How can a mobile app benefit your Pharmacy Business?

Thanks to the advancement in the Healthcare Sector, the pharmacy segment too, has undergone transformative changes. Today, pharmacy applications have gained immense popularity and have been widely accepted globally. A pharmacy app delivers a rich experience to online buyers – individuals can obtain home delivery of medicines effortlessly and within a short time; without having to visit the store.

 As per a survey by Global Market Insights, a distinguished research portal, “the size of the ePharmacy market crossed 68 billion USD in 2021 and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 16.8% from the year 2022 to 2028”.

 So, it’s high time entrepreneurs should consider building a pharmacy app, isn’t it? This post outlines the benefits of investing in pharmacy app development, and also provides insights on the must-have features to include in a sound pharmacy app.

Essential Features that add Value to Pharmacy Apps

Besides the regular functionalities like customer login, push notifications, customer feedback, etc. your app needs to integrate some additional features that will add value to your pharmacy application. Check them out!

Medicine Description

A comprehensive description of medicines including dosage, usage methodology, possible side effects, storage directions, and reviews from other consumers; will provide assurance to individuals purchasing a specific medicine.

Easy Ordering

The process of placing an order must be plain sailing and easy to execute. For this, it’s recommended to have a virtual cart for consolidating patient orders, an order tracking feature, and several secure payment options for consumers.

Smart Search Feature

Running the smart search feature simplifies the medicine search process - a consumer can find medicines based on the kind of medicine, the type of equipment, the preferred location, and so on.

Uploading and Refilling of Prescriptions

It’s advisable to provide patients the facility of uploading their doctor’s prescription directly on the applications and have the search engine take care of the rest of the actions. This way, patients can save the hassles, time, and effort of looking for each medicine separately. Refilling of prescription is also a crucial feature to include; it will save patients the efforts of visiting a store.

Advice from a professional

This feature is highly desirable and helpful for customers using pharmacy apps. Here, consumers may seek advice from a professional pharmacist, in case they have any queries on certain medication, or come across some issues while finding a particular medicine. This facility can be offered through chat or calls.

Reasons to Build a Mobile App for your Pharmacy Business

Brand Awareness, Marketing, and Recognition

A well-designed pharmacy application with a visually attractive & SEO-friendly interface, your logo, pictures of your store, easy purchase options, and other details about your business; works wonders in branding, effective marketing, and gaining widespread recognition.

The traditional practice of showcasing your brand’s product/ service offerings through catalogs and brochures has been replaced by apps these days. And, an app serves this purpose more effectively. Customers who download your app can easily access your digital catalogs and get notified about the latest deals or new offerings through push notifications since your app is downloaded on their devices. Customers may miss commercials, emails, or social media posts; but not a push notification. Most importantly, you are always in your customer’s mind. And, this strategy works better than website marketing.

Furthermore, providing customers the incentive of sharing your app with their friends will further establish your digital presence.

More Transparency

Pharmacy apps providing comprehensive information about their offerings and functional standards, help to build trust amongst customers. This is because this approach makes your services all the more transparent and attractive. An app that is organized, effortlessly accessible, and contains minute descriptive details about medicines increases transparency.

Gaining Insights on Buying Trends and Improvement Areas

Several pharmacy applications integrate an analytical tool into their app for studying user behavior. This tool provides pharmacy businesses with useful information on the current buying trends and patterns of consumers. Pharmacy store owners can also identify the weak points in their business offerings and identify the areas of improvement in their business model. And, updating the app from time to time with relevant features, accelerate sales.

Pharmacy owners can also learn about their customers’ requirements and preferences through digital feedback forms.

This way, it becomes easy for businesses to improve their efficiency and service quality, broaden their service offerings, and implement relevant consumer engagement strategies for attracting more customers. So, isn’t it a smart approach for your business growth?

Gaining Customer loyalty and Promoting Sales

Pharmacy apps help business owners convey important information concerning sales, discounted offers, new stock arrival, and promotional offers to customers through push notifications. This strategy helps pharmacy owners to effectively reach out to customers as they carry their mobile handsets wherever they go. Moreover, if you customize customers’ shopping experience, the online traffic of your app will accelerate.

Pharmacy apps elevate consumers’ shopping experience beyond the confines of store premises as they are capable of delivering round-the-clock services. The online catalogs are updated constantly providing timely information to the customer. Also customers can avail of personalized discounts, thereby giving better value to the customer.

Providing a Rich Customer Experience

Advanced pharmacy apps offer a responsive solution that caters to every requirement of modern tech-savvy consumers in every possible way and increases the number of touchpoints as well.

With apps, getting medicines delivered at the doorstep or booking an online consultation with pharmacists; is a few finger clicks away. This allows patients to manage prescriptions in a better way and improves the PDC (proportion of days covered) scores of patients. The app notifies the customers on when to reorder medication via automated refill reminders and enables them to instantly refill prescriptions without having to visit the store physically. With a HIPAA-compliant app, consumers can choose amongst multiple secure payment gateways. Some apps store customers’ card information and enable access to payment apps like PayPal to simplify payment hassles for online buyers.

An app facilitates online consultations between a patient and the pharmacist. It reduces friction in the workflow of the pharmacy and, as a result, every patient who has booked a consultation receives quality care without having to spare any waiting time.

Online Pharmacy App: Lower Investment Costs and Minimum Risks

Businesses that operate on-demand medicine delivery apps need not invest heavily in renting physical spaces, equipping their stores with necessities, or hiring a workforce for running the pharmacy. They only need to invest in proficient mobile app developers to build a responsive, scalable, and feature-rich pharmacy app that will execute sales and fetch revenue; rope in deliver personnel, or team up with a delivery service aggregator.

Moreover, entrepreneurs planning to launch their digital pharmacy enjoy the benefits of a shorter launch time, immense flexibility, and lower risks as compared to physical stores.

