TBA Chat Mobile App Development Case Study
Introduction
The groundwork for TBA started way back in 2015. The aim was simple – To develop a simple mass communication platform! The TBA allows you to broadcast messages to several groups and they all receive a push notification. However, when they reply, they will be able to message only you and not to the other members of the group. This app is like a BCC on email, but for a mobile.
However, every good product requires some functional tweaking to turn it into a great product. Although the app was already developed, the clients were not very happy with it and they approached us. This is how OLBUZ came into the scene!
This case study reflects on how the challenges were identified, solutions were offered and the turn-around. As the TBA makes an entry back on the Apple Store, the results so far have been overwhelming.
Key Challenges Faced
Although the idea of the app was quite intriguing, there was tremendous scope for improvement on the execution part. Following are some of the main challenges faced by the app:
- It appeared as if the app was rolled out without thorough testing. There were lots of bugs and errors in the Mobile app.
- Initially, the app was developed only for iOS devices and immediate plans for Android App development were not in place.
- We noticed compatibility issues among different iOS devices and variants.
- The developed User Interface (UI) itself looked dull and unresponsive at times.
- Security was a major concern as the user database was not properly protected.
Solutions Offered
- The top priority was to improve the user experience by building an easy and smooth UI.
- Intense third-party testing solved all bugs across iOS devices.
- The mobile App was restructured from scratch. We aimed for easy navigation to ensure proper flow of the app. Several easy to understand features with good call to action were imbibed in the app.
- Based on the feedback from different users, several features like GIF compatibility, Video sending support, story feature, etc. were added in the app.
- A special Women Safety Feature was added in the app for female users.
- Keeping up with the recent trends in the popular apps, the reworked Chat TBA app boasts of the Dark Mode & Light Mode.
- A market place similar to Craiglist was introduced for in-app purchases.
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Further Updates
After improving the app on the iOS platform, the next task was to attract new users and increase the user base.
As per recent statistics, 76.67% of the mobile users own an android based phone while only 22.09% have a phone working on iOS platform globally. Providing an app only for iOS devices was restricting its reach from the majority of mobile owners. It was therefore decided to develop the chat app on the Android platform as well.
The database management module was modified accordingly with increased security features and compatibility with the Android app as well.
Result
The response to the above solutions and updates has been tremendous. The following key points highlight the success story:
- The app has witnessed a ten-fold increase in the number of users and has grown from 5K users in the original version to 50K users at present.
- The developers were able to secure a funding of $50K especially for adding the Women Safety Feature.
- The app received additional funding of $15K through KIN CryptoCurrency.
Technology Used
- Back-end: The back-end of the app has been developed using Core PHP as it offers simplicity in creating dynamic web pages without requiring any additional library.
- Front-end: The app for the iOS platform uses Objective-C to add Smalltalk-style messaging to object-oriented C programming language. The front-end for Android app has been developed using the most popular general-programming language-Java.
- OTP Verification: The OTP functionality has been added using the Twilio platform which allows software developers to perform communication functions using its web service APIs.
- Database: The databasemanagement has been implemented through the open-source MySQL platform.
- Server: The previous version of TBA used a less secured shared server. The server has been updated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide added security. It is one of the most popular and comprehensive cloud platform globally.
The above case study highlight the practices applied at OLBUZ. As you can see, getting in touch with a professional team that understands your requirement can do wonders to your business.
Contact Information
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