to a description of a location, usually the name of a place. Then the name of the area is overlaid on the image in a template.

HOW TO MAKE AN APP: LIFE CYCLE OF MOBILE DEVELOPMENT

Lenses or Filters

The “Lens” is one of the most exciting features of Snapchat. It allows users to add real-time effects and alter video images by using face detection technology. This feature became possible when Snapchat acquired the startup Looksery. The startup does a facial modification and enables users to simulate their appearance for a photo or video chat in real-time on mobile platforms.

Now, we find out how it works.

  • The app uses the Active Shape Model to detect a user’s face by marking their facial borders.
  • Powered by a machine learning algorithm, the app creates the average face and aligns it with the image provided.
  • Then, the app algorithm corrects errors to make the filter perfectly match the user’s face by analyzing the pixel data around the face borders.
  • Next, the app uses these points to coordinate and adjust a mesh, a 3D mask that the user can shift and scale with a face.

Snapchat filters based on 3D face masks enable users to deform the mask to change their face shape, add accessories, set animations, and more.

Stories and Discover

Stories functionality enables users to broadcast photo and video content from their lives to friends; each story lasts 24 hours. It refers to free content and provides users with capabilities in the same way as social networks do.

Later this feature was expanded to “Live Stories.” Stories enable new functionality when Snapchatters who are at the same event location (such as music festivals or sporting events) can contribute Snaps to the same Story.

The “Discover” option provides a new way to explore Stories from different editorial teams. It contains sponsored short-form content from major publishers, such as BuzzFeed, CNN, Mashable, People, and many others. Every edition is refreshed after 24 hours, because, as the Snapchat team believes, “what’s news today is history tomorrow.”

SHOULD YOU HIRE APP DEVELOPERS NEAR ME OR OUTSOURCE OVERSEAS?

Tech Stack for the Snapchat-like app

Below you will find what software Snapchat uses. Consider the following technologies to develop an app like Snapchat so as to be on the same page with your development team.

Snapchat tech stach

How much does it cost to build an app like Snapchat?

A Snapchat mobile app seems to be a vast machine with many features. It will take more than a year to create apps that look like Snapchat. And the price of this will be high as well. 

How much does it cost to make another Snapchat?

Build Your Own Dedicated Team

You also can check out the feature list and estimated development cost below.

Automatically self-destructed messages

 
  • Facebook Messenger SDK
  • Telegram SDK

 

1,5 months for two platforms – iOS and Android.

 

It costs about $10K for the iOS platform and $9K for the Android.

 

Location sharing

 
  • Apple MapKit
  • Google Location SDK

120 hours

From $2K to $4K for both platforms.

 

Snapcodes

 
  • Eventdex Android
  • Semacode iOS

One month

 

From $8K to $10K per one platform.

Nearby function

 

Android

iOS

  • Google Maps SDK
  • Apple MapKit

 

One week

 

From $3K per platform.

Video and Audio Calls

 
  • AddLive

About one month

$12K for iOS

$14 for Android

 

Lenses or Filters

 
  • Mirror Reality SDK

 

About one month

$8K for iOS

$8K for Android

 

But we recommend launching apps similar to Snapchat as MVP. The MVP of a Snapchat-like app will include only the essential functions as registration, media content sharing, user profile, and text messages. Find the estimated time in the table below:    

Feature

Description

Estimation in Hours

Registration/ login feature

The user can log in via

  • Email
  • Phone number
  • Social network

Around 10 to 16 hours.

User profile

The app user can modify 

  • Profile picture 
  • Password
  • Contact details 
  • Name
  • Gender
  • Phone number

From 60+ hours

 

Posting

 

Users can post 

  • Images 
  • Videos

Users can apply editing tools

  • Effects
  • Filters
  • Smileys 
  • Emoticons

Up to 320 hours: 

applying filters 120+ hours

creating custom filters 120+ hours

cropping and rotating photos 80+ hours

Embedded messenger

 
  • Enable users to exchange messages

Up to 40 hours

Total

 

From 430+ hours

The App Solutions experience

Our latest social media project is QuePro, a public chat mobile app that will connect users with professionals from various spheres.  QuePro allows users to post their queries or questions and receive answers from local professionals.

