Technique for Optimizing & Reducing the APK size of Android App

Today everyone hates running their phones out of space or having trouble while uploading their app on the App Store. So what is the problem behind this! Is your phone running low on memory or slow enough to execute the upload process? No! The real problem is with the application of larger sizes.

Certainly, Size has been affected by increasing the mobile storage space to 256 GB, mobile app size is also increasing as App Developers are starting to add the latest features to the app to meet the growing and changing needs and needs of the market. Furthermore, with the practice of supporting your apps on different screen sizes, the app size increases. As a result, the increasing number of features added to the app, the SDK, changes to higher resolution images, better graphics which makes the SDK size larger.

With all these facts, it becomes a situation for users, as if they cannot proceed with heavy apps on their screen, nor get rid of them. In addition, they remain in a love-and-hate relationship with these apps. On one hand, rich graphics, hassle-free navigation, a bundle of advanced features steal users’ hearts. On the other hand, these apps are crushing the huge size of their mobile storage space. According to the latest survey report, 74.4% of the world’s people use Android devices and 70% of users consider the size of the app before installing it on their device.

Effectiveness of APK size on Installation Conversion Rate

The Android package (APK) size server plays a major role in establishing the conversion rate. According to various studies and survey reports, it has been concluded that smaller APK sizes depend on higher conversion rates and conversely reflect translation. As most Mobile App Development companies are shifting their focus towards venturing into new emerging markets by adding some advanced features and functionalities to their app. But at the same time, it is important to be aware of increasing the size of your app.

App size is the Biggest Issue in the Mobile App Development Domain

If we look at Google’s figures and consider it, 84.8% of people using Android in 2020 are expected to jump to 85.7% in 2024 compared to 15.2% of iOS users in 2020. The global user base is 2.7 billion with access to 2.8 million applications in the Google Play Store. Adding to this, the SDK size and installation conversion rate are intimately correlated. According to Google, if the app size is more than 150 MB, installation is likely to be less than 30%. For every 6 MP expansion in application size, the installation conversion will be reduced by 1%.

Since the above data shows that the size of the APK badly affects the installation conversion rate, all Android app developers should be serious about this matter because 70% of the users are actually on the app’s size before installing it. Let’s consider. So while hiring a mobile app developer for your next project, keep in mind that there is no benefit to having an app that has no users.

Before we dig deeper to understand how to reduce the size of Android app during the development life cycle, it is worth understanding how the app size increases.

App size continues to grow & is becoming a cautious issue for Android developers

Indeed, modern day apps are stealing the show by adding an excellent level of correct management facility to everything from taps on your screen. But uncertainty, these apps are severely shaped for these three reasons:

Increasing number of feature sets.
Fast growing UX expectations.
Support for multiple platforms and different screen sizes.

Apart from affecting the storage capacity and memory of mobile devices, the most disappointing part about heavy apps is also the increase in data consumption. And this is the reason that is inspiring the users to uninstall the app. So, whether you are a leading brand trying to deliver an excellent user experience through an app, you need to emphasize on making smaller apps. Don’t worry, Google always has a way of dealing with these issues. It provides tools to develop to troubleshoot the problem. So let’s discuss how to reduce and reduce the size of Android apps.

Tips to reduce Android app size throughout development lifecycle

Optimize & Compress of Image Files

Browsing an app with high-resolution graphics is quite inspiring and interesting. But, be aware, heavy-sized images can slow down your app and increase the size of your app. So what to do if you want to optimize and reduce the image size without diluting the image resolution?

Basically, Images use two formats, either .jpeg or .png files. So whether you are going to compress the file on your own or hire an Android app developer for the same, there are many tools available for such conversions. Tools such as Guetzli and packjpg are recommended for .jpg file compression, while pngcrush and zopflipng support .png files.

Few More Option for Optimize & Reduce the Image Size

Designers can apply vector graphics to create simple resolution-independent images that do not have much space. It is available in Android as readily available objects that make it easier by allowing you to generate sharp and screen-size images under a 100-byte file. This can be a great idea for smaller size applications to reduce the size of the image

By adding this, developers can use the Draw 9-Patch tool or the WYSIWYG image editor, allowing you to create bitmap images and auto-resize to fit different screen sizes of different devices. To crunch the size of .png images, you can take advantage of the aapt tool, which is available in Res / drawable and allows you to shade the shape.

