Over the past few years, AI has grown in leaps and bounds, becoming more accessible to the average developer through APIs like IBM Watson, Microsoft Bot Framework, Wit.ai, and many more. We’ve seen that even small app developers can employ AI implementation within their apps to provide a better experience for their customers. The benefits are clear, but, of course, there may also be some disadvantages of AI.

What AI Apps Can Do and How they Function

AI provides a level of automated intelligence that is built into apps to perform simple tasks such as voice recognition, natural language processing, and image / facial recognition. For example, an app might be able to transcribe your speech and display the text within the user interface – allowing you to use dictation without having to touch the screen (for instance).

AI can enable apps to perform human-like tasks such as: Taking pictures and detecting the number of people in them, their locations and facial expressions Recognizing objects within images/videos, reading text from documents Parsing handwritten text from paper documents Identifying specific sounds, music or TV shows based on a sample.

There are many different ways to implement AI within your app. Here are a few examples:

• APIs: This is one of the easiest ways for developers to integrate AI features into an app. IBM Watson offers a variety of voice recognition and natural language processing APIs that can be connected to any application or website via simple code.
• Bots: they add a level of automation within apps. They can be created through APIs, but they can also be implemented as stand-alone bots that respond to the user input and requests on their own using an application’s programming language (HTML5, Java etc.).
• Mobile: some AI is built into mobile operating systems (Android and iOS). Google’s Assistant, Siri, and Amazon Alexa are all examples.

That said, there are some potential problems and AI implementation challenges that developers face:

• False-positive results: when the AI mistakes irrelevant information for a specific thing (for example, thinking that a picture of a cow is of a dog).
• Bad results with inconsistent inputs: when the AI doesn’t understand how to handle certain types of data (for example, words that it doesn’t recognize or sounds that it can’t identify).
• Complexity: AI implementation within an app may require some time and deep learning expertise, which may be a challenge for certain app owners.

Pros and Cons of AI Apps

The advantages and disadvantages of AI implemented within apps are not universal truths. They will depend on the specific case as each implementation varies from one to the next. It was found that developers who have already implemented AI into their apps tend to list more positive things as opposed to those who have not yet implemented it.

Here are some advantages that come with using AI within apps:

1. Better customer experience– Through features such as voice command, natural language processing, image recognition, etc. It provides for an improved user experience. Better accuracy when compared to manual data entry—in the case of repetitive tasks or ones where there is a lot of data.
2. Increased app security– Using facial recognition that can verify a user’s identity. Increased productivity and efficiency for the end-user by having a bot automate routine tasks within apps (such as transcribing voice to text).
3. Efficiency– AI can help predict future usage, use of time, and resources which allows the app owner to schedule tasks.

There are also some disadvantages when it comes to implementing AI within your app (if not used correctly):

1. Not useful for every type of data – The more complex the input, the less accurate results may be. If you use images, videos, or audio samples as inputs, bear in mind that they need to be clear enough to ensure quality results.
2. Requires time and effort – There will be a learning curve both for you and end-users if they are using an application that has AI features implemented into it. The training process can also require additional testing before deployment.
3. Potential security risks – By connecting services in ways that were not previously possible (such as having third parties access your databases), you increase the risk of security breaches. Before connecting your service to any other, make sure that it is secure and has the necessary level of protection.

AI can be a powerful tool in improving an app’s functionality and user experience, however, it demands time and effort from you and your team in order to do so successfully. It is important to note that AI will not solve every problem within an app— it can only be used with certain tasks (i.e. with repetitive actions).

As you make your decision on whether to implement AI into your app or not, bear in mind all of its advantages and disadvantages as well as the time and effort that may be required for you and your team.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

The app marketplace is constantly changing. Developers are always thinking of new ways to make apps more efficient, user-friendly, easy to use, and accessible for people to download onto their devices.

Another area that tech experts are exploring is the ways in which both low/no-code app development and Android Instant Apps can help the industry move forward even faster than it already is.

What are Low/No Code Apps?

Low-code and no-code apps are built using low-level, easy-to-learn programming languages allowing developers to create basic apps without knowing how to code. When compared with high-code app development, the process is much faster, as there is less coding involved. Not only is it quicker to build an app, but the apps are also created with limited features that can be upgraded later on if needed.

One of the most popular low-code app development platforms is called Appy Pie. This platform uses no coding, no prior experience, and doesn’t require high-level skills to build an app. Appy Pie’s users include entrepreneurs, marketers, sales teams, and small business owners worldwide, who are looking for a low-code/no-code app builder with the flexibility to produce apps without coding. One of Appy Pie’s users, Jim Bouchard, is a self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” who was looking for an easy way to build his own professional real estate app. Without any prior coding experience or knowledge, Bouchard used Appy Pie to build a real estate app within minutes.

What are Instant Apps?

Google Play Instant Apps are “lightweight” modules of the full app that run instantly without installation. Instead of downloading the entire app, users can open targeted pages or sections within apps straight from Google search results. For example, instead of using Facebook’s native mobile app to look at someone’s profile, you could simply click on their name and immediately go to their profile page within Facebook directly through a web browser link on your phone – all without having to download or install anything onto your device from the app store. You’ll still have access to some features like photos and status updates, but not everything. This can be incredibly appealing to users who are looking for a less intrusive experience while still being able to use the app in some capacity.

Reasons Why These Kinds of Apps Will Become More Popular

Google Play Instant Apps are particularly useful for developers because it allows them to “upgrade” their apps without losing any of their previous users, since the Instant App has its own unique URL. This means that if a user doesn’t like the Instant App or finds it isn’t useful to them, they can always go back to the original app. This could be incredibly beneficial for developers, because if users like the Instant App better than the original version, they’ll still want to use that instead of the native app.

Google will also display app ratings and reviews on its search engine results page (SERP), meaning that if an Instant App’s rating is high, it will likely rank higher than the native app, and will therefore be more likely to be downloaded by users straight from Google.

With regards to Low/No-code apps, by allowing easier access to the creation of apps with minimal coding, they essentially open the door for creatives with a vision but without coding experience or knowledge to bring their ideas to life.

How Developers May Be Impacted by Low/No Code and Instant Apps

Developers who wish to create Instant Apps would have to use Android’s Instant App development tools, which are currently in preview mode. As the name suggests, these tools allow for the creation of an “instant app” without having to build a full-fledged app beforehand. This means that apps can be launched and updated quickly since there is less of a need for extensive coding and testing.

Developers who wish to create Low/No-code apps can do so through platforms like Appy Pie, which require almost zero technical knowledge. They allow developers to build their own app without the need for any prior coding experience or knowledge, as users can create their own functional apps in minutes by following simple “point and click” instructions.

