As we suggested in our <a href="https://agilie.com/blog/local-taxi-booking-and-ridesharing-apps-vs-uber-market-landscape-and-opportunities" target="_blank">previous article</a>, Uber&rsquo;s apparent domination of the global taxi booking and ridesharing apps market can also stimulate the emergence of similar apps locally. Applications like Lyft, Ola, Grab, and others got their own considerable market share, and <a href="/blog/step-by-step-guide-on-taxi-app-development-features-and-business-model" target="_blank">Shark Taxi</a>, the mobile program we developed and now is supporting at Agilie, felt the rise of popularity even after UberX had launched in our country.

In our article, we&#39;d like to take a closer look at the issue. To be more specific, we&rsquo;re going to make an overview of the benefits of taxi booking apps and provide a few useful development tips.

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#1. Automate and boost the speed of your services</h2>

A mobile app for the taxi business allows you to streamline the booking stage and remove the dispatcher from your service&rsquo;s workflow. Therefore, all participants in the process would be satisfied:

<ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	You, as the app owner, are going to get your source of profit;
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Passengers would be happy to simplify the taxi booking process: they&rsquo;ll no longer need to waste time on dispatcher calls (or stand in the street trying to catch a car).
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Drivers, in their turn, get a chance to answer the call faster, since the app would deal with logistics and process the order in seconds.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	<img alt="benefits taxi booking" height="284" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/3325/content_content_content_how_does_a_taxi_app_works_png.jpg" width="800" />

	&nbsp;
	</li>
</ul>

A taxi booking process as it works in the Shark Taxi app

<h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Other benefits of taxi booking mobile apps</h3>

These benefits are provided by mapping technologies like Google Maps, which allow the following:

<ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	Passengers can be up to date on their car&rsquo;s location both while they&rsquo;re waiting and when they&rsquo;re on the move.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Passengers and drivers are able to find the addresses they need faster and choose the quickest route to the destination point.
	</li>
</ul>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#2. Get a larger user base of retaining passengers and drivers</h2>

Hundreds of millions of people are used to taking advantage of applications of all sorts on a regular basis, these programs have become a habitual part of life. And extending your services to mobile gives you access to a wide audience of such people. Using a mobile booking app, passengers will get a chance to make orders in a few taps and drivers won&rsquo;t need to roam about in search of clients.&nbsp;

But to keep the app users engaged, you have to do your best to implement functionalities able to encourage passengers to choose your services and offer drivers beneficial conditions persuading them to partner with your business.

<div class="blog-banner__wrapper blog-banner__wrapper--large"><a class="blog-banner__link" href="/expertise/technology/mobile-development" rel="noopener" style="background-image: url(https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1349/learn_more_1.png);" target="_blank"><img alt="iOS and Android taxi app" class="image-incut-hide" height="300" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1349/learn_more_1.png" width="850" /></a>

<div class="blog-banner__container">
<div class="blog-banner__title">Thinking of creating an iOS and Android taxi app? Our mobile developers are at your service!</div>
</div>
</div>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#3. Take care of unique features a mobile app</h2>

These are some of the features a mobile app, add them to your service:

<ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	Ride Review. The feature helps build confidence between passengers and drivers by encouraging the former to use your program and the latter - to provide their services better. Also, gathering instant feedback will show you the best way to improve your business.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	In-app interaction feature, which allows drivers and passengers to communicate with each other through calls and messages. It&rsquo;s aimed at minimizing delays and miscommunication issues.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Access to booking history and favorite routes. The feature simplifies the re-ordering process and speeds up customer service. The approach is clearly not available in the case of traditional dispatcher-led services.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Loyalty programs, it&rsquo;s an effective way to retain users of taxi booking mobile apps. And by the way, make sure to provide loyalty programs to both groups of users (passengers and drivers). It may require additional spending and is not a must-have feature at the launch, but you may consider it in the future.
	</li>
</ul>

The full feature scope of your app, of course, must be refined according to your business goals and budget. Either way, there is a lot of new possibilities worth considering.

<img alt="mobile app for taxi business" height="451" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/3326/content_content_content_shark_taxi_roll_1.jpg" width="800" />

Shark Taxi app by Agilie

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#4. Offer different payment options</h2>

Everybody is talking about the convenience of mobile payment systems. However, not all taxi services, drivers, and passengers welcome this new technology. It means you should consider the needs of the target audience in your market and provide it with what it expects and wants to get in order to get maximum user reach.

It&rsquo;s quite possible that your customers would like to have access to different payment options including online payments, plastic cards, and cash. Fortunately, you can implement these features in one application by using modern technology.

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#5. Partner with other taxi services and drivers</h2>

You don&rsquo;t have to run a car fleet in order to launch a taxi booking app. You can offer your mobile solution for the traditional taxi services that exist in a certain area, and who work in an old-fashioned way (meaning, they don&rsquo;t have a personal cab booking application yet). Or you can make a ridesharing app by partnering with freelance drivers with private cars (it&rsquo;s a so-called peer-to-peer model). In this case, your concern is only maintaining the app&rsquo;s client-side and databases on the server.

By the by, if you&#39;re the owner of a traditional taxi service, just admit it: you&rsquo;re in a nice pickle. Your main problem, even the threat, is various taxi booking mobile apps like Uber (and others). It&rsquo;s hard to compete in such conditions!

The logical solution is to take advantage of the same tools to win your share of the audience. So maybe it&#39;s high time to design and develop a taxi mobile app to improve your market position.

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#6. Approach the Ride Sharing App Development competently</h2>

The question &quot;How does a taxi app work?&quot; is answered. Also, you now know how to interest users, where to look for drivers to hire... However, this isn&#39;t enough to succeed! So we&#39;d like to give you some more tips to consider:

<ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	Market research, which includes:

	<ul style="list-style-type:circle;">
		<li dir="ltr">
		analysis of competitors (Uber is by no means your only rival);
		</li>
		<li dir="ltr">
		study of the needs of users (both future passengers and potential drivers);
		</li>
		<li dir="ltr">
		research of current trends in the ridesharing apps market.
		</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	The choice of interaction model. We&#39;ve described your main options in #5. Think about which one suits you best.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Competent UI/UX. In addition to working well and reliably, your mobile booking app should have a modern, visually appealing interface design (it&#39;s about the UI). Also, it has to be easy to use (it&#39;s about the UX or User Experience).
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Marketing. Even the most top-notch cab booking app won&#39;t be able to win a place in the market if you don&#39;t make an effort to promote it.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Finding a worthy development team. Unfortunately, you&#39;re unlikely to cope with all the difficulties of development yourself.
	</li>
</ul>

<div class="blog-banner__wrapper blog-banner__wrapper--large"><a class="blog-banner__link" href="/blog/step-by-step-guide-on-taxi-app-development-features-and-business-model" rel="noopener" style="background-image: url(https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1177/learn_more_3.png);" target="_blank"><img alt="quality ride-sharing app development" class="image-incut-hide" height="300" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1177/learn_more_3.png" width="850" /></a>

<div class="blog-banner__container">
<div class="blog-banner__title">We offer quality ride-sharing app development! Follow the link to find out why our team is best suited for the task. </div>
</div>
</div>

We&#39;ve listed the main advantages of building a taxi booking app and gave helpful tips on attracting the maximum number of users. Of course, we&rsquo;ve provided you with the very basics, but without the basics, it&rsquo;s impossible to ensure the future success of your service. So if you have an app idea on taxi app development, you can safely proceed with its implementation, you know where to start!

<div class="blog-banner__wrapper blog-banner__wrapper--large"><a class="blog-banner__link" href="https://agilie.com/contacts" rel="noopener" style="background-image: url(https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1227/contact_us_2.jpg);" target="_blank"><img alt="contacts" class="image-incut-hide" height="300" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1227/contact_us_2.jpg" width="850" /></a>

<div class="blog-banner__container">
<div class="blog-banner__title">Wanna know more about taxi app development solutions? Contact us - we&rsquo;ll be happy to share our knowledge.</div>
</div>
</div>

&nbsp;

Read our article on the benefits of taxi booking apps to find out what these programs can provide your&nbsp;business with.

A mobile app for the taxi business is a great way to get a source of income and satisfy the needs of all participants in the process at the same time: both drivers and passengers 