QuePro

[QuePro Newsfeed]

  • To speed up the development process we used EventBus, an open-source event library that simplifies communication between components and performs well with UI artifacts.
  • We also enabled the app by sending notifications to users using Google Cloud Messaging.
  • Despite tight deadlines, we managed to implement the critical features after just three months.

Read the full case study to find out more about this project.

We have also developed AllSquare, a social media application for golfers. AllSquare offers users many opportunities to share their golf achievements, engage with golfers from all over the world, and find a golf course nearby.

AllSquere

[AllSquare Newsfeed]

To create AllSquare, we used:

  • Retrofit
  • Okhttp 
  • Picasso 

in combination with RX Java for accessing the app backend. 

In this way, we implemented the reactive programming paradigm for asynchronous operation with API, files, and databases.

Follow the link to find out more about this project.

The Bottom Line

Snapchat, one of the most popular social media platforms, provides users with numerous tools for photos and video editing. The most notable Snapchat features are lifters and masks, powered by a machine learning algorithm.

If you want to develop an app like Snapchat and make it accessible, you should consider these features. Besides, with many monetization options, you can make your app like Snapchat profitable.

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

Since the platform has many integrations and sophisticated features, it is hard to give an accurate project estimation. However, you should take notice of the following – chat app development cost is determined by three main factors that have an impact on the total budget and project duration.

They are:

  1. The project scope. It’s not obligatory to implement all of the features presented in Snapchat. You can choose some of the best features and then we will estimate how long it will take and how much it will cost.
  2. The timing of the project. The same amount of work can be carried out in different time frames. It depends on the number of developers involved in the project.
  3. Budget. We prefer Time&Material budgeting for smaller projects and Dedicated Team models for longer-term projects.

So, feel free to contact us with any questions on how to develop a chat application. The App Solutions team will help you to estimate and realize all of your project ambitions. 

Related articles:

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HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP AN APP LIKE AIRBNB?

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Why your law firm needs a mobile app: top benefits, app examples, and essential features

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura

You may agree that the legal sphere is one of the slowest in integrating new technologies. For this reason, some companies are keeping records about legal cases, recent client documents, and even accounting, in the form of paper records. Such an approach significantly complicates access to legal cases and communication with clients. At the same time,  law firm apps can make all these documents accessible in a matter of a click, improve legal client experience, build transparency, loyalty, and trust to your law firm. 

If you are considering developing a mobile app for your law firm, continue reading. Below, you will find the most popular types of apps for lawyers, with examples, and a list of essential features for your app MVP. 

But first, let’s find out what benefits a mobile app might bring to your law firm. 

Why you need to develop an app for lawyers

If you are not sure whether your law firm needs a mobile app, check out the following benefits for both your employees and clients:

  • Improves time management. Most lawyers, lobbyists, and attorneys track the number of hours they spend with their clients. Thus, a mobile app with a time tracking feature will be handy for a better arrangement of appointments and a more accurate measure of billable hours. Also, it is more convenient to arrange meetings with clients by using Google Calendar, which can also be integrated into your mobile app. 
  • Increases productivity. Since lawyers regularly refer to previous cases, mobile apps for lawyers with a digital resource library of legislation, precedents, and keyword searches can appreciably increase their productivity. With such an app, lawyers no longer need to spend time to find a particular case, because all cases, laws, and resolution rules are at your fingertips. 
  • Digitalize paperwork. Mobile applications for lawyers with tags, digital folders, and highlight features could modernize all the internal notes, folders, and paperwork that are an integral part of any legal practice. Besides this, you can convert images into PDF documents for easier access to digital records. 
  • Ensures secure communication. Confidentiality is an essential element of building relationships with your clients. You can make them even more loyal by developing an app with a secure online chat, making communication even more streamlined. 