How these kinds of tools will impact marketers: No-code development platforms would open business owners’ minds to building their own mobile app without first needing an expert coder or developer who knows how to code on a professional level. Instant apps would also give businesses more access to advanced marketing analytics, as more and more Instant Apps would begin to appear on Google’s platform and users would be exposed to these “lighter” apps.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

As the complexity of software grows, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to manage. Mobile apps are even more complicated; they must be small and lightweight enough to run on phones yet capable of running huge server-side codebases written in languages like Ruby or Java.

These languages often require large sets of dependencies that you have no control over, making it difficult to maintain a stable environment for your app. And as new developers join the project, their work must be blended together with everyone else’s as seamlessly as possible.

In order to keep up with all these demands, an automated process needs to be implemented to run every time a change is made by a developer. This process helps ensure that integration issues don’t arise and that the quality of your app doesn’t slip below an acceptable threshold.

Continuous integration vs continuous delivery is an ongoing discussion about the two processes facilitating constant improvement and stability for smart applications.

What Are Continuous Integration And Continuous Delivery?

Continuous integration is the practice of regularly merging a developer’s work to a mainline, preferably several times a day. It helps developers streamline new integration changes and stay up-to-date with the latest adjustments in the trunk, enabling detection of any potential problems early on.

Continuous integration is great for agile teams developing mobile apps because it’s quick (developers commit their code frequently), it’s automated (no need to manually integrate branches), and it encourages collaboration between team members (because multiple developers can work on the same branch).

Meanwhile, continuous delivery is a software engineering approach in which teams produce software in short cycles, ensuring that it can be reliably released at any time. It’s about merging different processes with a faster and more frequent execution, making sure every change is always production-ready. Instead of hoping for a perfect implementation before releasing to production, continuous delivery allows you to release early and often.

How Do These Techniques Improve App Performance and Function?

Continuous integration and continuous delivery improve app performance and function by ensuring that your app is stable and dependable. Rather than worrying about integration issues, you can simply run your automated build process and be confident that everything will work as intended.

You’ll also improve the quality of your code by carrying out continuous integration and delivery since each new change is tested before it’s merged into the trunk or mainline. With every change tested, it’s less likely that you’ll end up with bugs in production.

Continuous delivery involves verifying that each new build is of high quality, performing automated testing, and validating that the build can be deployed successfully throughout your environments. Continuous delivery also monitors performance metrics to ensure that key indicators are within normal ranges.

Continuous integration helps you detect problems early on in the development process by making sure every small change doesn’t break larger systems. It makes it easy for developers to catch mistakes themselves instead of having to rely on others. It also uses automated unit tests, which are faster and less expensive than manual testing. These tests can be run after every commit or during nightly builds, ensuring that even if a mistake is introduced, the most recent working version is still functional.

The main challenge of implementing continuous integration and delivery is finding the right tools for your mobile app team. You need a process which can run smoothly on your server(s) without taking down your build machine, and you need something that your development team will be willing to use.

Strategies For Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery

First, let’s look at a few tools out there that can help integrate these two processes on mobile apps, including:

Jenkins — This popular open-source tool supports iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, Blackberry 10, Xamarin Test Cloud, Cordova/PhoneGap, and RhoMobile. It can be configured via a web UI or from a command line interface.

TeamCity — This tool is built by JetBrains, the makers of the popular Kotlin and IntelliJ IDEA cross-platform mobile app development environments. TeamCity integrates with Maven and Gradle, and there’s a plugin for Jenkins that makes it easy to set up an “iOS continuous integration server” which can deploy builds to Apple’s iTunes Connect and TestFlight.

Travis CI — This automated app building service supports iOS, Android, and other platforms without requiring your own build machine. It integrates with GitHub so you can automatically trigger builds when you push to your repository, and you can run your tests on Travis CI using the Sauce Labs cloud-based iOS and Android testing platform.

Now let’s look at some guidelines to follow when employing both processes:

Running automated tests frequently

Instead of running manual test suites at infrequent intervals, continuous integration means your team will always have an automated suite running.

Keeping your team lean

When continuous integration is implemented correctly, there’s no need for the traditional “integration phase” that comes at the end of software development. Your team can simply push small snippets of code to the trunk whenever they’re done working on them instead of waiting until all features are complete before merging their work together.

Enforcing stricter discipline in your codebase

When everyone commits changes to the same branch frequently, you’ll definitely want to keep things consistent with your existing code so you don’t break anything! Having a robust test suite will allow developers to be confident enough in their changes that they won’t hesitate to commit their work. This way, only real problems or bugs will make it through your test suite, and your team can find and fix them before they affect users.

Your app will perform better when you use continuous delivery because changes are automatically deployed to production as soon as they pass all of your tests — no matter how small or large. The more frequent your deployments, the less time there is between a feature’s completion and it being used by real users — which means any problems with that new feature will be addressed faster.

Additionally, if one change, in particular, causes an issue on the live site, only that specific version needs to be rolled back instead of reverting back to a previous version that might have been known to cause problems in the past. Continuous delivery also makes post-launch debugging processes much easier since developers know for certain which change caused the issue.

Continuous delivery allows you to stay informed about what your users are experiencing. This can help you identify and solve issues faster, making for a better user experience, which builds trust with your customer base. It can also reveal new areas of improvement that might have been overlooked during pre-launch testing phases — this is especially helpful if you’re developing an app from scratch as opposed to building on top of an existing app’s codebase, where discrepancies in data schema might be more difficult to detect. If something does go wrong, you’ll easily be able to pinpoint the exact version responsible since you always roll out specific versions instead of pushing untested changes en masse.

Android vs iOS Continuous Integration

Android continuous integration builds and runs tests on a server, while iOS uses the same developer machine as the build target. Enabling Android continuous integration can be done in Android Studio by going to “Build > Enable for continuous integration” from the menu bar.

From there, you’ll need to connect your android codebase with a specific ios or android server — refer to the official documentation for more details on how this process works.

Once your build target is connected, you’ll be able to access a number of different reports from within Android Studio by going to “View > Test reports” from the menu bar. The most important of these reports will include anything that failed unit tests.

Continuous Delivery Performance Testing

Continuous delivery performance testing evaluates your most recent build with an infrastructure that is representative of your production infrastructure. Performance testing also helps you determine if there are any bottlenecks in your continuous delivery pipeline and gives you a chance to spend time fixing them before problems arise when large numbers of users access your application from different geographic locations or with various network connections.

This performance testing process can be automated by using tools like Jenkins or ART, which have plugins for various open source frameworks that enable you to configure performance tests.

