This is a question that we go through with nearly every mobile client we work with at Barefoot Solutions. Mobile technology is progressing at breakneck speed right now and it's very difficult to keep up. So to start, what are the technology options for launching a mobile strategy? While there are an infinite number of variations, the options can mostly be put into 4 buckets: Mobile Websites Mobile Web Apps Hybrid Apps Native Apps Mobile Websites are simply websites that have been optimized for mobile devices. A good example of this can be found at http://m.techcrunch.com. Changes to the layout are made by recognizing the user agent as a mobile device and optimizing for its limitations. This can include removing ads, increasing the size of clickable areas, and most importantly, accounting for the smaller screen size. Mobile Web Apps are still mobile websites, and thus must be accessed via a phone or tablets web browser. The difference between a mobile website and a mobile web app is that mobile web apps are built to mimic functionality of native apps. By adding controls like date pickers, tab bar navigation, and other native feeling controls, this gives the user the experience of using a native app. Typically these are built using frameworks such as Sencha Touch or JQuery Mobile. These frameworks are effective because they have already built most of the common controls using HTML5 and Javascript. Building all of those controls from scratch would be a significant undertaking, but JQuery Mobile you can focus on functionality, rather than building the sometimes complex user interaction necessary for mobile devices. Hybrid apps also utilize frameworks, often built with HTML5, Javascript and CSS, to produce native-feeling apps. Some examples are Phonegap and Titanium Appcelerator. The difference between a hybrid app and a mobile web app is that the hybrid apps are actually compiled and treated as native apps. This means that, on your iPhone for example, a hybrid app must be downloaded from the app store, and will live as an app icon on your home screen. Hybrid apps are appealing because they allow you to develop only a single app, but then compile for the various app stores and be available on multiple platforms. Another benefit of hybrid apps is that they have access to the phone's hardware. Access to the accelerometer, image gallery, camera, bluetooth, and other sensors on the phone are often a requirement for the more advanced apps. Finally, we have purely native mobile apps. This means that they are written in Objective-C for iPhones, or Java for Android applications. They are compiled, and submitted to the app store for distribution for that devices particular users. Mostly, native apps have to be built as a separate piece of software for each platform, and are able to share very little code. So if the desire is to make your app available on iPhone, Android, WinPhone, and Blackberry, you would need to build four separate apps. So with those as the options, what factors should go into deciding on a platform? To start, it's important to identify the goals and limitations of your mobile strategy. Then you apply those goals to the four factors below to make a decision. Cost Mobile apps become more expensive as you get closer to the fully native experience. A mobile website can often be implemented by altering layout and stylesheets of an existing website, and as such is a low cost product that can be accessed on any phone or tablet with a web browser. Native apps, on the other and, require quite a bit more development time, which then gets multiplied by the number of platforms that need to be accessible. As such, native apps are the most expensive option, by far. User Experience If this decision was based entirely on cost, then a mobile website would be the obvious choice. But what about the user experience? Unfortunately, native apps, while the most expensive option, also provide the best user experience. By interfacing directly with the native SDKs, native apps have a very fast and responsive UX. Think of the difference between using a desktop app like Microsoft Word, versus Software as a Service like Google Docs. Because Microsoft Word is a compiled and installed application, it directly interfaces with your machine and allows it to be more powerful, and responsive. The same holds true for native apps. Further, native apps have controls like pickers, navigation tabs, action bars, and others that are immediately recognizable to users of a platform. When building a single app for multiple platforms, you must find commonality amongst those platforms and therefore can't entirely mimic a native experience. While this will work for some apps, others, particularly those that are entirely consumer facing, need the native UX to provide users what they have come to expect from their apps. Difficult to develop and maintain Many organizations now have in-house web developers, or at least people with some experience with HTML/CSS. This makes it possible for some organizations to build a mobile website or mobile web app without having to hire outside of the company. Native apps however require a very particular skillset. Objective-C developers, for instance, can be difficult to find and expensive to hire. While it may be feasible to hire a firm for the initial development of your app(s), there is also the matter of continually managing this relationship to account for updates, bug fixes, operating system upgrades, and other required maintenance over the lifetime of the app. Depending on resources this may not be feasible for some smaller organizations. Reach Mobile websites and mobile web apps are available on any device that has a web browser. This is basically any feature phone or smartphone these days. As such, they have the furthest reach with the lowest cost. Hybrid apps can also be available on multiple platforms for only the cost of building a single app. Further, along with native apps, they have the added benefit of placement in the various app stores. This allows apps to be discovered by users in a way that just isn't possible with the mobile web. This also allows the possibility of reaching high in search rankings, or earning a featured placement in an app store which can provide a serious spike in downloads. So what approach should you choose? It