Author Archives: Hussain Fakhruddin

Frustrated With The High Power-Consumption Of Mobile Apps? Try These Tricks!

While the functional features of most sophisticated smartphone apps are excellent and varied, many of them cause an excessive phone battery drainage. In what follows, readers will be acquainted with a few actions that can improve the energy performance of mobile applications.

Are you in the habit of downloading plenty of free gaming apps and using multiple GPS-powered apps on your smartphone? If yes, chances are high that you also tag along your phone charger – wherever you go. While it is not possible to make the battery of a smartphone last for 2-3 days, a better app-management strategy can certainly reduce the extent of power-drain from your handset. To bring down the excessively high power-consumption of mobile apps, these actions would be effective:

Choose apps with failover parameters – There are many mobile applications that integrate with the built-in Bluetooth settings and/or the GPS features of a smartphone. Before you install any such app, make sure that it has proper failover parameters – i.e., the additional phone resources which it uses get automatically turned off, as soon as the app is closed. You should not have to manually turn off the GPS/Bluetooth every time.
Avoid having too many free apps – Although the ratio of free apps to paid apps created by almost any mobile application development company in India is on the higher side, you should not download too many of the former. Free applications typically have fairly large numbers of advertisements, the display of which can cause battery drain. A selective choice of paid apps will protect your phone from such risks.
Set the intervals at which push-notifications are to be sent – Do you really need the default email or Facebook app in your mobile to send new notifications after every 10 minutes? In all probability, you don’t – and hence, it makes sense to set the interval at which the apps should search for new mails/notifications at around half an hour (or even slightly longer). The strain on the phone battery would be eased.
Take advantage of data caching – If the smartphone apps you are using are primarily web-based, this is a viable way to lower battery wastage. Instead of having to communicate with the mobile server every time, find out if and how you can cache data within the applications. Clearing app cache is often not necessary (unless, of course, you have exchanged confidential personal information through it).
Get rid of unused apps – Thanks to the ongoing rapid growth in mobile app development in India and overseas, you have literally millions of applications to choose from, at the online stores. While there is no harm in trying out most new apps once, you need to uninstall (and not simply leave unused) the ones that won’t be of much use in future. If you are an Android handset user, consider rebooting your device after uninstalling redundant apps.
Adjust the display settings of apps – Those who are fond of mobile gaming are surely familiar with applications with interesting app development graphics, and a bright display. What isn’t generally appreciated is that, such additional display brightness can cause the phone battery to get exhausted sooner. Change the display settings to a more optimal level, and make sure that the screen automatically dims if you do not interact with an app for a minute or so.
Consider making partitions in mobile apps – Cloud offloading has been tested to be an effective technique to partition smartphone applications that have relatively high energy requirements. While launching and operating on a partitioned app in the cloud network, you can rest assured about more economic battery usage.
Check the FPS of gaming apps – FPS refers to frames-per-second, and a very high count can cause your phone to ‘die’ in less than a couple of hours. In general, the FPS figure for any application should be set at around 25-27. The sophisticated video apps launched by Android and iPhone application development companies generally have their FPS in this range.
You do not need location-tracking at all times – Give your phone GPS a break at times, particularly when you are at home or in a familiar neighborhood. Along with automated wi-fi network detection, GPS services can have a serious effect on the longevity of phone battery, if you do not bother to turn it off from time to time. This, in turn, also implies that you should not go for multiple apps with GPS requirement (even if they have failover features).
Remember to close apps – With navigation features and multitasking becoming increasingly easier on new-age smartphones, there is a growing tendency among people to leave apps running in the background – even when they are not being used. A news-ticker application would be a classic example in this regard. If you wish to protect the battery against overuse, you need to actually close the apps you have finished using, for the time being.

The backend mobile app designing themes used often also have an impact on the general energy-efficiency of applications. Irrespective of whether you are using a Blackberry phone, an Android device or an iPhone/iPad, you should be aware of the way in which the effect of every app on the phone battery can be checked. Use apps on your smartphone in a ‘smart’ manner – and do away with the hassles of having to charge your handset after every few hours!

16 Wireframing & Prototype-Making Tools Every Mobile App Developer Would Love

To create and share wireframes and prototypes of advanced, personalized smartphone apps, developers typically use a series of software tools. Some of the tools that have been tried and tested for wireframe creation have been highlighted here.

While designing custom mobile applications, it is of essence for professional developer companies to keep their clients in the loop. This is precisely where the importance of app wireframes, mockups and prototypes come into the picture. At different stages of the mobile application development process, these can be shared with clients, for approval, feedback, and further suggestions. If you are a mobile app developer, you should be familiar with these tools for preparing wireframes:

