• Read more about 8 Things You MUST Know When Budgeting For a Mobile App

Importance of a mobile app

Every company should find value in a digital strategy. Deciding on a mobile strategy for your business requires a number of considerations. First you may need to decide what’s right for you - a mobile application or a responsive website? When a business is determining their mobile strategy, hopefully they are thinking in terms of a mobile application or a responsive website.

Considerations for Your Budget Before you Build your Mobile App

There are many things to consider before you design and build a mobile app. For example, some questions that will need to be determined prior to kicking off your project are which platform do you want an app built on Android, iOS or both? Are you wanting a native or hybrid app? What is your internal timeline, what date would you want your mobile app to go live for users to begin engagement? All of these questions and more need to be considered before your project kick-off. We have outlined some important considerations that you will need to take into account that may affect your overall budget.  

Consideration 1: Define requirements and choose feature set

Every app has different features, some compliment others while other features are not necessarily meant for an MVP product to launch it is still important to decide if you want a simple or robust feature set.

Some of the following are features that you can include in your mobile app that may affect your overall budget :

Consideration 2: Do you need design or development? Both?

Some folks have an internal design team in which case wireframes are built out and given to a development company while other companies may need a full design and development.

The cost of only design or only development or design and development differ because if you are only needing a development service and depending on the feature set your cost could be less than if you were looking for a complete design and development project.

Consideration 3: Which platform does it make more sense to launch on?

Who is the target audience that you are trying to reach? What stage in the product are you in? Do you need an app for Android or iOS or both?  Building one app will be cheaper than building two apps.

Consideration 4: Scope of project or timeline of project

Are you hoping to launch your mobile app in a certain time frame? If so, this may affect the scope of the project. If you are working against a shorter timeframe such as less than 6 months you may have to launch an MVP product in order to meet your timeline. If you do not have a particular time you are hoping to launch by then you will have more time if desired to make your app more robust

Some timelines vary depending on feature set and the timeframe that you are working with - the most features you want the more folks you need on your dev team.

Consideration 5: Minimum Viable Product versus Maximum Viable Product  

Some decide to launch an “minimum viable product” which means that it has just enough features to satisfy the end users because the design feature set would be limited.

Your overall cost would be lower than if you were launching a more polished app which would have more advanced feature set.

Consideration 6: Frontend & Backend Development  

Some may already have backend development complete for example if the company already has a website or a web app typically the backend development can be applied. Building out the backend may not be necessary, it may only require frontend development.

If you need only the front-end versus frontend and backend development that will affect the overall cost of the mobile app development depending if you need one or the other or both. Are you constantly updating your content to the backend? This could also require for your architecture to be more robust which will increase the total cost.

Consideration 7: Hosting and Maintenance Post App Launch

Ongoing maintenance is always a good idea ADVANTAGE OF MAINTENANCE.   This is typically a cost that is built into the contract and agreed upon whenever the client and company agree to the terms and contract.

Consideration 8: Compliance and accessibility

Ensuring what you are building is within the bounds of what is being designed/ developed to make sure that the company is staying compliant with your company's privacy policy.  Incorporating one or more of the compliance could impact your budget depending on the level of complexity.

Timeline to design and build a mobile application

Timeline you can expect for a mobile application is the following, please keep in mind these are rough estimates and vary depending on project scope and needs.

Additional things to consider that may increase mobile app cost:

WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE MOBOMO?

Mobomo knows mobile. We have extensive experience in designing and developing mobile apps, our process prioritizes your target audience increasing user adoption and customer satisfaction to ultimately exceed your goals.

We take the time to carefully understand our clients needs and goals, we created an app calculator compiled of the key components that we often see that effect our clients mobile app budget.

Of course, this is just an estimation, we would love to talk through your mobile app and how we can make it awesome.

• Read more about Lessons from Building Mission-Critical Government Apps

The headlines were unanimous: The mobile app used for tallying results during the Iowa Democratic Caucus was an unmitigated failure. Not only did it delay the outcome of the vote count, it cast a shadow on the integrity of the voting process.

