Since
the introduction of mHealth apps, healthcare organizations have witnessed a
sea-change in the way patients relate to doctors. Now the patients have more
control over their medical decisions and the overall system has become more
patient-centric. Owing to this, a variety of mHealth apps have emerged in the
market and a video consultation healthcare app is one such
innovation. This app enables the patients and doctors to communicate instantly
in case of an emergency or when it is not possible to visit the hospital. The
doctors can send ePrescriptions online and provide medical assistance. So,
having an Online Medical Consultation App with a video calling facility can
always be a lucrative decision for any medical body or even an individual
practitioner.
So,
today’s topic is about creating a video consultation healthcare app. We will
consider the React Native framework for this purpose since React Native
development services are a perfect pick for developing native-like
cross-platform apps. Also, we will talk about Twilio as a cloud communications
platform that is being widely used in video calling apps. Let’s get started
with what Twilio is and then the process to create the app.
What is Twilio?
Twilio
is an American cloud-based service or cloud communications platform as a
service (CPaaS). It acts as a powerful communication tool and bridges the gap
between various mobile devices, other systems, services, etc. and telephony. In
React Native development, APIs
offered by Twilio enables the developers to implement several communication
services like making and receiving audio/video phone calls, sending and
receiving text messages, etc. These services also include AI bots, emails, etc.
In this process, in addition to audio/video calling, other features like
account recovery, phone verification, in-app calls or in-app chats, etc. can
also be worked upon.
To
integrate Twilio in the app, React Native developer will need existing
knowledge on Cocoapods, React Native Navigation, React, etc. Twilio
Here are a few top benefits of using Twilio
- Twilio is quite easy to learn and so, there are a plethora of developers available.
- It follows a standard method of communication: HTTP.
- Switching between technologies is also much easier.
- Owing to Platforms as a Service (PaaS), capital costs are somewhat lower. Even the deployment costs are lower and they increase gradually as the company grows.
Steps for Creating a Video calling Healthcare app with
React Native using Twilio WebRTC
While
using Twilio WebRTC for the healthcare video calling app, a React Native app development company should
follow the step-by-step procedure as given below. This procedure is divided
into two major parts where the first part is about generating a token using
Twilio and the second part talks about installing dependencies using a React Native
starter kit. Also, we will consider a React Native Android app for now. So
let’s get started with the first part.
Part 1: Token Generation with Twilio
Twilio
provides both IOS/Android SDKs and JavaScript. But for React Native, Twilio
does not provide any direct support. So, the React Native developers can use
the JavaScript SDK for a few services but this isn’t possible for other
services, because to a great extent it depends on browser APIs. There is one
more alternative and that would be by porting the native Android/IOS SDK to
React Native. So here, we have used this combination: Twilio Video (WebRTC) for
React Native.
Firstly,
create an account on https://www.twilio.com/. Sign-up for
a trial and verify your credentials such as phone number, email, etc. You will
now be directed to the Dashboard.
You
will need ACCOUNT SID along with an API key and a Secret key for generating a
token. For generating an API key, navigate to API keys through the settings.
The creation of API key here will give both the Secret key and the API key. It
is now possible to generate a token by using npm install which uses npm
package. The tokens can also be generated in multiple languages as well. The
identity value should be changed for every token as the same token cannot be
used at different places.
There
is one more way to create a token by the use of Twilio tools. Click on Twilio
tools and write an identity and a room name. This will generate the access
token. Securely save these keys for the later part.
The
Twilio part of the video consultation healthcare app ends here. Now let us
start with the React Native development part.
Part 2: Installing Dependencies using a React Native
Starter Kit
Here
we will be using React Native starter kit that can be copied from the GitHub
link- https://github.com/flatlogic/react-native-starter. You need to
run the command- “npm install
https://github.com/blackuy/react-native-twilio-video-webrtc --save” in the
terminal project directory and then write the required code in App.js file.
Make
sure that all the required dependencies are installed by the execution of the
command- “npm install” in the project directory. Also, you need to make some
configurations for utilizing Twilio and also use audio, camera, etc.
For
making the goto Android folder, you should add the following code lines in
settings.gradle file-
include
':react-native-twilio-video-webrtc'
project(':react-native-twilio-video-webrtc').projectDir
= new File(rootProject.projectDir,
'../node_modules/react-native-twilio-video-webrtc/android')
Now,
go to Android > app > build.gradle file and search for dependencies.
After that, add the below-mentioned code in the block.
compile
project(':react-native-twilio-video-webrtc')
Also,
add the below-mentioned code in Android > app > SRC > main > JAVA
> com > reactnativestarter > MainApplication.java.
import
com.twiliorn.library.TwilioPackage;
After
this, replace the getPackages() method with the required code.
Now
for requesting the permissions to the user, it is essential to modify
AndroidManifest.xml by adding the required code in this file. Also ensure that
in your Twilio account, the client-side room creation is enabled.
Running the Application
Finally,
when all the steps are implemented and code is executed, run your React Native
healthcare app by the execution of the command- “react-native run-android” from
the terminal window.
Final Verdict:
Here
we have developed a simple React Native app to demonstrate the video-calling
capability of Twilio. But we just need to remember that few things like user
connections, user access token generation, room creation, etc. must be very
diligently handled on the backend.
You
can develop a Video Consultation healthcare app in React Native with Twilio as
outlined above. We hope these steps will be helpful to React Native developers
as well as a React Native app development company in developing a doctor on
demand video consultation healthcare app.
To know more about our other core technologies, refer to
links below
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