In a nutshell, a legal app is a win-win for both you and your client. With such attorney apps, you can improve both the internal working process, such as appointment scheduling and paperwork digitalization, and provide clients with more convenient, innovative, and secure law services. 

WHAT ARE OPEN SOURCE SECURITY CHALLENGES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM?

What solutions can we offer?

The best examples of apps for lawyers 

Before hiring a development team for a law firm app, you need to select the type of app you want to build. Below, we have gathered the most popular examples of legal apps and their features. In this way, you can get a clear idea of what your law firm’s mobile app might be. 

Law practice management apps

Such applications allow law firms to manage contracts, documents, tasks, as well as track time. In this way, you can turn all the paperwork into digital data for a more transparent money turnover. One example of such an app is App4Legal software, created for managers, paralegal, and lawyers from both in-house legal departments and law firms. The app enables users to:

  • Build case lifecycles
  • Track notes history
  • Schedule reminders 
  • Organize files, emails, voice notes and template files
  • Communicate with clients
  • Delegate tasks within their team
  • Share their calendar and schedule events
  • Track the time spent on each case

And so on. 

WHAT TECH STACK TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR PROJECT

Financial management and accounting app

As a rule, lawyers are working on several cases at once. For this reason, the  billing and invoicing process can become quite complicated. However, there is a solution. Financial management and accounting law firm apps are handy for keeping all your financial records. With such apps, you can upload invoices, create bills, and allow your customers to pay via their credit card using built-in payment gateway. One example of such an app is PracticePanther Legal Software that includes the following features:  

  • Billing 
  • Invoicing
  • Access to task and event workflows
  • Credit card processing 
  • Salesforce automation
  • Email alerts when a client views your invoice
  • Sales reports to track billable hours per user

For a more convenient building process, the app has several handy integrations, such as Dropbox, QuickBooks, PayPal, and others. 

Image converter applications for lawyers

As we said, mobile apps can help you to reduce paperwork. In particular, this statement refers to image converting apps that allow users to convert a picture of a printed document, or hand-written memos, into printed materials. Then, the user can save the documents to respective case folders. One example of such an application is CamScanner, which is famous, not only among lawyers, but also other specialists. App users receive the following features: 

  • Scanning any document text or graphics.
  • Scanning multi-page documents
  • Batching scan documents
  • Auto-cropping scanned photos
  • Saving scan results to system album
  • Sharing scans via email 
  • Printing files wirelessly with Google Cloud Print
  • Customizing PDF page size: 10-page size options (Letter, A4, B5, etc.)

Case Registry Search apps for law firms

Lawyers need instant access to past cases to estimate their changes with a similar legal case or search for a strategy that might suit a similar client’s situation. The main issue here is finding a similar case, a thing which may take hours, days, or even weeks. A legal case database with smart search solves this issue and helps lawyers to find the right case in a matter of seconds. One successful example of such an app is FastCase, which contains the entire American law library, including:

  • Primary law (case law and statutes) 
  • Legal blogs
  • Law review articles 
  • Briefs
  • Pleadings
  • Expert witness databases
  • Analytics and secondary treatises

The app is also empowered with a smart algorithm that allows users to jump to the right case and section with one click. 

FUNCTIONAL VS NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS: MAIN DIFFERENCES & EXAMPLES

Professional networks 

As you know, two heads are better than one. Lawyers, like any other specialist, like to communicate with colleagues, share experiences, and find ways to deal with one case or other together. The perfect place for such communication is a professional social network, like Talks On Law. The project was developed to educate and entertain law professionals at the same time. Lawyers can reach the necessary podcast, brief or  blog post using such features, as:

  • Filter by topic 
  • Credit category and data 
  • Search by tag and speaker

[Image source: lawsitesblog]

Now that you are aware of the main types of law firm apps and their features, let’s find out how to make a law firm mobile app MVP.

