1. App Downloads

App Downloads are one of the keystones of mobile app marketing KPIs as everything begins with the very first download! Most other mobile app performance metrics are built upon app downloads metric and it is a strong indicator of popularity. But, bear in mind that app downloads don’t necessarily mean a successful app– you also need good engagement metrics to ensure your app’s success which we’ll mention in a bit.

2. Cost Per Install 

Cost per install is a measure of how much you are spending to acquire customers after they see an advertisement for your app. There is more emphasis on tracking paid installs than organic ones in the system. As a result, CPI helps you determine whether or not your paid advertisements are viable and sustainable.

CPI is calculated as such: 

CPI = Total ad spend / total installs

3. Retention rate

Being an essential KPI for especially gaming apps, retention is related to user loyalty. Retention rate is the percentage of users who keep engaging with your app over time.  You can track retention at 1 day, 7 days, 21 days or 30 days. The latest data from Adjust shows that, over a 30-day period, 6% for Android and 7% for iOS are the averages. 

Due to the increasing competition of apps, and the decreased attention span of users, retaining users is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve and will continue to be a valuable metric. The retention rate is calculated as:

Retention = number of monthly active users/number of monthly installs

4. Churn Rate

The churn rate shows the number of users who stop using or uninstall an app within a given period. It is the opposite of the retention rate. The lower churn rate is a good indicator of a healthy mobile app. You can calculate the churn rate with this formula:

Churn rate = 1 – (number of monthly active users/number of monthly installs)

5. App Open Rate (Sessions)

A high open rate means stick users! This metric shows how engaged your users are with the app. Ideally, the open rate varies from app to app, but a steady increase shows that users are starting to find more reasons to come back to your app. It can also help you track high and low traffic.

6. Session Length

Session length means the amount of time the user spends on each session. You need to know if their app’s mission is best served by keeping users in the app for as long as possible or by returning them as quickly as possible. This can be determined by session length. You can calculate session length as: 

Session length = Time user becomes inactive – time app was launched 

7.  Session Interval

A session interval is the amount of time between sessions. In general, shorter session intervals are better. Longer intervals mean that your users don’t have a reason to return and engage with the app. Just like App Open Rate, this metric shows the ‘’stickiness’’ of your app and gives you instant feedback on user engagement.

8. Post-Install Performance Metrics

Specifically important for food & drink, shopping, and finance apps, post-install performance indicates the events after the app has been installed. These could be installed to first purchase, installed to sign up or installed to order, and so on. You should analyze your post-install event,  choose the one that has the greatest prospect of future revenue, and work on increasing that specific KPI. 

9. Daily Active Users

Pretty self-explanatory, DAU indicates the number of users on a daily basis. DAU can help you measure the potential for growth and popularity of your app–  showing you whether or not your users find it useful to open your app every day. The definition of an ‘’active user’’ is different from let’s say a gaming app and a social media app. So, first, you need to know what active users mean to you and start measuring from there.

10. Life Time Value (LTV)

Probably the single most important KPI for measuring gross revenue and performance is LTV (lifetime value). It’s easy to get engrossed in downloads, CTR, impressions, and session time, and these metrics are very significant. However, if your customers don’t convert, don’t spend money in the app, or don’t subscribe, all of these interactions are unproductive. By calculating and evaluating your LTV, you can set realistic CPA, CPI, and other mobile advertising caps and limits to help optimize your marketing and advertising efforts.

11. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

Also known as cost per conversion, CPA measures the cost of a user taking an action that leads to conversions such as a click, a purchase, a sign-up, or an app download and many more. Let’s you had a successful ad campaign that cost $1000, and you received 50 conversions. Your CPA would then be: 

$1000 / 50 = $20 

CPA provides an important business perspective that helps you determine whether your campaign is successful. The vast majority of marketers, however, don’t consider cost optimization and focus on traffic and sales acquisition. You can increase your return on investment (ROI) within a relatively short period of time by optimizing cost and reducing the cost per acquisition.

12. Return on Investment (ROI) 

ROI measures the amount of revenue generated per any given cost (or investment) on marketing or other services. Regardless of the industry, you are in, monitoring ROI is an essential part of your app’s growth journey, as ROI gives you a good ides of the app’s success and financial potential. When your acquisition and campaign costs are lower than the app’s earnings, the ROI has a positive figure.

ROI is calculated by; (Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment

13. Conversion Rate

One of the most beneficial mobile marketing metrics is the conversion rate, which represents the rate at which you meet your objectives. While conversion means any desired action, the conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors. There are two types of conversion rates: organic and paid.  

The organic conversion rate refers to the rate at which an unpaid discovery leads to a conversion. Organic search, app store listings of related apps, word-of-mouth marketing, and influencer marketing are all included in the organic rate. If any of them lead to your app being found, it is an organic conversion. 

A paid conversion rate is a conversion rate generated through paid discovery. A paid marketing activity can be anything from a banner ad on a website to a sponsored post on social media.

14. User Growth Rate

User growth rate indicates the percentage increase in users within a given time period. This metric indicates whether the growth rate is steady, fast, or slow. You can explore solutions, such as advertising activities or pricing campaigns, by analyzing this mobile app performance metric.

15. Average Revenue Per User

Being a vital metric or marketers, product managers, and executives; ARPU stands for average revenue per user (or unit) and is a measurement that determines, how much money mobile apps generate from a single customer on average. When you know the ARPU of your lowest and highest valued users, you can optimize your marketing activities based on which campaigns are performing well. Additionally, ARPU complements metrics such as cost per install (CPI) and cost per action (CPA). You can calculate ARPU as such: 

Revenue generated in the previous month/number of users

There you have it, folks! Understanding each of these metrics is essential if you want to select the most appropriate ones for your mobile app. As AppSamurai, we not only help your app accelerate growth, but we also assist you with determining what would be your most critical KPIs and which kind of campaigns you need to launch to achieve them.

Want to learn more? Get in touch with us!

The post Top 15 Mobile App KPIs You Must Measure in 2023 first appeared on AppSamurai.

When creating your website content, consider the search terms your clients will likely use to find your site. Determining the search keywords your potential customer will use to find you entails thinking like a customer and discovering their pain points and needs.

After determining the specific keywords your ideal client is using, you can utilize these exact terms throughout your online presence, including your app store, website, and marketing content. By organically installing these particular keywords in your content, you will increase your visibility and start ranking higher.

What is Keyword Enrichment?

To fully understand keyword enrichment, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of the founding principles. Keyword researching is the process of researching and determining the keywords your customers are using to find the type of product or service your business offers.

Keyword strategy involves the decisions and strategies you employ based on your keyword research. Like keywords, keyphrases, also known as long-tail words, are a word or series of words that you expect your clients to enter into a search engine to find your business. When developing your strategy for using keywords and key phrases, you should consider the cost, competition, and frequency these words are used.

Long-tail keywords are unique and focus on a specific niche market. The longer and more specific the search term is, the easier it will be to rank for that keyword. A focus key phrase is a word or expression you most desire to lead to your web page. For instance, suppose you are a clothing, shoe, and accessory eCommerce site. In that case, your focus keyword might be fashion, as this is a keyword your customers will most often use when searching for an eCommerce store that sells your products.

Keyword enrichment is the process of using your keyword research to make your content more attractive to search engines on various platforms. The most common methods include using short-tail, long-tail keywords and focus keywords in the critical parts of your content, such as headings, titles, web-page names, your app’s name, image title, etc.

Why is Keyword Enrichment Essential?

Before attempting to perform keyword enrichment, it is critical to understand the importance of this undertaking. First, robust and thorough keyword research is vital. Frequently, we meet with clients that have a collection of words they use to explain their products. Unfortunately, often the client’s collection of keywords is vastly different from the company’s. Consequently, prospective customers don’t find these websites because of the mismatched keywords.

Additionally, it is vital to stay informed about search engine algorithm updates. Many platforms, including Google, App Store, and Playstore, update their algorithms occasionally. A thorough understanding of these changes enables you to increase your visibility and ensure an effective keyword strategy. For instance, Google’s recent search algorithm ‘Bert’ favors more natural copy and penalizes keyword stuffing. The ASO or app-store optimization feature offered by App Samurai is integral to app store ranking.

Exactly How to Do Keyword Enrichment Effectively?

There are four steps to keyword enrichment:

• What is Your App or Business Objective?
• Keyword research
• Consider Search Intent
• Execute Your Keyword Enrichment Strategy

The following guide will take you through these steps in greater detail.

Step 1: What is Your App or Business Objective?

Before you begin, carefully consider your mission and goals. For example, are you merely trying to update your keyword enrichment strategy, hoping to increase visibility and traffic to your website, or are you hoping to increase organic installs from Google Play?

Don’t be alarmed if you can’t respond to these key marketing questions immediately, as many people can’t. Attentively analyzing the responses to these questions is integral to determining your target market and how to reach them. Once you can respond to these questions, you will be on the way to developing your keyword strategy.

Step 2: Keyword Research

The second step to any keyword process is to develop your list of keywords and key phrases. Create this list from the perspective of your potential clients and try to determine what they would be looking for and what keywords or phrases they might use to search. By considering how your client thinks and writing down the words, you will find many possibilities.

Make Certain the Key Phrases Fit Your Site

It is just as important to use the right keywords as it is to avoid the wrong ones. You don’t want people landing on your page because search terms don’t match your website, app on the App Store, or Google Play. Therefore, you want to rank for the correct keyword and not irrelevant keywords that may be counter-productive to your marketing goals. A high bounce rate negatively affects Google’s search algorithms, and irrelevant keyword rankings can negatively impact the keywords you want to be ranked.

When it comes to apps, the quality of the app, as determined by reviews and ratings, also affects your ranking. In this case, it’s vital to only rank for the relevant keywords to your product. Suppose people download your app with false expectations. In that case, they are more likely to uninstall the app, decreasing your app’s performance and potential by increasing the possibility of negative ratings and reviews on the App Store or Google Play. 

Tools You Can Use

Creating a list of possible search terms can be challenging. Until recently, it was as simple as checking Google Analytics and finding the words people used to locate your website. While that is no longer possible, some alternatives can make your keyword research more straightforward, such as Spyfu or AnswerThePublic.  

Step 3: Consider Search Intent

Your search engine optimization approach should revolve around answering customer’s inquiries. Every question and inquiry requires a specific solution. There are four primary searcher intents, and it is vital to determine which one applies and try to match the search intent to the wants and needs of potential customers. The four search intents are:

• Educational intent: people are trying to find information on a specific subject.
• Navigational intent: individuals that wish to access a particular site by searching for a keyword or phrase.
• Commercial intent: people intend to buy something soon and are researching before making a purchase.
• Transactional intent: individuals are looking to acquire something after doing their commercial intent searches.

Step 4: Execute Your Keyword Enrichment Strategy

The last step to developing a long-term keyword enrichment strategy is to create unique content for your app, website, or business. Unlike the past, where each keyword required an individual touchdown page, today’s internet search engine is intuitive and intelligent enough to decipher a user’s intent and provide them with the best answer to their inquiry. Thus, the web page that provides the best solutions for those inquiries will rank the highest.

Online search engines understand subtle differences between keywords, so individual touchdown pages for all refined variations of a key phrase are no longer necessary. Instead, you can enhance your website with various keywords, keyphrases, related keyphrases, and basic synonyms.

Additionally, your site should not rely upon one solitary key phrase or one key phrase for its website traffic. Instead, it would be best to use a range of long-tail, short-tail, and focus keywords. By using a range of keywords and key phrases that your keyword research revealed your target audience uses, you will rank high on your focus keywords and the full range of keywords.