Preventing Misuse of Sensitive/High Dosage Drugs

Pharmacy store owners must implement measures to ensure security concerning purchases and prevent misuse of medicines. But, this activity becomes quite challenging for pharmacy owners who run physical stores. It takes a great deal of time and effort to track the purchases of customers visiting the store in person. However, today’s pharmacy apps simplify this task. Advanced app features allow linking identity cards of customers before delivering sensitive drugs or high-dosage medicines so that prescriptions and previous purchases can be auto-monitored. A pharmacy mobile app records every consumer’s purchase history including the current/previous orders and amount of medicines purchased. This way, pharmacists can effortlessly regulate or limit the purchase of sensitive drugs and prevent their misuse.

Constant Supply

The constant supply of medicines is a necessity, as patients need medicines instantly or within a short time. So, pharmacy providers must ensure that there’s a constant supply of medicines. This prerequisite is easy to maintain with an app, as here, the orders are directly placed to pharmaceutical companies or bulk medicine suppliers. This helps to eliminate the issue of shortage when individuals or retailers place orders through an app.

Saves time of Consumers as well as Providers

Customers using pharmacy apps can check the availability of medicines by browsing through online catalogs that provide comprehensive information on products; and then can directly place the order for home delivery of medicines. This saves a great deal of their time and effort.

The digital channels opened up by apps, distribute the workload of pharmacy businesses. The self-service approach for consumers and the automation of certain manual store-related tasks save time and allow businesses to focus on core activities.

End Note:

Thus, developing a pharmacy app is a great tool for marketing, branding, attracting customers, providing better services, and the quickest and most cost-efficient way of generating revenue for businesses.

All you need to do is team up with an adept and experienced pharmacy app development company like Biz4Solutions. We have helped several businesses throughout the globe to build profitable apps.

Automation Testing and Its Benefits for Software Development with Frequent Code Changes

As we progress towards 2023, we witness a surge in the number of startups. The technology-driven era is giving way to more software development and an agile environment. The software development companies are flourishing with new technologies and products in the market. The market has grown competitive and any development idea may not survive for long, especially in product-based startups. This is the reason that the development codes keep changing every sprint. While the developers get started with development in sprint, it is the testing that bears the brunt. In projects with frequent code changes, the testers do not get time to test every change. This is the reason that many companies are even outsourcing software development where the third party takes care of testing. Can automation testing be applied to such scenarios? Yes. Let us understand the details about applying automation testing in software development projects where codes change very frequently.

Challenges in Testing

Manual testing is preferred only for some use cases. Every company is adopting automation testing to save time and enhance efficiency. However, projects with frequent code changes pose a challenge to the testers to automate test cases.

• The continuous changes in application code and GUI results in addition and modification of test cases, making test automation difficult.
• The code may change every sprint, putting pressure on the QA team to get a fully functional new build, create new test cases for changes, and test them. Every new feature requires thorough testing which requires time. The frequent code changes give minimal time for testing.
• With time, the product becomes more complex, creating bottlenecks in testing and analyzing software performance in a limited time.

Automations That Support Such Development (frequent changes in code)

Selective automation testing is advised for projects that change codes very frequently.

Unit testing

Developers generally write and run the unit test cases. It is imperative to test the smallest function in an application to ensure that the application does not fail. As the codes and functionalities increase, unit testing becomes even more important. Unit testing can be automated for all the successfully implemented functionalities.

Smoke Testing

It is high priority activity for every new build. Smoke testing can be automated without hassle for any kind of project. The critical functionalities are defined at the initiation of the project. It is best to automate the testing of these critical functionalities as they are the most permanent aspect of any project. Even if new features are added, new critical functionalities can be added to the test suite.

Functional Testing

This is another important test to ensure that the implemented features work according to the requirements of the software. Functional testing is a recurring process and automation can be the best solution. After new codes and features are added to the solution, these tests are re-run to ensure that the new codes do not change anything in the existing functionalities. Functional testing of the implemented and stable features can be automated to run after every fresh build in a sprint. New cross-functional testing can be initially tested manually. But as the product/solution becomes stable, these test cases can be added to the automated test case suite.

Load Testing

Load testing becomes a priority for products such as mobile applications and connectivity-based solutions. The performance requirement is identified as one of the requirements of the project. So, it is something that is not expected to change with time. It can be automated and performed after a new functionality is added or there is a significant change in the code.

API Testing

The client/server interaction is defined and it does not change with any changes in the frontend or backend. The automated API tests can be run when required to ensure that the product runs correctly. The aim is to save the developer’s and QA team’s productive time in identifying the impact of new codes on the implemented features and then correcting them.

Advantages of Automation Testing in Such Projects

1. Time- and effort-efficient regression testing

Regression testing consumes a lot of productive time. Moreover, the steps are repetitive and do not add anything to the skill set of the performer. These steps when automated save a lot of time and effort.

2. Extensive test coverage

Many products/solutions have the requirement to be tested across multiple browsers and devices. The extensive test scenario and devices take time for testing. Dedicating a lot of time for covering every device and browser for every test case may not be possible in manual testing. Automation/ automated testing covers every testing aspect without dependency on any individual.

3. Seamless communication

Automation/automated testing yields results at a faster pace. The QA team is capable of providing the development team with results after every change. This helps in assessing the performance of the product at every stage. Fast results lead to faster and more meaningful communication between the QA team and the development team. This helps in doing faster development and delivery to the client.

Scenarios for Automation Testing

Not every product whose code changes regularly requires automation testing. And not every test case can be automated. Automating the test cases can be time-consuming. Also, the company has to spend money on the automation testing suit. Put together, automation/automated testing can be time- and money- intensive. So, the software development companies should consider automating only the required test cases.