Benefits a Mobile Taxi and Ridesharing App Can Bring to Your Business

You have two ways to enter today&rsquo;s restaurant mobile apps market.&nbsp;
The first way works if you&rsquo;re running a restaurant business and want to extend your services online and on mobile platforms: you develop a standalone branded app for your restaurant. The second way is building a platform-like app to partner with restaurants and provide table booking and discovery services.
Regardless of what your business objectives are, you should, first of all, understand the state of restaurant apps market and build your business strategy according to it.
In this article, we&rsquo;ll first make a breakdown of restaurant apps&rsquo; market, and then explore what problems such apps - if done right - can solve both for restaurants and for guests.
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">What apps for restaurants exist on the market now</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">1. Restaurant discovery and booking platforms</h3>
<a href="http://www.opentable.com/start/home" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">OpenTable</a> is the world&rsquo;s largest table booking platform partnered with tens of thousands of restaurants around the globe with the focus on the US market. Through its website and mobile apps, OpenTable allows users to discover restaurants filtering them by cuisine and location, reserve a table, read reviews from other visitors, and collect loyalty program rewards. Restaurant owners must pay a subscription fee to stay visible on the platform.
Operating since 1998, OpenTable makes most of the income from selling POS (Point-of-Sale) hardware that allows restaurants to integrate with their service. Their revenue from subscriptions, while being impressive, is only a secondary income.
The success of OpenTable led to the appearance of similar apps on local markets all around the world.
<img style="width: 800px; height: 475px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/198/content_opentable_roll.jpeg" alt="Opentable for diners" />
OpenTable app for iPhone
<a href="http://www.bookatable.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Bookatable</a> is an alternative to OpenTable in the UK. The service offers restaurant discovery and booking via their website and mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms. A unique feature that can be highlighted about Bookatable is their promoted hand-picked deals.
<a href="https://www.dimmi.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Dimmi</a> is the largest restaurant reservation service in Australia&nbsp;and is basically a local OpenTable. Diners can use the website and mobile apps to find a restaurant, book a table, and get rewards.&nbsp;
Zomato is another global platform for restaurant discovery and reservations with headquarters in India. After the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/zomato-buys-urbanspoon-2015-1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">acquisition of a successful Seattle-based startup UrbanSpoon</a> in January 2015, the company got access to the markets of the United States, Canada, and Australia. Aside from that, Zomato operates in 23 countries. Zomato offers a wide range of services, especially focusing on the discovery of restaurant and food delivery services. Their app is available for all popular platforms, but the table-booking feature is fully accessible in a web version only - the mobile apps allow to reserve only in select locations.
As you can see, all these platforms spin around the same stack of services: discovery, booking, rewards and user reviews. However, there are restaurant booking startups that try to change the usual formula.
LocalEats, for example, focuses on offering reservations in a hand-picked list of US&rsquo;s best independently owned restaurants. The app works with local restaurants only, avoiding country-wide chains.
<a href="https://allsetnow.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">AllSet</a> app lets not only to reserve a table&nbsp;but also to preorder food. The startup targets at business people who have a&nbsp;busy schedule. AllSet provides booking via mobile apps for iOS and Android&nbsp;and is also one of the first booking services who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/allset-facebook-messenger-chat-bot-book-lunch-2016-7" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">implemented reservations via a Facebook Messenger chatbot</a>.
<a href="https://resy.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Resy</a> and TableSavvy are popular US&rsquo;s platforms providing last minute reservations with discounts. Resy is currently offering service in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington DC and San Francisco, while TableSavvy operates in Chicago area only.
<a href="https://www.tocktix.com/#/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Tock</a> is a startup launched in 2014 and currently available only as a web service. Tock&rsquo;s unique selling point is discovering the most unconventional restaurants in the US.
<img style="width: 800px; height: 569px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/199/content_tock_web.jpg" alt="Tock restaurant discovery" />
Tock offers to discover the most unusual restaurant experiences
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">2. Branded restaurant apps</h3>
However, <a href="https://www.fsrmagazine.com/marketing/pros-and-cons-opentable" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">not all restaurant owners are excited</a> about the idea of partnering with table-booking platforms like OpenTable. That&rsquo;s why some seek more visibility and enhancement of their services via a standalone restaurant app.
According to the <a href="https://arc.applause.com/2016/06/22/best-restaurant-apps-2016/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">research</a> by Arc from Applause, 45 out of the top 100 restaurant brands don&rsquo;t even have a native mobile app. Sure, most of them have at least a responsive website, but they often lack the convenience and simplicity a mobile app for <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/mobile-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iOS</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/mobile-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Android</a> can provide.
In the same research, Applause suggests that the restaurant apps that enjoy the most popularity (according to app store user reviews) are those offered by casual eating and pizza places.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/panera-bread/id692365393?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Panera Bread</a> is one example of such apps. The app allows users to search for nearest locations, order food and instantly become a reward program member. Among the additional features for iOS users are integration with HealthKit to count calories and a companion Apple Watch app.
<img style="width: 800px; height: 465px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/200/content_arc-by-applause-restaurant-apps-first-edition-figure-5.png" alt="eating apps reviews" />
The most highly rated casual dining apps. Source: Applause
One of the most successful branded apps (if not the most successful one) out there is <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.starbucks.mobilecard" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Starbucks</a> Coffee Company&rsquo;s one. The app has burst its way to the market thanks to a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2014/06/13/why-is-the-starbucks-mobile-payments-app-so-successful/#27bc72704c2a" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">convenient mobile payment system and an automatic reward program</a>. With the latest updates, they brought engaging gamification elements to their loyalty system, including reward points called stars and informative dashboards.
<img style="width: 750px; height: 506px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/201/content_starbucks_stats.png" alt="restaurant mobile payments" />
Starbucks has experienced the continuous rise of mobile payments after the introduction of a mobile app. Source: Bloomberg
Momofuku&rsquo;s <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ando-momofukus-delivery-only/id1104421020?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Ando</a> is another app worth being mentioned here, even though it&rsquo;s rather a food delivery app. Yes, Ando is actually a food delivery app, but its example illustrates perfectly how a successful branded delivery-only restaurant app (or an app-only restaurant, as Ando is positioning itself) may look like.
At <a href="https://agilie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Agilie</a>, we have some history with restaurant app development. We&rsquo;ve developed two branded apps for local restaurants: Reporter and <a style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;" href="https://agilie.com/blog/online-food-ordering-systems-how-to-create-a-restaurant-online-ordering-website" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coast</a>. These apps allow visitors to book a table, study the illustrated menu and read news about the latest deals. Both apps also feature 3D tours to promote restaurants and their branded interiors.
<img style="width: 800px; height: 486px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/202/content_coast_roll.jpg" alt="coast restaurant app" />
Coast app by Agilie
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">What should you focus on when planning your own restaurant app</h2>
At the end of 2014, TechCrunch has published an article titled <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/12/24/the-greasy-underpan-of-restaurant-tech/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Greasy </a><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/12/24/the-greasy-underpan-of-restaurant-tech/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Underpan</a><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/12/24/the-greasy-underpan-of-restaurant-tech/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> Of Restaurant Tech</a> written by a technology entrepreneur and investor Bryan Menell. The article was focused on analyzing the reasons why most tech startups spinning around the restaurant business tend to fail.
The focal point of most such failures is this: not everything that may appeal for restaurant goers is also good for the owners, especially when it comes to small restaurant businesses.
But that doesn't mean restaurant apps are useless. The examples of apps like Starbucks and Panera Bread are suggesting the opposite. To succeed in a restaurant app market, you need to consider the pitfalls that cause restaurant apps&rsquo; failures and low ROI&nbsp;and plan your app having the successful cases in mind.
The following are some of our thoughts on what should you consider planning your restaurant app, whether it&rsquo;s a discovery and booking platform, or a branded standalone app.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">1. Table booking isn&rsquo;t necessarily the problem your app should focus on</h3>
Many restaurant apps position table booking as the main feature of their app. However, on the markets occupied by OpenTable, the table booking feature can&rsquo;t be a unique selling point. Moreover, reservations are absolutely customer-centric and <a href="http://qz.com/383261/an-elegant-solution-to-our-terrible-online-restaurant-reservation-landscape/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">don&rsquo;t ensure</a> restaurants from ROI losses caused by guests&rsquo; no-shows and cancellations.
Either way, if you have nothing to offer other than reservations, visitors would rather prefer the acclaimed table booking platforms like OpenTable over your app (if you offering a standalone app), or will seek for more valuable features in standalone apps (if you are considering running a booking platform).
That won&rsquo;t be a deal only if you don&rsquo;t have any competitors at all. Otherwise, your app must provide additional value to your target audience.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">2. Focus on enhancing guests&rsquo; experience</h3>
You can not only offer guests to reserve a table&nbsp;but also to place an order in advance, as the app AllSet does. That would be a valuable feature for busy people who don&rsquo;t have time to spend being in a restaurant&rsquo;s waiting list. Enabling app users to store and customize recurring orders will make dining at your place even more convenient.
Not all people love the very concept of eating out, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean they aren&rsquo;t the target audience of modern restaurants. You can reach out to these people by adding the possibility to order food with the on-demand delivery - just like Panera Bread or Momofuku&rsquo;s Ando. As a restaurant owner, you also should take a closer look at this concept, since on-demand delivery helps reduce the customer load in your place and serve more people&nbsp;at the same time.
Mobile payments are surely a valuable feature from the guests&rsquo; perspective, and they can be a great extension of services when implemented in a branded app (and done right, like, for example, in the Starbucks&rsquo;s case). However, restaurant owners may dislike this idea if mobile payments service is provided by a booking platform since it would mean more additional fees that may have a negative impact on the ROI.
The same goes for loyalty programs. Most OpenTable users love the platform for its reward program, but if you&rsquo;re planning a booking platform, be ready that some restaurant owners won&rsquo;t like the idea of third-party-provided loyalty programs.
For a dedicated app, on the other hand, a loyalty program is one of the major selling points. Apart from retaining guests, you can use it to encourage people to use your app&rsquo;s additional services rewarding them with more bonuses for, say, making food delivery orders or using mobile payments system.
Finally, aside from features and services, there is another important thing that enhances <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/ui-ux-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">user experience</a>: clean design and simple menu navigation. Comprehensive information about meals and beverages with filters, tempting images, and easy order placing functionality is another bunch of reasons why diners would prefer your app over a website, or another app or platform.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">3. Restaurant app can be an effective promotion tool as well</h3>
A standalone restaurant app can also be effectively used for increasing the restaurant&rsquo;s visibility and marketing your services. Here&rsquo;s how you can make your app a promotion tool:
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Start a referral program rewarding users with discounts or loyalty points for inviting friends to the app or for a diner.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Geolocation services implemented in the app will provide better discovery of the nearest restaurants.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Encourage app users (rewarding them with loyalty points, for example) to leave reviews that will be displayed in the app or on a website, thus promoting the quality of a restaurant&rsquo;s services.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Show off your place and meals using appealing photos.</li>
</ul>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 611px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/203/content_cafe_app.png" alt="cafe app concept" />
Invite friends and order meals together: a cafe app concept by <a href="https://dribbble.com/alex8volk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Alex Volk</a>, a UI/UX designer at Agilie
Utilizing <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/mobile-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mobile technologies</a> and expanding restaurant guests&rsquo; experience via convenient food ordering and delivery systems and fair, simple loyalty programs is the winning strategy for any restaurant app, be it an OpenTable-like booking platform or a branded standalone app. But before you decided developing one, you must define the needs of your target audience and know exactly what problems your app will solve - both for restaurants and for diners.
<a href="https://agilie.com/contacts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Contact us</a> and get more information about <a href="https://agilie.com/blog/online-food-ordering-systems-how-to-create-a-restaurant-online-ordering-website" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restaurant mobile app development</a>, or visit our services page and learn more about technologies we can implement in your app.

Read our breakdown of today's restaurant apps&rsquo; market, and learn what problems such apps&nbsp;can solve both for restaurants and for guests.

A table booking and food discovery platform or a branded restaurant app? A breakdown of today's restaurant apps’ market and the problems such apps can solve both for restaurants and for guests.

