Mobile App development
Developing the apps took a little more time. We focused first on the iOS app for Apple devices, a language called Swift provided by Apple. We’ve been impressed with the rigour with which Apple tests apps before they are published on the app store, even if it’s been painful for us at times when they’ve found little things that they consider to thailand rcs data be a problem. If you have an iPhone why not try the UK Data Service Quiz App and tell us what you think on Twitter AppChallenge?
Moving on to Android, we have just issued an update to the app which brings it closer to the iOS app, in particular fixing an issue with offline use when there is little or no mobile reception. There are many more Android phones out there, but that is also a double edged sword. Designing an app that will work well on a wide range of devices with different capabilities is not easy. There’s also the fact that many Android users don’t update their ‘phone regularly, so even the underlying operating system can have many variants.
Lessons learned
Creating something intuitive and fun in an app that visualises data in an easy-to-engage-with way is not easy. From our first “finished” version of the iOS app to the version in the appstore to now we’ve issued eleven minor updates. Most fixes are to the user interface or to deal with highly unlikely scenarios e.g. you start the install then lose Internet access, but we’ve learnt a lot along the way.