How Mobile Apps Can Benefit From Keyword Enrichment

Mobile apps can benefit from keyword enrichment in several ways. The first step is to determine the keywords that you want to rank highly for your app. You can then update the app name and description in the App Store.

Typically the cost of creating an app is less than many other business models, with many apps getting off the ground and entering the market with relatively low production and marketing costs. Consequently, many app developers may not have access to immense marketing and advertising resources and, as a result, may not have a fully fleshed-out ASO plan. Accordingly, with a strong ASO strategy, you can easily rank higher than your competitors and obtain more organic installs by utilizing an effective keyword enrichment strategy.

Final Thoughts on Keyword Enrichment

A robust keyword enrichment strategy is the beginning of any user acquisition, website traffic, or conversion journey. The result will undoubtedly be a long checklist of keywords for which you want to be discovered. However, the most challenging component is still writing all that content. You will have to write short articles, copy, glossaries, app-store landing pages, image titles, and a host of content-related material containing your keywords.

While it is undoubtedly a monumental task, increasing your visibility and organic installs from keyword enrichment can take you to the next level. To learn more about how you can increase your visibility and organic installs with keyword enrichment, contact us today.

The post Increase Your Visibility and Organic Installs with Keyword Enrichment first appeared on AppSamurai.

The London-centric app, which was a Covid19 Resilience Grant recipient, was founded by Josh Van Etten. We sat down with the half-British-Dutch Apptrepreneur to find out all about the app he founded and his vision for the future. We got to know Josh via email and video call to give you a double-dose of virtual acquaintanceship. So, if podcasts are your thing, then hit the play button below, or if you prefer a literary get-to-know-you, then keep on reading!

In this podcast:

• Josh and Kieka introduction (00:57)
• Why Josh created Kieka (02:04)
• What Josh hopes to achieve with the Covid19 Resilience Grant funding (03:15)
• Why Josh does not prefer the Facebook user acquisition platform (03:50)
• How and why the Singapore Government reached out to Kieka (04:55)
• What congestion looks like in London (06:52)
• What Kieka will look like in a post COVID-19 world (08:36)
• Advice for Apptrepreneurs (09:23)

Get to know Kieka

Please tell us about yourself and your app?

With a background in design & marketing, I work for an award-winning design agency helping launch apps like Supercell’s Brawl Stars to over 100 million downloads, and $270million in player spend. Over the past few years, I have helped startups build apps and products that have been featured on the global Apple AppStore. I am a digital designer at Waste Creative, a design agency in the heart of Farringdon, London. Graduating from University 3 years ago, I landed myself a job straight away, having only a one week gap from finishing my school life to a working career.

From that moment on, I found my stride being promoted twice in two years. I work with lots of amazing people and an environment where people’s personal work is praised tremendously. Working as a designer, I always have time for freelance projects, and this is where I met a now good friend Leo who owns his own app called Reelshot, which has been featured globally. He was the one who gave me the drive to build something of my own. 

Enter Kieka

I was always torn between getting the Tube from Chancery Lane, or Farringdon with my office smack bang in the middle. There is nothing worse than finishing a long day of work and getting to the station to find the ticket hall rammed, sweaty armpits in your face and no explanation of how long it would be. 

In a world where we can almost access any information, I thought it was crazy that I could never find out how busy a station was before leaving the office. I would rather stay for an extra 20 minutes, avoid that shoulder barging, and avoid that awkward shuffle to the front of the line to squeeze through a barrier.

So I started with wild ideas like putting noise monitoring machines in each station, I thought the louder it was the busier it would be, but quickly had too many issues. What if there is building work? What if there are screaming children? (which there are many!) Just too many variables to work with, so I was researching more and more and found TFL supply some congestion data from previous years.

This then sparked an entire chain of events that led me to find our developer late last year. Mark With over 20 years of top-level industry experience, Mark was a software architect at Nokia before the iPhone existed and has built apps featured by Apple in 20 countries. With previous experiences working on apps for Audi, BBC, Channel 4, and Domino’s Pizza, Mark has spent the entire year of 2020 building and testing Kieka vigorously. We got discussing the idea in more depth, and he just fell in love with the designs, the vision, and the need for an app like this. We ended up concluding that the best way to do this would be crowdsourced location data on top of previous years’ predictions. Our goal is simple, let people choose to stand in a crowded tube station or be notified when it’s quieter. 

COVID has ramped up the need to avoid crowded and busy places. By giving people a choice, we want to make everyone feel safer while travelling. The Tube is such an integral part of our lives, so we need to get back to using it ASAP.

In an inherently industrial industry, we change the approach of old navigation apps by creating a stripped-back, user-friendly app spiced up with playful features and design elements to engage and delight users.  With this playful approach, we use these five words to describe different levels of busyness at stations:

• Light Work
• Breezy
• Frantic
• Chaotic
• Fucking Chaos

The government’s measures on commuting effectively during the pandemic involve commuters having to avoid travelling at certain times and on certain lines, which would be unnecessary if more people used Kieka. The app aims to be a part of the ‘new normal’ and aid the transition back into using public transport more frequently and efficiently, with a lower risk of spreading.

What made you apply for the Covid19 Resilience Grant?

As this is my first time launching an app for myself, it has definitely not been a smooth ride, but I can’t complain. It’s been a steep learning curve, but it has made it that much more enjoyable. I applied for the grant because marketing is such a massive part of making an app successful, and the first 10,000 users were always going to be tricky. 

When I saw the grant opportunity, I thought we might be a perfect candidate as we have hit the ground running, getting some fantastic feedback and potential leads but lacking that real edge on ads to help us scale. Working as a designer, I had of course, heard and knew what App Samurai did, so I thought your AI-driven tool could help us. As a completely free app, the benefit for users is massive in a time like this. 

What are you hoping to achieve with these funds? 

This is most definitely going to be used for our scale-and-grow strategy. Facebook marketing is a mess and if we can use AppSamurai to gain our first 10,000 users we will be ready to go for our seed funding and coming back for more ads!

How has the pandemic impacted your business? 

We are fortunate in the sense that COVID has made our USP even more valuable “avoid busy stations” but it has thrown its fair share of issues. Especially when we were developing, it was challenging to get our dev to come down to London to test it. We had to work out ways to adapt and overcome these scenarios. 

To start with, we wanted to create a geofenced station that would allow us to track people going in and out of certain areas, but with COVID, it was impossible to test this, so we ended up creating a way to collect people’s locations and work backward. It’s not ideal, and we will change it, but for this stage, we are happy. Sometimes it’s better to collect slightly more than less.

The most significant impact and we still are unsure of how this will play out is that a lot fewer people use the tubes, last year there were over a billion journeys. I dread to think what that number will be this year. We have some smart ways to navigate through these times and are excited to grow.

Overall I think we have been lucky with COVID compared to most as we don’t have overheads, and it allowed us to focus our time in creating the best product. I think it shows in the final outcome. It really is a product of passion!

Who was your greatest mentor during your career? 

I wouldn’t say I have one specific mentor but different mentors that help me through different stages. But looking back, there are two that really have shaped my attitude. Firstly it was my 3rd-year tutor at University. I remember going to a tutorial one day about one-third of my way through the final year, she asked “what do you want out of your university education?”.  

The reason she asked was I didn’t do so well in the first term. I replied, “I want to come out of here with a 2:1!” and long story short, she said the only way that will happen is if you get a first in your Final Major Project, so that settled it. I came in every day, worked my ass off, and when it came round to collecting my grades, I got a high 1st. The best grade I had ever got! I never felt so proud of myself. It showed me that if you want something really bad, all it takes is hard work! 

The second person who drove me a lot was my older brother, he is two years older than me and has always been “better” when it comes to work and education. For my last two years of University my brother was working in London and smashing it. I was so proud of him, and he was getting promotions left, right, and centre. Whenever I spoke with him, he was always working and grafting to push himself. The competitive nature as brothers has always been there between us.

I think the two of them have shown me that hard work pays off. It has really been the driving force behind me building and creating Kieka. I think it can be summed up by the Thomas Jefferson quote “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have”

Like to avoid the crowds in London? Download Kieka Today!

The post App Spotlight: Kieka – From London to Singapore! first appeared on AppSamurai.

Almost every business has a mobile app of their own, and almost every smartphone user has 60-90 apps installed. The rapid growth of the mobile channel extends over a range of industries including travel and tourism, finance, retail, hospitality, and eCommerce. 

So it’s no doubt that hackers are increasingly turning their attention to mobile apps. Any vulnerability in your company’s mobile app can lead to compromised personal and business data, user data theft, injection of malware, and mobile account takeovers. 

The consequences can be devastating with considerable damage to brand reputation coupled with regulatory fines and recovery costs. But there’s good news above all this. Security breaches and mobile app hacks can be avoided by implementing fundamental security measures and following best practices. 

We’ve created a checklist of mobile app security measures that you can follow when developing and deploying a mobile application.

Mobile App Security Checklist

Here are essential points to focus on during mobile app development. This list is not exhaustive but touches upon the critical elements of security.

1. Set up a shield for your source code

It’s important to follow every best practice mentioned in this list, but it would be futile if the source code of your mobile app isn’t protected from the get-go. So the first thing you need to take care of is securing your source code. You can do this in a number of ways. 

Obfuscating your code is a one way of muddling your base code and making it difficult for any hacker to understand it even if they manage to get their hands on it. It will obscure the method, attributes and class used in your coding.  There are a number of tools to obfuscate your code including Pro-guard, DashO, and Semantic Designs.

2.  Encrypt your Database and Database Backup

Whilst it is integral that your customer’s or user’s data is protected, it is just as important to protect company data as well. So, next up, you need to secure the data of your mobile app. All sorts of data are stored within apps such as personal shopping preferences. But it can also include critical information like user credentials and payment information.  One of the best ways to secure your database is to encrypt the data. 

Lastly, any data being stored in the database needs to be backed up regularly. This serves as your safety net in the event you lose your data. For example, if a hacker manages to break in, they can still damage or even wipe out your database to ruin your business. But remember, a hacker could steal the backup copy of the database and get the same information. So ensure you encrypt your backup copy as well and store it safely. 

3. Ensure data security during transit and storage

Data is generated at different stages of mobile app development and deployment. It’s not enough to secure data upon generation. When your mobile app is live, data is not only generated but transmitted as well between servers, devices, and networks.

Cybercriminals can intercept this data using methods like packet-sniffing and man-in-the-middle attacks. When you’re sending and receiving data, ensure you use secure connections like SSL, TLS, and HTTPs.

4. Use cryptography 

While encryption is necessary, it isn’t the ultimate solution that dictates your application’s security. Cryptography takes your security a notch higher to provide constant data confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. It uses a combination of concepts such as hashing, message authentication codes (MACs), symmetric-key encryption, and public-key encryption algorithms.

5. Protection against reverse engineering

Using reverse engineering, a person can take apart your mobile application and duplicate it. They can analyze your code to steal your design, algorithms, ideas, formats, licensing, specifications, functions, you get the idea.

It may not be possible to completely eliminate this risk, but you can take steps to mitigate it. A few techniques that can protect your app against reverse engineering include app integrity controls, obfuscation, encryption, and jailbreak detection.

6. Deploy tamper detection techniques

Attackers can also tamper with your app, create a malicious version of it and upload it to pirated app websites or third-party app marketplaces. 

You can prevent this from happening by using validation mechanisms like digital signatures and checksums to detect tampering activity.This will make it more challenging for attackers to tamper with your app. Plus, it can notify your administrators that tampering has been detected. 