An important part of the process is to decide on performance metrics that will help you determine if there is a bottleneck and also to decide if changes need to be made. Some of the most popular metrics include:

Time to first byte response time: This is the total time elapsed from when a client requests for your application to send out data. It is measured using log files on the server that have timestamps and gauges how fast your page is taking to load. The lower this number is, the better it is for your application.

Queries per second: This is the number of queries that are fired to fetch data from your database. Queries per second are usually measured by measuring the load on your database server. This is important because the higher the number of queries, the longer it will take to send back data.

Connection close response time: This metric looks at the time taken for a client to receive a response from your application. These measurements are usually done by checking the log files on the server that have a timestamp. The longer it takes for your application to send back data, the more time your users have to wait before they can interact with your application. The lower this number is, the better it is for your application. The maximum value for this metric depends on various factors such as network speed and the load on your server.

Network bandwidth: This metric is a measure of the average throughput over a period of time. This metric is measured by sending data to and from your application server. This number is important because the higher this number, the more that can be sent to your application in a short period of time, this indicates that there is low latency. The higher the value of this metric, the happier your users will be because they have a fast experience. This metric is usually measured using a host or a load balancer which sends data to and from your application server.

The need for speed: It is really important to keep track of the critical metrics in your continuous delivery pipeline because they indicate the performance of your application. The higher these metrics are, the happier your users will be because they get a great user experience with faster load times for your app. It is also important to make sure that these numbers are low because it means fewer resources will be needed on your servers and you can scale efficiently.

You also have to be prepared for any failures that may arise during testing. It is important to have error handling features in place where necessary to ensure that your users are not redirected to error pages, thereby losing their session.

Measuring these performance metrics because it helps you track trends and fix any issues before they arise so your application can scale well as the number of users on your app increases. You find out if any changes need to be made because it directly impacts your users and helps maintain a great user experience.

With proper performance monitoring in place, you can react to changes with ease and ensure that your deployment is always ready for production. You also get to make better decisions because you will be able to see the impact of any changes that you make to your application firsthand.

Continuous integration and delivery are therefore essential to your app because they help ensure that your application is always ready for production and can scale well. They make it easier to deploy applications and prepare for any changes arising during performance testing because you will have error handling in place where necessary. Continuous integration and continuous delivery essentially improve app performance and empower you with the tools necessary to ensure a great user experience for your customers, which is ultimately the end goal of app development.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is the standard when it comes to authenticating users in large networks. The use of passwords alone can lead to security issues, rendering them inadequate for protecting your data and resources. Two-factor authentication (2FA) and three-factor authentication (3FA), on the other hand, provide additional security by requiring more than one factor to confirm a user’s identity. When properly implemented, MFA is highly effective in protecting your data and resources from malicious activities such as unauthorized access and breaches.

What Is Off-The-Shelf Authentication Software?

Off-the-shelf authentication software is intended for companies looking to purchase pre-made security products. The packages are designed with certain users in mind by industry, job type, or even data sensitivity.

The benefits of purchasing this kind of user authentication software include:

• Lower costs compared to customized solutions.
• Ready availability and fast implementation.
• Lower training requirements for end-users.

There are many software products which you can use to implement MFA, among them AuthAnvil MFA, an off-the-shelf software offering flexible authentication options and easy integration with existing systems and platforms. It is a suitable alternative for onsite and cloud-based deployments as it can be implemented on-demand or as a subscription model.

The use of AuthAnvil MFA is easy and straightforward, requiring only the registration of users in its system. Users can then select their desired authentication method during registration or when authenticating themselves after login.

Based on our experience with AuthAnvil MFA, below are some of the advantages that we have found:

• Offers mobile phone, landline and VOIP call as a second authentication factor
• Provides two-factor authentication for Office 365 including Microsoft Outlook Web Access
• Supports authentication with Google Authenticator app on iOS and Android devices
• Offers a flexible choice of factors which is not limited to only mobile devices

This is simply one example of multi-factor authentication software options available on the market, but before you rush ahead and purchase one of them, you need to consider their disadvantages.

Why You Should Avoid Off-The-Shelf Authentication Software

The off-the-shelf options are simply not the best multi-factor authentication software when you consider all their downsides, which ultimately outweigh their appeal. Save a few exceptions, these are common problems with the off-the-shelf options: 

• Lack of integration with existing on-premises or cloud-based applications.
• Inability to support future IT projects, expansion plans, and to integrate with homegrown applications, cloud-based platforms, or other third-party solutions.
• Reduced flexibility and compatibility for accommodating future user requirements.

In fact, many off-the-shelf products only support a limited number of authentication factors, which may not be enough to ensure that users’ identities are authenticated properly. That is why it is recommended that you work with security experts to design your own multi-factor authentication solution. This way, you can be certain that your network’s needs are met and that the system will support any future expansions or other changes.

Benefits of Custom Authentication Software

When it comes to user authentication software, your best option is to make sure it is customized to suit your company’s needs. Enterprises can choose from a broad range of customizable authentication factors, including:

• Integration with existing applications.
• Effortless expansion and incorporation of future IT projects.
• Flexibility to accommodate user requirements in the long run.
• Biometrics and two-factor authentication.
• Personal devices, such as smartphones and USB tokens.
• Cloud-based applications, such as RSA SecurID or SafeNet Authentication Service.
• Voice verification.
• SMS or email codes.

Although it is more costly to have multi-factor authentication software developed from scratch, the benefits that come from it far outweigh the costs.

A custom solution can also be updated as new technology becomes available, ensuring you are always up-to-date with security measures. Customizable authentication software is beneficial no matter what size your company is or how many users it employs.

Since off-the-shelf authentication software is intended for organizations looking to purchase pre-made security products, it comes with the abovementioned disadvantages. While off-the-shelf authentication software may seem like the most affordable option, it is hard to justify given its limitations. Customized multi-factor authentication solutions are highly recommended for organizations looking for a cost-effective and high-performance security solution.

Because of these limitations, off-the-shelf software is not considered best practice when it comes to multi-factor authentication. If you are looking for optimum security for your organization, you cannot go wrong if you opt for a custom deployed solution instead!

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Instant apps are smaller Android apps that can be downloaded quickly, without having to install them. They are supported by Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later versions of Android through Google Play Services’ instant app API framework.

Previously known as modular APKs before their official debut at Google I/O 2016, they are currently supported by some developers including BuzzFeed, Wish, Periscope, and Viki.

According to Google, Instant Apps are intended for “lightweight” applications that don’t require all of their functionality. These apps can “expand” into their full versions through a link, but only if the user launches them that way.

Instant apps are designed to work with Android’s modular nature, where developers can deploy just the parts of an app they want to give users access to at first. This saves space on your device and helps speed up download and installation times.

Why Use Instant Apps?