 The projects can consider the following scenarios for automating the test cases:

1. When the regressive test cases are already identified. Test cases for the functionalities which are going to remain unchanged till the project ends can be automated.
2. Automation/automated testing can be performed generally for the smoke testing for every project as the basic critical test cases remain unchanged.
3. Cross-functional testing can be added to the automated testing framework. After the addition of every new feature, a cross-functional test can be performed manually. Then it can be added to the automation framework to repeat the test after every build.

Automation/automated testing is a great feature for the QA team of every software development project irrespective of the model of development. The only difference can be in the degree of automation. Automation has a lot of benefits that result in better time efficiency, higher productivity, and greater customer satisfaction. Biz4Solutions is one of the leading software development services company. Our QA experts ensure thorough automated testing using popular automation tools like Selenium, Apiium, SoapUI, etc and manual testing of the product to deliver a robust product. Contact us today to get the best software development services led by expertise and experience.

Guidance on NFT Creation and Monetization Strategies!

NFTs are cryptographic tokens existing on a Blockchain that can be traded or sold. NFTs involve objects or assets such as music, artwork, trading cards, pictures, tweets, memes, online gaming, virtual real estate, etc. 

This concept came to light in 2014 with the first known NFT transaction: A video clip named Quantum, registered by McCoy on Namecoin Blockchain was sold at $ 4 during a live presentation at New York’s New Museum. However, this concept didn’t attract much public attention until 2017 when the digital gaming brand CryptoKitties successfully sold tradable cat NFTs as a monetization strategy. Gradually, with the rising popularity of cryptocurrency usage, the NFT market picked momentum and by the end of 2020, the NFT market value reached 100 million $.

NFT became a buzzword around the globe ever since the most expensive NFT sale took place in March 2021: “First 5000 Days,” a crypto art by Beeple, was auctioned for 69.3 million USD.  Here’s the example of another multimillion-dollar NFT transaction in 2021: “Bored Ape Yacht Club” raised 26.2 million USD by selling a collection of ten thousand NFTs in the form of cartoon primates that can be used by their owners as profile pictures on social media accounts. The year 2021 witnessed a booming NFT market with countless profitable transactions and the market value shot to 22 billion $.

Several brands, individuals, and enterprises including Yahoo, Star Trek, NYSE, Walmart, Ticketmaster, Elvis Presley, and Panera have been trademarked for NFT. This post guides you on how to create an NFT and monetize it. So, if you too wish to trade your asset/s via NFT, this write-up is a must-read.

But, before we dig deeper, let’s get a clear idea about NFTs & the concept of minting NFTs!

What are NFTs and how do they function?

NFTs or non-fungible tokens are data units stored on Blockchain, a digital decentralized ledger. An NFT refers to a specific digital or physical asset that is virtually traded or sold. NFTs grant ownership of the physical/digital objects by recording it on Blockchain. Here, granting ownership means providing a license to use, copy, or display the asset for a particular purpose.

NFTs work like cryptographic tokens but one cannot mutually interchange them like cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum or Bitcoin. This is because, unlike cryptocurrencies, all NFTs are not the same; each NFT holds a different value if they represent varied assets.

To create an NFT and earn money from it, one needs to mint an NFT.

What do you mean by minting NFTs?

Minting NFTs is the process of creating NFTs on a Blockchain. Here, the digital file gets converted into a crypto collectible. During minting the data is recorded within a public ledger which is tamper-proof & unchangeable. As such, all NFT transactions in the future can be followed and tracked. For minting NFTs, owners have to pay the “gas fees.” However, some platforms do not charge any gas fees from NFT creators; the fee is compensated in the form of additional costs to be paid by the buyer just like VAT or airlines’ fuel charges.

How to Create NFT and Monetize it: Key Steps

Here are the key steps that should be followed to create an NFT and earn money out of it.

1. Decide on the type of NFT based on your Objective

Selecting the type of NFT is a very crucial move as it should seem valuable to your target audience and also be profitable for you. Take a look at some of the most popular NFT ideas. Digital works of art have been so far the most profitable NFTs ever created, and this strategy works best for individuals planning to create NFTs.

If you are a business brand selling physical collectibles, it would be a great idea to tokenize those collectibles and sell them in digital format. Digital trading cards and sports cards are good examples of this type of NFT. While physical cards are susceptible to damage, NFT cards will retain their quality forever as they are securely stored on a Blockchain.

NFT-based video games have also proved to be immensely profitable as gamers usually heavily invest in virtual gaming items.

2. Pick a Suitable Blockchain & NFT Marketplace to create NFT

Blockchain:

You also need to select an apt Blockchain technology to mint your digital asset into an NFT. Select the Blockchain depending on the type of cryptocurrencies owned by your target audience and the transaction charges involved in that Blockchain. The commonest Blockchain used for NFTs is Ethereum; other Blockchains include Smart Chain, Binance, Cosmos, EOS, Polkadot, Tron, Litecoin, and Tezos. For example, Ethereum powers NFT platforms like OpenSea, Rarible, & Mintable; Polkadot empowers Xeno NFT hub; Wax Blockchain empowers AtomicHub; and Tezos powers marketplaces like Bazaar market, Rarible, & one of.

NFT marketplace:

The crypto space offers several NFT marketplaces, and you need to pick the one that suits you best. It has been observed that non-curated platforms are preferred over curated platforms. The reason is that NFT creators using non-curated platforms provide low-cost options – you just have to register yourself and pay the transaction fee needed for minting a token.

Here are the offerings of some of the most popular NFT marketplaces:

OpenSea:

This popular marketplace is used by a huge chunk of NFT traders as it hosts almost every kind of NFT and supports 150+ cryptocurrency payment tokens.  Furthermore, OpenSea offers advanced features and user-friendly experiences to NFT holders enabling them to create effective NFTs speedily. Here, the NFT owners can even group up with other sellers for selling off their NFTs. The platform doesn’t charge any fee for creating an NFT and enlisting it for sale. Creators need to only pay fees for one-time registration and contact approval. Authors are charged a fee when their NFTs are sold.