7. Validate User Input

Almost every app allows user inputs such as sign up forms, login fields or search bars, comments, or contact details. All this information gets stored in your database.

If these fields aren’t secured to validate inputs, hackers can exploit it to inject malware into your database. Ensure that you set up verification checks to vet data inputs in order to ensure no malware enters the database. 

8. Perform Mobile app security testing

This is one of the most crucial steps in your app development process and should not be overlooked under any circumstances. Plan your budget and time allocation ahead to ensure security testing gets ample attention. 

You can opt for regular software tests, but it’s also strongly recommended to conduct penetration tests. It will simulate the different things a hacker can do in different environments and modes of operation. This will catch vulnerabilities that can otherwise be missed in regular testing.

9. App backup

A backup isn’t a security measure per se, but it plays an extremely critical parallel role to app security and the success of your app. In the event of security issues, your backup can be a saving grace to get your app up and running. It ensures you don’t lose any data, and minimizes the loss of any users or revenue.

Apart from that, troubleshooting and resolving such issues can take time. A backup allows you to get back to business while you identify and fix your security issues. Backup and security go hand in hand. It’s advisable to take care of both elements simultaneously.

10. Understand the platform and its framework

The platform you build your app plays a vital role in your app’s security. The majority of apps are developed using Apple iOS or Google Android. Other platforms include Windows and Blackberry.

Every platform has something different to offer and also bears various risks depending on the kind of security measures employed on each platform. It’s wise to learn about the platform you’re using, learn about common hacks against the platform, and stay updated with the developments.

11. Enforce strong authentication

Admin and user login pages are one of the most attacked areas of a mobile app. Hackers brute force their way into the app, find ways to override permission settings, or hijack user sessions.

Ensure your authorization areas and systems are strongly protected with two-factor authentication, biometrics, and captcha protection.

What Next?

Most app users trust that the app developer has taken care of security and have no qualms about giving permissions to applications. While this seems like a plus point, it bears the great risk. In the event of a data leak or security breach, the responsibility lies with the developer and not the user.  There are heavy implications that follow such as recovery costs, regulatory fines, not to mention losses in reputation damage.

The main pain points of security and why it gets compromised boils down to budget and time constraints. To overcome these obstacles, consider using modern productivity software, DevOps, and continuous integration to seamlessly integrate and streamline processes. It may take a little time to adapt, but it can greatly aid your security efforts and make sure your mobile app is airtight.

About the Author: Harshit Agarwal is a serial entrepreneur, passionate about end-to-end mobile app security. As a Microsoft Venture Accelerator alumni and CEO of Appknox, he works with enterprises globally ranging from some of the top Fintech companies to Fortune 100 businesses in setting up continuous mobile application security processes.

The post Mobile App Security Checklist for SMEs and Enterprises in 2021 first appeared on AppSamurai.

Covid19 has undoubtedly changed life in the short-term. The virus has spread and mutated quickly, leaving businesses, organisations and countries with little time to adapt, survive and thrive. We take a look at Covid19’s impact on the app industry in order to best prepare our audience and customers to survive, and even thrive in this dramatically changing environment. Startups, and the travel and ride-sharing vertical are hit hard during this pandemic. Foreseeably, whilst many brick and mortar businesses have been negatively impacted, the overall app vertical is weathering the storm well, with numerous verticals and apps even thriving. 

We take a look at how TikTok has taken the traditional ‘television’ format, to increase viewership among their self-isolating market, how Zoom has risen and faced backlash among many other case studies. Whilst Zoom is a well-known example, it is an important reminder that no matter whether you’re in a positively affected vertical or not, there are major challenges presented by the Covid19 pandemic, that if no adequately prepared for, can either damage your business or hamper potential success during this period. We address those challenges that are universal to every vertical, and integral to resilience during this time of great ambiguity. Whilst the app industry has been very fortunate during this pandemic, it is important to note that some preliminary forecasts have been re-evaluated and are predicting that after the app surge, there will be a slightly less growth. For example, whilst Sensor Tower still predicts global consumer spending in mobile apps to grow to $171 billion by 2024 (over than double the $85 billion spent in 2019), this is a revised figure from their original projections, which were $3 billion (or 2%) higher, prior to the Covid19 outbreak. 

Contents

• How are leaders around the world reacting to the CoronaVirus pandemic?
• Latest news from the mobile app industry
• How has the mobile app industry been affected?
• Which mobile app verticals were positively impacted by Covid-19?
• Which mobile app verticals are currently facing a crisis?
• Which mobile apps are used the most amid the Covid-19 lockdown
• The main challenge that the mobile app industry has to deal with
• How the Covid-19 can represent an opportunity for mobile businesses

How are Leaders Around the World Reacting to the CoronaVirus Pandemic?

According to a PwC survey that took place on the second week of April 2020, and included more than 800 CFOs across the globe:

• The vast majority (73%) of CFO expresses a high-level of concern for the potential repercussions that the Covid-19 might have on their businesses;
• 45% of them (so far) plans on taking advantage of government support programs, which are now being distributed across the globe to support all of the small businesses who have been negatively impacted by the virus;
• 77% of the interviewed strongly consider the implementation of cost-containment practices as their main response to Covid-19. 

The virus has caught many of them off guard. However, in stark contrast with the figures shown above, 56% of the interviewed expects, should the pandemic end today, to get back to a “business-as-usual” setting within a 3-month period. 

Latest News from the Mobile App Industry

The state of apps during the Coronavirus, as imaginable, has been highly influenced by the global pandemic itself. However, as many apps are experiencing unheard-of increase in downloads and overall engagement levels, others are just scraping by, wishing to see the end of the tunnel in a not-so-distant future. On a general level, the latest happenings within the mobile industry are the followings:

Almost all the major mobile app events got canceled

The first unpleasant consequence of the Covid-19 outbreak is the cancellation of some of the most-anticipated mobile events of 2020, such as the App Growth Summit, the Android Makers, and the Mobile Growth Summit. Some of them will take place digitally (only for this year): it is the case, for instance, of the Worldwide Developers Conference, one of Apple’s biggest events of the year. According to Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of worldwide marketing: “The current health situation has required that we create a new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full program with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community, all around the world.” Apple’s WWDC is expected to take place “sometime in June”.

Google and Apple are crafting a contact tracing system in order to prevent Covid-19 spread

As reported by TheVerge, Google and Apple are coming up with a contact-tracing system designed for iOS and Android-powered devices, in order to “help users prevent spreading the novel CoronaVirus by figuring out who has had contact with infected patients.” In short, if someone contracts Covid-19 (or any “new virus”), the system adopts counteractive measures in order to contain it, such as tracking down and quarantining not only the one who got infected, but also everyone who has been in contact with that person. In scenarios like the one we are experiencing right now, this could dramatically help in containing the overall number of infections, therefore limiting the outbreak’s diffusion. As for the “how”, Apple and Google are working on integrating a Bluetooth-based contact tracing into each phone’s operating system. 

Mobile 5G is becoming a reality

5G networks are the next frontier of mobile Internet connectivity. 5G is expanding worldwide, making mobile connections as seamless and fast as they have ever been. Among its main benefits, there are:

• As mentioned, faster connections and download speed (expected to hit 20Gbps downlink and 10Gbps uplink per mobile base station);
• High-quality video streaming and conferences;
• More reliable mobile connections.

5G is quickly and steadily replacing (or, in some cases, augmenting) 4G and LTE connections. However, if you’d like to take advantage of it, you’ll need both a mobile phone that supports 5G and a network that offers it. At the time of this writing, 5G Ultra Wideband is currently available in select areas of more than 31 American cities, and is continuing to expand both within and outside the US.

How was the Mobile App Industry Affected?

Among the top trends within the mobile app industry, there are some interesting and worthy-of-note statistics. According to a recent report by AppsFlyer, on a global scale: 

• Apps’ usage rate (now at 18.18%) has slightly increased since the end of February (15.01%);
• The same happened for non-organic installs, which now stand at 18.37% after the 14.49% registered within week 1 of the pandemic;
• The most incredible change, however, was represented by the number of organic downloads. After a flat line that lasted until about mid-February, an impressive 15%-growth took place.

As people get to spend more time at home, they inevitably turn on their phones. Besides giving a slight hint about the effectiveness of the widespread social distancing practices, these numbers also suggest how people, nowadays, are increasingly adopting mobile devices as their main windows to the world. As we will further outline, however, stats don’t tell the whole story, especially when it comes to specific mobile niches.

Which Mobile App Verticals were Positively Impacted by Covid-19?

The beautiful thing about the mobile ecosystem is that it is one of the most accurate predictors of market demand. At any point in time, just by looking at mobile app trends, you’ll get valuable glimpses and insights about what the global marketplace appreciates and demands the most and what, on the other hand, will not have much success moving forward. With that said, the impact that Covid-19 has had on the mobile app industry was one to remember. While some verticals took advantage of the widespread adoption of social distancing practices to further cultivate a steady online presence and reap major rewards, some of them inevitably got shut down or heavily damaged, mostly because of either their business models or their poorly-executed digital strategies, most of which rely predominantly on physical interactions (and are therefore not suitable to the digitalized world we live in). Among the thriving verticals, there are:

Gaming 

In an attempt to kill boredom and wait for the lockdown to pass, many consumers have had in games their primary source of entertainment. According to App Annie, In the week starting the 23rd of February, the average number of weekly game downloads in South Korea was up by 35% compared to the 2019 weekly average, exceeding 15 Million downloads during that same week (it was a 25% improvement compared to January 2020).

As we shift our focus towards Europe, the same trend prevails: March 2020 saw a record 19% increase in installs from February and about 14% from January (just to get some perspective, games downloads registered a 9% increase between February and March 2019, and a 9% decrease between January and March 2019). The amazing number of downloads, however, didn’t automatically translate into bigger revenue, even though the overall earnings within the niche did grow considerably throughout this past month. 

Business

The restrictions imposed by the CoronaVirus have also resulted in the surge of online business meetings and smart-working practices. During the first half of February 2020, Business and Education apps were downloaded at levels roughly 2x the weekly average in 2019. In Italy, during the first week of March, the number of overall business apps downloaded between iOS and Google Play exceeded the 700k-quota (761,000), making it the best week ever for the business app category. Among the most downloaded apps, there is Google Zoom, the free video-conferencing tool that is helping thousands of businesses in coping with the lack of face-to-face working relationships.  

Social Media

Lastly, among the most profitable and thriving niches of these last couple of months, there is the social media space, which is now being used not only for plain entertainment and communication purposes, but also for seeking out news and updates about the virus. 

Among all the social media platforms we know, two in particular are adopting proactive behaviors in regard to Covid-19: LinkedIn and TikTok.

• From a business standpoint, LinkedIn is taking advantage of these troubled times by educating business owners about smart-working best practices and high-quality and contextual content production, and one way to reach that is through unlocking its 16 LinkedIn Learning courses, which are now accessible for free by any user on the platform;
• TikTok, on the other hand, is serving its customer base not only through entertainment, but also education (we’ll see how in the next couple of paragraphs).

Which Mobile App Verticals are Currently Facing a Crisis?

If some verticals are getting peak engagement and rewards as a result of this crisis, there are some other mobile apps and niches that are not nearly as strong, and with the fallout of this pandemic, are now sailing in troubled waters, to say the least. We are referring to two verticals in particular:

Travel 

The CoronaVirus has severely impacted the mobile travel app niche. According to Statista, it is estimated that global revenue for the travel and tourism industry will drop by 17% in 2020, with Asia that is likely to experience the greatest employment loss rate in the entire industry. 