Instant Apps are an effort by Google to deliver mobile content faster, using the company’s online services. First introduced as an effort to interest users not willing to fully download apps from the Google Play Store, as a move to compete with Facebook’s options, Instant apps are fully functional within 5 seconds of clicking on the link.

For example, if someone clicks on an article on mobile Instagram or Twitter, the instant app will effectively open up instantaneously, with the article on screen. The new feature is intended for apps that are not usually downloaded, but may be useful to people occasionally, such as banks or payment apps.

But for users who want more functionality from their apps, they can choose to install them instead of using just the instant version.

How to Get Started with Instant Apps?

Instant apps require a bit of setup, but most developers can get started in a matter of minutes. There are two ways you can develop instant apps: through Android Studio or by using the command line.

To get started via Android Studio, go to Tools > Instant Apps and set your project as an instant app project. You can then set up test accounts and configure the URLs that Instant Apps will open. Once you’re done, build the project for release and upload your app to Google Play Console just like a normal Android app.

To develop through the command line, developers need to install the latest version of Android Studio and have access to the command line via Terminal (Linux or Mac) or Command Prompt (Windows). They can then run one of the following commands to build an instant app:

1. Make an instant app by supplying a base module and its dependencies. This process is similar to building an Android library project.

gradlew -PinstantApp=true -PinstantAppGooglePlayServicesVersion=17 -PinstantAppStoreListVersion=17 assembleModules

1. Make an instant app by supplying a feature module and its dependencies. This process is similar to building an Android application project.

gradlew -PinstantApp=true -PandroidRootProjectDir=/path/to/base/project -PinstantAppGooglePlayServicesVersion=17 -PinstantAppStoreListVersion=17 assembleProject

2. Once you’ve got your APK ready, you can then upload it to Google Play Store by logging into the Google Play Console.
3. On the left menu, under ” Instant Apps,” select ” Set up Google Play Instant .”
4. Follow the on-screen instructions, then click “Next”.
5. Add one or more instant app details including a name and image URL that users will see when they access your instant app. Once you’re done, click “Save.”
6. Now, look for an email from Google Play Console. Click on the link to accept the invitation and complete the setup for your instant app.
7. Once you’ve accepted the invitation, you’ll be able to see a list of all your published apps, including both instant and those already installed, offering users a choice between the two.

Android’s Instant Apps vs. Apple’s Instant Apps

Instant Apps for iOS Apps are different from Android Instant Apps in a few ways.

For iOS apps, Apple provides an API so developers can enable Instant Apps without having to rebuild the app from scratch. Additionally, Apple says that any existing app can be enabled as an instant app with no additional work required, but it’s unclear how much of the codebase will transfer over to the new format.

Apple’s version is based on its App Store and doesn’t require any updating of individual apps. In a way, Instant Apps are similar to Apple’s universal links, which allow you to push content from one app or website to another. While Instant apps can be seen as a “lite” version of an app, universal links only point out to the original and don’t offer any use once clicked on.

In contrast to Google’s Instant Apps, Apple’s version is more rigid. Users will have to fully download their apps in order to get access to all of the features. If a user tries to go outside of the app, then it will simply redirect them back within the browser.

While Android Instant Apps are designed to facilitate user access to apps they want, Apple’s new iOS App Store introduced something similar called App Preview Messaging, which is meant to grant iPhone and iPad users without all of the necessary software, the option to experience new apps even if they don’t have them installed.

The difference is that Apple’s instant messaging allows users to share apps via iMessage, where Android Instant Apps are simply lightweight versions of the actual app. Google also plans on expanding its instant apps platform for all developers, not only those with iOS devices.

Google promises two benefits with the introduction of Instant Apps:

1) To make it easier for people to discover apps and content from your brand.

2) To lessen the need for web pages where you can place a link for people to access instead of having to install an app.

As a developer, you can check out the documentation at android.com/instantapps/ and register for more information on how to use instant apps and get started with this new technology.

From an app developer’s standpoint, it’s still unclear how much will change to the codebase in order for Instant Apps to work – especially since these apps are meant to be temporary and meant for discovery, not long-term use.

Will Apple’s App Preview Messaging, which is more limited in terms of what it can do compared to Instant Apps, make a difference? Will multi-platform support be a factor in the future as Google moves towards a unified cross-platform experience using its material design philosophy?

We’ll find out more as Instant Apps start to roll out and we gain a better insight into developers’ experiences.

For now, it seems like Apple’s messaging feature is limited to iMessages, whereas Google’s Instant Apps will open up for Android users who don’t have the app installed. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

In the world of technology, time is a precious commodity. App developers have to strike a balance between features and simplicity when designing applications. Google introduced two new application types for Android devices in order to streamline user experience: Progressive Web Apps (PWA) and Instant Apps. Both serve the same purposes but work in different ways.

What are Progressive Web Apps?

Progressive Web Apps are native web applications that run on mobile devices. The first step towards their creation was to develop new web APIs. PWA works like a typical app. It is installed through the Google Play Store and launched like any other Android app. However, it’s website-like interface allows users to access it on multiple devices without having to search for an alternative. Progressive Web Apps are comparable to Instant Apps, but they’re far from the same thing.

What are Instant Apps?

Instant Apps are a new Android framework that makes it possible to run apps from the Google Play Store without installation. They’re installed as an intent, so they run in a separate sandbox and don’t have access to the rest of the system resources. In fact, Instant apps do not even need to be downloaded from the Play Store. Users can instantly run it from the URL provided by the developers. This technology may be used to run a fully functional app from a single link.

The biggest difference between them is that Instant Apps can only run on Android devices, while PWA works on any user-friendly web browser. There are additional differences between them, but these are the most notable.

Instant Apps Pros & Cons

Pros: Instant Apps may be used to run a fully functional app from a single link without installation. It can be accessed offline and does not require high-quality front and back-end development. This technology may make it possible to run apps on older Android devices with software problems or limited storage space.

Cons: Instant Apps do not support push notifications and web app icons like PWA. Some users may experience compatibility and performance problems when attempting to use them across various hardware and software.

Progressive Web Apps Pros & Cons

Pros: Progressive web apps give users a native app-like experience. They can be installed from the Google Play Store and accessed offline. PWA allows developers to include push notifications, web app icons, splash screens, etc. PWA gives users a higher degree of control over privacy and security since they run on the user’s devices rather than in a sandbox.

Cons: Progressive web apps do not have access to native device features, such as your camera and microphone. This makes it hard for developers to create a fully functional application in a short amount of time. PWA does not support the Android version 4.0 or earlier, so users may need alternative solutions in order to run apps on older devices.

PWA vs Instant Apps: Which One is Better For Businesses?