What went wrong? Could it be, as opined by Vox, that “using an app to tally election results wasn’t such a good idea”?

Or was this simply a case of great idea, poor execution?

In this piece, we’ll examine what went wrong with the Iowa Democratic Party’s app, what a good app would have looked like, and how government agencies, political bodies, and other high-pressure groups can avoid the same mistakes.

How Not to Develop and Deploy an App

The problem surfaced hours after the caucuses ended. The Iowa Democratic Party had not reported results, citing inconsistencies in the reporting data. Officials were quick to say the delay was not caused by a hack or intrusion.

Still, speculation surfaced about possible security problems with technology. On Twitter, stories raising concerns about the caucus app’s vulnerabilities resurfaced. One of the top concerns cited in those pieces centered on the plan for caucus volunteers to download the app directly to their phones, which made it difficult to ensure the safety of the devices.

As the hours ticked by, chaos ensued, with the campaigns of two candidates claiming victory as the field headed east for the New Hampshire Democratic Primary on February 11.

What went wrong? As it turns out, quite a lot:

• Caucus field staff claimed the app wasn’t working properly. Some could not download the app. Others couldn’t sign into it, and still others complained that the backup method, reporting by phone, wasn’t letting their calls through.
• Cybersecurity experts and academics said the app was not tested at statewide scale or vetted by the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency.
• And even if the app was working, reports suggest, the roll out of the tool was so badly botched that those responsible for reporting via the app weren’t trained on how to use it.
• The app was not deployed through traditional app stores or even sideloaded using an enterprise certificate. Instead, it was distributed through mobile testing platforms, including Apple’s TestFlight and a similar platform that services both iOS and Android called TestFairy. App developers and large software makers typically use testing platforms for mobile apps that are still in beta (i.e., not quite finalized). Developers can use the testing platforms to distribute the beta version of the software without having to go through the rigorous App Store and Play Store review processes.
• The app was distributed using the TestFairy platform’s free tier and not its enterprise one. Developers didn’t even pay for the TestFairy plan that comes with single sign-on authentication, unlimited data retention, and end-to-end encryption. Instead, they used the version of TestFairy anyone can try for free. It deletes any app data after 30 days and limits the number of test users that can access the app to 200.

In short, it appears that the app was rushed into use long before the necessary testing, training, and due diligence had taken place.

Rules of the App Development Road

Hindsight being what it is, it’s easy for observers to shake their heads and say, “We would never do that.”

But, how can they make sure? The key is to know what is required to develop an app the right way:

1. A rigorous, formal authorization process
2. A formal risk model
3. A formal threat model for the application

For example, developers working on federal websites must go through the security authority within their respective agency. That person confirms the application has gone through the FedRAMP certification process for cloud-hosted environments. The process confirms whether apps meet a standard set of 350-450 controls.

Some would argue there ought to be a similar formal process in place when software designed for government or public use is developed by external vendors. Unfortunately, the added work involved in meeting such standards would also add considerable cost to every project.

Fortunately, many developers still use those federal standards to establish clear frameworks while designing and testing their project. Working from the outside in, these developers consider such questions as “What boundary protections does this software need?” and “How does this software interface with other systems?”

Ready to Launch

State primaries and caucuses call for an app that is both secure and able to withstand rigorous load testing (i.e., the process of putting demands on a system and measuring its response). The app may work beautifully during standard testing but collapse completely once thousands of people start to use it.

As an example, Mobomo’s own load-testing procedures proved invaluable during the NASA.gov webcast of the “Great American Eclipse” in 2017. The NASA site typically has 10,000 - 50,000 simultaneous viewers. But on the day of the eclipse, NASA streamed the all-day event, which generated five to six times the streaming traffic of that year’s Super Bowl.

The NASA site performed superbly even under these conditions in part because it was designed to meet the FedRAMP continuity operation planning controls. These controls ensure that if one aspect of the software goes down, backup systems bypass the problem and the software continues to function with minimal interruption to the user.

And that’s the whole point of developing an app for a high-volume, high-pressure task like reporting data from caucus sites or primary voting stations: Using the best technology, the best processes, and the highest levels of expertise to make an app that works so smoothly and accurately, one would never realize the level of complexity and rigor that goes into developing it.