These numbers are inevitably falling on the mobile travel app vertical, which came across a staggering 52.8% reduction in the number of overall installs, following the Coronavirus’ restrictions. If the pandemic continues for several more months, the World Travel and Tourism Council, the trade group representing major global travel companies, projects a global loss of 75 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in total revenue.

Ride-sharing 

Another victim of the Covid-19 has been the ride-sharing vertical, which saw the pandemic wreak havoc in most countries. The largest impact, however, has been perceived in China and France. China saw weekly downloads of Didi fall 75% from the highest week to its lowest week in the period analyzed (from January 29th, 2019 through March 7th, 2020). In this exact same time span, France saw weekly downloads of BlaBlaCar fall 65%. Other countries, such as UK and US, did experience a decline, although not as severe as the one we have outlined.

Sports

Interestingly, although many are turning to digital and app-based forms of exercise and sports routines, Sensor Tower recorded a 25.1% decrease in the sports vertical during the Covid19 pandemic. However, this is not the case for numerous sport based apps, that have seen an increase in their user base and in-app engagement. 

According to MarketWatch, Daily Burn, an app that provides workout and nutrition programs experienced a 268% year-over-year increase in new members in the week ending March 27, 2020. The Yoga app Down Dog has over 400,000 new users that signed up for free memberships in the past two weeks (ending March 27, 2020), of which 100,000 came from Spain, Italy and France, the European countries that are most affected by COVID-19. Additionally, Nike reported that its workout app’s weekly active users in China grew 80% by the end of the quarter (while people were isolated at home) when comparing with the beginning of the quarter. 

Which Mobile Apps are Used the Most Amid the Covid-19 Lockdown? 

Throughout these uncommon times, there are certain apps that, in perfect reflection with the change in consumer behavior due to the Coronavirus outbreak, are getting more traction than others. Among the ones who got the most user sessions and overall engagement, there are:

Houseparty

Houseparty is a video chat application acquired by Epic Games in 2019. Representing one of the best ways to keep interacting with friends and loved ones, Houseparty made a record of $50MM worth of sign-ups within the last couple of weeks alone (of course, worldwide lockdowns played a huge role in that), becoming the biggest social media app on the market as it pertains to number of downloads. Although Houseparty was already leveraging a significant number of eyeballs prior to the outbreak, it has now reached its peak, and is ready to be considered a challenger within the social media app sphere.

TikTok

With downloads in more than 150 countries and over 1B of total users, it’s no surprise that TikTok is one of the most used apps amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the hashtag #coronavirus (which gathered around 54.5B views within the videos it was part of), the app’s user base is finding a way to cope with worldwide lockdowns, making it one of the most prominent globally. Besides the impressive numbers, TikTok is also taking proactive measures, and it is doing so by working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to educate people about the virus and push back against the spread of misinformation.

Google Zoom

As it pertains to the top viewed and downloaded mobile apps conversation, Google Zoom was probably a foregone conclusion. As companies and schools move to smart working (and smart learning), Google Zoom has quickly become the go-to choice for business owners who are looking for an easy, free, and alternative way to maintain their working relationships. According to TechCrunch, during the week of March 15-21, ZOOM Cloud Meetings was downloaded 14x more than the weekly average during Q4 2019 in the US, 20x more in the UK, 22x more in France, 17x more in Germany, 27x more in Spain and an impressive 55x more in Italy.

The Main Challenges the Mobile App Industry Must Overcome

Despite the fact that the mobile app niche, as a whole, is doing just fine, the repercussions of the Covid-19 has many mobile app businesses on the ropes. Amongst the main challenges that mobile businesses are facing, we outline an increased number of layoffs, users that are turning their heads towards desktops, and rising ad costs.

Layoffs 

Layoffs has probably proven to be the main challenge, both for entirely mobile-based businesses and firms that spend a lot of their resources on optimizing their mobile app presence. Emblematic has been the situation of Bird, the micromobility company that laid off 406 of its employees in just 2 minutes via a Zoom webinar. The same procedure was adopted by TripActions, a corporate travel startup that fired almost one third of its workforce within the last week of March. According to the New York Times, more than 50 start-ups have cut or furloughed roughly 6,000 employees in recent weeks, and very few sectors seem immune to this phenomenon. Cut spendings is being the most efficient ways for affected companies to survive, but it is not the only thing. Along with firing employees, most businesses find themselves forced to slash prices, renegotiate fixed costs, and, as we have pointed out before, ask the government for assistance. 

Fraudulent installs

Amid the CoronaVirus pandemic, being able to ensure trusted and transparent information is a priority for every single source of information. The bigger number of eyeballs that are overcrowding the Internet nowadays has caught the attention of fraudsters, and that explains why, during the first quarter of 2020, fraudulent installs jumped 16% month-on-month. Fake coronavirus news can disrupt the already-shaky mental attitude of the millions of people that, either directly or indirectly, are suffering from the Covid-19’s repercussions. In order to limit the spread of misinformation, the Italian news agency ANSA is partnering with EY Advisory S.p.A (EY), a unique news tracking system based on blockchain technology, in an effort to strengthen bonds of trust between its organization and its readers and customers, using blockchain technology that shows the source of news. The blockchain application for the publishing industry will allow organizations to produce and distribute digital content in a reliable and secure way, further increasing the relationship of trust with readers. In short, thanks to the ANSAcheck news tracking label, readers can trace the history and source of each news item.

How Covid-19 can Represent an Opportunity for Mobile Businesses

If the virus has presented most mobile verticals with seemingly insurmountable challenges, it is giving to leaders and CEOs across the board the opportunity to do something, to adopt a different view, and, most of all, to be proactive. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and even though many mobile businesses keep on losing money, they’re not standing still. 

Protecting employees is not an option

Now more than ever, it’s essential for every single company to take care of its workforce. We saw the measures, for example, that Uber and Lyft adopted with its independent contractors. Other brands are following suit. Promoting employee security and health should be every brand’s top priority, as of now, and according to the World Economic Forum, Microsoft has agreed to keep paying regular wages to the hourly workers who support their campus, even if hours reduce. UK supermarket Morrisons has just launched a hardship fund for employees facing difficulties as a result of the virus.

Refine your communication

If your business has taken a massive hit as a result of the Covid-19, that should not be enough for stopping you from doing what’s in your customers’ best interest. Apps for the hospitality industry, for instance, are engaging in a conscious effort to make people aware of the current situation and advising them not to travel, rather plan for the future. Users are also being rewarded with coupons and vouchers for their future plans. Even if such measures go against most companies’ bottom line, they can help in jumpstarting the economic recovery and therefore reduce the likelihood of this crisis being prolonged for an indefinite period of time. Communicating assiduously with your customers can also give you more authority in their eyes and generate more loyalty on their part, besides positioning your brand as one of the most proactives in the battle against CoronaVirus.

Demonstrate a genuine interest to help

“Most of the app development companies around the world are facing crumbling pressure. Clients from Fortune 500 brands to SMEs are incurring huge losses and could see no other option than to go into hiatus mode or terminate contracts.” said Sudeep Srivastava, co-founder and CEO of Appinventiv. However, as with all crises, there are opportunities that could be exploited by far-sighted and ambitious leaders. There are some companies, for example, that have been tragically hit by Covid-19, yet they are turning what looks like a negative situation into a positive one. 

• Uber and Lyft, two of the most popular ride-sharing companies, are doing all they can to support their independent contractors. Both companies confirmed that they will support drivers and delivery people diagnosed with novel coronavirus or placed in quarantine by a public health authority , as reported by CNBC, for a period of 14 days;
• Food delivery are also adapting to the restrictions imposed by the virus. Uber Eats, among many, has brought a change in its style of operations. As reported by TechCrunch, the company has removed charging delivery fees from local restaurants in the US and Canada, along with expanding the number of convenience stores available via the app and introducing the “contactless delivery” as a measure that’s intended to shrink the health risks for couriers making deliveries (later adopted by most delivery brands around the world);
• Healthcare mobile apps, although for different reasons, are crumbling under the intense level of market demand, yet they are making an effort to educate people about how to keep themselves healthy and stress-free through free apps and resources;
• Luxury goods giant LVMH is producing hand sanitizer in its perfume factories, for use in French hospitals; 
• Johnson & Johnson has donated a million surgical masks to Chinese health workers; 
• IKEA is helping to kit-out hospitals in affected areas. 

Companies that are taking a strong stand against Covid-19 not only do a favor to the entire world, but it’s likely that they’ll reap the biggest rewards when the crisis will (hopefully) be over. This virus is a test for most companies, as customers want to know not only how successful businesses react to the latest happenings, but also how flexible and helpful they manage to be during these tough times. 

Final Thoughts on the State of Apps During COVID-19

Coronavirus has destroyed more businesses than the ones it has helped. Its impact was tragic across a variety of industries and most mobile verticals, even though some of them thrived upon it. No matter how long it will take for the situation to go back to “normal”, it will never be the same, and consumer behaviors will be deeply affected by the happenings that took place within the last couple of months. As of now, any business should see in helping the community (even if not necessarily on the same extent of Google and Apple’s tracing system), taking care of its “circle” of people and partners, and cutting losses its main priorities. We don’t know when Covid-19 will stop infecting people, nor when an effective vaccine will come out (even though, as stated by the BBC, we’re at least 12-18 months away from that); what we do know, however, is that if we are ever to get out of such troubling times, cooperation and working cohesively for the greater good are components that shouldn’t be taken for granted nor excluded at all.

The post The State of the App Industry During COVID-19 first appeared on AppSamurai.

In this article

• Apptrepreneur’s advice
• Top breakout apps

The Apptrepreneur’s Advice

Apptrepreneurs are those that focus their skills, vision and passion in the mobile and app industry. With a projected annual growth rate (CAGR 2020-2024) of 5.0%, projected to result in a US$3,568m market volume by 2024 – it is no wonder that some entrepreneurs are now focusing on apps exclusively. We talked to twenty rising Apptrepreneurs to find out, what it takes to succeed specifically in the app and mobile sector as a business owner. 

#1 Chris Riley, Apptrepreneur @ USARx

“Move fast but don’t compromise your vision”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

Our mission is to improve health by making healthcare more affordable with discounted prescription medication. Since the company was started, our customers have saved over $25M dollars on their medications.

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? You really need to gauge market demand as well as supply and demand economics. Make sure your product, app, or technology solves a problem and that the demand is there. 

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? You definitely need to move fast but don’t compromise your vision or the original problem being solved by the app. While you will always be looking to improve your app once it is out, there is a difference between “updates” and entirely new versions of the app, and the accompanying processes behind them. 

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Stockdale Paradox – A Realistic Optimist. You have to be brutally honest with yourself, your team, and your investors while fully confident in the long term success of the company. 

#2 Lori Cheek, Apptrepreneur @ Cheekd & Networkd

“Gather a group of beta testers and get their honest user feedback”

Get Cheekd on the App Store & Networkd on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? My strongest advice for others considering taking the leap is if you truly believe in your idea, give up excuses and doubt, surround yourself by a trusted and talented team, bulldoze forward and DON’T. LOOK. BACK. 

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Watch and listen to your customers. Gather a group of beta testers and get their honest user feedback. Make sure you understand the “how and why”behind how your users want to be contacted. Some apps overwhelm their customers by sending too many or irrelevant information. If your current strategy isn’t working, stop messaging until you solidify the proper solution. Quality always overrides quantity when it comes to communicating with your user base.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Resilience.