As you’d expect, when it comes to deciding whether a PWA or Instant Apps provide better advantages for business owners, it depends on what you’re looking for, on your needs. Progressive web apps and instant applications both provide a good user experience by making the process of finding and installing apps easier, which is why many businesses are starting to use them in their marketing strategies.

Instant apps are cheaper to develop and easier to maintain than PWAs, which require significantly more resources to create, although developers may speed up the process with ready-made solutions that work across all platforms. Instant apps are also less demanding for users since they run on small devices with limited storage space and memory, and don’t require installation. If you already have an Android app (or were intending to develop one), it makes more sense to upgrade to instant apps.

Meanwhile, if you want your users to have access to your products on any browser and operating system, you think they’d benefit from a more personalized experience, that it’s more efficient to have the apps run on a user’s device, rather than in a sandbox, especially because that gives them a higher degree of control over privacy and security since this way they can access the user’s camera and microphone, then progressive web apps are the way to go.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

For good reason, cyber security has become one of the most talked-about topics. Both small businesses and large companies now find themselves with a pressing need to take part in this conversation. Internet threats can now affect every aspect of our lives and we’ve seen over the years the severe ramifications for those who don’t take the necessary precautions.

The SolarWinds supply chain attack in 2020 impacted Fortune 500 companies from Microsoft to Cisco as well as high-profile US government agencies—including email accounts at the US Department of Homeland Security! In 2021, the American-owned Colonial Pipeline Company was hacked in early May, disrupting fuel supplies throughout the US East Coast for days.

What all this means is that if even the most powerful enterprises and institutions are vulnerable to cyber threats, and require proper protection, so does your company or small business.

In order to get protection, you have to know what you need protection from.

Phishing

The list is long and the methods of hacking are increasingly sophisticated, as cybercriminals become more advanced at breaking into IT systems and extracting confidential information. It’s important companies carry out a cyber security assessment to make sure their defenses are up-to-date and designed to withstand common but very effective hacking methods.

While the ways in which cybercriminals carry out phishing are numerous, there’s one aspect they all have in common: the hacker dupes you into clicking a link or attachment to access and extract your confidential information, from your login usernames and passwords to your credit data.

It starts with a message, either an instant or text message, a social media post, a search engine ad, but in most cases, the message will come from an email.

On the surface, the email appears to come from a legitimate source—unless you check the actual address, which might be similar, but not exactly the same as the address from the real source. You’ll see, for example, “Apple”, but if you click to review the address and compare it with the one they’re attempting to imitate, you’ll notice either obvious or subtle differences, spelling mistakes, odd words mixed in.

But since the design and typeface are similar enough, the unsuspecting user will be led to think it’s been sent by Apple, Netflix, their bank, their school, or university. Think about it. Rarely do we check one’s email address when the name that appears is familiar.

The emails prompt you to provide key information with a sense of urgency. Your subscription has expired, your account has been frozen, a purchase you recently made couldn’t be delivered, you need to carry out a routine password change; the ways are endless, but the vast majority will ask you to click on a link or open up an attachment.

If you fall for it, then this can go two different ways (or a combination of both).

The Fake Website

You’ll be taken to a fake website imitating a legitimate one, where you might have an account, such as a bank, a streaming service, and so forth. Again, if you don’t look carefully, the logos, the design, even the phrasing will seem convincing.

You’ll be asked to provide your confidential information to log in, and whatever information you introduce will fall right into the hands of the hacker. Now they can access the account on the real website, the one the fake website was pretending to be. Imagine if this was your bank. The losses will be immense, for both business owners and workers.

Malware Installation

The link itself is malicious, and will now proceed to install malware, software designed to gain privileged access to your IT system using a wide range of methods, where it then obtains sensitive data, disrupts or damages your system, spies on or copies your files—the list of malware types and what they do once they’re in your system is exhausting, but in all cases, they are hurtful to you and your business.

For example, one of the most common types of malware is known as ransomware. Once the hacker infiltrates your systems, they encrypt your data or sensitive information, blocking your access and essentially holding it hostage until you pay a ransom by a deadline.

Spear Phishing

This is a more advanced, personalized form of phishing. Like a spearfisher, here the hacker goes after specific targets.

The hacker does their research on you or your company, learning about the names of the employees, their job positions, some of the projects you’re working on, the services you provide, and of course, your email addresses as well as your phone number. 

The cybercriminal uses this information to send you an email posing as someone you know, using the same technique described earlier—the name of the person is the same, but the email address is different. If the email is convincing enough, then you won’t take the trouble to inspect the address itself. The subject line might be requiring you to take action on something relevant to the company, and again, the look of the email will attempt to duplicate the company’s real template.

Whaling

It’s essentially the same cyber threat as spear phishing, except now the target is a much bigger fish or a whale, that is to say, someone with a higher profile, such as the CEO or CFO. They receive an email that seems to come from one of their employees asking for help to complete a task, or for some sensitive information.

These attacks require much more planning from the hacker because of how elaborate they are. The hacker needs enough information to convince a CEO to either fill out a form, click on the clink, or provide passwords to an employee.

The rest is all the same. You open up a document that installs malware, or you’re asked to provide confidential information. The perpetrator now potentially gains access to your company’s entire network.

Vulnerable Websites

Sometimes hackers don’t come after you—they let you go to them. They’ll inject malicious JavaScript code into legitimate websites with one too many vulnerabilities. This script creates pop-up windows that try to trick visiting users into downloading fake anti-virus software or even installing it directly on your machine.

In other words, when a website is hacked, not only can the hacker alter or take down the site altogether, but they can also riddle it with links and banners containing malicious links. Any user that visits them will find themselves downloading all kinds of malware or delivering their most vital information straight into the hackers’ hands.

Credential Stuffing

What is credential stuffing? Simply put, this internet threat refers to when hackers use automated bots to try and breach company accounts that use publicly available usernames and passwords already breached on other sites. By replacing login pages on one site with another and entering the same user name and password for a different site (i.e., LinkedIn), they could access valuable information like payment methods and Social Security numbers. Even though LinkedIn no longer stores payment information, hackers can still steal it by looking at credit reports.

The reason this is such a common cyber threat, and a successful one at that, is because so many companies use the same username and password combinations on multiple sites. It’s not hard to find. You can try it yourself: just Google “password list” and see how many results appear with databases of breached passwords in them.

What Cyber Security Protections Do You Need?

The good news is, there are plenty of ways to protect yourself from these types of attacks. As we mentioned before, for phishing scams, take the time to just check the email address and look for misspelled words in the email address or even suspicious links. Train your employees to do the same.