Rarible

This is another popular marketplace, a self-service platform that is interconnected with OpenSea. The offerings of Rarible are quite similar to those of OpenSea. However, Rarible offers limited formats and smaller-sized artworks. Moreover, Rarible users can mint tokens prior to selling them, while in OpenSea token minting is managed at the time of selling the NFT.

Mintable 

This platform is ideal for novice traders as it is one of the most cost-efficient options for creating and selling NFTs. This platform doesn’t charge any fee for registration, NFT creation, or NFT sales. Free NFT minting services make this marketplace the most viable option for artists who seek zero investment and huge returns. But this platform is not so user-friendly and requires a lengthy registration procedure.

Is it necessary to use a marketplace for NFT Creation?

You need not use an NFT platform if you are technical enough to build a smart contract, choose a Blockchain to deploy it, and use it for minting tokens. You can also hire Blockchain app development services for customized requirements. 

3. Create a Digital Wallet & Fund it with Cryptocurrencies 

A digital wallet is an app that is used for storing cryptocurrencies as well as buying, selling, or minting NFTs. So, pick a wallet that is compatible with the Blockchain you use for minting your NFT if you are a creator/owner. MetaMask and Coinbase are the most commonly used ones.

Once the digital wallet is created, you need to add some cryptocurrencies for paying the NFT minting fees to the marketplace you’ve chosen. Ether or ETH, Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, is the most commonly accepted currency in NFT transactions.

4. Connect your Wallet to an NFT Marketplace

Now, you need to connect your wallet to the NFT marketplace you have chosen. For OpenSea and Rarible, this process is quite easy: you need to click the top left button for connecting the wallet. Then, you can view a list of compatible wallets; you need to select one out of these for continuing the connection process.

If you already have installed the extension of either Coinbase or Metamask, a pop-up will appear asking you to connect to your wallet, and you can connect with a few clicks. For the Coinbase wallet app, you also get the option of connecting with the marketplace using a QR code scanner that is present on the main wallet screen on the right side of your balance amount.

Remember to go for a trusted site instead of an unknown site, to prevent scammers from accessing your NFTs or funds.

5. Add Description to your NFT

Now, you need to upload the file that needs to be converted into an NFT to the marketplace you have picked. Then add a catchy title and description to your NFT for listing purposes. Once uploaded you need to select whether you wish to mint a single token or an entire collection of NFTs.

Thereafter, you will be asked to decide on the percentage of royalty you would like to claim whenever your asset/artwork is resold in the future. But, this part is a bit tricky. If you set a high percentage of royalty for resale, it may seem profitable but individuals who have purchased your asset might be reluctant to resell it.

The last step involves adding the properties of your file; this step is optional.

6. Enlist the NFT for Sale

After you are done with filling out the information and you have uploaded your file and minted it, you need to enlist it for sale.  Click on “create item” and then you will get the option to connect your wallet for paying the listing fee.

Once your file gets listed for sale on a particular marketplace, the platform will calculate the “gas fees”. This type of fee refers to the costs incurred by the Ethereum Blockchain network for recording transactions and the amount depends on how busy the platform’s network is. However, if you enlist your NFT during the non-peak hours, the fee will be lesser.

7. Promote your NFT

After creating an NFT and minting it, owners need to promote it through proper channels for maximizing the chances of success. The promotional platforms & approaches include public relations, online advertisements, crypto podcasts, and social media.

8. Select the NFT- Sale Strategy: Auction or Fixed Price

 It is important to choose an NFT-Sale strategy: Auction or Fixed Price. The fixed price strategy is simple, straightforward, and transparent – NFT owners mention a specific selling price for their assets.

Setting up an auction is a way more interesting and exciting approach for earning money from an NFT sale! Here, three options are available:

• Increasing price auction: The price increases and the highest bidder gets to buy the NFT.
• Timed auction: The bid for each lot is set for a definite time, the interested collectors have to submit the bid within the specified time, and finally, the person who submits the highest bid wins.
• Decreasing price auction: The NFT price drops till a person buys the NFT.
• Online auction without a deadline: Interested parties will submit the bid and the owner can close the auction at any time.

NFT Monetizing strategies 

 The various approaches to earning money from an NFT are:

Royalty: 

This is a crucial strategy to earn money from NFTs: the NFT creator can earn passive lifetime royalties after selling their NFT to another individual. For this, the creator must impose terms and conditions stating that royalties need to be paid to them every time the ownership of the NFT changes.

NFT Staking & Renting:

Staking is to lock or deposit an NFT for generating passive income in the form of tokens.

If your NFT is gaining popularity, renting will be a good option to earn money out of your NFTs. Here, a smart contract-empowered deal is sealed between two parties stating certain terms and conditions. The lease amount and the duration of the rental agreement are also fixed by the owner.

Liquidity Pool

This refers to a collection of digital assets locked within a smart contract. This collection can be used as loans, collateral, etc. Moreover, the users of several platforms are rewarded with NFTs that are exchanged with a liquidity pool and the owners can sell their NFT rewards for liquidating their positions within liquidity pools.

Summing Up:

The NFT platform can be leveraged by artists to get digitally recognized and can be used by business brands as a highly effective monetization strategy.  As the trend to collect NFTs is rapidly growing, the number of brands/firms applying for NFT trademarks is also on the rise. The number of NFT-related trademark applications received by the Patent and Trademark Office in the US was just three in 2020; the number rose to 1200 in 2021; 450 applications were received in January 2022.

If you too wish to make money by creating an exceptional NFT for your business brand, reach out to Biz4Solutions, a prominent software firm offering high-end mobile app development services as well as Blockchain-related services to global clientele for the last 12+ years.