#3 Michael Pazaratz Apptrepreneur @ Rave

“Be prepared for everyone to tell you that no one is going to use your app”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? If your product is useful, entertaining, and easy-to-use, you will gain users organically. Don’t waste money on external marketing agencies that will charge you $1 per user acquisition. Market yourself and if your app is really good, people will use it and will tell their friends about it. Organically acquiring users because your app is simply good is extremely rewarding. These users will also likely be long-term, permanent users, compared to what a marketing agency will get you. Word-of-mouth marketing is still relevant, even in 2020.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Be patient and realize that growth doesn’t always happen overnight. Be prepared for everyone to tell you that no one is going to use your app, and that it’s going to be a flop. If you truly believe in your product and your team continues to make it better, over time, people will see you’ve made a great app and they will use it. It just may not happen as quickly as you want it to. Put time and effort into improving your product, and eventually, the world will see what you saw before it was ripe with fancy new features and a polished UI.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? I would say persistence. Rave is a 5-year-old company, and only in the past 3 months have we seen extreme growth in user-ship and downloads. For years, we worked on an app that had virtually no users – that requires extreme persistence and also belief in your product and that it’s going to someday be great and used by millions. We slowly acquired users over time, and we were consistently growing every month, which was already rewarding. And then the unexpected happened: we entered into a global pandemic and everyone was left at home searching for ways to stay connected with friends and family while in quarantine. We never could have anticipated a world where getting together would be nearly impossible. Within a matter of days, we experienced a 10-fold increase in user-ship, and that really was unreal. Even still, you have to remain humble and continue to work hard, even when success is within reach. You must remain persistent. Even now, we have a product called RaveDJ, the first Artificial Intelligence DJ on the market. While we have many users, it isn’t a world-renowned product yet. It really is ahead of its time. The world isn’t ready for an AI DJ just yet. But with our persistence, hard work, and the belief that some day RaveDJ will be a feature on everyone’s music apps, we will succeed. It just might not be tomorrow.

#4 Shaun Savage Apptrepreneur @ GoShare

“Get ready to embrace change and evolution”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Get ready to embrace change and evolution. There are many opportunities in the mobile app market, in part because new technology is constantly pushing the bar forward. Innovative ideas paired with excellent execution can always find a place. But, the same market that is so inviting to innovators is quick to leave behind anyone that becomes static or stale. Yesterday’s best-in-class can quickly become tomorrow’s out-of-date. To succeed in this space, no matter what type of app you offer, you should be committed to constant progress, updates, and improvements.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Your users are your boss. Do user experience testing, conduct surveys, and always read and respond to your reviews. Listen to the feedback they are giving you as you improve your app and grow your business. If you are connected to your users and prioritize their experience and interactions in your development flow, you will find success. 

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? An entrepreneur needs to be determined. Setbacks are inevitable. Despite all your best efforts, bugs happen. You must allow these moments to become the mountains that help you climb to greater heights, not obstacles that prevent you from moving forward. Be determined to succeed and find a path forward. Believe in your product, your team, and your customers. 

#5 Andy Green, Apptrepreneur @ MyRadar

“How will people use your idea in the real-world flow?”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Be persistent, have perseverance but know when to shift gears.  You may have a great idea that needs tweaking in order for it to hit the sweet spot for widespread adoption.  

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Make sure you stay focused on context;  how people will use your idea in the real-world flow, and all of the quirkiness that goes with it.  Iterate on it often, don’t get too comfortable with your achievements even if they take off – there will always be somebody who tries to come in afterwards and do it better than you.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Weirdness   It’s usually the people who look at things differently that make a new path for everybody else to follow and enjoy.

#6 Nerissa Zhang, Apptrepreneur @ The Bright App

“As entrepreneurs, we tend to be idea-generating powerhouses which is a strength and also a huge weakness”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? My one piece of advice to budding tech, app, and mobile entrepreneurs out there is this: Before you start developing a solution, ask yourself a few questions. Are you the right person for the job? Will you truly be able to design a solution that is effective based on deep knowledge and understanding of the problem itself? If you intend to design a tech solution to a problem you don’t face yourself, how are you going to ensure your solution truly meets the needs of those who do face that problem?

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? In order to succeed in the mobile and app industry, or any industry for that matter, you’ve got to be someone people want to work with. More and more people have access to learning coding, mobile app development, etc. so your skills alone aren’t enough to carry you anymore. Build some social skills and learn how to be someone people actually want to be around.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? One personality trait essential for entrepreneurship is focus. As entrepreneurs, we tend to be idea-generating powerhouses which is a strength and also a huge weakness. Fight your tendency to start several projects before ever fully committing to the success of one. Find your unique value proposition and do not stray until you’ve built a strong enough foundation to support branching out.

#7 Greg Smith Apptrepreneur @ Trunkit

“Seek it out and try to find people who will give you harsh feedback that you might not like”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Upon launching, your app must be user-friendly and ‘glitch’ free. If users find your app difficult to use, or they run into any issues along the way, then they simply won’t use it. Don’t rush anything, don’t take the easy way out, and don’t launch until your app is 100% operational. We are now (finally) happy with where the Trunkit app is, but it was a process that involved a lot of in-depth testing, fixing, and being patient.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Listen to any and all feedback given to you. In fact, seek it out and try to find people who will give you harsh feedback that you might not like. Have thick skin and stay focused on improving things. Don’t let the critics of your product bring you down, listen to what they have to stay, explore their feedback, and react to it. This world is full of so many smart people – many of them in the app-building world – and their feedback can help.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Honesty, hands down. Being honest with yourself; honest with your co-workers; honest with your customers. If you are finding excuses and bending the truth, then it will catch up with you and just drag you down.

When you are honest, everything is right in front of you for you to react to. When you begin to weave lies into your professional life, then you are only building more obstacles that you will have to defeat eventually.

#8 Adrian Chenault Apptrepreneur @ Contact Mapping

“Distribution is the biggest challenge you will face”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

#9 Leigh Isaacson Apptrepreneurs @ DigDates

“You’ve got to have a sense of humor”

Available on the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs?  You’re going to be asking (read: begging) for help a lot in different ways. You’ll ask the media to cover you, ask friends to share your business with their online audience, ask investors to read your pitch, and more. Have something ready that you’re willing to offer people to help them in return. It doesn’t have to be related to your business! Consider your skills and how you can help. Maybe you can design a logo, edit a press release, bug fix, make introductions, knit a dog sweater, or write a unique jingle. Then, you’ll feel much more comfortable asking for help – and it’ll help you build real relationships!  

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Don’t get stuck playing catchup with the big players for every new feature. Trust your instinct and your innovative team, communicate regularly with your subscribers, keep the design clean, and just make sure the app works! 

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? You’ve got to have a sense of humor. Laugh at yourself and laugh with others. You’ll be in many anxious, tense, and uncomfortable situations. Laughing has an actual physical benefit for your health and wellbeing, and it’ll help you relax, break the ice, and be memorable. 

#10 Brandon T Jackson & Mark Bush Apptrepreneurs @ KingdomPay

“No means NO-thing can deter me from pushing and moving forward”

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs?  Stay the course, move past ALL the NOs and cynics, and do SOMETHING everyday towards your dream – none of that COST anything. 

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Staying abreast of the industry and tech changes and understanding your market. 

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? No means NO-thing can deter me from pushing and moving forward with my venture BOOM or BUST! 

#11 Darin Alpert, Apptrepreneur @ Find Me Gluten Free

“NAIL your SEO”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs?  NAIL your SEO, if you don’t have a way to drive downloads/traffic, you’re in for a long road.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Revenue. What is your plan to monetize/keep the lights on that is sustainable? We had a revenue model very early on and executed that plan.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Grit. You’re going to need to work harder on the days you don’t want to work to succeed. 

#12 Scott Wayman, Apptrepreneur @ Kangarootime

“Businesses only fail when the founder gives up”

Available on the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Treat your customers like gold. Especially those early “burning edge” customers who are most likely taking a risk—reward and honor them by doing whatever it takes to make them happy. If that means staying up all night, do it. Or maybe creating a feature just for them, do it. Don’t underestimate relationship building early on when you’re heads-down creating the product. We’ve been in business since 2015 and grown exponentially, but we still hear from customers—new and old—how amazing our team is at going above and beyond their expectations in responding to their feedback and helping them with issues. By doing this early on, you’re also hardwiring your team to become customer-focused, which will pay off in the long run. 

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Listen to your customers challenges and solve their problems. Not just some of their problems—strive to solve all of their problems. It’s easy to get caught up in data and noise from your investors or your industry, but sit down with your customers and listen to their challenges and see how they interact with your product. 

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Relentlessness. Businesses only fail when the founder gives up. If you believe in your mission, be relentless in pursuing it. 

#13 Alexander Lazutin, Apptrepreneur @ ICarter

“Would you be a loyal user?”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Focus on the customer journey. Users take seconds to judge an app and will instantly quit if it’s difficult to use.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Collect as much feedback from users out there, this is important for two reasons. First, you will know what people are after and how they react to your app, and second, your first users will feel engaged in the process and be given more loyalty as a result. Picture it yourself, if an app asks your feedback, you give recommendations and they implement what you said, how would you feel? Would you be a loyal user? 

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Self-discipline, by far. In entrepreneurship, nobody asks you to do anything, all initiative has to come from yourself, from the spark of inspiration within you. Once you become stronger mentally, you will be able to lead a team and form a successful company. 

#14 Patrick Hardy, Apptrepreneur @ Disaster Hawk

“Set an ultimate goal that defines what you want to get out of this”

Available on the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Set an ultimate goal that defines what you want to get out of this. For me, disaster preparedness has been my career, and Disaster Hawk was just the next step in defining myself as the premier small business and family disaster planner in the United States.  But my goal with Disaster Hawk was to make disaster plans available to everyone around the world. And when I evaluate new ideas and projects from my team, I use my goal to help me determine if I want to go forward with it.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? You can’t do this alone, so don’t try. Find your weakness, then hire someone who has that trait as a strength. Since I had already started a successful disaster planning business, when I started Disaster Hawk I knew exactly the kinds of skills we were looking for.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Passion. You have to truly believe in what you are doing in order to endure the ups and downs of trying to build a sustainable business. You have to be the embodiment of your dream, because your team will look to you for leadership and their motivation will derive from that.

#15 Liam Gill, Founder and Apptrepreneur @ Swiff

“Be creative and stay focused“

 

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Use simple solutions to solve real problems.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Always listen to customers. They know best.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Passion, don’t do anything you don’t believe in.

#16 Trevor Lohrbeer, Apptrepreneurs @ Day Optimizer

“Decide on your revenue model before you build your app”

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Talk to your customers regularly. Not via surveys or email, but using synchronous communication. Call them, schedule a video chat with them. Find out why they bought your product, why they stick around and how badly they would be disappointed if your product is not in their life.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Decide on your revenue model before you build your app, as it might have consequences on how you build it. No longer is a one-time purchase for a couple dollars the only revenue model, and the model you choose directly affects how much you can afford to market, build and scale the app.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Grit. Entrepreneurship is like riding a roller coaster in the dark while the tracks are constantly twisting into new shapes. You have to be patient during the slow climbs when it seems your business will never succeed, ride the crests without becoming complacent when things are going well, and persevere through the drops when everything crashes in your business.

#17 Felicia Kashevaroff, Apptrepreneur @ Persistiny

“Be prepared to make mistakes and to learn and grow from them”

Available on App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs?  Make sure you’ve done your market research before you start development. Test your idea with your market demographic and continue to listen to your users as you work toward product-market fit.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Again, listen to your customers and make sure you’re solving a problem that they need to have solved and you’re doing it well. Be prepared to be flexible and agile as you learn more about your user base.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? I believe persistence is the most important quality in an entrepreneur. Be prepared to make mistakes and to learn and grow from them. It’s a challenging journey, but so rewarding to see your vision come to life!