What Type of Restaurant App Is Best for Your Business

Over the last several years, many large television companies went beyond blue screens and presented mobile apps that let their audience watch TV content live or on demand. Apart from that, TV companies also offer mobile apps specifically designed to promote and extend the experience of the fan-favorite TV shows.
In this article, we&rsquo;ll find out how local TV channels can benefit from applying these ideas and developing a mobile app for TV content streaming.
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Live video streaming apps provided by TV networks</h2>
You might have already run across apps like <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hbo-now/id971265422?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">HBO Now</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fox-now/id571096102?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Fox Now</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foodnetwork.watcher&amp;hl=en" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Watch Food Network</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cbs.app" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">CBS All Access</a> offered by television companies from all around the world, that provide full access to their channels&rsquo; content.
The major selling point of these paid subscription-only apps is that they allow their users to save money by subscribing only to the channel they want to watch, never needing to buy the full cable TV package.&nbsp;
<img style="width: 800px; height: 474px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/668/content_content_hbo_now_roll.jpg" alt="HBO now app" width="800" height="474" />
HBO NOW app by HBO company
Meanwhile, some companies - such as British ITV with their <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/itv-hub/id446079916?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">ITVHub</a> and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/itv-essentials/id742040150?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">ITV Essentials</a> - offer a freemium model. The subscription in this case only removes ads from broadcasts.
The same companies have also rolled out a handful of apps dedicated to their most popular shows like Game of Thrones, The Kitchen, America&rsquo;s/Britain&rsquo;s Got Talent and others. These apps are aimed to expand viewers&rsquo; experience, gather feedback, and, of course, promote primary TV production.
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">What additional value a mobile app can bring to your TV audience</h2>
So, how can your television company or product apply these ideas and go mobile using <a href="how-to-create-a-live-video-streaming-website-like-twitch-and-get-your-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video streaming technologies</a>?
First of all, moving the whole broadcasting schedule of your channel to the mobile live streaming format might be a too hasty and costly decision, regardless if you&rsquo;re broadcasting locally or countrywide.
The safer option in both cases is to start by testing the waters and rolling out an app dedicated to your most popular product. It may be a cooking show, a travel show, a talent show - anything that establishes an emotional connection with the major part of your audience.
As a result, you&rsquo;ll be able to retain your audience and to acquire new viewers. Here are the features that will help you do that.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">1. Mobile access</h3>
This is one of few cases when the phrase &ldquo;anytime, anywhere&rdquo; actually makes sense. Expanding your television production to <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/mobile-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mobile devices</a> will significantly increase your broadcast range, both in geographical and demographical meanings.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">2. Notifications about the upcoming episodes or broadcasts</h3>
Mobile users are always online. Thus, another benefit of mobile broadcasting is that you can notify users with the help of push notifications. Remind them about the upcoming viewings of the new episodes of your show or inform them about important events they can catch turning on your channel.
Notifications sent at the right time will ensure viewers from missing new episodes, which, in its turn, will ensure you from losing the audience. And even more - notifications also help you feed the audience&rsquo;s interest in your primary TV content.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">3. Watching video live or on demand</h3>
Apart from airing new episodes and broadcasts, you can let users rewatch on demand previous streams that will be stored in a cloud.&nbsp;
If you start with a smaller app dedicated to one show only, you won&rsquo;t need significant server capacities. Of course, in case you&rsquo;ll decide to go further and streaming live all your TV content, be prepared for greater server-side expenses.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">4. Gathering feedback from the audience</h3>
Sometimes, it&rsquo;s really hard for TV broadcasters to get reliable information on how the audience is engaged with their production. In a mobile app, on the other hand, you have two ways to get feedback and measure people&rsquo;s engagement.
First, organizing various user polls will help you both gather feedback on your show and engage people by providing them with a possibility to influence the future broadcasts by their vote.
Second, using app analytics tools, you can effectively track user engagement while they watch the broadcasts and interact with the app itself. Thanks to that, you will know how to make both your mobile and television products better and more engaging for viewers.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">5. Social features for community building</h3>
Almost any modern mobile app has social elements. And that&rsquo;s surely a must-have feature if you want to build a community of devoted and engaged active users.&nbsp;
You can encourage users to invite their friends and followers from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as to interact with each other within your app discussing new episodes and participating in polls.&nbsp;
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">6. Unified login system</h3>
Implementing the unified login system makes adding connections from other social networks much easier for users. Moreover, new users will feel more comfortable if your app gives them options to log in quickly using their existing profiles in social networks.
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">7. Unique content</h3>
Many TV channels provide online access to their content via social media and video hosting services like YouTube. However, such an approach makes your online content too scattered around social media and difficult to find. It also makes your content totally non-unique. Offering exclusive, well-structured and accessible content in your app will motivate the TV audience to try your mobile product.
<img style="width: 800px; height: 463px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/641/content_content_b_live_roll_2.jpg" alt="b.live live video streaming app" width="800" height="463" />
b.live video live video streaming app by Agilie
Feel free to <a href="https://agilie.com/contacts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">contact us</a> if you are interested in more ways to expand your TV products&rsquo; audience or want to hear about other possible applications of video streaming technologies.&nbsp;Also, we're more than happy to create for you a <a href="how-to-create-a-live-video-streaming-website-like-twitch-and-get-your-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">service to share video online</a>!

In this article, we&rsquo;ll find out how local TV channels can benefit from applying these ideas and developing a mobile app for TV content streaming.

Over last several years, many large television companies went beyond blue screens and presented mobile apps that let their audience watch TV content live or on demand. Let's, find out how local TV channels can benefit from applying these ideas and developing a mobile app for TV content streaming.

7 Benefits a Video Streaming App Can Provide to Your TV Production

Live video streaming apps like Periscope keep gaining popularity among casual social media audiences. However, the technology stack established for this type of apps can be successfully applied in other domains that deal with live video streaming. If you are a security and surveillance system hardware provider, you might, too, be interested in the application of this technology for your business.
The existing third-party solutions often have poor hardware compatibility and, ultimately, may compromise you as a service provider&nbsp;since you can&rsquo;t control what happens to your customers&rsquo; data.&nbsp;
On the other hand, developing your own <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/ui-ux-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mobile</a> and <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/ui-ux-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">web</a> app for monitoring your security systems and camera feed live streaming is a secure way to make your products more effective and appeal to new customers.
<h2>How mobile technologies can make surveillance systems smarter</h2>
There always was a number of mobile and web apps that allow users to connect remotely to DVRs, NVRs, and IP cameras and watch the feed from them live. Such apps are often too limited in functionality and don&rsquo;t provide the level of flexibility most users desire. Moreover, an incapable app can compromise both your product and a user&rsquo;s personal data.
To solve this problem, you can incorporate your hardware products with a native mobile app for <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/ui-ux-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iOS</a> and <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/ui-ux-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Android</a> (and even with a <a href="https://agilie.com/expertise/technology/web-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>) that is designed to work with your products specifically. This will enhance the user experience and make your security systems more flexible and effective.
A smart surveillance mobile app powered by the live video streaming technologies lets users to:
<ul>
<li>Watch high-quality live video feed from cameras using their phones, tablets or web browser.</li>
<li>Control a PTZ camera remotely using simple gestures to pan, tilt, and zoom.</li>
<li>Store and have permanent access to recordings right from a device&rsquo;s disc and in a secure cloud.</li>
<li>Get push and email notifications about the events (motion detections, noises) captured by the security equipment.</li>
<li>Schedule recordings, so cameras would work only in hours required by a user. &nbsp;</li>
<li>Incorporate any number of cameras to the system, scaling it according to current needs.</li>
<li>Broadcast the live feed from the camera to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.</li>
<li>Make snapshots from the feed.</li>
<li>Map surveillance locations using geolocation capabilities.</li>
<li>Feel safe about their personal data: all data is encrypted by secure data transmission protocols.</li>
<li>Monitor the video stream using any device - from handset to tablet to laptop/desktop computer.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Use our team&rsquo;s experience to build a security ecosystem</h2>
We at Agilie have&nbsp;developed a live video streaming app b.live. It&rsquo;s designed and built natively for iOS and Android systems using different sets of technologies for each platform. Here's how our experience can help during the development of your app.
<img style="width: 800px; height: 468px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/186/content_b_live_roll_1080.jpg" alt="live streaming app design" />
b.live app by Agilie
<h3>Less time needed for development</h3>
Since we&rsquo;ve developed a live video streaming app, we already have the technology stack for both iOS and Android platforms to establish live video feed streaming, which significantly decreases the time required for app development. We don&rsquo;t need to integrate video streaming protocols or backend infrastructure from scratch - we only need to fit with your hardware.
<h3>Continuous support</h3>
We&rsquo;re ready to provide full post-release support: from app updates to backend server maintenance. We&rsquo;ll make sure the app is compatible with your new hardware and will be up-to-date with the latest mobile devices as well as the latest versions of OSs and web browsers. Also, we can multiply server-side capacities proportionally to the growth of your user base.
<h3>Security</h3>
Since your customers will now use the app provided by you, and not a third-party solution, all their data will be stored on a private server cluster. This guarantees the security of the data and safeguards you from being compromised by poor third-party software. Also, the video encryption protocol ensures the video is transmitted securely from camera to user&rsquo;s device.
<img style="width: 800px; height: 533px;" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/185/content_photo-1461175128502-8b13d90ee1ec.jpg" alt="security mobile video streaming" />
Incorporating your video surveillance systems with native mobile and web apps means forming an ecosystem that will make it much easier for your customers to monitor their business, house, or private property.
The knowledge and the technology stack we&rsquo;ve got at Agilie allow us to build a smart surveillance mobile app in the shortest term, make your security system more flexible, and, finally, keep you and your customers from cybersecurity threat. You'll <a href="how-to-create-a-live-video-streaming-website-like-twitch-and-get-your-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">get a real-time video streaming app</a> which will even your exceed expectations.
If you are considering to modernize and expand your security services by giving your customers more control over their security with the help of mobile and web apps - please, <a href="https://agilie.com/contacts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">contact us</a>. We&rsquo;ll be happy to hear your thoughts!

There are a number of mobile and web apps that allow users to connect remotely to DVRs, NVRs, and IP cameras and watch the feed from them live.

Developing your own mobile and web app for security systems and live camera feed monitoring is an effective way to give your customers more control over their security.

Modernizing Surveillance Systems with Live Video Streaming Mobile Apps

The market landscape of taxi services changes rapidly. Especially, since Uber came to the stage and turned the market upside down by popularizing the idea of peer-to-peer (p2p) mobile taxi booking and ridesharing.

This variation of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/sharing-economy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sharing economy</a> for taxi services has different names (ridesharing, ride-hailing, carpooling, private taxi services) and shapes (booking of cabs, private cars, personal chauffeurs, buses), but the idea is always the same: instead of traditional taxi services with dispatchers, car fleets and hired drivers, apps like Uber offer the format where passengers deal with drivers using the booking service only as a proxy.