Top 10 Trending Camera Apps for Android Users in 2022!

Are you fully satisfied with the performance of your Android device’s in-built camera? Well, for most of us the answer is negative. These days, most of us capture photographs using our smartphones and we require that perfect picture/video that can be posted on social media. And, most built-in cameras of android devices fail to satisfy this user expectation.

Good news! There are a host of incredible camera apps available for Android users that allow you to click captivating pictures like a professional. This post explores the distinct offerings of the most notable photo apps that are trending in 2022!

Pixtica

This is a free multimedia camera app with an intuitive design developed by Perraco Labs. It is ideal for expert photography, video creation, and adding innovation to photos/videos. The app is meant for filmmakers and photographers but can be used by novice photographers as well. Pixtica’s easy-to-use layout enables you to click like a pro even if you are a layman in photography.

The app offers amazing features like hyper-lapse, time-lapse, panoramic capture, slow-motion video recording, designing GIF animations with various capture modes, a huge variety of filters and effects including the bokeh effect, replacing a photo’s background, and scanning documents to PDF/JPEG mode. It also offers excellent manual controls just like the ones found in DSLR cameras – exposure, ISO, focus, balance, and shutter speed.

Cymera

This is one of the most amazing camera apps that comes with seven different varieties of camera lenses, a timer, a stabilizer, and a silent mode that allows users to shoot photographs quietly.

The app can be used for photo editing, beautification, and the addition of fun effects. Users can choose from a plethora of stickers, filters, and special effects, and its photo editor can reshape body structures and even add or remove facial/body features from photos. It also provides a smart gallery, loads of selfie functionalities, MEME editor, fireworks/lights effects, poster tool, collage creator, and a crop tool that helps users create Facebook & Instagram cover and YouTube thumbnails effortlessly.

ProCam X Lite

This app is a lightweight and free version of the popular Android app ProCam X. This happens to be one of the most viable options for mobile users; it offers exciting features like entire manual control on shutter speed, white balance, ISO, various focus modes, etc., various kinds of focus modes like  Macro, Manual, Infinity, Locked Focus, etc., and face detection capability. Also, there are twenty options for burst shots and elite features like exposure bracketing & interval shots; these prove handy during stop motion captures and timelapses.

Camera Zoom FX

This camera app is loaded with DSLR functions and allows users to click stable & action shots, apply fascinating filters, and compose photos.

Camera Zoom FX enables users to take RAW captures, integrate various shooting modes, adjust the shutter speed & the focus distance, set ISO, etc. Some of its USPs include HDR mode pro, burst mode, live effects, voice activation capabilities, and Spy camera. However, to avail of all its high-end features, one must download the premium version which costs 3.99 $.

Google Cardboard Camera

This is one of the unique camera apps that provides you the convenience and ease of clicking 3D photos at minimal costs and thereafter, enjoying those clicks in VR. Users can capture 3D photos and then view them on their Android screen or on a virtual reality device for achieving the best results.  Mobile app developers have put in a lot of innovation to make this app unique.

Mobile app developers have The VR photo clicking technique is quite similar to clicking panoramic shots using smartphones. One has to hold the mobile device vertically, click the camera button, and then move in a circle. Here, the Google Cardboard Camera allows you to make a 360 degree turn unlike general panoramic pictures, and also records a snippet of sound while clicking photos. The outcome is captivating as you get immersive pictures that possess depth when you view them on Google Cardboard. The objects at a distance appear far while the nearby objects appear near and users can view the captured scene from different directions - front, sides, and even behind their heads.

Open Camera

This is one of the best free and open-source camera apps available for Android devoid of ads and in-app purchases. Moreover, the app is lightweight and consumes less device storage space. What more could the users ask for? The Open camera app caters to Android smartphones and tablets.

The notable features of this app include HD video recording, the ability to geotag photos/videos, HDR, external microphone support, focus & scenes modes, automatic stabilizer, useful remote controls, configurable volume keys, and a dynamic optimization range. Furthermore, its GUI is optimized for right-handed as well as left-handed users with equal levels of perfection.

Candy Camera

This is a free camera app with ads that offer a host of enthralling beauty functions and filters for selfie clicks – various stickers, face slimming modes, makeup tools, light effects, and many more. Users can view effects live before they click a photo and also enhance the picture after capture. App users can click silent snaps/selfies and utilize the collage feature for creating beautiful collages by combining different photographs.

Vector Camera

This is a free and open-source new-age app that offers real-time alienation. This camera app is meant for adding enchanting effects while recording videos and shooting images. The app’s distinct offerings include live vectorization and after-processing vector effects, focussing on flashy coloring effects.

Users can choose from a plethora of real-time effects that can be applied to the primary interface for improving image/video quality. These effects can be further customized by the user; the background color and solid colors. Top-quality pictures can be clicked using the HQ mode. 

Vector Camera doesn’t affect your device’s battery life. However, unlike other camera apps, this app cannot be used for shooting regular photos without special effects.

Bacon Camera

This application is immensely helpful when the support for Camera2 API is absent on your Android device. This app is completely free and doesn’t offer any in-app product.

The app comes with an easy-to-use and intuitive user interface. Also, it provides full-scale manual DSLR-like controls such as focus, white balance, exposure compensation, live histogram (Luminance & RGB), semi-manual ISO speed, GIF designing, exposure bracket, etc. without requiring Camera2 API support. Bacon Camera provides support for all types of files including DNG, JPEG, and Bayer RAW.

Camera 360

This is a professional and easy-to-use camera application and one of the best photo editing apps. It is used for selfie retouching and photo editing using stickers, filters, and make-up modes. App users can select from numerous filters, choose how their skin & face looks in photos, and click candy selfies that appear more natural. The app also includes fun-filled elements like animated theme filters and Funny Augmented Reality Strikers.