#18 Gene Caballero, Apptrepreneur @ GreenPal

“The journey is going to be very lonely.”

Available on Google Play

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? The journey is going to be very lonely.  Immediate family and a few friends will always be supportive….sharing on social media, writing reviews, actually using your product, bringing food to the office at midnight, etc. Second-tier friends, like your bar buddies and old co-workers, just don’t understand the work it takes to build something from scratch.  They can’t fathom why you are not able to grab a happy hour or grab dinner on a Tuesday because you have to work.  Slowly but surely, these friends will eventually quit asking and become mere acquaintances. There are 3 8-hour workdays in 24 hours…pick which two you want to work and you will be successful.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Make sure you are solving a big enough problem.  If your company’s problem is not 10x better than the traditional product or service, it will be difficult to have a product-market fit.  Talk to strangers, family, friends, co-workers and see if they would PAY for your product or service….not just see if they like it.  

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Grit–its what it takes to be an entrepreneur.  

#19 Jared Novack, App Industry Entrepreneur @ Upstatement

“When in doubt, build less”

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? When in doubt, build less. I don’t know many users who look at a new app and say “gee whiz, I wish this had more features.” Where most users/apps struggle with is too much: too many options, too much design flourish. When you over-engineer your app, you’re buying too much house. You create more technology that needs to be maintained and supported. It slows down your build cycles and your user experience. If “MVP” doesn’t hurt a little bit, you’re over-building.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Persistence: you have to keep going. This is different from the “fail fast” mantra you might have heard. The first thing you make will be unsatisfying. Don’t give up.. Don’t call it a failure. Keep going. Study and observe to see where it’s falling short. Run your dad through the app’s on-boarding process. Where does he struggle? Fix it. Keep going. Do it again. And again.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Don’t call it entrepreneurship. You have to be excited and motivated by the challenge at hand, not the idea of making it big or being a business Johnny Appleseed. I’ve met a number of people who are in such a rush to call themselves “entrepreneurs,” that they can’t stay focused on any one problem long enough to really engage and understand it (let alone solve it).

#20 Jamie Wong, Apptrepreneur @ MDBilling.ca 

“Be agile”

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Focus on your customers and wear their shoes. For every product or service design, think about how they would feel.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? Know your customer, and be agile. Those terms have been overused, but it remains very true. Don’t hesitate to change app features or functions when the customers ask for something else, and be fast at it.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? It would definitely be perseverance, especially during the early stages of a business.

#21 James Zhang, Apptrepreneur @ The Bright App

“Always keep the user experience in mind”

Available on the App Store and Google Play

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Before you ever start designing a solution, do your research. Make sure that the problem you’re hoping to solve is actually a problem people will invest time or money into solving. If you’re absolutely confident that’s true, then make sure your solution is actually solving the problem as efficiently as possible. There are so many tech-based solutions out there that get created after a wild brainstorming session among techies without any actual conversations with the people they hope to sell or market their solution to.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry?  In order to succeed in the mobile and app industry, you must always keep the user experience in mind. It’s very easy to be surrounded entirely by other techies in this industry, but those aren’t the people you’re serving. Your mobile and app solutions must be designed with the user in mind at every stage of the process.

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? One personality trait that is essential for entrepreneurship is persistence. Rejection is the name of the game in entrepreneurship. You need to be so confident in yourself and your business that you can see rejection for the opportunity that it is. Persistence will help you pivot when necessary and keep fighting for your mission even when someone else doesn’t recognize the value in what you’re doing.

#22 Yaniv, Apptrepreneur @ Listory

“Great entrepreneurs know that a change of one’s opinion isn’t a bug but a feature.”

Available on the App Store

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to budding apptrepreneurs? Be opinionated about how your app solves the needs of your users, and resist the comfort of following “best practices” and “how everyone else is doing things”. Your app should reflect your opinion and philosophy, and give users a reason to develop an opinion of their own about your product. Think about these products for a sec –  snapchat, twitter, the iPhone – I’m sure you have a strong opinion about them. Like them or hate them, but you can’t be indifferent about them. And if your product triggers a user to think – that would likely be your biggest win! Best practices and mental models are important and easy to follow. However, you should challenge yourself and your team to develop a focused product with a clear philosophy. Doing so will help you build a strong base of enthusiast users who will evangelize and promote your app.

What advice do you have for succeeding in the mobile and app industry? From day one, you must spend as much time on getting traction as you do on product. Not getting traction and user feedback early on means you’re building a product in a vacuum and speculate that every product decision you make is the correct one. Most likely you don’t… Marc Andreessen make a clear point about this problem:

The number one reason that we pass on entrepreneurs we’d otherwise like to back is they’re focusing on product to the exclusion of everything else. Many entrepreneurs who build great products simply don’t have a good distribution strategy. Even worse is when they insist that they don’t need one, or call [their] no distribution strategy a “viral marketing strategy.”

What is the one personality trait essential for entrepreneurship? Great entrepreneurs know that a change of one’s opinion isn’t a bug but a feature. Those leaders process new information and don’t refrain from changing their mind when reality changes. This trait, which most other people see as a shortcoming, is actually what helps the best entrepreneurs pivot and adapt to get to their ultimate vision. 

Up and Coming Apps to Watch

#1 Rave, Social Networking

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Rave is different from its competitors because it is the only app where you can watch videos with your friends in perfect sync, while texting and talking in real-time. Choose from a variety of content – Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, and more. Our competitors are all Chrome extensions – Rave is a mobile app, and is coming soon to Mac and PC (also as an application, but for desktop). Also, unlike our competitors, we do not screen-share the content, which is not entirely legal nor fair to the subscription services providing the content (Netflix, Prime, etc.). On Rave, every user must sign into their own Netflix and Prime accounts, ensuring that no one is viewing any content unless they’re a paying subscriber to it. We really pride ourselves in this aspect of the app. Screen-sharing is something that has caused some competitors in the past to be taken down, and we don’t intend on going anywhere!

Why is your app one to watch? Rave is an app to watch because since March, we have seen exponential growth in user-ship and downloads. We are rapidly growing in Brazil, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia, and we plan to expand into other markets with the use of influencer marketing. We have 500,000 daily active users and 10 million monthly active – a 10-fold increase since March.

Top 5 features

1. Millisecond perfect audio and video sync across devices, no matter where you are in the world. Our perfect-sync technology ensures you react to movies and videos at the exact same time as your friends – no spoilers!
2. Texting and talking (Voice-over IP) while you’re watching videos with anyone, anywhere in the world. Read and hear your friends’ reactions as you watch content together.
3. Users have the option to join private raves and engage with close friends and family (especially useful right now with everyone social distancing!), or, they can join public raves and meet new people from all around the world.
4. Variety of content available. Users can choose from Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Vimeo, and Reddit. If what they want to watch isn’t on any of these platforms, don’t fret. Users can alternatively just upload anything they want into Google Drive and watch with friends there. Or, they can search for anything on Rave Web! 
5. Last but definitely not least, the Rave app also has a unique feature where users can create mixes and mash-ups of their favourite songs with just the click of a button. RaveDJ is the first ever Artificial Intelligence DJ. Users just select which songs they want, press ‘Go’, and the AI DJ spits out a unique mix or mash-up they can call their own!

#2 Troop Messenger, Communication 

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Cheapest of all! But never compromise with the quality. No other tool in the market has such a productive and powerful feature stack as the Troop messenger does. With features like file preview, advanced data filters, respond later, image controls, message-edit, unlimited search history, etc., makes the team’s communication faster and easier.

Why is your app one to watch? The new-age slack alternative with simple to use yet powerful features has been exclusively designed to reach every workplace for teams of any size.

Top 5 features

1. Forkout : This feature allows a user to send messages or file attachments to a large volume of users at a single point in time. 
2. Burnout: A private chat window that lets users have confidential conversations while storing chat conversations anywhere.
3. Respond Later: The user can tag this feature to a received message for sending a reply at a later time. 
4. Read receipt: This feature allows the sender to understand the message acknowledgment status when received and read by the recipient user.
5. Advanced-Data Filters: Whatever the user is looking for? These filters allow them to filter data by files, images, videos, contacts, flagged messages, etc. resulting in quick application usage.

#3 Franz, Messaging and Productivity

Available on Google Play and the App Store

Franz is a valuable communication tool relied upon daily by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. 

What makes your app different from your competitors? Franz is a multi messaging app with out-of-the-box support for all popular messaging services like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram and many more. On top of that, there’s an amazing community constantly adding user-generated service integrations to the repertoire of Franz. Given the app’s open-source license, users are welcome to file bugs, create feature requests or support the project in general.

Why is your app one to watch? Just a few months after the first release in 2016, Franz was awarded Desktop App of the Year by the amazing Product Hunt community. Since then, the small team based in Vienna has constantly extended the messaging app’s functionality. Franz is rapidly evolving into a full-blown productivity suite that perfectly adapts to your daily work routines.

Top 5 features

1. Franz combines all your favorite messaging and productivity services into one single and elegant easy-to-use desktop app. You can even add custom websites, like your company intranet or sales dashboard.
2. Set up different sets of services and easily switch between them at any time with Franz Workspaces. Keep private and business communication separate, or streamline processes and workflows.
3. Add as many instances of a service as you want, for example, 4 different WhatsApp accounts.
4. Turn incoming messages into items on your to-do list with just two clicks. Organize your tasks with lists and tags in Franz ToDos, and share lists with co-workers and family members.
5. Manage your team more efficiently thanks to built-in team management – one invoice, as many licenses as you need.

#4 NOVID, Health and Fitness

Available on Google Play and the App Store

No other app working on a contact tracing solution has come close to the accuracy we can portray with our distance measurement tool. For proof that our app does what it says it can, all you have to do is look down on the screen for the distance measurement. 

What makes your app different from your competitors? Our app is the first and currently only contact tracing app to utilize both bluetooth and ultrasound technologies to increase accuracy and prevent false positives. 

Why is your app one to watch? Our app is one to watch because our team is incredibly fast-paced and continues to roll out new versions of the app each week with bug fixes, new features, groundbreaking technology, and more. 

Top 5 features

1. Distance measurement tool that displays measurement between two devices
2. Completely anonymous
3. Use of ultrasound for a more accurate detection
4. Standby mode to save battery
5. Interaction chart to inform you of your networking status 

#5 Tomorrow, Finance

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Nobody offers a fully customized will that is specific to your state’s laws for free all in a mobile experience. Gone are the days of putting off important things. Especially those that protect your loved ones. We believe all people should have access to important financial, health, and legal services. 

Why is your app one to watch? We are really pushing forward the digital estate planning space in a way like no one else is. We are mobile and looking to support digital signatures, video chat notarization of documents, and all other financial and legal digital advancements. As soon as they become legally available we will be the first to offer it for everyone.

Top 5 features

1. Adapts to every family situation and your state’s laws.
2. Organizes and syncs assets between co-owners.
3. Inventories your valuables and assigns beneficiaries.
4. Helps you choose people to fill important roles, like guardians.
5. Creates valuable legal documents, like a will–for free

#6 99 Walks: Women’s Walking App, Health and Fitness

Available on Google Play and the App Store

Walking is the proven gateway to weight loss, fitness and healthy lifestyle choices. 99 Walks is a great walking plan for women that includes the ability to form or join a team of like-minded women to keep you on track. A supportive community that has your back, daily inspirations to brighten your day, and fun and educational challenges to supercharge your wellness journey. Great for outdoor or treadmill walks!