Eradication of Unutilized Process, Codes, Classes and Virtue

When developing a mobile app, it is common to have unusable code and resources in an unusable system. These codes are generated automatically and are not useful for the app at all, but they simply expand the app’s size rapidly. Since they do not add any value to your app, it makes sense to track them down and remove unnecessary code from your app immediately. And for this, you can benefit by using some tools and techniques, which we are talking about below:

RB Code Shrinker Tool

When it comes to reducing or shrinking app size, most software development companies usually leverage the knowledge of this tool. Code shrinking allows you to reduce the size of your APK by automatically removing unused code and resources from the system.

Eliminate your Code with ProGuard

Since R8 is comparatively new and still in a growing state, you may prefer to use ProGuard to remove unused classes, methods, fields, and attributes from your code until it becomes stable. Can. However, be careful when using ProGuard because sometimes it removes the code that your app needs to function. So you always have to test the functionality of your app first to publish it.

Scan your Codes with Android Lint

Lint is a static code scanning tool that cannot identify the necessary resources anywhere in your code. But the major issue with the use of lint is that it only identifies unused resources, and cannot remove these resources. So you will need to check its report and extract all the identified resources manually.

Elimination of Dead Codes

As the size of the APK file is directly in sync with the loading speed of the app, it devours the storage of your device, making it clear that it is powered by power. And will only add bulk to any unused and inactive code for your app. By removing extra and dead code, you can speed up your application without affecting the functionality of the app. By adding this, eliminating these codes helps you to upgrade the quality of the source code and reduce the need to maintain code size. Therefore, the scope of bugs in your application is prevented and allows you to introduce bug-free healthy apps.

Limitation the use of Resources from Libraries

It is common to use external libraries when developing Android applications to enhance the user experience and increase versatility in the app. And basic are Google Play services used primarily to recover auto translation of app text and Android support libraries that are used to enhance the user experience on dated devices.

Basically, the problem is that most of these libraries are designed for servers or desktops, so they come with heavy methods and objects and do not serve any purpose for your application. To reduce the size of the application, you can edit files and keep the parts that your app needs to function. But to make changes, you will need access to the modification. But the simple solution to this problem is to either hire an app developer or use a mobile-friendly library for specific functionalities.

Use Android Size Analyzer Plugin

If you want to find out what exactly is in your app, you can either hire an App Development Company or take advantage of the Android Analyzer plugin to analyze every element of your app. It tries to help you with a lot of data about the size of the Android package. In fact, it is one of the easiest ways to determine and implement methods that will cause app size reduction and allow you to activate your app.

Use Android Pleasure Size with APK Analyzer, you can:

Understand the structure of DEX files.
See the correct size of files in the APK.
By accelerated view of the ending version of the files in the APK.
Compare two APKs simultaneously.

Now there are three ways to access this plugin during project development:

It is necessary to first drag an APK into Android Studio’s editor window.
Switch to project perspective in project window
First select the Build Analyze APK in the menu bar, and only then select your APK.

Conclusion

Hopefully, with this blog, you have an idea that large-sized applications fail to stand out in the market despite giving users unique features. Whether you are developing an application for your core business or for additional services, it is always necessary to have a user-friendly application that meets the growing needs of the market.

And, optimizing and reducing app size is the only way to make your app user friendly. Thus, following the techniques described above will definitely help you reduce the size of the app and make it successful. But if you still have any doubts or difficulty coming down, you can hire Android app developers to build an application with the ideal size.

Our experts can guide you with the best solutions, new trends and techniques that enable you to stand out in a competitive market. For more information, you can contact our portfolio and us for detailed discussion and accurate estimates.

April 26, 2021April 26, 2021

Costs, Features & Business Models in Creating A Bar Management App

Has bar management become the biggest headache for you? Are you still spending hours manually tracking bar lists and bookings? If yes, switching to a “bar management app” is not only a good business move, but also an immediate demand for the success of your bar. With the launch that nightclubs and bars generate approximately $ 259 billion in revenue each year and are expected to grow at a 1.9% CAGR, clubbing and boozing have undoubtedly become a modern American culture.

