The rise of iBeacon technology was one of the influential news of 2015 in a technology world. This brought about numerous business insiders to step in mobile app development services of the beacon industry.
Now, it goes without saying that every latest technology will demand time to explore the potential outcomes and best practices, even when it comes to app development. Today, almost two years after the launch of iBeacon, many Enterprises realized that a beacon app should be developed for the purpose of pushing promotional offers to users.
Even the most skilled and experienced app developer will run into challenges that are unique to creating a beacon app. These are the six challenges you will face:
1. Variable signs
Beacon apps are dealing with external radios that transmit signals and therefore can be untidy. The app has to best figure out the beacon’s distance that is challenging as radio waves bounce around a physical location and are affected by the presence of users. Furthermore, signal quality varies wildly among beacon hardware manufacturers. Hence, beacon signals are affected by gadget control, temperature and polling intervals that may vary from broadcast to broadcast. In short, the app has to be designed to make choices based on the variable information received.
2. Authorization to activate Bluetooth & location services
For beacon apps to perform, not only the device have to support beacons but also the user has to enable Bluetooth and location services. It has found that it’s best to wait until the last conceivable minute to ask for these permissions. This is perfect opportunity to prove app’s value instead of blasting users before they’ve even tried the app or are close to a beacon.
3. Balancing UX and security in the feature set
Beacon apps proximate a user’s physical distance from a beacon so they can link data about the real world context of the beacon with specific context of the user. When building beacon app, ibeacon developer needs to precisely measure which elements will enhance the user’s experience without defeating them as well as factoring in user privacy. If receiving the balance right then able to selectively push information to the user. For instance, a limited time coupon (based on the time), current conditions (less crowded checkout lines), or user preference (modernist vs. impressionist paintings in a museum).
4. The business rationale imperative
Given all the variables, business rationale scripts are a must-have. For instance, an app has to collect data such as the beacon UUID, location and minor and major numbers. When an application connects a beacon, a business logic script then delivers a list of all the users nearby. This script channels the information for privacy and interprets what “at the beacon” means which is tricky that gives an event updates may not be recorded in real time or the device might drop the beacon ranging. One solution is to use a time-based heuristic to choose if the user is reasonably still there. Other business logic scripts can be applied to identify trends, perform statistical analysis and draw conclusions.
5. Workarounds for approximation & tracing
Two-way communication between an app and a beacon is not possible with beacons since they are one-way radios: they are unaware about the customer devices receiving their broadcasts. There are two workarounds for this. The simpler way is to pretend it by creating the app do the work. By linking the app to a backend, it can redesign a record to register the user’s real-time presence and then customize the app or real world experience in real-time.
6. The App Store Audit
Based on an experience, developer should:
- Clarifies how the app functions and its quality – both in the public description and in the review notes. A demo video makes difference.
- Provide a demo account and beacon UUIDs in the review notes.
- Include a battery use disclaimer.
Now Beacon development is at its peak and no business will like to lose their potential customers. We at 9series have flawless command over beacon app development and beacon app integration. Feel free to contact us to get customized solutions.