A great way to protect yourself from cyber threats is by having multi-factor authentication. This is a security measure that requires more than just your username and password. Before you can access an account or website from a particular device, it could require something else in addition to the username and password—as a code sent to your phone via text message.

Then there’s password protection. We talked about creating strong passwords, which would be impossible to guess or crack, for you and all your employees. To make life easier, there are password managers which require one master password only you know about, so you can easily administer the rest of them.

Security tools like IDS/IPS, firewalls, and SIEMs help you monitor your networks and alert you of any suspicious behavior.

So remember, protecting your business from cyber threats takes more than just having a great antivirus or firewall protection. It’s about having proactive measures in place that cover each layer of attack so nothing gets through.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Augmented Reality is a technology that enhances the way we see the world by superimposing graphics in real-time. AR technology can add value to a wide range of industries that go far beyond gaming. There’s not a single field that won’t benefit from employing useful AR tools that allow people and businesses to engage with our surroundings in a more efficient, dynamic way. 

In this article, we provide a comprehensive list of the top augmented reality applications in one place. Furthermore, we’ve only included apps that are free, and work for both iOS and Android.

A Comprehensive List

This list could be extended to include all the amazing apps out that aren’t free, and aren’t necessarily available for both iOS and Android, so we decided to narrow our list down to the best AR apps that are compatible with both operating systems and don’t cost a penny.

Augment

You no longer need to imagine furniture in its ideal setting, because now you can envision virtually any 3D model in AR. Using apps like Cinema 4D, Sketchup, and Maya, users simply upload their own 3D images and trackers and place the 3D models in a virtual environment using their phone’s camera.

AirMeasure

One of the many augmented reality real estate apps out there, at first it may seem like little more than a digital ruler, but don’t be fooled, this magical tape measure allows you to get the dimensions of any space, including corners and edges that are usually more challenging to obtain. For anyone interested in a quick way to get info when inspecting a new property, this is handy to have on the go.

BBC Civilisations AR

Bringing to life stories from the BBC’s Civilisations documentary series, in which art historians explore key objects and historical sites, users can explore the Age of Enlightenment by studying a projector that shows how enlightenment ideas were communicated to different social classes. Through hands-on play, users can feel what life was like for ancient Egyptians by arranging virtual furniture and objects in a mock-up of an Egyptian tomb or arranging different types of soldiers according to their importance.

Google Lens

Google’s flagship app for exploring the world, Google Lens uses AR to provide information on what it sees. The more you use the app, the easier it becomes to identify things through your smartphone camera. Hold up your phone and point it at a flower to instantaneously learn its name and its history.

Google Maps AR

Another app by Google, this one lets you explore a different side of AR. Instead of exploring the world around you, Google Maps AR allows you to explore the vastness of outer space through your smartphone camera. Peer through your phone in any direction to see a star’s relative size and distance from Earth.

Google Translate

Translate any written text in more than 100 languages by pointing your phone’s camera at it. You’ll no longer have any excuse for not understanding food menus or street signs not written in your mother tongue because you can read them now in real-time through augmented reality.

Holo

An excellent app that can be used for both entertainment and education, Holo is an augmented reality sandbox that allows you to create your own objects using simple shapes. Through touchscreens, users can manipulate the 3D models they have created in real-time to show how the finished product would look before printing it out.

Ingress Prime

An augmented reality game in which players fight for control of Portals, linking the mind-bendingly complex game with real-world locations through your camera. If there’s a Portal in your home or office you can claim it as well as ‘hack’ it to gain points and take over other Portals.

Ink Hunter

Ink Hunter is the ideal app to use when picking a tattoo and where to put it. The app allows you to play around with existing tattoos as well as your own designs, and they can be positioned in any position and on any part of the body.

The app’s editor gives you the closest rendition of the real thing without having to suffer from needles. Now you don’t have to limit yourself to black-and-white tattoos either, so with colorful designs, you can enjoy the best idea of what your design will look like before it becomes a part of your skin.

Just a Line

This one’s easy to get the hang of, all you have to do is draw a line through your phone’s camera. Drawing shapes is also possible without any restrictions of size or color. Moreover, if there are moving objects in view, they will remain visible even after the object has moved out of the frame.

Knightfall: AR

Themed around the world of the Knights Templar, now discover new objects just by looking through your device’s camera, explore all kinds of secret symbols and glyphs that have been hidden in famous locations for centuries just by holding up your phone and seeing what virtual object appears on your smartphone screen.

Mission to Mars AR

An interactive space exploration app, use your phone to travel on the Mission to Mars and explore the red planet. Fly over craters and perform a “touch-and-go” (TnAG) of an unmanned rover as well as make measurements to discover what’s hiding behind craters and peaks.

Mondly

Learn practically any foreign language through augmented reality. The app’s virtual teacher will teach you over thirty languages, whether it be Spanish, French or Swahili. It features more than 5000 words and phrases that are taught to you by the app in their native tongue so you can familiarize yourself with how they sound.

Pokémon Go

An already classic game that was among the first of its kind to be released, Pokémon Go allows you to start your quest to catch Pokémon in real life using your phone’s GPS location tracking. The AR feature of the app allows you to see different Pokémon appear as if they were running around your neighborhood.

Quiver

A free coloring book is brought to life by holding up your tablet or smartphone. By mixing images you can create new ones and get creative by swapping out colors. There are no limits to the color combinations that can be used in this app, so everyone can get involved and express themselves.

Roar

Empowering consumers and businesses alike, a scanned product comes alive with the pertinent information you need to pay attention to before buying it. It’s a digital assistant that can be used on products like washing machines and microwaves, which usually come with bulky manuals that no one bothers reading through.

SketchAR

A free and easy-to-use app for people who enjoy drawing and want to know what it will look like if they draw something in real life. SketchAR combines both reality and augmented into one, freeing artists from the confines of their imagination.

Snapchat

The app that launched a million memes now gives them an actual three-dimensional feel. That means you can literally step inside the image and make it your own by playing around with its features. Like many other AR apps, Snapchat allows you to be creative within certain limitations but without having to use any additional hardware like headsets or glasses.

SpotCrime+AR

The future of neighborhood watch is here, it’s the world’s first crime-watch app that allows you to see what crimes are happening live in your area by simply pointing your smartphone at any house or place. The world map is able to display incidents in real-time, which makes it easy for you to “friend” neighborhoods and prevent criminal activity before it even occurs.

Thyng

An app that’s similar to Pokémon Go, but instead of catching digital creatures, you invent them on the go upon various items around the house. Combine things to, make new objects, and play around with your newfound creation, while also figuring out what it does or how it works like a mad scientist.

Vuforia Chalk

Turn your smartphone into a tech guru to solve problems with your gadgets at home. Simply point your device at something you’re having trouble with, whether it’s a complex appliance or an electronic gizmo, and receive step-by-step instructions on how to fix the problem.