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Features to include in legal app MVP

As you might know, MVP, or a minimum variable product, includes only basic features of an app, such as information about your law agency, making notes, and document scanning. After the MVP app launch, you can gather feedback from your clients and add other features with time. 

Below we gathered a list of law app MVP together with an estimation in hours. 

FeatureScreen

Functions required

Android/iOS

Text us

The app user goes to messages with a predefined phone number

3 hours 

Email us

The app user can mail to the predefined email address

3 hours 

Call us

Call by predefined phone number

1 hour 

About Us screen
  • Text info 
  • Images 
  • Logo

6 hours 

Scan document 
  • Document type definition to define scanning flow
  • Scan document

12 hours 

Notes
  • Users can add notes to places
  • List of all notes

24 hours 

Connection to SDK
  • Get image
  • Get text
  • Define photo

8 hours 

Total

From 57 hours 


The cost to create a law firm mobile app MVP starts from $6,000. 

However, the costs of a fully-fledged lawyer mobile app development vary depending on the number of features you want to implement, the number of mobile platforms and the developer’s hourly rate, which depends on the country: 

  • Developers from the U.S. and Australia charge $80-250 per hour 
  • Developers located in Western Europe are less expensive: $80-150 per hour 
  • The hourly rate of a mobile developer from Eastern Europe varies from $50-80 

To sum up, the cost of building mobile apps for law firms starts from $130,000 and could be as high as $350,000. 

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

Wrapping up

Even though most law firms prefer working in an old-fashioned way, a mobile app can bring numerous benefits to your legal practice. Thus, if you want to manage documents, bills, and appointments in a more effective way, as well as provide customers with secure communication via your messaging platform, a mobile application is a must.

Consider developing a mobile app for your law firm?

Receive a free app development cost 

Related articles: 

7 TYPES OF DATA BREACHES AND HOW TO PREVENT THEM

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WHAT IS MVP IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT?

Music app development

Posted on by Pavel Tantsiura
In this issue:

Remember those times when the only source of music was CD collections, and if you wanted to listen to something new, you needed to buy a new CD or exchange it with your classmates? Now, thanks to music apps such as Spotify and Apple Music, you have access to any track by any singer available on the Internet.  As well as this, those apps created new standards for music applications – they should be fast, consume fewer resources, and deliver tracks to users in a matter of clicks. Also, there are different types of music apps- streaming, store, and storage apps. And, if you consider developing a music application, you need to choose the app type and examine its main features. This article will guide you through the process of music app development.

1. Choose your Type of Music App

While we use music apps, we don’t realize how many kinds of music apps exist on the market. But if you want to create your own music app, you need to choose among:

  • Music Streaming 
  • Music Store 
  • Music Storage 

Let’s look at them one by one.

HOW TO MAKE A LIVE STREAM WEBSITE LIKE TWITCH

Music Streaming Apps

Such apps as Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Music are the most widely used music streaming apps. The primary purpose of the music streaming application is to play music available in the databases of the service, compose custom playlists and suggest similar songs. The main elements of music streaming apps are:

  • Discovery. The central component of user engagement is the availability of the music and the ability to discover similar genres. 
  • Recommendations. To provide users with more relevant recommendations you need to implement a recommender engine to your music streaming app.
  • Personalization and deep categorization. The music can be sorted by period, genre, performer association (solo albums of band members) or by more ephemeral characteristics such as mood (happy, sad, romantic), tone (dark, brooding, sunshiny), or pace (fast, slow, waltz) of the compositions.
  • Social networking. You can apply custom playlists as promotional or educational tools. Thus, users can share playlists with friends via social media platforms.