A unique feature offered by Camera 360 is an Audio camera that allows users to capture standard still photographs with the sound made by the subject.

In Conclusion:

So, aren’t these photo apps remarkable? The craze for downloading high-end camera apps for captures and edits is a trend that’s here to stay. So, it’s a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs to exploit this growing demand by architecting a user-friendly camera app that offers exciting features.

If you would like to hire professional services for camera app development reach out  to Biz4Solutions, a prominent mobile app development company that has been delivering world-class apps and software products to global clients for the past 11+ years.

Top 7 Retail Technology Trends For 2022

 

The retail industry has transformed over the decade with the growing penetration of the internet across the globe. The retailers have been progressively involved in capturing the large population that stays online with remote devices. Online presence has become important for the business over the past few years. The COVID-19 pandemic further propelled the demand for online shopping and e-retail. The pandemic also compelled retailers to automate their inventory management and supply chain. Going ahead in 2022, several other factors are meant to influence the retail trends:

• Generation Z: People born after 1995 have become a part of the workforce. They are going to strongly influence the retail trends

• Digital world: Retailers are going online to capture the maximum customers

• Convenience: Contactless and hassle-free shopping is going to be a driving point

These trends in turn are going to influence the retail technology trends. Mobile application plays an important part in developing an e-retail ecosystem. Many companies provide mobile app development services to provide a competitive UI for e-retail. So, hiring mobile app developers is the need of the hour as one has to keep a watch on other retail technologies going to trend in the coming years.

Major Retail Technology Trends

1. Cashierless shopping

This retail technology is already implemented in many Amazon stores. The concept is meant to put an end to the waiting lines. Consumers can walk into the stores after signing in on the mobile application. All the items picked up in the shop are automatically billed and the money is deducted through the application while exiting the shop. Today, this implementation is only in small stores. In the future, it can be into larger stores and supermarkets. This technology is being associated with a positive change wherein the former cashiers at retail stores can take up meaningful and rewarding jobs that do not involve sitting and swiping vegetables.

2. Autonomous delivery

The most talked-about retail technology, autonomous delivery, may become a reality in the coming years. Many companies have started trials for drone deliveries with successful results. Machine learning and Artificial intelligence play a huge part in redefining the delivery infrastructure in the retail sector. The management of the air traffic caused by delivery drones and bots needs to be managed. With many retail players awaiting the successful rollout of autonomous delivery solutions, many technology startups are expected to come into the picture, inviting more retail companies to opt for autonomous delivery.

3. Virtual try-on

Augmented reality as one of the retail technology is going to take customer experience to a new height. Virtual try-on has become a reality. Social distancing and restricted movement are expected to boost its adoption in retail sector. The virtual try-on option allows the customers to make informed decisions. It can end in higher sales and lower return rates, a great benefit for the retailers. Virtual try-on also provides a means of market assessment for the garment retailers to maintain a balance between supply and demand by optimized manufacturing of products in demand.

Virtual try-on can be creatively used to suggest the best size and suitable color for the customers, cutting down their time spent in cloth trials. The ultimate result is expected to be better revenue and customer satisfaction.

4. Omnichannel shopping

Omnichannel shopping is an interface between a brick-and-mortar store and an online store. Customers create omnichannel customer profiles which are universal to both brick and mortar stores and online stores. The selected items are placed in cloud-based smart shopping baskets that are valid for the physical and digital brand stores. The customers get the choice to select products from any medium and add them to the basket. Similarly, the items can be purchased from any medium. The flexibility of purchasing products makes the buying journey hassle-free. Omnichannel shopping gives retailers a better understanding of the customers, helping in marketing their products.

5. Zero interface retail

It is way more personalized human-machine interaction, adopted to enhance the user experience. With technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), the conversational interface can be the new UI for retail brands. Voice searches are already being used in different applications. Using voice as the operative base for retail brands is a good strategy. Moving ahead in 2022, voice can be used to create entirely new and unique user journeys.

6. Automatic inventory management

Inventory management composes to be a huge part of every retail outlet. Retailers are able to reduce their manual efforts and costs in managing inventory. Data-driven analysis of the inventory helps in its management. There are several benefits that data-driven and automated inventory management can bring.

• Reduced warehouse cost with minimal inventory stored in the warehouse, incurring less maintenance cost

• Stock availability whenever required by a customer, enhancing customer satisfaction and fetching customer loyalty

• Less dependency on discounts to clear the old stock

• Greater revenue with higher sales, and reduced old/dead stock

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies can be used to tag the inventory in categories and subcategories and track the performance of each category against different KPIs. Predictive analytics can be used to ensure products availability on different channels based on the demand to optimize sales.

7. Blockchain-based supply chain

Blockchain enhances transparency and security across all operations and transactions. It can be used to record the entire journey of the product till it reaches the end customer. Once created, this record cannot be edited. This error-less tracking allows Blockchain to address the challenges of supply chain traceability. In the coming years, Blockchain can become an integral part of supply chain management systems owing to its positive impact on transparency, auditing, and traceability.

The retail industry is evolving with an increase in the use of technology. The retailers must pay heed to these retail technologies to stay ahead in the game. Every retail technology may not be applicable to every retail business and the business owners need to chalk out the requirements before acquiring these tools. Mobile application is going to stay as an important tool for e-retail. An application with good UI and responsiveness has higher chances of retaining consumers than a normal mobile application and website. Biz4solution can help retailers in developing robust mobile applications. Our experts will devise the best UI as per your niche. We will help your business go global with world-class applications. Contact us today to own a mobile application to offer a personalized experience to your customers.

 

Noteworthy Features of Therapy Mobile app!

Do you consider mind over matter important? As the saying goes, you should control your mind before it controls you. Most of us have finally grokked that talking to a friend can be an enormous help. Post pandemic era, the general rise in the wide awareness about mental health has led people to take therapy. Though a little unconventional, people prefer secretly talking and consulting with a therapist privately. That is the reason why there are so many therapist apps popping up on the market.