Mobomo develops and deploys secure, high-performance apps and websites for a broad range of civilian federal entities. Want to learn more about our work? Give us a call or contact us today.

• Read more about Native Mobile? Cross-Platform? Here’s How To Choose

 When developing an app, there are a multitude of important decisions to make between “Let’s do this!” and “It’s launch day!”

One of these decisions is the application development approach. Is a native mobile app the right way to go? Or would a cross-platform app be a better fit for your needs and your organization? There is no one-approach-fits-all, so it’s important for organizations to avoid false starts and costly redevelopment time by having a solid understanding of their available options.

Let’s analyze these options.

Native App

A native app is one that has been designed specifically for one mobile platform (i.e. Android, iOS), with engineers leveraging the programming language used by the platform’s own operating system (Java or Kotlin for Android and Swift/Objective-C) for iOS. If you wish to have native apps made for multiple platforms, the developers need to make separate codebases.

Advantages to native app development are plentiful. Because the app’s UX is tailored to that specific platform, the app will deliver strong and smooth performance and can take advantage of the device’s full set of functionalities. This tends to result in much higher ratings and better visibility (read: more revenue) in app stores.

Additionally, if the platform OS is eventually updated (which often means bugs will appear), resolving the specific code for that platform is much more efficient and therefore less costly than needing to fix a centralized code base that will affect all the platforms.

So, while native apps do tend to require more time and resources up front, they can offer considerable savings long-term in maintenance and updating.

The Takeaway: Native apps are an investment, but a worthwhile one if you’re looking long-term with your app. The functionality tends to be much better and maintenance is significantly less complex.

Cross-Platform App

Cross-platform apps are designed more as a one-size-fits-all solution …with modifications. A single codebase is written and can then be shared among the different platforms, either using web technologies or tools such as PhoneGap, Titanium, or React Native.

Cross-platform is a popular option among organizations with a tighter timeframe and lower budget, as it only requires one codeset to be written. This makes cross-platform a reasonable option for simple applications like games or single-purpose apps. Some organizations will specify the devices they want the code to work on, while others will make the app available to all users, whether they’re using an iPhone 3 or a Galaxy M30s.

The downsides of the cross-platform approach, however, can be summarized by the old adage, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” Because cross-platform has to be everything to every platform, its performance tends to be suboptimal. In addition, it can’t take advantage of each type of device’s proprietary features, thus limiting the potential.

Indeed, the Airbnb app initially used a cross-platform approach with React Native. But in June of 2018, they announced they were sunsetting their use of this tool and would be focusing on native app development, citing issues like developer experience, quality, and technical issues. Even the world’s most popular social media app, Facebook, made the switch from cross-platform to native in 2012, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing that “the biggest mistake we’ve made as a company is betting on HTML5 over native.”

The Takeaway: If both time and budget are short, cross-platform app development is a great way to get to market quickly … as long as you don’t mind sacrificing some performance.

A Third Option: No App

While apps are an excellent way to increase customer engagement and improve the user experience, they’re not a cure-all. If the app is providing a service that a user would only need once or twice a year for a limited number of functions, it may be better to focus instead on your mobile website experience. On the other hand, if you anticipate year-round use and wish to provide a rich, multifunctional experience, your users will be happy to have that app take up real estate on their devices.

If you have the time and the budget, native app development can provide you with a highly functional app that is not only tailor-made for the user’s experience and device but can also save you maintenance headaches down the road.

Meanwhile, cross-platform apps provide a viable option for smaller budgets and businesses that want to get a simple app out into the marketplace quickly.

Still not certain? The experts at Mobomo are happy to discuss options and recommend the best approach for you and your organization’s unique needs, so contact us today.

• Read more about Mobomo Named Clutch Top 1000 Companies Global 2019

For the second time in a row, Mobomo has been awarded the Clutch Top 1000 Companies in the world! This award highlights only 1% of the companies on the platform and is the most exclusive award offered by Clutch. Companies are ranked based on the quality and recency of verified client reviews, as well as the companies’ market presence and industry leadership.