When developing your music app, consider the following requirements for music streaming services:

  • Public Performance License, issues by ASCAP, BMI or SESAC for the U.S. and by PPL PRS for U.K. services
  • Diverse categorization system to tag content
  • Extensive integration with social media platforms

HOW TO MAKE A MUSIC APP LIKE SPOTIFY

As well as this, you can also integrate a ready-made solution, such as Spotify API to an existing app to give users a unique experience, as we did for the Spotnews project. The idea behind Spotnews is to help users be aware of the latest news while listening to their favorite music on Spotify. For Spotnews, we used Spotify SDK to allow users to authorize the app via their existing Spotify account. To learn more, read the full case study. 

Spotnews

[SpotNews app by The APP Solutions]

Music Store Applications

Music Store Applications are an elaboration on the music streaming services with a more prominent commercial trading element in their service. Applications like Pandora, GarageBand, and YouTube Music belong to this niche. The main features of music store apps are:

  • Monetization. The majority of modern music store applications encourage the listener to buy the release or paid a subscription to unlock premium features.
  • Engagement. In addition to music being the primary source of user engagement, music store applications also apply standard eCommerce engagement tactics, such as special offers, season discounts, and bonuses.
  • Feedback. The networking element is also more prominent as Music Store Applications encourage user input in the form of comments and reviews that help other users in consideration of their purchases.

To build a music store app, consider the following requirements:

  • Large licensed product inventory (includes physical media and related merchandise)
  • Integration with  payment systems
  • Integration with social media platforms
  • Anti-fraud features 

Music Storage Apps

Music Storage Applications are music players like Amazon and Google Music. Such apps are plugged straight into your storage, which might be the phone’s internal storage or general cloud storage. In a way, you can make your own music player – fully curated by the user. The main music player app development characteristics are:

  • Uploading. Apart from a music store feature, such apps also allow external uploads.
  • Customization. The purpose of a music storage app is to curate the specific selection of media in a very customized manner. 
  • Playback. The key element for such an application is a playback feature which might involve a more significant extent of custom sound equalizing and other playlist moderation features.

How to make a music player app? To achieve that, you need:

  • Integration with third-party cloud services such as Google Cloud of Amazon Web Services (AWS) 
  • Compatibility with numerous media formats
  • Scalability for smooth media playback
  • Integration with payment systems, such as Paypal, Stripe, or Braintree

What solutions can we offer?

Find Out More

2. Select the main features for the music app

If you are looking for ideas on how to make a music app, consider the list of main music app features below.  

Registration / signing up

 

An essential option that identifies the user to synchronize his playlist and music in service.

You may use social media authorization and enjoy getting new subscribers in a matter of taps.

 

Track search

 

Give users the capability to find music they want to hear and you’ll get an army of loyal users.

 

Catalog

 

Provide users with a music catalog to help them find how many musics contents your service offers. It might seem obvious, but there are a lot of bad examples on the market when developers have ignored this feature.

 

Push notifications

 

Recent research discovered that push notifications lead to higher engagement across all categories, but most of all, impact a music apps’ engagement. See exactly how on the chart below.

 

Other Features to consider

You might consider this list for the second development stage of your app when the time comes to improve your app with additional features. 

High performance. As the critical features of leading services are almost the same, the app’s performance may become the deciding point. The app needs to present good speed and less resource consumption. It should take less than 300ms for the music to start playing from the moment a listener has selected a song.

Bitrates. To stream music, it should be digitized, i.e., broken down into a series of audio snapshots. Then, our brains interpret all these snapshots together as a continuous sound. The quality of streaming music is called bitrate. There are three different audio qualities available for mobile apps: 

  • Normal (96kbps) 
  • High (160kbps)
  • Extreme (320kbps) 

High-resolution sound aims to give you CD-like, or better than CD-sound, in a convenient package of streaming from your phone or as a digital file on a dedicated player.