We have to tell you about the US nightlife and the ever-evolving competition that you have to face daily in the bar and nightclub industry. But we can all assure you that when other people are going to lose using a pen, paper, calculator or excel sheet to manage their business so you can have a game management app for your nightclub or restaurant. A well-planned bar management app can bring all of these benefits to your business from organized inventory records, innovative business insights to better business opportunities for operations and sales. With a strategically developed bar app, you can take full control of your bar and make better decisions to run your bar profitably.

Well, technology is everywhere and integrating the right tech-stack or hiring app development company at the right time for restaurants or clubs to take their business to new heights. No matter whether it is a pizzeria or casual food, we can notice technology everywhere. As the competition picks up speed, restaurants, bars and nightclubs are looking for new ways to retain old customers and attract new ones. Creating a bar management app is one of the best ways to prepare your business for market changes and stay ahead of your competition.

Bar & Nightclub Industry Snapshot at Macro Level

Before you dive straight into the app development process and learn how it can benefit your business, let’s take a look at a bigger picture of the market:

Essential Bars and Nightclub Industry Statistics

Bars and nightclubs in the US generated revenue of approximately $ 24 billion each year.
7 million people regularly buy liquor at a bar or nightclub.
More than 2 million people visited a bar or a nightclub located in a casino.
Currently, 62,500 bars and nightclubs are operating in the US-based industry in active form.
The bar industry is growing at 2.9% yo.
The tavern is making over 30% of the bars in the US, which is considered the most important segment of bars.

In summary: These trends and analytics show that bars and nightclubs are booming – as revenue is increasing, customers are spending more, people have started moving more often. On one hand, the industry is growing at its best. On the other hand, new businesses entering this industry face all these challenges.

However the challenge of owning a bar or nightclub that takes $ 850,000 + to start this business is already there, so bar management makes the best impact on the community by developing an app.

Bar Management App and It Works

The bar management app is a simple software application designed with advanced level features so that you can manage the daily tasks of running a nightclub or bar more efficiently. So instead of spending hours managing bar inventories or reservations, a single bar management app can help you fix everything from offer announcements, happy hours, pre-booking deals. Technology-integrated bar management solutions are designed to meet the needs of the nightclub industry and increase efficiency in all aspects.

The app is ideally developed for restaurants, bars and nightclubs with many features, even simple enough to reach even small bars. These point-of-sale solutions have been developed for cross-platform (Android and iOS), making your server mobile and convenient to use and enhance the customer experience by eliminating wait times.

Therefore, all you have to do is to hire app developers who can help you build the right app. By using the bar management app, you will have better control over your entire bar operation. This allows you to automate daily tasks, keep track of tasks and stay on top of changes. Bar management app developed with an easy to navigate user interface to make users feel comfortable and allow administrators to manage and manage reservations in a hassle-free manner.

The admin feature of the app measures all in-house data related to total booking, reservation, sales, stock and growth insights.
The app’s reservation feature provides a user-friendly display of all reservations and their stats.
The staff facility will show all staffing schedules for assigned stations.

Further, the app is integrated with many tools that allow bars, nightclubs and lounges to manage their events and reservations according to their table arrangements, floor plans, customer relationships, staff assignments, guest lists and more.

To get more control over your operations, using the bar management app, here’s how it usually works:

Place a command by the user with a simple touch on the application.
Make a reservation at a bar or nightclub or restaurant using valid coupons or during happy hours.
Payment processing can be done in advance by taking advantage of multiple payment gateways.
Provide an electronic receipt to confirm payment and reservation.
Take advantage of advanced features such as HD quality image gallery, 360-degree view of the venue, live bar location and more.

Apart, it all depends on your business requirements and budget and how complex app structure you will need for your enterprise.