With passion and expertise in creating cutting-edge, functional, and successful experiences, Mobomo has become one of the top mobile app development companies in the Washington, D.C. area.

In a recent project reviewed on Clutch, Mobomo received 5 stars for developing a custom web portal and Android and iOS apps.

It has been an honor to receive this recognition as 2019 comes to an end. Mobomo is grateful for the support we have from our amazing clients, who have taken the time to provide detailed reviews on Clutch. We are excited to see what 2020 will bring for our team and clients!

About Clutch
Clutch (clutch.co) is a business to business research firm located in Washington, D.C. They are best known for connecting agencies and software solution companies in order to enhance business goals across businesses. Their ratings and reviews platform publishes the most extensive and referenced client reviews in the B2B services market.

• Read more about DOI's Drupal Developer Support Services BPA awarded to Mobomo, LLC

Vienna, VA March 19, 2019—Mobomo,

Mobomo, LLC is pleased to announce our award as a prime contractor on the $25M Department of Interior (DOI) Drupal Developer Support Services BPA . Mobomo brings an experienced and extensive Drupal Federal practice team to DOI.  Our team has launched a large number of award winning federal websites in both Drupal 7 and Drupal 8, to include www.nasa.gov, www.usgs.gov, and www.fisheries.noaa.gov.,These sites have won industry recognition and awards including the 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Webby Award; two 2017 Innovate IT awards; and the 2018 MUSE Creative Award and the Acquia 2018 Public Sector Engage award.

DOI has been shifting its websites from an array of Content Management System (CMS) and non-CMS-based solutions to a set of single-architecture, cloud-hosted Drupal solutions. In doing so, DOI requires Drupal support for hundreds of websites that are viewed by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, including its parent website, www.doi.gov, managed by the Office of the Secretary. Other properties include websites and resources provided by its bureaus  (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, National Park Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey) and many field offices.

This BPA provides that support. The period of performance for this BPA is five years and it’s available agency-wide and to all bureaus as a vehicle for obtaining Drupal development, migration, information architecture, digital strategy, and support services. Work under this BPA will be hosted in DOI’s OpenCloud infrastructure, which was designed for supporting the Drupal platform.

• Read more about Mobomo Wins Awards for Partner of the Year and Growth Partner of the Year

Vienna, VA March 13, 2019—Mobomo, a leading web, mobile app, and cloud-solution provider, is proud to announce that it has won two awards from the Acquia Partner Awards’ Public Sector segment: Partner of the Year and Growth Partner of the Year. The Acquia Partner Awards recognizes the success and contributions of the partners throughout the course of the year working with the Acquia Platform. The Growth Partner of the Year award specifically recognizes growth from the previous year, while Partner of the Year honors the overall business performance.

When asked about the recent award recognition, Mobomo CEO Brian Lacey offered a few thoughts, “We are humbled by Acquia’s recent recognition. This company has been a reliable, trustworthy partner of ours. Between our solution expertise and their cutting-edge cloud services, we are glad that our partnership is not only financially successful, but that we can work together to create innovative solutions for federal organizations like NOAA Fisheries, which increase user engagement on their sites and streamline their information systems.”

The project was awarded based on Mobomo’s collaboration with Acquia and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries to revamp NOAA’s website. In 2016, Mobomo and Acquia worked with NOAA Fisheries to redesign their online presence, streamlining the site’s content contribution and dissemination system.

Mobomo also credits Acquia’s cloud system for facilitating the process and ensuring that the NOAA Fisheries project was a success. Mobomo selected Acquia as its application development partner for its quality of cloud services, as well as its compliance and relationship with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). The government-wide program standardizes the security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring of cloud products and services. Acquia holds an Authority to Operate (ATO) certificate, which FedRAMP only grants to cloud providers that meet strict conditions.

Lacey also added, “We are honored by the awards, but more so by our partnership in general. We are excited to continue this fruitful relationship, collaborate on future projects, and help other companies and organizations optimize their online presence with advanced solutions and efficient cloud services.”