Therapist apps provide you with the privacy you seek. Not everybody can find a suitable person to vent out their feelings. When you are in emotional chaos or crumble under problems that are too complex, it is equally difficult sometimes to find a trained mental health professional. So therapy apps help a lot to take you out of an emotional pothole. Therapy apps let you find someone having the expertise to speak to via mobile phones, formal text, or video. These kinds of effortless connectivities are like godsend for some. For some people, it can be additional support to in-person therapy and for others, it can stand alone. And the best part is these platforms are curated to have security and privacy in the conversations.

From a teenager to an adult, everybody can indulge smartly and securely to practice mental well-being. For teenagers, it may feel weird to spill your guts into a face on your mobile phone, or for people with disorders such as depression and anxiety, or women having issues with the quality of life secondary treatment, neglect at home, domestic violence, etc; therapy mobile apps add a whole new avenue to speak up about these issues. It’s not that everyone with a smartphone cares for their mental well-being. Often, people pay attention to their physical health and they do regular exercise, eat nutritional food, take a good sleep, and stay hydrated. Just like your physical health, support for your mental health helps you feel your best and up in arms.

So, these therapy apps have a universal demand. According to the report published in reachandmarkets, The Global Mental Health Apps Market size is expected to reach $10. 2 billion by 2027, rising at a market growth of 16. 3% CAGR during the forecast period.

Many mental therapy apps are effortless to use and help you secure the well-being you deserve via their features. Many mental health apps can give you suggestions, tools and advice, mindful activities, and support to help you manage your stress. Some apps effectively manage general mental health issues and complex conditions. Many of the apps are free to download but these free apps provide access to only limited features. To access all of the features of an app, user needs to go for paid subscription.

Best Features to Have in Therapy Apps

Seeking help from therapy mobile apps can be intimidating but the real challenge is the real-time problem-solving capacity via its features. So, here is the list of some real-time practical features that can help to boost the productivity of the therapy apps.

Profiles Creation

First things first. Profile creation is an absolute initial step of building a therapy mobile application to sign-up and the profile creation feature. The sign-up step should be hassle-free and should not create anxiety for the users. Guaranties of the data and content that the users are putting in may give them an extra sigh of relief. Profile content should be separate for counsellors and patients. If the counsellors are ranked according to experience and feedback then it would minimise the struggle to find the right counsellor for patients. Most important thing is that profile settings should incorporate all the necessary data for utilizing the application like full name, region, age, location, gender, disorder, chronic illnesses, allergies, intolerances and so on. The patient should be given the option to upload all their prescriptions and documents, and reports on their profile.

Calendars and Reminders

One of the great advantages of mobile devices and the digital age is that it has simplified orderly living and eased the burden on people. With this feature, patients can easily book appointments with counsellors, set targets on the app and accomplish tasks on the dashboard. Calendar features can also be helpful beyond measures for female health tracking. This coupled with reminder features may boost your productivity and timely execution of the tasks you have subscribed to. So day by day, in every way, users would be growing. With reminder features, from teenagers to elderly patients, users can set reminders for their medicines. It is helpful for people suffering from Alzheimer’s, anxiety or depression.

Variety of sessions

Apps are imperfect if they are not easy to use. Many mental therapists suggest that having a suitable session is a must as people have different and complex sets of mental issues. So to do justice to everyone’s problems, therapy apps should come with a wide variety of sessions like mindfulness, music therapy, talking sessions, etc. The add on features like meet and greet with the favourite therapist will add a game-changing solution.

Tracking self-growth

Tracking and self-monitoring the progress is one of the essential components of mental therapy. For this, therapy mobile applications can be useful to monitor complete well-being from day to day or month to month basis. Features like this are very handy to keep updated records of the sleep cycle, mood alterations, mental disorders, food intake, tracking metabolism and physical exercise, thoughts, sentiments, and so on. With an active dashboard that keeps on updating these indicators automatically, users can analyse information hustle-free or even refer them to their therapy counsellors. Other features like calendar, events tracking, and manual goal setting can help the app grow more.

Counselling via chatbox and video sessions

While the whole world was in quarantine, video calling and group chatting were the main channels by which the people managed to keep a visual and live check on their loved ones. But these features are proving to be a blessing post-covid era. Telehealth services have sprung up from the covid-19 stage. Its usage was much higher during covid-19 and even now it is 38x higher than in the pre-covid stage. From gym instructors to therapy counselling, the live video sessions are the new normal. That is the reason it is important to add chat and video meeting features when you want to build the therapy mobile application. It can increase the app engagement along with the user and counsellor connection. Other features like screen sharing, documents transfer and media sharing might double the user interaction and usage across this platform. Along with that, you can even add other features such as video recording, screen sharing, document transferring and so on to make the therapy sessions more interactive.

Video & Audio Content

If somebody asks you whether you like to watch a session or read about a session, then most of the time you would choose the first option. This feature can do wonders when it is unable for users to reach out to a counsellor. Video content is engaging, explanatory, creative and very satisfying when it comes to engagement with the audience. People are more used to listening to podcasts, video meditation and other blissful features. It is very beneficial for return on investment as it enhances your mobile app engagement. The use of video monitoring can go beyond the expectations as it can alter the mood and instructive session also helps to get rid of anxiety and loneliness, unwanted stress, and so on. Likewise, patients and counsellors can upload video and audio files from their therapy sessions on the off chance that they need to watch them once more. Users can easily scroll through the playlist and watch the content as per their needs.