Bar Management Software makes your Business More Profitable

The bar management app is a lot more than managing your bar and gives you the best platform yet to generate potential business revenue generating opportunities. While bars and nightclubs are the most lucrative industries to start, what if you cannot involve customers in your business? How do customers know about the best display menu item? If you do not know the answer to these questions, you are probably missing a potential segment of the market. Before you hire a software developer, let’s understand how it can add a competitive edge to your business and give you real information in the market.

Here is the following discussion about how a management APP can make your business profitable:

Minimise the Risk of Error in Database

Keeping track of bookings and inventory with pen and paper can cause human errors and you may lose business. However, with one click on the application, you can get the exact information of your bar at the end of each time. Through the admin access of the app, you can determine how much product is used, sold, and how much stock is left in the house for the next shift.

Analyse Business Performance

Feeling Tired to keep your nightclub weekly records in Excel sheets? If yes, then a Bar management app will be an excellent option for you. It comes with a unique report feature that tracks all valuable information such as the amount of bar spills, your monthly booking, sales and more. With a one-time management app, you can access data to reduce costs and improve customer services.

Save Valuable Time

Since running the bar is not enough of a challenge, you have to manually handle and manage the bar data. The valuable time you have to manually do the calculations, reservations, and business progress will take valuable time. Instead of manually entering each item and its details in a spreadsheet, it is better to let your bar management app manage data automatically, adding stocks, inventories, processing orders, reservations, and more.

If all of you are convinced to get started with your bar management app, then it is simple to hire a mobile application development company and start rolling in this thriving industry. But only by having the best app development team will you not work. You should have an app idea and feature set and technology that you want to leverage in the application. So let’s know how to develop your app.

How to Develop A Bar Management App?

There are many guides available on the Internet explaining the lifecycle of app development, but before falling for that idea, keep in mind that every business has different app requirements, target audience, and budget. So let’s understand how to create a management app that helps you stand first in the competition.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a bar management app for your business:

1. Mark Research and Define Your Business Goals

No matter how great an app idea you have, it makes no sense if it has no users. So before you start building your bar management app, make sure to do market research and analyze the data to find out exactly what it is, does it help you meet the end needs of users and it How to help your business grow. As you plan to develop a bar management app for your nightclub, bar or restaurant, so you need to pay attention to these questions:

Are you developing a business bar management app or looking for an aggregator model?
If you are looking for an aggregator business model, then set a parameter to collaborate with other business owners.
How complex will your app be, and how long does it take to launch an app?
In which budget are you ready to invest in the app? Will it be for customers only or will it also be for staff shift or management of tracking inventory?

App development planning is the key to success; Therefore, it is worth hiring a mobile app developer that can help you gather information and enable you to get started correctly.

2. Choice of Operating Platform

The next step is to decide the platform to launch your app: native Android / iOS or both. Generally, Java, Swift, C ++ are used to develop native iOS or Android applications and Flutter, React Native, Xameric, Ionic are mainly used to build cross-platform applications.

If you are confused about how to make the right decision to choose a suitable platform, then first of all understand your audience. Since, people between the ages of 25 and 45 regularly go to bars or nightclubs; So they should be iOS and Android users. And presenting your app on only one native platform means that you are missing the potential user segment of the other platform. So it makes sense to hire a software developer for cross-platform application development that enables you to build an application that runs on multiple platforms with basically the same codebase.

3. Features & Functionalities to develop Bar Management App

Although app features and functionalities eat up the most important segment of app development cost, it is also an important element that determines how successful your app will be in a competitive market. While various mobile applications are already available in the App Store, you need to move forward in the market by integrating the specific feature set in your app.Here are the essential features that you will have to integrate into the bar management app. But to go beyond these features, it is recommended to appoint a mobile app development company. That can fit your business needs and budget, and you can create an application that will help you meet your goals.