Uber had not just disrupted the market. They had kickstarted the emergence of the new ridesharing marketplaces. And even though the concept of apps like Uber is often <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber_protests_and_legal_actions" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">questioned and criticized</a> by traditional taxi services, such apps are now taking over local markets across the world. Even in the US, Uber is facing competition presented by Lyft and - <a href="http://time.com/money/4163610/sidecar-shuts-down-december-31-2015/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">until recently</a> - Sidecar, a company that co-pioneered the mobile ridesharing business.&nbsp;

What does it all mean for app developers, drivers, and taxi services? Let&rsquo;s see how different ridesharing and private taxi services achieved success in their local markets&nbsp;and try to&nbsp;answer this question.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Lyft</h2>

<img alt="lyft app" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/180/content_lyft_carpool-screens-1200x909.png" style="width: 800px; height: 606px;" />

Source: Forbes

<a href="https://www.lyft.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lyft</a> started as a US-only peer-to-peer ridesharing service in 2012 and eventually evolved into a hybrid between p2p rideshare and taxi booking formats. As for 2016, it has increased its market coverage significantly by partnering with other market giants from all over the world: Grab (former GrabTaxi, Southern Asia) and Didi Chuxing (China).

Although Lyft is far from Uber&rsquo;s domination in the US, it has become an honorable (however still a distant) No. 2 on the market, having their&nbsp;own peachy market share and continuing to expand.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">myDriver</h2>

<img alt="mydriver chauffeur and limousine booking app" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/205/content_mydriver_roll.jpg" style="width: 800px; height: 380px;" />

<a href="https://www.mydriver.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">myDriver</a> is a Berlin-based subsidiary from Sixt, a large European multinational car rental company. myDriver was launched in 2013 as an alternative to conventional mobile taxi and ridesharing services. The company&rsquo;s main idea is to provide quality limousine and chauffeur services for both corporate and private clients with competitive fixed rates.

Today, myDriver extends Sixt&rsquo;s services offering Android and iOS users chauffeur, limousine, and private car services, as well as airport and exhibition transfers. For group business trips the company provides business-class vans and SUVs.

The service is operating in the majority of Europe&rsquo;s large cities and keeps expanding to Japan, South Africa, UAE, and other countries around the world.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Didi Chuxing</h2>

<img alt="Didi taxi booking app" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/178/content_didi-app.jpg" style="width: 800px; height: 377px;" />

<a href="http://www.xiaojukeji.com/index/index" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Didi Chuxing</a> (formerly Didi Kuaidi) is China&rsquo;s largest taxi and vehicle booking company that formed after the merger of two rivals, Didi Dache, and Kuaidi Dache. In May 2016, the company <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/08/04/apple-invest-didi-chuxing-china-uber-merger/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">got $1 billion of investments from Apple</a>.

Didi has been building international partnerships with Lyft and India&rsquo;s Ola to strengthen the competition with Uber in the US, India, Southeastern Asia and China until in August 2016. That&#39;s when Didi and Uber China announced their <a href="https://yourstory.com/2016/08/uber-china-didi-chuxing-deal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">merger</a>: Uber basically sold its regional subsidiary to Didi Chuxing. Was it a truce? A surrender? That - as well as how this merger will affect China and another big local market -&nbsp;is yet to be seen.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Grab</h2>

<img alt="Grab taxi app" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/181/content_grab-new-app-screenshots.jpg" style="width: 800px; height: 463px;" />

Source: Tech in Asia

<a href="https://www.grab.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Grab</a>, formerly known as GrabTaxi, is the largest Southeastern Asia&rsquo;s company providing taxi booking, vehicle booking, and ridesharing mobile services&nbsp;operating in 30 cities throughout Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Grab is operating in Southeastern Asia since 2011 and now, partnering with Didi, Ola, and Lyft, they can expand their reach to more markets.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Ola Cabs</h2>

<img alt="Ola cabs" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/182/content_ola_roll.jpg" style="width: 800px; height: 404px;" />

<a href="https://www.olacabs.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ola Cabs</a> is the leader in India&rsquo;s taxi booking app market - Uber is only second to it. In 2015, Ola reasserted its domination by <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2015/03/02/olaforsure/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">acquiring</a> a taxi aggregator TaxiForSure.

After the Uber-Didi merger in China, Ola <a href="https://yourstory.com/2016/08/uber-didi-merger-ola/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">has reasons to worry</a> about the reignition of their rivalry with Uber in India. It&rsquo;s even possible that this rivalry will end up in another merger. Otherwise, it may become an opportunity for smaller players in India&rsquo;s taxi booking market, who could use this clash of giants to their advantage.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">GoCatch and ingogo</h2>

<a href="http://www.gocatch.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GoCatch</a> and <a href="https://www.ingogo.com.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ingogo</a> are two small taxi booking apps that emerged on Australia&#39;s&nbsp;market as alternatives to Uber X which appeared there earlier. As a selling point, GoCatch uses more affordable pricing and ingogo offer fixed fares to their passengers.

Although the two apps have instantly got their own audience of ride-booking Australians, they couldn&rsquo;t disrupt the local market already occupied by Uber. According to <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/blog/ride-hailing-apps" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SimilarWeb&rsquo;s research</a>, after some initial growth in Q3 and Q4 2015, both apps saw a decline in active app users over the first two quarters of 2016.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Shark Taxi</h2>

<img alt="Shark taxi ridesharing in ukraine" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/183/content_shark_taxi_roll.jpg" style="width: 800px; height: 451px;" />

<a href="/blog/step-by-step-guide-on-taxi-app-development-features-and-business-model" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shark Taxi</a> is a private taxi app for <a href="/expertise/technology/mobile-development" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">iOS</a>, <a href="/expertise/technology/mobile-development" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Android</a> and <a href="/expertise/technology/web-development" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Web</a> platforms developed and being supported by Agilie. Operating since 2013, Shark Taxi constantly expands its presence on Ukraine&rsquo;s mobile taxi booking/ridesharing market, appearing in more and more cities and metropolitan areas all over the country.

Uber hasn&rsquo;t yet stepped on the markets of most developing countries. In Ukraine, Uber X has been launched just recently - in July 2016, - and it&rsquo;s now operating only in the capital, Kyiv. For Shark Taxi, which has already established itself&nbsp;in other regions, the hype around Uber X&rsquo;s launch became a marketing booster that only increased the number of the app&rsquo;s active users.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Is there still room for new mobile taxi booking and ridesharing apps?</h2>

Yes, there is. And the biggest advantage has the local services operating in the territories still uncharted for Uber and other big companies. The success of apps like Uber has raised people&rsquo;s interest in mobile taxi booking and ridesharing services (and even beyond them, as we can judge by the &ldquo;Uber for X&rdquo; phenomenon), and those who fit the niche before Uber&rsquo;s arrival have more chances to succeed. Otherwise, they might not be so lucky - as we see from the experience of Australian apps GoCatch and ingogo.

The key to achieving success for taxi booking apps that operate on a local level is applying Uber&rsquo;s experience and its way of doing business, at the same time, making their services more affordable to customers.&nbsp;

Specifically, they should focus on three key points.

Placing an order. The benefits of mobile don&rsquo;t go down to the possibility to book a car &ldquo;anywhere, anytime&rdquo;. Mobile technologies allow using a device&rsquo;s GPS capabilities for a faster search for the closest car, the shortest route, and online payment services for paying for a ride in advance. All this helps to eradicate the unnecessary lags in passengers&rsquo; experience.

Payment processing. The integration of mobile payments has become a must in almost any type of apps. However, for taxi apps - especially for those operating in local markets - it&rsquo;s important to support all popular types of payment processing: online payments, plastic card payments, and the old good cash.

Building trust between passengers and drivers. Uber is notable for its approach to partnering with the trustworthy drivers, as well as for its rating systems that allow both passengers and drivers to learn who will they interact with and what riding history these persons&nbsp;have. This is not the flawless way to build trust between passengers and drivers, but it works nonetheless.

Transportation service companies must act now and adopt mobile app technologies. It&rsquo;s a perfect opportunity for them to partner with the established local mobile services or consider developing their own mobile taxi booking app. On the other hand, entrepreneurs should, too, consider fitting this market before other companies will do that. One way or another, it will lead to the enhancement of the taxi services&rsquo; quality and the emergence of new successful marketplaces.&nbsp;

If you&rsquo;re interested in <a href="/blog/step-by-step-guide-on-taxi-app-development-features-and-business-model" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">taxi app development</a>, check out our <a href="/blog/step-by-step-guide-on-taxi-app-development-features-and-business-model" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shark Taxi case study</a>, and <a href="https://agilie.com/contacts" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">contact us</a> for further collaboration.

Let&#39;s check some stories from local markets where taxi booking and ridesharing apps coexist with the industry giant.

Uber seems to have international domination. Or does it? Let's check some stories from local markets where taxi booking and ridesharing apps coexist with the industry giant.

Local Taxi Booking and Ridesharing Apps vs. Uber: Market Landscape and Opportunities

In December 2015, Apple released a new provider API for Apple Push Notification service (APNs). This API is based on the HTTP/2 network protocol and allows app developers to send remote notifications to their app on iOS, tvOS, and OS X devices, and to Apple Watch via iOS.

We&rsquo;ve analyzed the new provider API, and in this article, we&rsquo;ll present a breakdown of its most important features and the benefits this long-awaited update brings to iOS developers.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Why we needed this APNs API update</h2>

APNs debuted back in iOS 3 era, and has remained largely unchanged throughout all these years, even despite implementing APNs has always been somewhat problematic for the app developers. Here are only some of the issues that were making the work with APNs too time-consuming and complex:

<ul>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Notifications had to be serialized to a binary format and sent individually using a secure TCP socket.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Sockets required Apple&rsquo;s SSL certificate to be opened in.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">All - Development, AdHoc, App Store, and VoIP apps - had to use different certificates.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">We had to use a separate binary TCP socket API to check for unsubscribed devices in order to avoid sending future notifications to them.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">All errors led to the TCP socket closing.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Error codes were too generalized which made it difficult to identify the exact causes of errors.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">A high notification throughput required multiple simultaneous connections to be opened.</li>
</ul>

The new provider API finally fixes all these issues making Apple Push Notifications service much more fast and convenient thanks to HTTP/2 protocol and JSON data interchange format.