seems to be like the odds are greatly in favor of the non-native options, but very often that is not the case. As I mentioned, the user experience on non-native apps is just not where it needs to be. Even with hybrid apps, buttons can take a half-second longer to respond to a tap, and scrolling can get slow and choppy. In the beginning of 2011, Facebook's mobile app took a largely hybrid approach. They were faced with considerable user unrest, and suffered a fairly low rating in the app stores. In the middle of the year they re-architected to a much more native experience. Their apps are now faster, more responsive, and the user feedback has improved considerably. At Barefoot Solutions, we always recommend native for any purely consumer facing app. Period. If you want to have a chance at gaining significant traction, it is imperative that you provide the best User Experience possible. It is often better to launch on only a single platform, with an excellent user experience, versus launching a mediocre experience on all platforms. When we start talking about internal apps, mobile web apps and hybrid apps become a much more cost effective solution. For example, if you're building an app to help your sales staff in the field, and this staff uses a variety of devices, it often makes sense to build a hybrid app. This will allow most of your staff to use the app on their devices, and they will most likely be willing to look past the slight lack of performance. If you are a restaurant that just needs contact information, directions, and a menu available on customer's phones, then a mobile website is probably the right strategy for you. Overall, this is a decision not to take lightly. Jumping from one strategy to another often requires an entire rebuild, so it's important to get this right the first time. At Barefoot Solutions, we're happy to provide a free consultation to discuss your mobile strategy and provide an in-depth look at what might be best for your startup or existing company.

Lots of apps suck. Just plain, bad products that should fall into the undesirable pits of failure and leave us alone. Don’t let that happen to your idea or your app. There are plenty of ways to ensure your app is used, loved, and could even be the next big thing. Here are some tricks we’ve learned along the way from clients whose ideas went from concept to Steve-Jobs-like success story. 1) Make it stupidly simple. No no, don’t make your app stupid, make it stupidly simple to use. There is nothing more frustrating than taking the time to download an app, only to struggle with understanding how to use it. Provide a simple walk-through guide for first-time users so they understand what they are supposed to be doing with your awesome app. From there, remove complexity in every way possible. Your app should be a tool to make their lives easier or a game to bring joy. Therefore make sure yours is an asset to their app collection, not the complicated monstrosity they will be complaining to their friends about. 2) Avoid a bunch of advertisements. How many times have you downloaded a free or freemium app, and to use it you’re barraged with an unending amount of advertisement pop-ups? Or worse, ads over your listening experience. Take Spotify’s advertising model for example - while we appreciate the freemium version they put out there, users are pretty much bullied into subscribing monthly for the app due to the constant stream of music montage ruining commercials that keep screwing up your workout, especially that one time you were about to PR (personal record). Yes advertising can help fund your app, but remember there are lots of ways to monetize your app. If you choose to go the ad route, try not to overwhelm your user - because that sucks. 3) Keep your target audience in mind - and make them happy. As much as you’d like it to be, your app can’t be everyone’s best friend. Understand the person you are targeting and build your app with them in mind. If you try too hard to imagine every person who could ever possibly use your app, you’re just going to piss off everyone. Focus on the ideal user and make them giddy with your app experience. 4) Make it inexpensive or free. Everyone likes free stuff. That goes for your potential users too. Lower the barriers to entry and if you can, make your app free to download. If you do want to put a price on it, at least keep the cost down to maximize the people who will be willing to pay a buck or two for your app. 5) Learn from your audience. The Internet is filled with people with opinions. If they don’t like something you can be damned sure they are going to tell you about it. Listen to those who complain and yes, sometimes it stings a little. Just don’t forget the haters are always louder than the lovers. It’s therefore helpful to request feedback from your users to get the opinions of those who like your app and can tell you what cool things you’re doing right. You’ll probably need some positive feedback anyway as listening to the complainers and trolls can get downright taxing. 6) Study your competition. It’s helpful to understand your competition because you don’t want to reinvent an already working wheel by making a lamer version of something users know and love. Check out their model to verify that you have something unique that users can gravitate to. Sure, it can be a solution to the same problem the competition is looking to solve, but what’s going to make you successful is having taken a different angle and mastering your own competitive advantage. 7) Do one thing and do it better than anyone else. Sometimes people think their mobile app should be a mobile version of their web app, with all the functionality of the web app on the mobile app. This is typically the wrong approach - your app can’t be everything to everyone. Facebook recently realized this and is actually removing functionality and spinning them out (e.g. Messenger) into separate apps. Do yourself a favor and realize this early and focus on being an expert at that one thing. The point is, your app idea could be great in your head but flop on execution. The last thing we want for you is for that to happen. So don’t be a stranger, let us know how we can steer you in the right direction, whether it’s with us or another team who will help make sure your app isn’t awful.