YouCam Makeup

Now you see it, now you don’t! YouCam Makeup is an app that can be used to edit your image on the fly. Swap out your eyeshadow and lipstick while taking a selfie or applying makeup for a night out with friends, all before uploading it to social media and showing off what looks like an entirely different person (without the potentially dangerous repercussions of going under the knife).

WallaMe

From a restaurant wall in Tokyo to a restroom stall in New York City, leave messages in secret places anywhere in the world for other users of this app to uncover them. WallaMe allows you to share a message with your friends publicly, allowing for a little mystery and adventure in everyone’s day.

Augmented reality app development companies are at the forefront of this constantly evolving technology, creating apps to enrich our lives with ever-more ways to increase productivity, streamline workflows, and simply engage with our surroundings.  While augmented reality app development costs can range, depending on how sophisticated you want them to be, what is clear is that it has already paved the way for a billion-dollar industry to emerge and transform the way we live. 

What AR app would interest you or would you be interested in developing?

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

Google’s new concept of Android Instant Apps is a revolution for the mobile app world, making it possible to offer its users small applications which work even when they are offline. While they are still not available for everybody since only a few developers currently have access to this technology, Google has prepared an SDK containing everything needed to create an instant app, and which is available to all Android developers.

Your Guide To Creating An Android Instant App

Here’s a “step-by-step” guide for creating an Android instant app.

1. Requirements

Before anything else, you must meet the requirements to be able to create your instant app:

• Your Android application should already have all it’s required features (and more) working on a mobile device or emulator. 
• Your source code should be available for editing by any developer who wants to work on it, independently of its final destination.
• The source code should be available for editing by any developer who wants to work on it, even if its final destination is not the mobile device where it will be used.

2. Create an Instant App Module

The first thing you need to do is create an instant app module. To do this, follow these steps:

Select File > New > New Module from the Android Studio’s main menu. Choose “Instant App” as module type and click Next. Check if your sources are included in the Instant App module and select Finish.

3. Decide on a Minimum SDK

Every instant app module will have a minimum supported version of Android that the project requires to run. Unlike regular Android applications, where you can choose any minimum compatible versions for your application, with Instant Apps Google recommends keeping the lowest possible versions for your instant app available on Google Play. The reason for this is that from now on, all the modules of your application will be able to work offline for the most part.

4. Configure Your Instant App Module Dependencies

During this step, Android Studio will ask you if you want to add new dependencies in your project or not. The recommended answer is “Yes” because adding dependencies in your instant app module is one of the ways to make it available on Google Play.

5. Configure Your Default Activity

After configuring your instant app dependencies, you will see that Android Studio has added a new layout called activity_main into the “res/layout” folder of your instant app module (notice that this layout is using “ComplexAppTheme”). This layout represents the activity that will be started when a user launches your instant app. The only thing you have to do is add a button into this layout which starts your default activity, in our case the Hello World! activity.

6. Configure Your Base Module Dependencies

As you may already know from Google’s documentation on this subject, for the Instant App feature to work, it must be able to reach all the features in your application. To achieve this goal, you need to tell Google Play Store that when a user wants to use your instant app he is also interested in using its base module (your “base” module). This is done by adding your instant app’s dependency on your base module to your AndroidManifest.xml file, just like you would with any other application or module dependency. Notice that this is not an optional step and it’s important to do if you want your instant app to work correctly on Google Play Store.

7. Test Your Instant App

You can now test your instant app by building the project (menu: Build > Rebuild Project) and then selecting the build variant called “Instant App” (menu: Build > Select Build Variant). Notice that you can switch between normal APKs and Instant Apps anytime by using the same build variant menu.

8. Configure Your Instant App’s Metadata

Before uploading your instant app to Google Play Store, you have to provide it with metadata. This is done using an “Instant App Configuration” file that lives inside the “app” folder of your instant app module. Notice that this configuration file will be copied into all APKs that are generated for your instant app module, so expect this process to take some time if your application has many configurations.

To configure metadata for your instant app, open your project-level build.gradle file and include the following snippet:

apply plugin: ‘com.android.instantapp’

9. Test Your Instant App on a Device or Emulator

Now you need to test your instant app running on an Android device or emulator in order to know if everything is working properly. To do so, you have to install your instant app on a test device or emulator that has the Play Store application installed. After doing this, just open Google Play Store and search for your application’s name or click on the “Apps” menu item in order to see all applications available for installation.

10. Publish Your Instant App on Google Play Store

To publish your instant app on Google Play Store you have to create a new release in the Developer Console (menu: “Release Management > Instant Apps”). After doing this, go back to Android Studio and add some metadata values called “Discovery Badge” and “Deep Link URL” into your project-level build.gradle file, just like it is explained here. Notice that the value of your “Deep Link URL” has to point to your instant app’s default activity. After publishing your new release on Google Play Store, you may want to test this release locally before uploading it to Production. To do so you have to download the APK corresponding to your “app release” and then test your installation.

As you can see, creating an instant app is not a difficult task once you know how to do it and we hope this guide has helped you get started with the Instant Apps feature on Google Play Store. However, if developing your own Android Instant App does not seem like an attractive option to you, you can always find Android App Development Agencies to take on your project.

Current Status of Android Instant Apps in 2021

As you may know, the Android Instant Apps feature has been out on Google Play Store since June 2016 and it is already used by many companies. In fact, Google Play services for Instant Apps give users the option to experiment with the latest games right on the platform, without having to download them. They simply hit the “try now” button instead of “install.” 

Due to the Instant Apps technology being young, most of its features have not yet been documented in a single place. However, this information gap will be closing soon as there are some courses related to instant apps being prepared by Udacity and Google itself.

As they say, it is the early bird that catches the worm so we recommend you to start learning about Android Instant Apps as soon as possible if you want to be among the developers who are already using this technology.

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

We are proud partners with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Schedule a free 30-minute call with us to discuss your business, or you can give us a call at (949) 284-6300.

AI is changing the world right before our eyes, and it’s going much faster than many of us realize. Development has been taking leaps and bounds in a number of different fields, its progress steadily accelerating. You may not see it, but the future of AI is happening now, and it’s as impressive as it is promising.

Artificial Intelligence App Development

From photography to education and science, there are fewer and fewer areas and industries that aren’t incorporating an AI-powered app into their systems. The apps being developed currently are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the functions and capabilities of AI, which not only enhances performance but saves time for individuals and organizations. The aim of this article is to introduce various types of apps that need to be developed using Artificial Intelligence in 2021.