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">New features</h2>

The HTTP/2 APNs provider API makes our life as developers much easier by the following things:

<ul>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;A JSON-based request-response protocol</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">APNs now sends 200 Success Response on each notification</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Errors are now getting a JSON-string response with detailed error descriptions</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Message length increased from 2048 bytes to 4096 bytes, which enables to add extra content to notifications (not just text, but also images and GIFs)</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Compression allows to reduce the number of simultaneous connections to sustain a notification throughput</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">The connection status check with the HTTP/2 PING Frame</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Topics support - you can now identify topics (bundle identifiers) for your notification</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">The <a href="https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/AppDistributionGuide/AddingCapabilities/AddingCapabilities.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40012582-CH26-SW11" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Universal Push Notification Client SSL Certificate</a> for Development, AdHoc, App Store, and VoIP apps</li>
</ul>

<img alt="APNS notifications delivery service" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/attachments/2088/content_http_2_-_1_updated.jpg" style="width: 800px; height: 472px;" />

The updated push notifications delivery service&nbsp;protocol

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">How the HTTP/2 protocol makes notifications more effective</h2>

The HTTP/2 is basically an extension of the previous HTTP 1.x standards. This means that, although HTTP/2 eradicates the performance limitations of the previous protocols, the core concepts remain the same, and the developers don&rsquo;t need any app-level changes to update the existing notification systems.

Binary framing layer

The performance enhancements of HTTP/2 are possible thanks to the new binary framing layer. It introduces a more effective way how to encapsulate and transmit HTTP messages between the client and server.

<img alt="HTTP 2.0 binary framing layer" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/164/content_http_2_-_2.png" style="width: 800px; height: 377px;" />

Binary framing layer

The binary framing layer splits all HTTP/2 communication into smaller messages and frame, encoding them in binary format. Yet, the apps will be unaware of those changes - all changes happen on a client-server level: while the HTTP semantics remains the same, only the way how it&rsquo;s being transmitted and encoded is now different.

Also, with the new binary framing mechanism, we can say&nbsp;farewell to parallel TCP connections. Now, splitting streams into many interleaved and prioritized frames makes connections persistent and fast since it requires only one connection per origin.

Data exchange mechanism

The new mechanism of data exchange is based on three components: 1) Streams, 2) Messages, and 3) Frames.&nbsp;

All communication goes through a single TCP connection that can carry any number of streams.

Stream is a two-directional flow of bytes that happens during the connection and transmits messages. Each stream carries messages using a unique identifier and optional priority information.

Message is a logical request or response mapped by a sequence of frames.

Frame is the smallest unit of communication in HTTP/2. Each frame contains a header that identifies the stream the frame belongs to.

Hence, the HTTP/2 protocol communication is realized through the exchange of binary-encoded frames which are mapped to messages. Messages, in their turn, belong to particular streams. All these components are multiplexed within a TCP connection and ensure the best performance the HTTP protocol ever had.

Request and response multiplexing

As mentioned above, the binary framing layer in HTTP/2 enables full request and response multiplexing within a single TCP connection: first, the client and the server breaks an HTTP message down into independent frames, then interleave them, and finally reassemble them on the output.

This improvement alone leads to a number of performance benefits for push notifications, including:

<ul>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Interleaving multiple requests and/or responses without blocking on any one</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Interweaving the logical streams over a single TCP connection without head-of-line blocking</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Using a single connection to deliver multiple simultaneous requests and responses</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Removing of the unnecessary HTTP/1.x workarounds that we were using to compensate the previous protocol&rsquo;s shortcomings</li>
</ul>

<img alt="Parallel streams HTTP 2.0" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/166/content_http_2_-_3.png" style="width: 800px; height: 294px;" />

Three parallel streams being transmitted between the client and the server within one connection

Header compression

Each HTTP transfer carries a set of headers with metadata that describe the transferred resource and its properties. In HTTP/1.x, headers were sent as plain text &nbsp;adding a considerable weight. In HTTP/2, request and response header metadata are compressed using the HPACK compression format.&nbsp;

To compress headers, HPACK uses two techniques:

<ol>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Encoding the transmitted header fields using a static <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huffman_coding" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Huffman code</a>, which reduces their individual transfer size.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify;">Encoding the transmitted header fields using an indexed list of previously transferred values as a reference for the effective reconstruction of the full header keys and values.</li>
</ol>

<img alt="HPACK header compression for HTTP 2" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/167/content_http_2_-_4.png" style="width: 800px; height: 527px;" />

HPACK&nbsp;header compression for HTTP/2

<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Conclusion</h2>

Before the update, Apple Push Notifications service was limited by the shortcomings of the HTTP/1.1 protocol. The protocol&rsquo;s forcing to use multiple TCP connections to process multiple requests simultaneously had a huge negative impact on the network performance. The old APNs also required different certificates for different app builds throughout the development process course&nbsp;and was making it almost impossible to track the sent notifications.

These and many other issues were unnecessarily time- and resource-consuming for us as app developers.&nbsp; 
The new APNs provider API employing HTTP/2 protocol solves all major problems the previous API had, allows to eradicate unnecessary workarounds, greatly increases performance, and reduces the overall development time.

&nbsp;

Further reading on APNs and HTTP/2:

What&rsquo;s New In Apple Push Notification Service / WWDC16

<a href="https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/RemoteNotificationsPG/Chapters/Introduction.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Local and Remote Notification Programming Guide / Apple Developer</a>

<a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/02/getting-ready-for-http2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Getting Ready For HTTP/2: A Guide For Web Designers And Developers / Smashing Magazine</a>

&nbsp;

Also, read about our <a href="/expertise/technology/mobile-development" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">iOS</a> and <a href="/expertise/technology/mobile-development" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Android</a> app development services.

In December 2015, Apple released a new provider API for Apple Push Notification service (APNs).&nbsp;

APNs provider API is based on the HTTP/2 network protocol and allows app developers to send remote notifications to their app on iOS, tvOS, and OS X devices, and to Apple Watch via iOS. We’ve analyzed the new provider API, and now present a breakdown of its most important features and the befits it provides to iOS developers.

HTTP/2-Based Provider API for APNS: The Most Important Features And Benefits for App Development

Business owners considering mobile apps development whether for clients or internal company usage may choose among three options of apps &ndash; native, web or hybrid applications. Let us analyze each type, its pros and cons, and decide which of them will be the most suitable option in each case and will meet the requirements in mobile app development.

Native Applications

These apps are developed for a definite platform &amp; are directly installed at a user&rsquo;s smartphone or tablet (filling some storage capacity). Such applications have to be downloaded by a user in an app store of a platform needed.

With native applications companies may create a customized product to provide a user with an app that is easy to use along with the other channels that are being used already. Such continuity is one of the basic advantages of native app development.

Some other benefits of native apps:

<ul>
	<li>- Geolocation enables companies to customize their services and personalize loyalty programs. Customers may get notified about physical shops nearby or have a chance to get a regional discount.</li>
	<li>- Data of user&rsquo;s activities (or inactivity) can be easily collected and analyzed, and in such a way evaluation of app effectiveness or its options is simplified.</li>
</ul>

And presumptive drawbacks:

<ul>
	<li>- Native apps are usually more expensive in developing, especially for companies that need apps on multiple OS platforms</li>
	<li>- Native applications are to be approved by each app store, and the process of drawing attention to it might be difficult (unless it is an app for internal company usage)</li>
</ul>

Web Applications

It seems quite clear &ndash; such apps run through a web-browser on a user&rsquo;s device. These applications are actually custom-designed websites that are built in order to look &amp; be used like native apps, though in reality they are not stored on a user&#39;s device. They can be compared with the cloud storage and data on a hard drive of the computer. When thoroughly designed (this includes sizing and scrolling), web applications often run as native apps.

Here are some key advantages of web applications:

<ul>
	<li>- Web-based apps are easier to control and they can run on any OS platform</li>
	<li>- Developers can offer applications without approving them by any app stores</li>
	<li>- Faster cycle development using CSS, HTML and JavaScript</li>
</ul>

And some disadvantages:

Web applications do not access a user&#39;s device. As a result, this limits some additional app options that might have been useful for customizing an app

<ul>
	<li>- They can be used only through the web, which means safety control is vastly decreased</li>
	<li>- Searching for an app might be difficult because there are no any cataloged app store with search option in it</li>
</ul>

Hybrid applications

Hybrid app is a middle type between native &amp; web applications. Actually they are made so they look and feel like native applications. They also have to be installed on a user&#39;s smartphone and can be found in app stores. The difference is that they necessarily must be hosted within a native app and run through the WebView, so in such a way to get an access to the user&#39;s data for wider possibilities.

Additional options of hybrid apps:

<ul>
	<li>- Hybrid applications have the best functionality and customization for a user</li>
	<li>- Developers are not limited by a single platform, they can build a hybrid application that will work with several platforms (if it runs as a native app)</li>
	<li>- Hybrids is a great option for developers that create visually intense applications, for instance, games (they would not perform properly as web apps)</li>
</ul>

Anyway, there are some disadvantages that are worth considering when choosing a hybrid app:

<ul>
	<li>- In case of very complicated applications it is better to do them native</li>
	<li>- Its development demands additional time &amp; efforts (compared with web apps), in order to make it feel &amp; look for a user like native</li>
	<li>- App stores may refuse hybrid apps that do not work smoothly</li>
</ul>

Choosing an appropriate type of a mobile application is a very important stage in its development, that is influenced by several factors, such as technical evaluation by developers, necessity of the access to the data on a device, influence of the Internet speed on an application, etc.

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If you have any questions or would like to contact us about possible request on design or mobile friendly web site development or&nbsp;mobile app&nbsp;development please use&nbsp;<a href="/contacts">Contact form</a>.

&nbsp;Let us analyze each application type, its pros, and cons, and decide which of them will be the most suitable option in&nbsp;mobile app development.

Business owners considering mobile apps development may choose among three options of apps – native, web or hybrid applications.