Key Features For Bar Management Application are as follows:

Table Reservation: Add the option to reserve the table at a convenient time to avoid long waits.
Booking tickets for the event: Add the provision to book a slot for the bar counter and purchase tickets for the event that most lounges, bars or nightclubs usually organize on weekends such as DJ Nights.
Photo and Video Gallery: Provide a glimpse of your location through high-quality photographs so that customers get an idea of the ambience of the place and without a doubt reserve a table.
Push notifications: Keep your customers updated with the latest offers such as happy hours, pre-booking discounts, cashback offers, deals and more.
Social Media Sharing: This feature will help users to share their experience with others on social media networks and enhance your branding.
Payment Gateway: Encourage users to make advance payments using multiple payment options, including credit / debit cards, in-app wallets and more.
Loyalty Points: To encourage users to pay in advance, you can reward them with loyalty points on every booking and those points can be easily redeemed on the next billing.
Jio Auto-Sharing Message: Add a feature to your app to send messages to customers when they are near their location and book a table with the best offers.
Sending auto reminders: Customers are required to send a reminder message before their appointments and booking.
QR Code Scanning: If the customer refuses to pay in advance and asks to be paid at the table, add the option to scan the QR code for quick access.

4. Hiring a Mobile Application Development Team

Now you have an app idea, a list of platform features and favorites – all you have to do is hire a mobile app developer. Which can transform your app’s idea into a scalable, robust and flexible product by integrating the right methods, techniques and tools. Many of you are wondering whether you should develop an in-house app development team or outsource it to developers. Well, the truth of the fact is that 40% of organizations choose to outsource to a software development company as it helps them achieve a right solution and enables them to focus on their core goals.

To develop a bar management app, you need a team, which is as follows:

Project Manager
Business Analyst
Backend / Frontend Developer
UX / UI Designer
Quality Assurance Engineer

The hourly cost of hiring programmers, designers and developers typically starts at $ 20, $ 100 and $ 150 + in India, Europe and the US respectively.

5. Monetize YOUR BAR MANAGEMENT APP

How to profit from your application is one of the pressing concerns of organizations. So here is the best monetization strategy that you can implement for a bar management app. The aggregator business model is a network model where you can collaborate with multiple bars, lounges, night clubs and restaurants to provide services under your brand name. Using this model, you can provide the same quality and value to customers offered by different partners.

Using the aggregator model is a win-win monetization strategy as it helps to market your brands and allows you to make money on services offered by other nightclubs. Integrating the aggregator model into your app can be a bit misleading for startups, so they may consider hiring a cross-platform app development company to get started early with the product.

6. Cost To develop A Bar Management App

It is always difficult to provide an estimation of application development costs because many factors affect the final application development cost. The complexity, features, and functionalities of the app, from the app development team to the technologies used in app development, are hundreds of things that add up to the cost of your project. According to statistics, the initial cost of app development can range from $ 37,000 to $ 50,000 + and it can go anywhere from $ 100,000 + depending on various factors.

So the simple way to get a real-life estimate is a software development company that works with a team of experts who analyze your project requirements and provide estimates accordingly. In addition, you can apply this formula to calculate the final application development cost:

Developer Per Hour Cost * Total Number of Development Hours = Final Cost Estimates

Conclusion

Bars and nightclubs have become a staple for American culture. With this blog, you have understood how fast this industry is moving forward and increasing competition between nightclubs and bars. Therefore, we have elaborated on the baseline of the app’s idea, its development life cycle, the cost of development, and all the criteria to help you expand your business. You can easily get started with your bar management app by taking help from a mobile app development company.

Nevertheless, if you have any doubt on any point of this blog, you can contact our profile and us for expert help and solution.

April 6, 2021April 6, 2021

Legal Issues To Consider : Mobile App Development 2021

Everyone’s dream choice while having mobile app development is to have technical giant app which user feels attractive to use and hence will succeed . However have you wondered why it is equally important to consider legal aspects of the app even during initial stage of app development ?

It is because each of the mobile app development life cycle may attract legal issues for you and in order to get yourself secured , you must take care of legal part in your app development as well . In this article , we will guide you about critical legal issues which might deviate your mind if not properly handled with care.