For more information, please contact Mobomo at:
(888) 676-1049
hello@mobomo.com
www.mobomo.com

Source: https://www.acquia.com/resources/case-study/noaa-fisheries

• Read more about Mobomo Featured Global Leading Agency for the 2nd Year in a Row!

We are in the business of awesome user experience, software engineering, mobile products, and web design. Our award-winning solutions leverage new technological developments to propel our clients to new heights. With today’s competitive technology industry, we know the importance of software developers for our clients’ success. We want to provide the best of the best for our clients. To ensure we are doing so, our company joined Clutch to see how we stack against the competition in our industry.

Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews platform, evaluates companies across various industries in order to help businesses choose the best service provider. They analyzed Mobomo based on our services offered, client base, and case studies of projects we’ve executed for former clients. More importantly, they spoke directly with our former clients in phone interviews to obtain an accurate and verified understanding of their experience working with the Mobomo team. The interviews have been an incredibly valuable resource for our clients to provide their feedback on our service, and for our own team to reflect on how far we’ve come as an agency.

You can find these former client reviews on our Clutch profile. Here’s a glimpse of the praise so far:

“[Mobomo] has extremely talented developers with a knack for finding the most efficient solutions.” – Branch Chief, Government Agency

“Because of Mobomo, things run much smoother and more efficiently now.” – Website Project Manager, Nonprofit

“The team is responsive to all inquiries, questions, and concerns.” – Program Analyst, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments

These rave reviews, combined with our excellence in other areas of Clutch’s research methodology, scored us positions as a global leader in two development categories. In the ultra-competitive development space, we have been recognized as one of the top global 15 mobile app development companies, more specifically for iPhone development, and as one of the best WordPress Developers in the world.

Our ability to deliver has not only propelled us to the top of the development space, but we have been featured in Clutch’s inaugural listing, The Clutch 1000. The Clutch 1000 is their most selective list of the most highly ranked B2B service providers. B2B companies with the strongest brand reputation, clientele, and reviews were selected from a pool of over 50,000 global agencies, and we were placed in the top in the top 60!

Lastly, Clutch is not the only platform that gave us praise for our development prowess. The Manifest named us as a top-20 leading web development firm. The Manifest is a database of industry reports, how-to-guides, and top service provider lists across various industries.

In conclusion, we want to say thank you to all of our clients and partners; your support allows us to do what we love. We’re proud of our high rankings so far, and we can’t wait to keep pushing the boundaries of next level development with you.

• Read more about The USO Wins Silver Davey Award

Mobomo is honored to announce that the USO's mobile application has won a Silver Davey Award!

“David defeated the giant Goliath with a big idea and a little rock – the sort of thing small agencies do each year. The annual International Davey Awards honors the achievements of the “Creative Davids” who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than stratospheric budgets.”

Mobomo was able to recognize the USO and the mobile application that we partnered with them to create.  This application fosters greater discoverability of locations where USO provides services and programs offered by the USO through its distributed locations and online.  Prior to discovery, USO was seeking to design, develop, and deploy a cross-platform mobile application that introduced an additional channel for United States military service members and their families to better engage with USO centers and programs.  Currently, there are 200+ USO locations that all create their own content. We were able to pull the CMS data and integrate it into the app so that the service member receives the content from the service center that they are physically at or that is most adjacent to them.

This mobile application launched in the spring of 2017 as part of a series of deployments on a fixed schedule starting with a limited beta release to 15 USO centers.

About the USO

The United Service Organizations or better known as the USO strengthens America’s military service members by keeping them connected to family, home and country, throughout their service to the nation. USO, a private, nonprofit organization, serves the men and women in the U.S. military and their families throughout their service – from the moment they join, through their deployments and as they transition back to their communities. Over time, the USO has become the vital bridge between Americans and their military service members. The USO provides programs, entertainment and services at more than 180 USO locations and hundreds of other military sites worldwide, including Afghanistan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Italy, Japan, Guam, South Korea, Djibouti and the United States.