Choosing Between Native vs. Web vs. Hybrid App

&nbsp;
According to Tim Cook, Apple Watch is the most personal device ever made by Apple, and we have to admit he is right. As nothing can be more personalized that a gadget that is worn on a wrist and can be additionally set up according to a user's needs and wishes. Besides that, the smart watch gives new ways of interaction that were not possible or demanded on an iPhone. The key task of the Apple Watch is to be useful, discreet and laconic, as they are meant to be used on the go.
Apple Watch runs on watchOS. It is the operaing system developed especially for this device. It is based on iOS and supports applications that are based on Apple WatchKit. Apple company shares a&nbsp;set of all the necessary instruments for making new apps or updating existing ones with developers.
There are different opinions among developers of such applications. On the one hand, it is a brand-new device and it creates new tasks and opens up new possibilities for new types of apps. On the other hand, it is a well-known fact that iOS is quite a reserved system and it has some limitations, which touched Apple watchOS as well. As a result, it may narrow possibilities for developers.
Anyway, more and more companies update their iOS apps and adapt them for Apple watch. Apple Watch apps development becomes more demanded in different sectors of business. Our Agilie team has also started developing apps for watchOS, and recently we have finished working on our Apple Watch application <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shot-bucket/id991758147">Shot Bucket</a>. It is a Dribbble client that is now available for users in their Apple Watches.
Please visit <a href="https://agilie.com/services">Services</a> page&nbsp;on our website in order to find out more about Apple watch apps development at Agilie.
Subscribe to our blog and please follow us on:
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If you have any questions or would like to contact us about possible request on design or mobile friendly websites/mobile apps development please use&nbsp;<a href="https://agilie.com/contacts">Contact form</a>.

According to Tim Cook, Apple Watch is the most personal device ever made by Apple, and we have to admit he is right.&nbsp;

Apple Watch runs on watchOS. It is the operaing system developed especially for this device. It is based on iOS and supports applications that are based on Apple WatchKit.

Apple Watch App Development

The newest release of the WebKit framework in iOS8 provided significant simplification of iOS&nbsp;development process.&nbsp;

The previous version of iOS allowed to useUIWebViews&nbsp;based on UIKit framework.&nbsp;The biggest&nbsp;disadvantage of this implementation&nbsp;related to In-Process loading of web content. Plus&nbsp;UIWebViews didn&#39;t contain Javascript&nbsp;Nitro engine optimization, that vastly improved&nbsp;speed of&nbsp;interpreting scripts and led&nbsp;to compilation of JavaScript code into native machine code. One more additional&nbsp;disadvantage of UIWEbView was that many web kit capabilities were not shared with developers. So believe me,&nbsp;Javascript bridging looked like&nbsp;a pain. However, new WebKit framework contains a list of the new features like smooth scrolling, gestures, key-value observing of new WKWebView&rsquo;s properties, native communication.

The first of them was achieved by exploiting Core Animation and hardware acceleration providing 60 fps. As for gestures, now WKWebViews supports track-pad gestures such as swipe to go back and pinch to zoom. Go further, to check exact status of the web view at any given time such properties of WKWebView as progress, title, URL can be observed by KVO. Native JS Bridging becomes possible with the help of new APIs: UserScripts and ScriptMessages. The first allows developer&nbsp;to inject JavaScript code into a webpage and run it on a specific part of a page. The second one&nbsp;enables the native code to receive callbacks (like&nbsp;NSNotification) from the User Scripts injected into the page.

The crucial achievement of WebKit is that every single web content of WKWebView runs in its own process completely isolated from our app. And its processes are handled by the system. It improves responsiveness of App when web pages load a lot of JS objects and run a lot of scripts. It gives an opportunity to put individual web pages for things like background tabs and fully-occluded Windows.

And finally new WKNavigationAction class offers protocol methods which is called multiple times by&nbsp;the loading of a web page. Property navigationType determines the type of action triggering the&nbsp;navigation. We can track&nbsp;the loading process and tweak it according to the needs of Application.

Summary:&nbsp;Modern&nbsp;WebKit framework provides developers with the&nbsp;opportunity to build powerful, modern and responsive&nbsp;apps using web contents.

If you have any specific questions on possible implementation of these features in your product feel free to contact us by this&nbsp;<a href="/contacts" rel="nofollow" style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;" target="_blank">Contact form</a>.

The newest release of the WebKit framework in iOS8 provided significant simplification of&nbsp;iOS&nbsp;development&nbsp;process.

Agilie team is constantly reviewing programming updates from Apple iOS framework. This artlicle relates to the changes on modern WebKit framework. 

Beginner's Guide: Modern Apple WebKit Framework

Traveling&hellip; there is a lot hidden in this word. After all, everyone likes to travel, and in order to make a trip the most pleasant event, one needs to plan it thoroughly, without missing important points.&nbsp;

Some people prefer to delegate the preparation process to the travel agents; nevertheless, many smartphone and tablet users are happy to organize every step of it on their own, since convenient mobile apps for travelers can simplify and improve any journey and complete it with better impressions.

Moreover, there&rsquo;re also mobile applications for travel agencies: programs able to become loyal assistants to tour operators. However, let&#39;s discuss the issue in order!

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Travel-management software solutions</h2>

Tour apps are useful not only to independent travelers: booking with a travel agency can also be made easier with mobile services with their real-time trip information and a lot of other cool features. And it means the tourism business will benefit by deciding to create its own application.

<h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Benefits of mobile solutions for travel businesses:</h3>

<ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	simplification of work. Mobile applications for tour operators simplify the work of your employees. So, they&rsquo;ll fulfill their duties faster and more efficiently.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	less staff. Among others, you&#39;ll be able to manage with fewer staff, which implies cost savings.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	effective promotion platform. The app for tour operators helps you promote your agency: say, with the help of notifications and other useful features.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	loyalty programs. Permanent access to personal user data and advanced analytical tools allow composing individual offers and sending them to your customers.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	an additional source of monetization. Why not? One more resource of earnings never hurts!
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	modern trend. Technologies are developing, and your business is developing with them. Your company has become modern. That&rsquo;s good too!
	</li>
</ul>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">What matters to travel customers</h2>

The best travel apps for iOS and Android are in the top of popularity because they pay attention to the following factors (and you should be in their track, we mean - do the same!):

<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	Intuitive UI/UX. The thoughtful app design is the first step on the path to its success with users. You must ensure maximum intuitiveness of the interface of your program, make it user-friendly.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	advanced functionality. You should offer the user the maximum of possibilities to simplify his trip: assistance in packing, a GPS guide, booking features, etc.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	high speed of application. Of course, mobile solutions for travel businesses should work quickly and efficiently. It depends a lot on the developers, therefore, be sure you&#39;ve hired a team of real professionals.&nbsp;
	</li>
</ol>

<a class="ckeditor-wrapblock" href="https://agilie.com/blog/how-to-build-a-travel-app-for-frequent-travelers" target="_blank">&nbsp;Do you want to learn more about creating successful travel apps? Read our article! </a>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Types of tourism applications</h2>

Let&rsquo;s list the main types of travel apps.

<h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#1. Mobile applications to choose and buy airline tickets</h3>

Using such apps allows a user to select or create an ideal route, buy or book airplane tickets, choose the best seat aboard, and monitor the plane&rsquo;s location from the mobile device.

Among the best flight-tracking apps, there are <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hopper.mountainview.play&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hopper</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.skyscanner.android.main&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Skyscanner.</a>

<h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#2. Accommodations booking</h3>

Of course, the primary task of these apps is to improve the process of booking a hotel, finding a hostel or a room to sleep, etc.

However, mobile application development would be useful not only in trying to find a hotel in any city; it&rsquo;ll also simplify comparing prices from the leading booking systems, which, in turn, will help the user to make the most beneficial choice.

Market leaders include <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airbnb.android&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Airbnb</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.booking&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Booking.com</a>.

<a class="ckeditor-wrapblock" href="/blog/why-does-your-hotel-need-an-app" target="_blank">&nbsp;Do you want to order hotel app development? That way! </a>

<h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#3. Guides and maps</h3>

Mobile apps for tourists contain information about sightseeing, shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, and many other interesting places in the city that you decide to visit.

In addition, such a real-time GPS travel locator helps users navigate the area without any problems, which is especially important when you are in an unfamiliar country.

The most popular apps with real-time routes are, of course, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.maps&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Maps</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.citymapper.app.release&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Citymapper</a>.

<h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#4. Travel Planning Apps</h3>

These apps can also be great helpers when preparing to go off on a journey. They are helping:

<ul style="list-style-type:disc;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	make a list of things you should take with you on the road;
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	think of places to visit at your destination beforehand;
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	take care of all possible routes in advance;
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	and so on. There&rsquo;re a great many helpful tips you can get.
	</li>
</ul>

Best examples of this kind of travel applications: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tripit&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Triplt</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.YRH.PackPoint&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Packpoint</a>.

<h3 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">#5. Entertainment Planning Apps</h3>

Even if your trip is business in nature, you&#39;re likely to want to make time to see the most important sights. And applications with real-time trip information are the best way to find out what exactly is worth visiting in a particular country.

Among travel apps of the sort are <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yelp.android&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yelp</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tripadvisor.tripadvisor&amp;hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TripAdvisor</a>.

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Services, hidden inside travel technology</h2>

Most travel applications offer quite ordinary functionality, but sometimes the owners of these programs come up with the idea of truly unique features that make the app special and remarkable.

So, let&#39;s look at the mobile application development and see in what way it can be useful to a traveler (besides the obvious benefits):

<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	Visa processing: mobile applications, created in order to prepare documents for visa processing, contain all the necessary information about consulates, visa application centers, and everything you need to know before submitting the documents. Such applications provide users with a list of countries and documentation packages aimed at any type of visa.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Communication apps: apps focused on communicating with people would be useful not only in your everyday life, but they&rsquo;re also able to become important during the trip, as they&rsquo;ll help you to translate any phrase to the local language from your native tongue.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Mobile apps that will introduce the local cuisine of your destination: these products will become essential when picking a restaurant with national or regional food, special design, and atmosphere. Besides that, there are feedbacks, comments, and photos from other users in such apps.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Mobile banking: mobile banking applications will assist you with a set of financial questions and point you towards the nearest ATM or local branch of a twinning bank.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	Other interesting features; good examples: smoke detector, door lock, online travel dashboard, urgent phone numbers. It all depends on your imagination and the skills of the developers you found.
	</li>
</ol>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">How we create mobile apps for travel businesses</h2>

Now it&rsquo;s time to briefly describe how we create travel apps able to attract and retain as many users as possible in order to monetize the audience and strengthen business positions.