NDA ( Non Disclosure Agreement )

NDA or non-disclosure agreement is legally valid document under which parties bind themselves to not to disclose / share confidential information with any other person . That is the reason why we always encourage our clients to sign NDA even before sharing any of their business idea with us .
We can say NDA is one among few steps available to protect your product concept . You may challenge the agreement in courts if any party breaches its terms and condition . But wait , NDA is not just simple documents , rather it must include points which make it more informative are some of them are :

Definition of Confidential Information : It is proven to be beneficial for parties to specify all confidential information which may or may not be limited to financial data , know-how , show-how , operating , marketing or trade data . In addition to it it should also include information concerning to products , its ideas , solution and other confidential information .
Obligation of other party: Obligation of other party needs to be defined in advance including confidentiality clause as well as obligations involved in accordance to with other party can disclose information to its staff .
Choice of laws : While signing of any NDA , always try to write jurisdiction under which you will feel comfortable to contract .
Penalties : You should also write about the penalties it involved in case of breach of contract . It may be in monetary terms or fix sum of money .
Term : As per general rules of law , any NDA is valid for the term of 2, 3 or 5 years . Hence it is your sole choice for the information you want to protect . As the case may be , you may get involved in contract .
Obligation to return : You must include obligation to return information in case you want to or willing to switch to any other party .

Independent Contract Agreement

Contract agreement is concerned about points which you should mention before starting of with software development company . This agreement should be draft in a way that if will help you in guiding the process of cooperation in its entire duration of contract and what if situation in case of doubt and conflicts. That is the reason it is proven beneficial to write step by step how collaboration will move . For instance say it is worth mentioning which methodology your app developer will follow , eg agile methodology . In brief it should include the following :

Methodology of cooperation : It should include how cooperation will work to come up with result which is favourable to both the parties . It will also mention tools which you will be used , preferred methods of communication as well as procedure for arranging meetings .
Force majeure : In case of unpredicted pandemic situation or force majeure which might occur due to unavoidable circumstances then you must define the outcomes and mutual binding of it .
Exit plan : It is another beneficial points as it defined the exits plans if plan does not go according to plan has been specified in agreement and bth parties want to withdraw before the planned duration . It is worth including information about who will be owner of existing code , what will be payment due dates and penalties and so on.

Privacy Policy & Protection Of Data

Wondering what legal requirements you have to meet in connection with your data protection at personalised level ?
Protecting of your’s user personal data is one of the primary thing to focus on which is Las common cause to attract legal obligations . This requirements various from country to country . For instance say if you are planning to launch your app in European markets , you must adhere to GDPR compliances , while in case of USA , you need to take care of Children’s online privacy protection act.
This requirements also depends on in which industry your app is focus on . For instance Healthcare sector app must have HIPPA compliant . Since it is complex task and may require lawyer interference to draft proper agreement in app development process . In case of any data leaks , it will be app owner who will be held responsible for the same , hence it should be taken care with utmost priority .
Tips to fulfil personal data obligation :

Collect only limited amount of user data which is meant for your app only
Don’t ever try to sell or use data for the purpose other than for which you have collected data for
Make sure that your data is being seen by your authorised person only who make necessary use of it
Always showcase users that their data is protected with them and is in safe hands
Try to maintain documents of data received or you have so that if asked can be provided by you immediately.

Terms & Condition

Terms and condition as in case of privacy policy varies from country to country . You must specify following points while writing terms and condition in contract :

It is beneficial to include basic information about your company in general terms and condition
Conditions of service provision : In terms and condition define in advance your app working , its registration conditions as well as when agreement is concludes and terminated between both parties . Apart from it also mention your use of app as well as tech slacks about languages used along with conditions in which users account will be blocked
End user license agreement : This is concerned with binding users with your terms and condition while using your mobile app
Complaint processing : In terms and condition , try to include the process to handle and hear complaints as well as ways in which customer can contact you in case of need .
Limitation of liability : Define your liability in advance and make it clear to users . It will help you building trust among your users .

App Store Requirements

What is the use of mobile app if it has not been published on App Store or Google play store ? No body is going to download the same and all your investment will go into veins . That is the reason why your app should comply with all guidelines from Google and Apple to publish your app on their stores . All these policies focus on personal data protection as well as intellectual property rights .

Conclusion

Any mobile app development is complex project and involves various process . It is always beneficial to considerer all aspects involved in development of app which includes legal factors at initial starting . This will aid you to carry on your app to reach larger marketplace without facing any hurdle which may become obstacle in your success journey if not taken care of .