THE DETAILED GUIDE ON DEVELOPING APPS LIKE TIKTOK

Recommendations. After your app becomes popular amount users, you can invest in developing more advanced discovery and recommendation systems. To build such a system, you can apply different approaches:  

  • Collaborative filtering. The algorithm collects data on user behavior, preferences, and activities, and then predicts what the user would also like on the basis of similarity to other users. 
  • Content-based filtering. The algorithm analyses the recommended music and user preferences. Since developing such algorithms from scratch is too costly and complicated, you can use a ready-made solution, like naive Bayesian classifiers machine learning techniques, and cluster analysis. 
  • Hybrid Models. The recommendation model combines the insights from both collaborative filtering and content-based approach and produces more accurate results.

3. Develop a Music app MVP

How much does it cost to develop a music app? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. The price of music app development depends on many factors, such as the number of platforms, developer experience, the number of third-party integrations, and others. Our advice at this stage is to consider developing an app MVP to validate your business idea and find out whether your product would be popular among users. 

Find the MVP estimation in the hours below.

FeatureScreen

Functions required

Design

BackEnd

Android/ iOS

Login signup

 
  • Social login

8

8

16

Profile user
  • Edit user profile
  • Add Music streaming services profiles

16

16

24

Artist profile
  • Edit profile
  • Manage audio upload

16

16

24

Search
  • Search in connected music service

8

8

24

Playlist manager
  • Create playlist
  • Edit playlist

16

24

40

Audio Player
  • Music player with controls

8

24

Total in hours

 

Design From 72+ hours

Back-end from 72+ hours

152 + hours per platform

HOW DO FREE APPS MAKE MONEY

Consider Developing Music App?

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4. Monetize your music app

To make your own music app for iPhone and other devices profitable, you can apply the following monetization models:

Subscriptions

This monetization model includes two types: 

  • Freemium. The user receives the basic features of a music app with a free account. But, one cannot get access to premium functionality, such as saving tracks offline, playing tracks in high quality, or create playlists. 
  • Trial period. The Tidal music app uses this monetization model. Before starting the free trial period, the user enters cart information. After the end of a free trial, the app charges a subscription fee automatically.

Advertisements

Running ads is a traditional way to monetize a freemium music application. For running ads on your app you can charge the following costs: 

  • Cost-per-mile. The advertisers pay you for running ads for at least a thousand users
  • Cost-per-view. You charge advertisers the cost per each view of their ads 
  • Cost-per-action. You charge advertisers fees only if the app user makes a target action after viewing an ad. This might be going to a website, placing orders, and so on. 

Advertising and subscriptions are quite popular revenue models for music streaming apps such as Spotify and Pandora. Find the revenue these music apps receive from subscriptions and advertisements below. 

HOW TO ESTIMATE BASIC EXPENSES FOR YOUR MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT

Pandora Spotify revenue

[Revenue for Spotify and Pandora from ads and subscriptions]

Alternative sources of revenue

Apart from the traditional methods of music app monetization, you can consider the following:

  • Transaction revenue. You can charge transaction revenue when a user buys something from your app. An example is the Pandora app which allows users to purchase tickets in the app from their partner, Ticketfly, an event marketplace. 
  • Karaoke and live streaming. Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), a Chinese music streaming company, invented this monetization model, which brings the TME app around 70% of its revenue. Karaoke is a paid feature that allows users to sing karaoke and stream it live. At the same time, other app users can buy and send coins to their favorite singer during live streams.  
  • Paid content. Instead of giving access to all songs in the catalog, you can sell particular songs and albums in your app. Thus, if a user wants to listen to a specific track or album, one should pay for it. Google Play Music and Apple Music use this particular monetization strategy. 

HOW TO CREATE YOUR APP

In a nutshell

So, how to make your own music app? Firstly, select the type of music app you want to build. Consider that each type of music app has its own characteristics and features. Secondly, develop the app MVP to find out whether your app would be popular among users. And don’t forget – social experience is always welcome. Use the tips from this article and your app will have all the chances to become noticeable by users.

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