<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;">
	<li dir="ltr">
	business expertise, including market research and competitor analysis, as well as strategy development;
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	creating a portrait of the target audience. We identify the needs of your average user to find out what exactly he&#39;s interested in. What features should your app offer? Making real-time routes? Booking? What else?
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	positioning and naming. Based on the results of the previous stages, we formulate the key idea of your service (positioning) and, of course, give it a name.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	app design and operation logic. Our experts are working on how the app is going to look, and how it&rsquo;ll work, on what principle.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	writing code. This means the process of developing iOS and/or Android applications.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	testing, the purpose of which is to ensure the application is working as it should.
	</li>
	<li dir="ltr">
	product publication and support, the last equally important stage of development.
	</li>
</ol>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Conclusion</h2>

If you&rsquo;re a tourist, we hope now you feel more confident and relaxed while traveling, having your mobile device within reach and equipped with up-to-date development products!

And if you&#39;re the owner of a travel company, then we&#39;re sure we made you think of increasing your business efficiency with a top-quality app for tour operators. And we&#39;re happy to help!&nbsp;

<a href="https://agilie.com/contacts" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contact</a> if you&rsquo;re ready to cooperate.

Faithfully, Agilie team.

Traveling&hellip; there is a lot in this word. Everyone likes to travel, and in order to make a trip the most pleasant event, one needs to plan it thoroughly and not to miss important points.&nbsp;

More and more people prefer to use their smartphones and tablets to organize a trip since convenient mobile apps for travelers can simplify and improve this process 

Mobile Apps for Travel Agencies and Private Travelers

Mobile banking is a system that allows customers of a particular bank to conduct a number of financial transactions via a mobile device or tablet. Such terms as m-banking, m-payments, m-finance mean a set of applications that allows people to use their mobile phones for&nbsp;managing&nbsp;their bank accounts.
Nowadays&nbsp;the banking sector is one of the most dynamically developing in the sphere of new technologies. We can&rsquo;t imagine communication with a bank without various mobile apps or SMS commands. For developed countries such apps are signs of prestige, for developing world they are tools of accessibility and affordability.
There is no universal form of m-banking: every institution develops a special product and offers a&nbsp;variety of financial functions. As a rule quality mobile apps for banks contain the following features:
- Payments in a few clicks;
- Remittances;
- Currency exchange;
- Blocking a&nbsp;credit card;
- Viewing of bank news and offers;
- Paying for utility services;
- Maps with the closest&nbsp;ATMs and offices;
- Access to support service.
Mobile banking systems allow customers to make transactions through mobile devices with&nbsp;access to the Internet. Using remote banking services you can carry out transactions on your accounts without visiting bank branches! It&rsquo;s highly profitable&nbsp;not only for customers, but for business owners too. Such way of interaction with clients allows bankers to reduce costs for rent, employees&rsquo; salary and so on.
&nbsp;
<div id="form-description" class="form-description" data-title="Key Takeaways" data-text="More and more banks are realizing the benefits of creating customized mobile banking applications for their customers. By providing these applications for free, banks are able to develop close relationships with them, personalize their approach to customers, improve their services, better plan marketing campaigns, and much more.

With the help of mobile banking applications, banks attract new customers and retain existing ones. However, to do this effectively, banks need to constantly look for FinTech development companies that can update their digital solutions with the latest banking and finance features. Thus, banks ensure stable and sustainable growth of their business and satisfy the needs of even the most demanding customers.">
<div class="form-description-title">Key Takeaways</div>
More and more banks are realizing the benefits of creating customized mobile banking applications for their customers. By providing these applications for free, banks are able to develop close relationships with them, personalize their approach to customers, improve their services, better plan marketing campaigns, and much more. With the help of mobile banking applications, banks attract new customers and retain existing ones. However, to do this effectively, banks need to constantly look for FinTech development companies that can update their digital solutions with the latest banking and finance features. Thus, banks ensure stable and sustainable growth of their business and satisfy the needs of even the most demanding customers.</div>
<h2> &nbsp;Trends in Mobile Banking Solutions</h2>
The demand for payment services will increase, which includes BNPL services when the purchase price is divided into equal parts and paid within one to two months, peer-to-peer payments.
<h3>Audience segmentation</h3>
Segmentation is a global fintech trend that will intensify this year. The business strives to offer a narrow audience a solution created specifically for their needs. For example, family budget management services and children's banking.
<h3>Artificial intelligence</h3>
AI is far from a new technology in banking. It is actively used by banks to optimize business processes and improve the quality of service. For example, customer scoring, financial monitoring, and voice assistants.
But it is assumed that the heyday of technology is yet to come. From scoring, we have already moved on to personalizing services and evaluating emotions.&nbsp;
ML technologies recognize behavioral patterns in the transactions and clients' interests in the bank's services in a mobile app almost in real-time.
<h3>Сybersecurity&nbsp;</h3>
In 2022, the number of cyber attacks on the financial sector has increased. This year, banks will continue to improve the quality of anti-fraud procedures and establish anomalies in customer behavior using AI and related technologies - machine learning, big data collection and processing, and open APIs.
<h3>Low-Code</h3>
The trend towards Low-Code is becoming more and more noticeable - an approach that makes it possible to release full-featured solutions quickly and with a minimum amount of written code.&nbsp;
In fact, the development process becomes similar to building from a kit, in which all the parts fit together. Gartner predicts that by 2024, more than 65% of applications will be built this way.
&nbsp;
<h2>M-banking trends 2023</h2>
Today, a mobile application is the main means of attracting and retaining users. More than half of customers prefer to use the bank's services through the application. Therefore, the main task of the company is to increase functionality using innovative banking technologies.
<h3>Personalization</h3>
Gartner analysts expect digital office personalization to grow in 2023. Banks will continue to expand their analytics capabilities to get to know the user better.&nbsp;
Collecting customer data to create customized offers and improve user experience, transferring interactions with the bank and the functions of a physical office online, and the formation of an ecosystem approach is among the main trends in the segment.
<h3>Chatbots</h3>
According to the Chatbot Rank 2022 study, the number of requests successfully processed by chatbots has increased by an average of 9-15% per year for each block of user scripts.&nbsp;
Chatbots still have a reputation as a tool for solving simple problems, and when it comes to a complex issue, the user does not even try to entrust it to a texting robot and immediately asks to switch to a human operator - despite the fact that the bot can quite cope.
In 2023, banks will further develop chatbots that mimic a conversation with a real person and aim at an instant response to a request.
<h3>Stories</h3>
Banks within their applications form content platforms with informational messages, individual offers, and useful services. The trend will continue to grow in 2023.
Banks promote their products through stories, talk about useful features, and introduce new features. And some successfully integrate not only financial but also non-banking services - air tickets, insurance, tickets for events, sale of goods.
<h3>Digital Accessibility</h3>
Access to financial services is an important part of adult life. Everyone can face limitations - injury, driving, and a small child in their arms.&nbsp;
By creating accessible mobile applications, banks cover the needs of half of the country's population. This is not only a social responsibility for the bank, but also a competitive advantage.
<h3>Open Banking API</h3>
<ul>
<li>In the last two years, one of the fintech innovations has been the Open Banking technology. It opens up many opportunities for banks:</li>
<li>Improves customer engagement and retention rates. It gives you the opportunity to collect and analyze more information about customers and offer them personalized services.</li>
<li>Deeper scoring allows banks to issue more loans at favorable rates, which can attract an additional audience.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
For users of banking services, Open Banking means, first of all, improving the quality of services. For example, speeding up processes and friendlier interfaces, expanding the product line and conveniently finding great deals.
&nbsp;
<h2>Best Mobile Banking Software</h2>
Do you want to bring your bank online? There is a proven software solution. It will provide you with all the classic banking functionality online. We collect the best mobile banking software that will suit your needs.
<h3>Sopra Banking Platform</h3>
A cloud banking and component-based platform include a broad range of capabilities. No matter whether local or global, large or small, you can choose the components from a broad catalog. You can deploy ready-to-use solutions for sellers.&nbsp;
<h3>FinCell</h3>
With FinCell developed by Baltic Amadeus, it's possible for financial institutions to make the transition into the mobile world in just weeks.&nbsp;
FinCell values collaboration, and works side by side with conventional banks that specialize in everyday banking activities along with functional separation where a particular segment is served by its respective bank.&nbsp;
Their mission is to deliver a streamlined user experience that incorporates comprehensive pre-designed features empowering customers to effectively manage their financial resources, including balance checkups along with payment processing for multiple services such as card management or loan application.
<h3>TimveroOS</h3>
TimveroOS is a modern lending operating system that addresses the contemporary needs of banks by effortlessly consolidating and customizing their end-to-end credit business workflows, and the measurable improvements we've made are due in part to utilizing the xAI analytics and financial engineering module.&nbsp;
Using this platform enables banks to quicken their decision-making process twelvefold and see a ten percent rise in their average loan profits.
<h3>NOMADIX</h3>
With NOMADIX you can enhance the in-branch experience by removing transaction barriers and creating retail-friendly client interactions. Qualified staff can do the bigger part of branch transactions utilizing a simple teller interface on a device that is integrated with the banking core.
<h3>KYC Portal</h3>
Complete automation of KYC &amp; due diligence processes in the back-office is what this system strives for, and it saves time due to its feature that allows clients to directly submit all required documents for onboarding.&nbsp;
The automation of risk calculation by KYCP with pre-defined dynamic parameters ensures instant handling of the application.
<h3>RTA</h3>
Cash handling security is improved through RTA system which stores all transaction requests in a queue and waits until the requesting associate enters their unique one-time PIN into a PIN pad before dispensing funds.
&nbsp;
<h2>5 Features that Users Need in Banking Solutions</h2>
Mobile banking applications can significantly improve the customer experience in a bank. However, in order to maintain their services at a high level, banks need to constantly update their applications with the latest innovations emerging in the mobile development industry.
&nbsp;
<h3>1. Advanced Security and Fraud Warnings</h3>
Advanced security never goes out of style, especially when it comes to mobile banking apps. A successful banking application requires strong security features that go beyond simply logging in with a PIN or password.&nbsp;
In addition to security, the subscription process should also be quick and easy. This is why many companies are building multi-factor authentication and biometrics into their applications.
Multi-factor authentication and biometrics are the most popular solutions for banking applications. However, they can also be hacked by hackers. To improve the security of your applications:
&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>implement encryption and hashing of PIN and password;</li>
<li>store PINs and passwords on the server instead of the source code;</li>
<li>use cryptographic key and certificate stores, such as Keychain for iOS and Keystore for Android;</li>
<li>use two-factor authentication via SMS for payments from outside the application;</li>
<li>limit the number of login attempts;</li>
<li>start a new session each time the user logs into the application.</li>
</ul>
<h3>2. Basic banking functions</h3>
The CORE Banking System is a unified and centralized back-end platform that enables banks to quickly perform key banking operations such as accessing bank accounts, processing transactions, updating user accounts and other financial records, managing customer relationship management (CRM), and more.&nbsp;
Many banks have adopted this system because it allows many banking transactions to be completed quickly and can process a large volume of transactions, ensuring the smooth functioning of banking products.&nbsp;
<h3>3. Payments with QR code</h3>
QR technology is rapidly spreading across industries, including banking and retail. Now customers can instantly purchase any product they like and do it contactless.&nbsp;
<h3>4. Mobile checking deposits</h3>
Traditional banking is gradually becoming a thing of the past.&nbsp;
The FinTech industry provides banks with portable scanners based on OCR (optical character recognition) technology for mobile checking deposits.&nbsp;
Using a mobile device camera and handheld scanner in a banking app, users can scan their checks and send documents with a digital image and recognized text to their financial institution.&nbsp;
The deposit data goes straight into the user's account, and he does not need to spend half a day visiting a bank branch to complete this simple task.
<h3>5. Peer-to-peer payments</h3>
Peer-to-peer (P2P) payment is a convenient way to transfer funds to someone else's account through a mobile application.&nbsp;
Using this technology, users do 't need to withdraw cash from an ATM to share it with their family members, they can simply split the bill at a restaurant or pay for any service.&nbsp;
There are many systems that offer P2P payments, such as PayPal, Venmo, Facebook Pay, and others that make it easier and faster to transfer money between accounts.
P2P payments with blockchain-based cryptocurrencies allow you to quickly transfer funds between bank accounts from different parts of the world at a much lower cost.&nbsp;
P2P payments using cryptocurrency is a recent innovation that is currently being tested by various finance-related businesses.
<h2>FAQs</h2>
<h3>1. What can mobile banking do?</h3>
You can get more out of day-to-day transactions by using mobile banking services anywhere that allow for fund transfers between accounts as well as bill payment options, to check text-based alerts on accounts, statement balance, cash flow, and much more.
<h3>2. What are the benefits of mobile banking solutions?</h3>
Gone are the days when you have to leave home in order to pay your bills due to the advent of mobile banking, which allows for simple tracking and viewing of all financial transactions in a centralized location. With electronic banking, you can avoid the hassle of physically updating your bank statements.
<h3>3. How much does it cost to build a mobile banking app?</h3>
An app with a basic list of features will cost $30,000- $70,000 with a time frame of 3 to 6 months. Medium-complex banking applications with extensive features will cost $70,000-$130,000 with a time frame of 6 to 9 months. This includes everything from adding features to making MVPs and prototypes, etc.So we&rsquo;re sure that mobile banking systems are one of the most promising directions of the mobile market.
&nbsp;

