With the growing mobile app development market, the mobile applications nowadays are using all the technology and innovations to make the apps user experience better and IoT is one among those. With the advent of IoT now the devices can communicate with each other and form a network giving a great user experiences. Integration of IoT in mobile applications is now a necessity to offer a new level of services pinched with the innovation.
IoT has made the daily life easier and more convenient. One can just control various connected devices with the help of a mobile application at their house, office or in car. For the users to control a network of connected devices a mobile application is a must. Let’s have a look at some benefits of IoT:
- It leads to complete control on all the physical devices and their connections.
- You can get the notifications on your mobile devices regarding each and every device connected through IoT enabled mobile application.
- It is easy and manageable with the mobile apps to control everything.
- The IoT based mobile apps help to bind various components together such as devices, sensors, analytics etc.
According to a recent statista report the IoT connected devices have increased substantially from 2015 and are estimated to raise more. The following graph shows the same.
Looking at these advantages of IoT it is clear that mobile apps are the future of IoT and there are ways in which this concept is going to impact the app development. Some of them are:
- Makes work easy
The IoT has made the work and life easier for everyone be it users or the developers. It offers interactive solution to manage all the devices by the means of an app. The developers work is also made easy as they have to design and put fewer efforts to build innovative solution.
- Change of focus
With the IoT enabled apps coming in picture nowadays the developers have to focus more on the integration of various devices rather than the user experience of the mobile application. They have to now work with the smart connected devices and the sensors attached to them.
- Focus and emphasis on application security
Since IoT is all about the smart devices and their connection there is lot of data transferring by them. This contains users data which is being transferred so extra precautions needs to be taken while designing the app so that user data is safe and secure.
- Need of specialization
IoT is a new technology and to design and develop apps supporting and integrating IoT the developers must have specialized skills and talents to handle the physical devices connectivity. They need to be specialists in the IoT technologies to develop highly competitive apps. Only the app development knowledge is not enough to succeed in IoT app development field.
- Brings modifications and changes
It is of utmost importance that the modifications are done in the methodologies followed and the existing apps to include the IoT components. The mobile apps designed should have the capability to deal with the smart devices and communicate effectively.
These were some of the major impacts which IoT has on the mobile application development. Apart from this after developing IoT enabled mobile applications one can look at the plethora of features and benefits they offer you, some of them are:
- The apps are location independent and you can monitor and manage your devices from anywhere through the apps. You can control your home, your workplace and many more things just from a mobile based application.
- The notification facility helps to keep a track of the IoT network and help you monitor the real time conditions. You may get notification of the various IoT device statuses such as to switch the lights off of your office etc.
- They are more convenient to use and makes life and daily chores easier for the users as people nowadays use their mobile the most. So having a mobile app is far more flexible and reliable for users.
- The social media platforms are integrated in the applications so as to make them more interactive and people are connected to the outside world despite of being at any location at any time.
- An IoT enabled application is best for the brand promotion as customers will prefer your apps more as this will enable them to use IoT enabled devices in an effective manner. So in short your apps will promote your business and your brand to people.
Some of the points that one should keep in mind while having an IoT integrated mobile application are:
- Try to adhere to agreements and the policies very strictly and make your clients also aware about all these.
- Try to have a plan for the connectivity with the devices including the mobile devices as IoT is all about the connection of devices and how they communicate.
- Have the hardware requirements laid down correctly as the IoT needs different hardware capabilities for devices and if not present then the company has to invest in the devices hardware requirements as well.
- There is also a necessity to have a look at the programming framework and the protocols as connectivity is an important factor in integrating IoT with the mobile devices.
There are lots of challenges in the mobile app development and IoT enabled apps are one of them which the developers have started exploring and innovating. Both app development and IoT will go hand in hand and benefit each other as well as the customers in terms of technological ease and flexibility.
The only thing that has to be kept in mind in the IoT based development is the data security of the clients and the users as according to new regulations strict policies are present for the personal data of the users. So the mobile app developer not only have to focus on the design and features implementation but also the security and privacy features of the application to make it worth investing and using.