Cool App Ideas With AI

Let’s now explore the many different ways in which AI can be, or already is being incorporated into the kinds of apps that are a fundamental part of our lives, to make them even more effective and useful than ever.

AI-Based Chatbots

The AI chatbot apps allow individuals to solve issues or get information quickly and efficiently. Organizations that provide quality customer service through these apps will be able to handle the growing number of customers who prefer to take care of simple tasks online rather than go through a series of annoying steps over the telephone.

Some other uses:

One can communicate with their banks or insurance companies for any queries related to their accounts or policies; they can get in touch with doctors for basic medical queries; get driving directions from Google Maps and many more services such as flight bookings. The list is endless, and AI is making it all happen!

Apps for Better Learning

The learning applications are being designed to provide children with a host of useful insights into their academic careers, which will help them in better focusing on their strengths and weaknesses. The AI-based apps will thus improve the chances of students succeeding in school as well as beyond.

Some other uses:

These apps can be used by individuals who are trying to learn new languages or enhance their skills at cooking through step-by-step instructions provided by images/video clips; they can get instant updates on daily news, weather forecasts, exam results., without needing to browse different websites.

Apps for Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The CRM apps use data analytics to help customers get the best out of their experience, thus increasing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

Artificial Intelligence Travel Apps

Existing travel search engines do an okay job when it comes to finding the perfect destination, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. The future holds extremely exciting possibilities for traveling enthusiasts thanks to the aid of Artificial Intelligence.

Some other uses:

AI will be able to provide you with reviews of restaurants by analyzing your taste preferences; it can give you an accurate estimate of traveling time between two destinations based on real-time traffic updates; it can also reserve a hotel room for you once your flight lands or offer reviews about high-quality hotels in the area.

Apps for Recreational Activities

If there’s one sector where they are expected to make a huge impact over the next few years, it is the recreational industry. Some really exciting developments are being made through analytics that are changing the way hobbies are practiced all over the world. No matter what type of recreational activity people enjoy, whether it is hiking, football, tennis, badminton, or any other sport, these apps are sure to have plenty of exciting experiences waiting ahead!

Some other uses:

AI-based apps will be able to generate data analytics that can be used by athletes for perfecting their skills; they can help you discover new recreational activities at the click of a button without having to do extensive research on different websites.

Apps for Learning New Skills

AI learning applications are already making it extremely convenient for individuals to learn new skills in order to keep up with the rapidly changing workplace. These apps are also being developed for students who may need remedial lessons before starting out on their own after graduating from college/university. Some great examples include Microsoft’s coding app for schools, “Minecraft”, and IBM’s Watson for Cyber Security.

Some other uses:

These apps can be used by professionals who are trying to upskill or learn new methods of doing things; students who need extra help with learning concepts that they find difficult; individuals who want to learn face reading in order to live a happier life without losing their jobs/friends!

Self-Driving Cars

Autonomous cars are here to stay, and they’re probably going to change the automotive industry in more ways than one. For example, Uber is already offering free ride services over short distances using driverless vehicles that are making millions of trips each day across cities – something that would have been impossible without AI! Google’s Waymo just started their own commercial service which lets people hire a self-driving taxi.

Other uses:

Amazing AI app ideas and functions for autonomous cars include passing information about accidents in real-time to other drivers on the road or navigating difficult locations. The amount of data being captured by these sensors is going to be massive, giving researchers tons of insights that will help them develop safer systems for the future.

Apps Using AI To Build AI Products

Not only are we using AI apps to help us with our products and services, we’re also using AI to actually create them, because the demand is increasing immensely. It’s clear that artificial intelligence has taken hold in many different sectors, so it comes as no surprise that hundreds of companies are investing their time and resources into developing apps that can support this technological advancement. A new software application development company called “AI App Factory” was launched to build AI-based products for high-end startups across the world!

Apps That Use AI for Image Recognition

Facebook is now powering its search functionality with deep learning so that people can find what they want without having to type full words. Just last month, Google Photos updated their app for iOS devices with an impressive update that lets users search by what’s in their photos using keywords like “cat”, “beach”, etc. It goes on and on because there are plenty of apps out there that can benefit from this amazing technological breakthrough.

Other uses:

These apps can be used to study a person’s facial features, making it easier for employers/law enforcement officials to find criminals; they can also help you discern whether someone is lying!

EXAMPLES OF APPS THAT USE AI IN 2021

There are tons of apps that rely on deep learning or machine learning for their features. Here are some examples that should give you a good understanding of how applications can take advantage of this technology:

Google Translate

Google Translate has been helping people communicate since 2006. The app includes a feature called “Word Lens”, which can translate signs/labels by pointing your phone at them. Google introduced a neural machine translation system which makes use of artificial neural networks to translate text between different languages without having to use any additional input. In 2021, Google Translate was able to get a word error rate of 6.9% which made it possible for the app to translate conversations that were more natural.

IBM Watson Tone Analyzer

This app uses AI to help you understand the emotional state of the person on the other end of your phone call. It translates your voice into text which is then analyzed by a machine learning model to determine how an individual with depression or anxiety would sound like or whether they are being truthful about their emotions.

Siri

Siri was one of the first smart personal assistants and it started out as a research project by SRI International and later became an integral part of Apple’s operating systems. Siri has been updated several times since its launch in 2018. It’s improvements include real-time language translation and voice recognition.

Alexa

In 2021, Alexa has expanded its skillset to include “visual skills” which allow devices to recognize objects and change the TV channel. These features are powered by cognitive services like image recognition, search, speech to text, natural language understanding (NLU), etc.

Facebook’s Photo Tagger

Since 2011, Facebook has been using deep neural networks to suggest tags for photos! These models are based on the architecture of convolutional neural networks which power visual information recognition. The basic idea is that you feed an image into a neural network and it will identify the relevant objects in it. This makes tagging much more efficient because you can tag a person by their face rather than having to type out their name every time they’re in a new picture.

Tesla’s Autopilot mode

Tesla’s Autopilot mode uses deep neural networks to take control of a car while the driver is still at the wheel. This system has been found by researchers from CMU University in Pittsburgh to be 75% safer than humans during tests. In 2021, Tesla cars were able to drive for almost 12 hours without any hands on the steering wheel.

These are just a few examples of what’s already out there, but we’ve hardly reached the precipice of a world in which AI-based applications become interwoven with our daily lives, making them easier by performing more and more tasks. They will continue to improve our safety, security, and convenience (the key areas targeted by every large tech company), but on a much greater scale and in more areas of our lives. Since these technologies are being developed at an extremely rapid pace, there are endless possibilities waiting ahead.

Keep an eye out for even more AI-powered apps to be developed over the next few years, which will tackle increasingly complex tasks and make human-like decisions!

Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.

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