Urgent Care

 For a person suffering from mental health issues, anxiety and depression-like attacks are common. If a person is having an anxiety attack or suffering from any mental disorder, then urgent care can be a godsend for them. So, now and then people having mental health disorders require urgent care. You can list the symptoms of any such panic attack and in this way, you can build an app that creates awareness. It’s a great way to build a self-care routine for users. With an urgent care feature users can get admittance to a quick emergency assistance call or somebody from an experienced counsellor.

Furthermore, you can add step-by-step directions on how to respond if there should arise an occurrence of urgent care and a tab with quick access to required contacts with a simple video tutorial or audio clip.

Sharing Data

We have learned the hard truth that sharing is caring in the pandemic. Beyond sharing the useful things, sharing thoughts, and results can push other patients to do more better. Therapy mobile apps can also let apps sync with social media accounts and share their progress, ideas, and thoughts across various social media platforms. Peer to peer connectivity can let them send data directly to their counsellor or required trained professionals and their loved ones. Add some ‘how you feel’ and ‘mood’ feature on social media platforms and it can let the users share their progress that can motivate other users as well.

Active Push Notification

Remind users and patients how well they are doing and how much more they can accomplish with push notifications. These kinds of notifications increase app interaction and also alter the patient’s mood. Such alerts reminds the users to keep their mental health in check. For the day, patients can be reminded and motivated to do work out, practice meditation, read blissful information, practice relaxation, inform about therapy sessions, energize and brighten up their mood, and so on. A good engagement with content can help patients to indulge more and more in the application. So this is a must have feature for mobile app development.

Protection from data theft

Though the digital age is a blessing, it also is a bane. Many spyware attacks, bugs and hacking tools have changed the virtues of safety and security while using digital devices. A person suffering from a mental disease should be more careful as any such security breach might create extra anxiety and stress on the patient. So, being careful about data security is a must when you build a mobile app. The therapy mobile app will have all the sensitive details about the patients and counsellor which a mobile app developer should protect at any cost. Some high-level security features like multi-factor authentication, dynamic password, biometric authentication, voice recognition, OTP verification, etc. can assure the needed security.

But remember, apps are not a substitute for professional mental health care. They can ease your way to achieve your desired targets and goals efficiently.

We at Biz4Solutions, know how to push buttons and get your business going. As a leading Healthcare app development company, we can help you create such amazing applications for mobile devices. From blockchain and IoT to healthcare, we have successfully brought a smile on many faces with our quality services. We are pioneering mobile app developers and bring not just the conventional solution but also offer smart ways to upgrade your business and increase the productivity of your business. It’s your time to say YES! Allow us to help you with Digital transformation, robotic process automation, IoT, cloud solution, mobile apps and many more state-of-the-art services. Drop your email in the comment box and relax, our experts will get in touch with you shortly.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a HIPAA Compliant Application in 2022?

Introduction: HIPAA Compliant Application

If you are a healthcare provider and have a mobile application that deals with protected health information (PHI), then your app would have to be HIPAA compliant.

Healthcare entities like hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, etc., or even business firms who have developed mHealths or EHealth applications revolving around PHI fall under the ambit of HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act.

Well, collecting information does not require you to be compliant, but sharing the information requires you to be.

Importance: HIPAA Compliant App Development in 2022

So, if you are planning to craft a healthcare mobile application that involves PHI, make sure that it is a HIPAA app.

A HIPPA-compliant application refers to a software solution that meets the standards set by the US Health & Human Services, A HIPAA compliant mobile app ensures that the user data you hold is secured.

Most entities in Healthcare IT Services that collect and share patient information are concerned about HIPAA since non-compliance can turn out to be a costly affair.

Hospitals & companies violating HIPAA compliance attract a heavy fine that could even run into millions of dollars – there have been several instances of hospitals being levied a heavy penalty for data breaches.

The HIPAA Compliance & Its Costs

If you are planning to develop a HIPPA-compliant healthcare app, you should first evaluate what levels of HIPAA compliance you need. This will depend on the PHI (data) you hold and the amount of the data you are sharing. The lesser the sharing, the lesser the compliance.

If you are getting the app developed through a healthcare application development company, then the app development company should be informed about HIPAA right in the development stage because they have to work on privacy & security rules.

The cost of developing a HIPAA compliant app generally depends on factors like

• The type of the healthcare Organization
• The size of the organization
• The Organization Culture
• Geographic Location of the healthcare body
• The number of Business Associates involved

For a small-sized covered entity (covered entity: doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, clinics, etc.), the HIPAA compliant app development cost would be somewhere around: $4,000 to $12,000. This cost includes Risk Management & Management Plan, Remediation, and Training & Development Policy.

For a medium or large-scale covered entity, the cost of building a HIPAA compliant app would be approximately $50,000 or more. This cost includes Remediation, Risk Analysis & Management Plan, Penetration Testing, Training, and Policy Development & Vulnerability Scans.

Alternative Option:

If the app development cost seems way too higher, the other option available is resorting to a cloud service provider, which is already HIPAA-compliant.

When choosing a cloud-based service provider, you need to check if that service provider will minimize the risk of data breaches, and whether the service provider is ready to serve you.

Although the costs of developing a mobile application that is HIPAA-compliant seem higher, it is always better to be on the safer side and avoid paying large penalties. These compliance errors are apparently too costly to be made.

Conclusion:

The penalties for security breaches are heavy due to the nature of the data that is being dealt with. Patient information is very sensitive in nature as it contains their medical history. In 2017, IBM & Ponemon conducted research that gave away some interesting facts.

They found out that on average, a single data breach costs $380 per record, which is 250% more than the data breach across other industries around the globe.

A HIPAA compliant app is trusted by patients as such an app keeps their information private & secure. If you would like to develop a new-era HIPAA compliant app for your medical facility, reach out to Biz4Solutions, a prominent mobile app development company that specializes in healthcare app development. We are having a rich experience of 12+ years in tailoring highly customized HIPAA compliant healthcare apps/solutions for our global clientele.