Mobile banking is a system that allows customers of a particular&nbsp;bank to conduct a number of financial transactions via a mobile device or tablet. Such terms as m-banking, m-payments, m-finance mean a set of applications that allows people to use their mobile phones for&nbsp;managing&nbsp;their bank accounts.

Mobile banking is a system that allows customers to conduct their money through mobile banking app.

Mobile Solutions for Banks

I think every reader has a mobile phone (90% of you &ndash; smartphones) on the table, in a bag, in your pocket, under your pillow. Such term of military and government officials as &quot;mobilization&quot; has become a favorite catchword of marketers and developers.

Photographing and posting pictures on the net, games, communication in social networks, online shopping &ndash; every user is able to access any information and services around the world any time. Using smartphones is an important part of life for modern and active people.

Do you still doubt that the future belongs to smartphones? Then the figures will be the best argument:

1. In 2013 mobile Internet traffic has exceeded traffic of home computers. Now mobile devices have become more important and more necessary than home computers.

2. 61% of the population tends to change their minds about the brand for the better if the brand offers the possibility of mobile access.

3. 60% of everyone who buys goods via mobile phone&nbsp;use smartphones while they are in regular stores and supermarkets.

4. 94% of smartphone owners are looking for the nearest cafes, gyms, cinemas, hotels with their mobile phone.

5. 25% of all emails in the world are browsed through mobile phones, and another 10% of users browse them using tablets.

6. Mobile search today processes a quarter of all search requests in the world.

7. 70% of people who are looking for information on a mobile device make a purchase in the nearest future.

8. Users of tablet devices spend on purchases 50% of money more than PC users.

As for the future of mobile technologies, most experts believe that in 2015 the size of the market of mobile software will increase to 89 billion downloads. It&rsquo;s expected that the share of payments via mobile phones will grow up to 50% of the total number by 2020. If your brand or a startup doesn&rsquo;t have a mobile app, it seems it&#39;s time to develop it!

Sincerely, Agilie team.

I think every reader has a mobile phone (90% of you &ndash; smartphones) on the table, in a bag, in your pocket, under your pillow. Such term of military and government officials as &quot;mobilization&quot; has become a favorite catchword of marketers and developers.

<div>Posting pictures on the net, games, communication in social networks, online shopping &ndash; every user is able to access any information and services around the world any time.</div>

Interesting facts about mobile technologies and mobile internet

Interesting Facts About Mobile Technologies

For thousands of people outing to the cinema is definitely the best way to spend leisure-time, meet with friends or have fun with family. Today there is a wide range of cinemas, movies and film shows for any taste and budget. To enjoy your outing you have to find the film you want, then find the cinema that's showing it, check the times, buy the tickets. Agree, it takes a lot of time and efforts. And here comes cinema mobile app!
Cinema mobile applications allow the user to choose a movie and a cinema quickly and easily. With such cinema apps, users have an opportunity to choose movie, time, to book seats and buy a ticket anywhere and anytime.
In this article we want to pay attention to the main facilities of such applications:
Choosing a movie
<ul>
<li>The search should be clear and easy. The best decision is film filters. With them, users have an opportunity to choose movies by genres or 2D- 3D versions. Also, the cinema app should provide users with full information and distinct description of a movie, announcements of new movies.</li>
</ul>
Booking and buying tickets
<ul>
<li>You should provide users with the display of vacant seats for the exact show and ability to book them. It&rsquo;s enough for the user only to click on the required seats and to pay for tickets. Done! A user has a ticket for the favorite film without any efforts.</li>
</ul>
Information about the cinema
<ul>
<li>Cinema mobile app is an effective marketing channel. The owner of the cinema can inform his customers about all the latest events and sales via the app.</li>
</ul>
The purpose of developing the app for cinema owners is to provide customers with a quick, easy modern cinema service. Make your cinema closer for customers!
Agilie team of professionals will realize your business ideas towards the development of cinema mobile app.
Sincerely, Agilie team.

For thousands of people outing to the cinema is definitely the best way to spend leisure time, meet with friends or have fun with family. Today there is a wide range of cinemas, movies and film shows for any taste and budget. To enjoy your outing you have to find the film you want, then find the cinema that's showing it, check the times, buy the tickets. Agree, it takes a lot of time and efforts. And here comes cinema mobile app!

Cinema mobile applications allow the user to choose a movie and a cinema quickly and easily. With such cinema apps users can choose movie, time, to book seats and buy tickets.

Cinema Mobile Apps

These days geolocation services are used by many mobile apps, websites, mobile operators etc. This kind of mobile tracking software&nbsp;could solve a few issues:&nbsp;find the nearest shop or gym,&nbsp;advice unusual restaurant next to your office,&nbsp;inform about sales in your favorite boutique or avoid&nbsp;getting lost in a big shopping mall.

There are some main flows of using the Location Services in mobile tracking software market today:

<img alt="Geolocation Services in Mobile Tracking Software" height="340" src="https://d12zh9bqbty5wp.cloudfront.net/ckeditor_assets/pictures/4213/content_content_loc_serv_map.jpg" width="340" />

Information Location Services

This is the most popular and simplest case using today mostly by&nbsp;all websites and mobile iOS and Android applications. Due to this service app&nbsp;user gets information about surrounding objects in concrete place or area. A great example of this Location Service&nbsp;is an official GoogleMaps.

Social Location Services

This mobile tracking&nbsp;service allows user to follow his friends&rsquo; locations. The most popular social Location Service is FourSquare. FourSquare users stay on touch by the&nbsp;latest news about their&nbsp;friends and visited places.

Communication Location Services

Location Services in social networks allow users to point locations together with&nbsp;photos, notes and other personal content. So user&nbsp;doesn&#39;t need&nbsp;to explain his friends where has&nbsp;this guy been on the vacations or honeymoon; they will see the location point under the photo or video. Сommunication Location Services are applied to such social networks as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Location Services make&nbsp;our life easier and brighter. It&nbsp;helps users to orient in this modern, active and busy world around us. And the main advantages of Location Services for IOS or Android&nbsp;mobile apps&nbsp;owners are:

<ul>
	<li>
	Establishing of close relationships with customers by providing them personalized and useful content.
	</li>
	<li>
	Additional advertising channel.
	</li>
	<li>
	Development of new sources of income by targeted advertisements on users&rsquo; mobile devices&nbsp;translation.
	</li>
</ul>

So <a href="/blog/geolocation-services-in-mobile-tracking-software">mobile tracking software</a>&nbsp;with Location Services would be very useful for both service&nbsp;users and&nbsp;owners of restaurants, shopping malls, museums, real estate agencies, taxi and so on.

We wish you successful projects!&nbsp;

Sincerely,&nbsp;

Agilie team.

These days&nbsp;geolocation&nbsp;services are used by many mobile apps, websites, mobile operators etc. This kind of&nbsp;mobile tracking software&nbsp;could solve a few issues:&nbsp;find the nearest shop or gym,&nbsp;advice unusual restaurant next to your office,&nbsp;inform about sales in your favorite boutique or avoid&nbsp;getting lost in a big shopping mall.

Geolocation services is a kind of mobile tracking software Agilie develops in house. Check the article to find details.

Geolocation Services in Mobile Tracking Software

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What is the discovery phase, and why do you need it? Read our article to find out the answers!

You’re planning to create a website or application and want it to make you profit as soon as possible, right? In this case, you cannot do without the discovery phase in software development ⚡ But what is the discovery phase of a project, and how to implement it in practice? Read our article to find out the answers ✅

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