About Mobomo

Mobomo builds elegant solutions to complex problems. We do it fast, and we do it at a planetary scale. As a premier provider of mobile, web, and cloud applications to large enterprises, federal agencies, napkin-stage startups, and nonprofits, Mobomo combines leading-edge technology with human-centered design and strategy to craft next-generation digital experiences.

• Read more about Navy Mutual: Deep Dive into Mobile

Navy Mutual's Mobile App

Navy Mutual Aid Association provides life insurance and annuity products to military families. In our previous blog, we discussed how an association’s struggle to face the challenge that investing in technology can pose.

 Navy Mutual Aid Association chose to face this challenge head-on and Mobomo helped usher Navy Mutual Aid Association through their first foray into mobile with the launch of their Survivor Benefits app.

The Navy Mutual Aid Association has a focus on educating members on their legally entitled government benefits, as well as on matters of financial security.  

In creating this app, Navy Mutual is now able to put appropriate resources directly in the hands of their members in an overall effort to increase awareness of government benefits.

It also allows Navy Mutual to more directly reach members through a new channel and increase its footprint in members’ lives.

Incorporating Legal Resources

One of Navy Mutual’s goals is to ensure veterans and veteran’s families fully understand their legal rights and benefits.  While the Navy Mutual website housed many valuable resources, the team wanted a tool optimized for, and easily accessible from a mobile device.

Throughout the process, the Mobomo team worked collaboratively with the Navy Mutual team, as well as their existing brand guidelines.  During all creative discussions, Navy Mutual ensured that the app would meet member needs and fulfill their mission.

We led them through the design, development, and launch of iOS and Android mobile apps. In order to meet these goals, we created various palettes to finalize a look and feel for the mobile app’s overall User Experience.   

For maintainability purposes, Navy Mutual opted to move forward with a React Native cross-platform application in order to create both iOS and Android apps from a single codebase.

The Benefit Calculator

One of the key features of the mobile app is a set of Benefit Calculators, which are on the website as well. These are for users to estimate survivor benefits and entitlements.

The calculators are processed through a legacy, internal backend database that did not have an optimized interface for plugging in new systems.

In order to make the backend accessible to the mobile apps, our team had to create new APIs for the apps to submit user inputs and retrieve the appropriate output to be displayed.

All of the tools that were created for use in the Survivor Benefits app are user-friendly as well as engage members throughout their experience.  

As discussed previously, members believe that the investment in technology was critical, but associations want their investment to last longer than the latest trend.  

The Navy Mutual Aid Association ensured that this app, not only was a financially sound investment but would meet their member needs long term.

• Read more about How Should You Prepare For The iOS 11 Update?

Apple announced they will be releasing the iOS 11 this fall but what do the enhancements to iOS 11 mean for your app that is currently in the marketplace? Here are a few reasons why you should consider upgrading your app to prepare for the iOS 11 launch.

All of these new features that iOS 11 are rolling out could affect how your app is housed in the App Store. Get in touch and we will do a free analysis on your current app and let you know of any incompatibility issues. Whether you are interested in creating a new app, wanting to enhance a current app, or just a compatibility test, we have gathered some highlights as to why it would be a good idea to update your current app in preparation for iOS 11.

This is not the first time that Apple has made changes that affect apps in the App Store. In September of 2016, Apple released an App Store guideline which encouraged app owners to become compliant with those guidelines or Apple would delete the app from the App Store. There is without a doubt more and more difficulties standing out in the App Store. How will iOS 11 change that?

First, 32 bit will be turned off and any app that is 32 bit will no longer be accessible in the App Store. According to sources, any app that runs in 32 bit will no longer be supported by Apple. Developers will need to update their app to 64 bit in order to remain in the App Store. Apple has already told developers that macOS High Sierra would be the final version on the Mac to support 32 bit apps.

New iOS App Store: 

• App Ratings: Now when asking users to request app ratings, developers must now use Apple’s official API instead of integrating their own custom prompts. The new Apple rating message lets users choose 1-5 stars then exits the prompt, all without leaving their current app. The simple message, however, has a drawback; this rating prompt can only be alerted three times a year.