iOS8 was one of the most exciting updates Apple has yet offered from a developer perspective. A big reason for this is the update came with Extensibility, which enabled developers to extend functionality of apps into other important parts of the phone. One of those parts? The keyboard. App developers can now build the custom keyboards you’ve always envisioned, while still experiencing the security benefits of iOS. This is because extensions run in the same sandbox as the apps they extend from but operate within separate containers. Basically - you get all the functionality you dream of yet maintain the privacy and security of the system Apple has become known for. Now that developers can essentially replace the default, system-wide iOS keyboard with almost anything you can think of, we wanted to explore the possibilities that have been released so far.   Swype + SwiftKey For years Android users have enjoyed the Swype and SwiftKey keyboards, and both are now available on iPhone and iPad. While theses are two different keyboards, they are similar in function and benefit. The user begins both typing experiences by simply placing their finger on the first letter key of the word. Then without lifting a finger, they then slide to the next letters. A few more swipes like this and the Swype and/or SwiftKey will offer options for what is predicted to be the word, and the user then selects the intended word. Both keyboards get “smarter” with more use, as the predictive technology both feature starts recognizing frequently used words. The one big difference between the two is SwiftKey offers emojis, while Swype does not.   Gifmoji  There’s no better way to express excitement than with a GIF of Stephen Colbert happy dancing. Gifmoji had the same opinion and created the solution for mobile comedians to express themselves through moving GIFs and slapstick emojis. The app comes with three different sections, the first being moving emojis.These are those familiar emojis texters have been using for years, except they perform the movements of blowing kisses or shaking heads from side to side. The second section is a collection of popular kaomoji, such as o/ or (-_-*), making these communications more easily accessible rather than typing them out. Finally is the best part of the app, the GIFs. These are complete with short  2-3 second expressions of popular actors and cartoons acting out full ranges of emotion such as flipping over tables or dancing in happiness. Your friends will not misunderstand your meaning again.   Stack Most of the keyboards we’ve seen thus far focus on features like glittery emoji, predictive text or gesture typing. Stack took a different approach and focuses on an entirely different type of keyboard - by not even opening a keyboard at all. Instead, the area where a QWERTY keyboard usually appears simply displays a blank space, in which the user can draw letters. The keyboard is fast enough to recognize each letter that the user can write the letters on top of each other. This is a good option for those who don’t tend to like traditional keyboards and prefer drawing. We see this most likely being predominantly used on iPads with a stylus pan as opposed to on an iPhone, but the keyboard is available for both.   TextExpander 3 While messages usually must be typed in their entirety, the app developers who created TextExpander are making the ease that is the texting game even easier. With this keyboard new to iOS, users can access a database of commonly used abbreviations, which TextExpander will expand into full phrases or sentences. Such commands can include typing “TY” which TextExpander will translate into “Thank you very much!” This keyboard can also be customized with whatever abbreviations you commonly use and prefer.   Texting can be viewed as a lazier form of communication, in that it doesn’t require much of a greeting or a goodbye, and ideas can be conveyed in one simple line of text. This is much to the delight of the socially awkward or the plainly lazy. However the possibilities have now opened up in such a way that entrepreneurs filled with ideas and developers anxious to try something new, can now create new custom keyboards for the iOS audience.  Do you have a favorite iOS keyboard? Let us know what you think in the comments below.  Or perhaps you have an idea for a new keyboard that hasn’t been released yet. We’ll be happy to help you get started.