What makes your app different from your competitors? The 99 Walks app isn’t just for tracking steps. The 99 Walks experience is all about fostering a community of women dedicated to walking their way to better. You can join a team, participate in monthly challenges, and have the opportunity to earn wearable jewelry when completing your goals.

Why is your app one to watch? The app offers a variety of resources to support you on your walking journey. Within the app, you can find a variety of podcasts, music, and Walk + Talks to listen to as you complete your goals. Recent Walk + Talk guests include Dr. Vivek Murphy, Tara Stiles, Dr. Martha Beck, and Mariel Hemmingway!

Top 5 features

1. Walk Tracker: Set your goal and start walking! Track your walks by day, week, month and year.
2. Pace Data: See how fast you’re moving and a map of where you’ve gone.
3. Daily Classes: Our expert coaches will lead you in  Power Fitness walks, Journey walks, Empowerment walks and more.
4. Meditations: Listen to walking meditations that will keep you inspired and moving.
5. Virtual Teams: Track your miles together and benefit from the accountability and support that comes from being part of a team.

#7 Medito, Health and Fitness

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Medito is a meditation and mindfulness app with no subscriptions, no ads and no in-app purchases. It’s made for people, not profit. We believe that mindfulness and mental health resources should be freely available to everyone, not just people who can afford a monthly subscription. Our objectives are based on the benefit to public mental health, not on the need to repay shareholders. The features that we build are determined by the needs of our community rather than merely adding content to justify a continued subscription.

Why is your app one to watch? Medito is made by people who are passionate about making mental health resources widely available and our team is growing fast. We have recently appointed a Scientific Advisory Board who will help us to produce world-leading meditation content in line with the latest scientific thinking. We’re working on self-evolving meditation pathways, which will offer specific content based on how you feel and how far in your journey you are.

Top 5 features

1. A beginners course to help people learn the basics of mindfulness and meditation
2. Courses for people who are more advanced and want to deepen their meditation practice
3. Sleep meditations and sleep sounds to help you get a good night’s rest
4. Lots of meditation packs so you can try different types of meditation, such as loving kindness, walking, mantra and body scan.
5. Several voice and length options for each meditation, so you can choose the versions that suit you best. 

#8 GoShare – Lifestyle (Delivery & Transportation)

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Similar to rideshare apps, GoShare allows users to connect instantly with a virtual fleet of vehicles in their area. However, GoShare’s drivers own large vehicles, including pickup trucks, cargo vans, and box trucks. Instead of transporting people, they are on-call and on-demand for cargo hauling, delivery, and moving projects. Whether it’s getting a new sectional couch home from Costco or delivering solar panels to a contractor at his worksite, GoShare makes it easy to find affordable, on-demand logistics solutions. 

Why is your app one to watch? GoShare is growing rapidly. In 2018, the app was available in 9 markets. By the end of 2019, the reach had expanded to 30 markets and we’re still growing. GoShare’s fast, affordable, and easy solution is being adopted quickly by customers and businesses alike. Plus, with industry-leading hourly wages for the gig workers that use the app, drivers love GoShare too.

Top 5 features

1. Delivery pickup in as little as 30 minutes. 
2. We offer 5 vehicle selections to meet the needs of your project, from small vehicles for courier/package delivery to box trucks that can handle household moves. 
3. Track your order and pay in the app. 
4. All projects are covered by cargo and liability insurance. 
5. Furniture assembly is available as an add-on option.

GoShare’s app is a recommended delivery partner of Costco, HomeGoods, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Cummins, and other prominent retailers and businesses.

#9 USARx, Medical

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? The application allows users to search for discounts on their prescription drugs and are able to compare the prices of those drugs according to different pharmacies in their location. The application also offers discount coupons to save in their phone storage and also able to share it via Email or Text message.

Why is your app one to watch? In addition to providing significant savings on your prescriptions (all for free!), we are also adding some new features in 2020 that will make the app that much more appealing for our customers. For example, medication reminders and notifications, Team Caregiver features, new health content from our medical writing team, and the release of the USA Rx Premier TeleHealth Bundle.

#10 Zirtue – Finance (FinTech)

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Zirtue is the first relationship-based lending application that allows you to formalize loans between Friends and Family with an automatic repayment process. 

Why is your app one to watch? Since its initial launch in early 2019, Zirtue has become the Alternative Lending/ Borrowing platform for Friends and Family as well as an Alternative Payment Solution for its corporate partners such as AT&T as well as other local Dallas corporate partners.. We’ve all either loaned to or borrowed money from our friends and family with reasonable expectations that everything will go smooth. The reality is usually something different, unexpected or just awkward.

Top 5 features?

1. Automated Repayments for lender and borrower
2. Direct Payment to our Corporate Partners
3. Flexible loan terms decided by the borrower
4. Instant Payments with Zirtue Card
5. With Direct Deposit receive paycheck up to two days early

#11 Cheekd – Lifestyle

Available on the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Our dating app sets itself apart from our competing billion dollar companies because it gives you the option to interact with a match before starting a virtual relationship with the compatible user. After setting up your profile and desired filters, Cheekd will then send you notifications when a potential match is nearby. Instead of encouraging users to continue to hide behind a screen, Cheekd pushes you to engage in social settings while paying attention to potential matches in the area. Our new dating app gives us the power to light the spark face-to-face first and leave the talking for later.

Why is your app one to watch?  Because Cheekd uses Bluetooth, it doesn’t require an Internet connection to function so connections can be made on the subway, a plane… anywhere— You’ll get a notification if someone who meets your criteria is within 30 feet of you.  If you’re near a potential spark, Cheekd makes sure you know about it. It’s like online dating but it starts in the real world. 

Top 5 features?

1. Real-time connections
2. Beacon technology allows immediate connectivity
3. In app chat feature
4. Bluetooth low-energy (doesn’t drain battery)
5. Privacy protected.

#12 MyRadar, Weather

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  There are a few parts of the magic sauce I’d prefer not to give away, but generally it helps to think beyond just the core functionality of the app.  Once you have a captive audience, you can think about what else you can offer that audience that they’re likely to enjoy.

Why is your app one to watch? We’re constantly innovating with new features and functionality, and we’re really just scratching the surface.

Top 5 features

1. Our radar;  the most important feature of all.  We render all of the data in real-time as fast as it streams out of the radar stations, and we process it on our server farms and deliver it to the user as quickly as possible.
2. Our rain alerts; looking at radar is helpful for you to form  your own picture of what the weather is likely to do in the next hour or so, but we take it a step further and will proactively alert you if rain is headed your way, even if you’re NOT checking the app.  We have a patent-pending process that uses advanced machine learning algorithms to provide the most accurate hyper-local nowcasting in the industry (* according to our own internal tests).
3. Our severe weather alerts; they have been known to save lives and are a critical piece of the overall weather awareness plan.  The National Weather Service does a tremendous job of preparing the alerts, and we’ve taken it a step further to use our channels to get those alerts in front of users as quickly as possible (again, generally quicker than other apps).
4. Our Wind Visualizations; weather is driven by many atmospheric conditions and criteria, but it’s truly mesmerizing to watch an animated flow of the wind patterns around the world to see how they impact the weather we experience, particularly severe weather.  It’s incredibly informative to watch a squall line or tornado concern manifest in the clashing of warm and cold air, and to see where that air originates, how it travels along the geography of the planet is truly awesome, in the literal sense of the word.  Understanding what causes the weather we experience can help us be more prepared, overall.
5. Our daily temperature forecast visualizations (not yet release); it’s something I’m kind of excited about – we’re always trying to find new ways of combining cool-looking data visualizations with practical use applications, and we have a new way of showing users what the high and low temperatures are going to be for the day, how those temperatures will unfold throughout the course of the day, and where you are in time in relation to where those peaks will occur.  It’s a neat way of thinking differently to convey a lot of useful information in a single, concise data visualization.

#13 Kangarootime, Parent/Childcare

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  It’s a very robust app—parents are able to pay their bills, check in on their child during the day and message their caregivers. Our competitors don’t have the depth that our app has. It’s also beautifully designed and very easy to navigate—which is a must when you have an audience of varying levels of experience with software.  

Why is your app one to watch? We’re rolling out a lot of new features in the next few months that will better help parents stay connected to their children’s day! Additionally, We were listed at one of 6 Tech Startups to Watch in Online Childcare 2020 by TechCrunch and one of the Ten Best Startups in Buffalo, NY. 

Top 5 features

1. Billing and Payments
2. Activity Feed
3. Photo Sharing
4. Messaging
5. Calendar of Events

#14 Swiftlane, Business

Available on Google Play and the App Store

Newly launched Health Check offers tools for enabling a safe return to work including self temperature checks, capacity planning for social distancing, staggered schedules, health announcements via email or app, and PPE allocation and inventory tracking. 

What makes your app different from your competitors? Swiftlane is a completely touchless way to access any building or workplace using just your face or mobile app.

Why is your app one to watch? Touchless is the new normal in this Covid environment and people and companies are looking for safer, more secure solutions for entry into buildings and workplaces that reduce common touch points.

Top 4 features

1. Face recognition mobile app unlock
2. Video intercom and calling
3. Health check
4. Cloud-based admin dashboard

#15 Mobili, Travel

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Mobili focuses on the two important elements of traveling with others; Keeping everything organized and keeping everyone connected.

Why is your app one to watch? Mobili is reorganizing how we group travel.  With a fresh, cool, modern, easy to use, one finger tool we keep people together with an in-app chat and map and provide seamless logistical support by getting rid of the organizational headaches and paper clutter.

Top 5 features

1. All members see all itineraries side by side (unless a member makes an event private)
2. Map to see everyones locations 
3. In-app chat to there is no need to create outside text messages or emails
4. Clicking on address brings you to map location for taxi, driver convenience 
5. Testing and in process of implementing an Expense Split which will keep track of who paid what and tally who owes whom.

#16 Rain Instant Pay, Fintech

Available on Google Play and the App Store

Rain, via the Rain Instant Pay App, is not a lender. Instead, it provides advances on your paychecks. In other words, if you normally don’t get paid until Friday but your bills are due on Wednesday, you can withdraw money from your upcoming paycheck so that you aren’t late on your bills.  

What makes your app different from your competitors? Our mission is to end predatory financial products like payday loans. We’re doing everything in our power to keep our product cheap (the app is free, withdrawals are only a few dollars each). The whole point is that when people are able to access their pay any day of the week (through the Rain Instant Pay app), they don’t have to pay crazy high interest rates for payday loans.

Why is your app one to watch? Though we didn’t know it was coming, we couldn’t have launched at a better time. COVID-19 posed a huge threat to people who were already living paycheck to paycheck. Missing even just one paycheck could have set them back for months due to increased debt. Then, when they finally did return back to work, they still had to wait two weeks (or even a month in some cases) to see another paycheck. With Rain, that simply isn’t the case. 

Our app allows people to withdraw wages even as they’re leaving their shift and walking to their car. They won’t have to borrow money just to pick up dinner. Rain is relevant & timely and since 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck (even without a pandemic), a lot of people can find this beneficial. 

Top 4 features: 

1. On-demand pay. 
2. Saving & budgeting feature
3. Bill “alert” feature
4. Financial concierge. 

#17 Onedesk Mobile Walkthrough, Business

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? While our competitors have apps that allow them to manage their office space easily, we are the only ones that allow our customers to perform a walkthrough without meeting any vendor onsite. If your office needs quotes for cleaning services, instead of meeting with multiple vendors, you can simply record your space in a few minutes and get the walkthrough over with!

Why is your app one to watch? As offices reopen across the country, cleaning is becoming a fundamental practice. Booking services has always been a painful process that requires multiple meetings, phone tag, and taking a risk on who is stepping into your office. We solve all those problems by allowing you to book vetted vendors from our network directly from your phone. You can even chat with vendors and see quotes all in one platform.

Top 5 features

1. Instant quotes for cleaning 
2. No vendor meeting needed
3. Chat with your dedicated Onedesk rep and vendor in the group chat function
4. Compare multiple quotes from local vendors
5. View invoices easily in the app for all services booked – no more getting 5 invoices from 5 different vendors, all with different terms.

#18 CIS (Connect In Single),  Social Media Network

Google Play and the App Store 

As users are now more aware of their data and seeing data is the new currency, no step is taken to protect it. CIS has introduced the world’s first of its kind feature: Offering Public and Private Spaces in one app! This allows users to segregate their connections and add them to accounts based on 4 basic categories: Public, Family, Friends, and Work. So, users can build the right connections and connect with the right audience at the right time & place.Blockchain-based application is the new transformation of the existing social media where user’s data will be under their control. I urge everyone to try and make your life socially secure.

What makes your app different from your competitors?  Our mobile app has these 3 essential features to make it outstanding against their competitors: (1) Ease of Use, (2) An Interactive and Smooth UI/UX Design, (3) Privacy & Security. However, there are a lot of others as well but these are the major reasons. 

Why is your app one to watch? CIS is the world’s first decentralised based social network integrating all the accounts (Private. Public, Family, Professionals) in one app. Also, though it is decentralised it abolishes all issues like fake accounts and fake messages.It’s one of a kind. Our mission is to fight for privacy and remove all social cyber theft all over the web. Thus, it’s a major platform to be onboarded on.

Top 5 features?

1. Scheduled chats allow users to send messages to their loved ones by scheduling the message to a specific time.
2. The private chat allows users to send self — destructive messages with auto-deletion time.
3. Less Storage Size with No Privacy Issue.
4. In-App Video Player & Direct Video Submission
5. White/Dark Theme Introduction (and also with the auto theme)

#19 Swiff, Business

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? Swiff is combining health and productivity tracking to boost the safety and efficiency of every businesses’ workplace. With how the world has changed in the past year due to the ongoing pandemic, Swiff has included capabilities for COVID-19 screenings to keep track of employee health to help determine if employees should be working remotely or if they are safe to return. Swiff also uses productivity tracking to help determine work efficiency for each person, and long term Swiff’s goal is to become an AI program that serves as the “figure” to keep you on track while working and make decisions that produce the best results.

Top 5 features

1. Screening – COVID-19 screening to prevent spread in the office
2. Wellness – Employee wellness support to protect their mental health
3. Tracking – Employee work tracking to make data driven management decisions
4. An App that almost every business can use to ensure health and safety, boost employee productivity, and to support employee mental wellness
5. Limits Legal Liability

#20 The Bright App, Health and Fitness

Available of Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  The Bright App is a leading fitness management app trusted by thousands of top personal trainers, fitness instructors, studio owners, and their clients. Our app is unlike our competitor’s apps because we’re solving the fitness industry’s time-consuming challenges and inefficiencies in scheduling and billing. Our free iOS and Android apps help fitness professionals run more predictable and profitable businesses from the palm of their hand.

Why is your app one to watch? Our app is built and managed by the top 1%in fitness and the top 1% in tech. The Bright App CEO, Nerissa Zhang is a USAW Certified Sports Performance Coach in San Francisco with years of experience training clients and she has managed and owns multiple gyms. The Bright App CTO, James has released and worked on over 40+ apps, including the Google Assistant on Android and YouTube. He has designed and implemented mobile solutions that have been used by billions of people.

Top 5 features

1. Browse and Search for top instructors by geographical area, price, and specialization.
2. Contact instructors through The Bright App to set up consultation appointments.
3. Receive and Pay for training sessions securely and conveniently in-app.
4. Easily track and reschedule sessions so you can be in control of your training.
5. The app is free to use. There are no in-app purchases and no monthly fees. You just pay for the training and that’s it.

#21 Showcase Workshop, Sales and Marketing

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors? With Showcase Workshop, all your sales material is gathered together in one place, ready to present screen-to-screen, or fire off by email from your iPad, iPhone, Mac, Android or Windows device. Our customers use Showcase to ensure their whole sales team is accessing the exact same file library and telling customers a consistent brand story.  The best part (and the part that differentiates Showcase from competitors) is that you get notified anytime a prospective customer is are looking at your sales materials so you can follow up with precision timing. 

Why is your app one to watch? Sales presentations have drastically changed in recent years – and especially in recent months! – where sales people have to be able to build trust and engagement quickly, through a video conference. They need content at their fingertips, they can’t be fluffing around searching for things on an intranet or shared drive. And they need to be able to access their content consistently across a range of devices. Showcase is a sales team’s best ally in this new sales environment. 

Top 5 features

6. Create consistent brand and product stories and share them across the whole sales team in one click.
7. Share sales materials with customers by email and track their engagement from the app.
8. Works online and offline.
9. Works on any kind of device and any operating system. 
10. Incredible support provided by our team based in a groovy island hideaway (also known as New Zealand).

#22 4B, News

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  We bring BOTH sides of controversial news and topics in short form. Ability to vote, comment, and share with friends and family.

Why is your app one to watch? There is no one with our current model, our TAM is larger due to multiple audiences.

Top 5 features

1. Layout is super intuitive and quick to consume. Users have the ability to customize content categories of interest.
2. Fact box in every article keeps platform neutrality, and credibility.
3. Polling questions keeps and encourages further engagement.
4. Commenting, liking and other actions are automatically logged in users profile, which can be viewed by others in a very Instagram like layout.
5. Followers/Following individual and group messaging.

#23 EVAN360, Business and Productivity

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  The EVAN360 app is a support tool designed for businesses that allows employees to receive instant, personalized support without the wait. With EVAN360, employees can access support in real-time without the wait. Most of the popular support tools out there make you wait for the right person, either on hold or in a queue. But EVAN360 allows you to connect to an expert in minutes. It’s highly intuitive and easy to use.

Why is your app one to watch? EVAN360 is revolutionizing how support is provided, in particular with the move to remote workplaces. Our app enables people to get support when they need it no matter where they are. The app was built to be easily customized to fit any business or industry, and it’s simple and user friendly.

Top 5 features

1. Connection to a real human who can solve your problem the right way the first time.
2. Submit a request in three clicks and connect to an expert in minutes.
3. Every company has their own private, single sign-on environment within EVAN360, so it’s completely secure.
4. We have a unique automated skills-matching process that can be set up directly within the app. When companies start using EVAN360, they set up a list of internal employees to serve as experts. Whenever someone has a problem, their request is routed to the experts most equipped to solve the problem.
5. Integrates with any video conferencing software for screen sharing.

#24 Screenshop, Shopping

Available on Google Play and the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  Our company methodology is making shopping fun! We leverage machine learning and AI to create unique playful experiences that we are seeing our audience love!

Why is your app one to watch? We are the only company thinking about how to make the shopping experience fun from all vertices. We are most popular for our use case of allowing users to bridge the gap between screenshots that inspire them and the ability to get access to those photos. Our app is the only application in the market that gives the tools of AI to users in order to play with their photo inspiration and curate a personalized catalog selection. For example, if you and I upload the same photo – we each are inspired by different things in it and might want to see something different. You might want the floral dress in the photo, and I might want that floral print inspired but in a skirt, or that print dress but in black.

Top 5 features

1. You can shop similar items to any photo at ANY price point that will be personalized to me!
2. Our guess who lens – it’s really fun! You can take a picture of yourself and our algorithm tells you which celeb you look like! And actually works !!
3. Mix & Match – this lens is great for browsing through products to curate the perfect outfit to send to your fitting room & buy!
4. Our homepage – Daily new playlists with trending items!
5. NEW – tomorrow we are launching a weather lens that allows you to see shoppable items based on your weather!

#25 Popdish, Food and Drink

Available on the App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  While apps like Yelp and Google show nearby restaurants, PopDish shows nearby food. It’s sort of like if Yelp-meets-Pinterest-meets-Instagram. It’s a highly visual, mouthwatering way to browse your local eats—complete with dish-specific reviews, photos, insider tips, and more.

Why is your app one to watch? It’s taking the conventional way of finding a new restaurant, and turning it on its head. We’re visual eaters. When we walk into a restaurant, we creep on other diners’ plates on our way to our table, saying to ourselves, “that looks amazing—what is that?!” When we’re sitting at home, rarely do we say, “I’m craving _______ restaurant.” Instead, we say, “I’m craving a good burger” or “I need chocolate cake.” When the cravings hit, open PopDish and type in “burger” or “chocolate cake” and see the very best near you.

Top 5 features

1. FIND THE BEST OF ANY FOOD: On the hunt for the best burger? Who around you makes the best curry? Which restaurant serves up the tastiest chocolate cake? We’ll tell you.
2. BROWSE BY PHOTO: Let’s be real—menus without photos are a waste of paper. That’s why PopDish gives you endless feeds of beautiful (and sometimes not-so-beautiful) photos of food near you. Discover mouth-watering desserts, entrees, sides, drinks, and more—all with the simple, mindless scrolling gesture you know and love.
3. BEST OF THE MENU: At a restaurant, but not sure what to order? Open PopDish’s “Best of the Menu” section to see—surprise!—the best items on the menu. (Your server’s opinion was questionable anyway.)
4. CUSTOMIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Vegetarian? Gluten Free? Keto? No sweat. Set your food preferences and toggle the “For You” button to show only the foods we think you’ll like. Yeah. Pretty neat.
5. SHARE FINDS, EARN BADGES: We all love a good dopamine hit. PopDish rewards you for contributing to the community with PopCred (a form of social currency), and the ability to earn a wide variety of badges based on various accomplishments. All redeemable for street cred.

#26 Contact Mapping, Business

Available on Google Play and App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  Contact Mapping takes out all the complexity of the “kitchen sink” approach of other CRMs and makes it easy for you to focus on the things that matter in building your network: remembering others’ stories, staying in touch, and creating a powerful database so you can “Google your own memory” at a moment’s notice. 

Why is your app one to watch? We have a unique approach to the marketplace by offering a single place to manage one’s personal AND professional relationships. This holistic approach to relationship management makes it possible to develop a “forever network” that serves our users through their entire career and in every facet of their lives.

Top 5 features

6. Voice to text dictation notes to quickly remember the most important details from every conversation.
7. Follow-up reminders to make sure you always remember to stay in touch with your network.
8. Full integration with your phone contacts so everything stays fully synced at all times: no need to manage different lists for every app.
9. Facebook Messenger integration to track and capture conversations on social media. LinkedIn coming soon!
10. Instant search of anyone in your network based on any keyword – so you can “Google your own memory”.

#27 iMeetify, Productivity

Available on Google Play and App Store

What makes your app different from your competitors?  First time ever that meetings can be easily scheduled and joined virtually straight from a mobile interface, i.e., a smart phone.

Why is your app one to watch? The process is quick and seamless vs the cumbersome processes required via traditional means such as google and others on a desktop computer. Calendar sharing has never been available before on a mobile hand -held device, these features will change the way meetings are scheduled in the future.

The post 48 Breakout Apps and Apptrepreneurs to Watch! first appeared on AppSamurai.