JumpChart – A high-end application wireframing software, with both free and professional versions. JumpChart comes with additional data export features for WordPress portals as well. Making a detailed prototype of mobile applications is also easy, with this user-friendly tool.
Pencil Project – As far as open-source mockup tools in the field of mobile app designing in India and overseas are concerned, this one is surely one of the finest. With Pencil Project, you can chalk up in-depth graphic-user interface (GUI) prototypes for the applications you are creating. It has impressive compatibility features with many desktop systems too.
Mockingbird – Mockingbird is designed to serve as an end-to-end wireframing and mockup tool, for both mobile apps and web page applications. After creating wireframes, you can preview the same – and make the necessary corrections with ease. Sharing the Mockingbird wireframes with third-party clients is a quick and simple procedure as well.
Indigo Studio – If you specialize in Android app development, you are probably already aware of this one. Indigo Studio helps professional developers to browse through more than a hundred interactive UI options and storyboards – and select the most appropriate one(s) among them. The latest version of Indigo Studio can also be used to create iPhone app prototypes.
JustInMind Prototyper – Among the premium wireframing aides used at leading mobile application development companies, JustInMind features among the most popular ones. In addition to the regular controls for drawing up mockups and prototypes, this tool has responsive forms and gesture options for developers. Extensive support is also provided for the development of web apps.
Tiggzi – For mobile application development on the cloud network, developers often rely on the Tiggzi software. The backend architecture and app designing support services of the tool are at par with the best. There are additional features for visual app development, providing greater scopes for customization.
Axure RP – Although mainly regarded as a wireframing tool for HTML websites, Axure has earned rave reviews from iPhone app developers over the globe too. The high-clarity UI mockups of Android apps generated by the tool also rank well on the accuracy count. All wireframes and mockups created through Axure have a degree of interactiveness about them.
Pidoco – If you are in a time-crunch to share collaborative app designs, sketches and other specs with clients, Pidoco can come to your help. With this software, you can perform real-time mobile app testing as well. It is a premium wireframing tool, but comes with a limited period free trial offer for first-time users.
Wirify – Even the free software applications can provide seamless assistance to web and mobile app development – as Wirify clearly proves. The tool enables mobile app developers to transform web pages of their choice, to user-friendly wireframes, in seconds. The uncluttered, efficient dashboard of Wirify is yet another of its high points.
AppCooker – If you wish to adopt a unified approach to the app development services, include AppCooker in the list of tools you regularly use. The app offers holistic assistance for transforming app concepts and ideas, to viable mockups. iPad apps can be created with AppCooker too. You would also get the option of adding links to your mockups.
iMockups – The name might suggest that this tool is meant only for iPhone app mockups – but its functionality is much wider. Experts from many app development companies in the world have already used it to create wireframes for web applications. iOS, of course, remains the main platform for which iMockups is used.
Mockups.me – From creating interactive sketches of app wireframes on tablets, to sharing them with your clients and/or other peer developers – this one proves to be handy at practically every stage. The tool has a robust data import capability, ensuring that you can access your Balsamiq files, from wherever you might be. Mockups.me is designed to help Android app developers, in particular.
Adobe Proto – Just like most of the tools already mentioned in the list, Adobe Proto is also a classic prototyping and wireframing software for smartphone apps and mobile websites. The reliability factor of Adobe Proto, however, is superior than that of most of the other tools. Via Adobe Proto, you can engage in effective two-way communication with your peers too.
HotGloo – Creativity and visual appeal play important roles in the long-run acceptance of mobile apps. The HotGloo tool is used by many developers to add that extra bit of elegance and style to the mockups. The interactive nature of app wireframes can also be bolstered, with the help of HotGloo. A collaborative procedure is adopted to create application prototypes through this popular software.
WireframeSketcher – You can use the WireframeSketcher tool as a plugin with any operational Eclipse IDE system. Apart from multi-featured mobile apps and web apps, it is useful for propping up the wireframes of desktop apps as well. Mockups and final prototypes can, of course, also be developed with WireframeSketcher.
Mockability – Experts from mobile application development companies harp on the importance of testing app mockups on proper iOS devices – and Mockability would allow you to do exactly that. The basic app ideas can be combined with images, designs and suitable features in the tool, to create captivating, interactive mockups for clients. Mockups created by using this tool can be shared by Dropbox too, apart from email.

Moqups and Antetype are two other wireframing tools that enjoy high levels of popularity among mobile app developers worldwide. For preparing flowchart-based Android applications, Lucidchart is a widely trusted tool. Creating efficient, insightful wireframes and mockups for mobile apps is not as tough as it is often made out to be. You only need to use some of the tools mentioned here!

11 Useful Pointers To Get More Out Of Google Now

During the last year, both Google Now and Siri showed significant improvements in terms of command-recognition accuracy. In terms of reports, the improvements in the former have been higher than those in Apple’s virtual assistant. We here present a few guidelines to use Google Now in the best possible manner.

Google Now, the highly-regarded virtual assistant application for Android handsets, became available for iPhone users last year. Although there were not any reports of serious shortcomings in Siri, Google Now came across as a much sought-after alternative option. In fact, as researches later proved, the latter was slightly more effective in terms of understanding voice commands than Siri was (in certain cases). If you have newly installed Google Now in your mobile, you would find the following tips to operate it handy:

Viewing only what’s relevant – Google Now lacks Siri’s built-in wit and humor, but it more than makes up for it by serving as a comprehensive pool of information. However, the prospect of scouring through cluttered information cards for what’s important to you is generally a time-consuming one. After the latest update, you can now hide info cards/sections from Google Now, by tapping the right arrow sign on the screen. Going through neat, organized cards would be a lot easier.
Frame your important searches as a research – Keeping track of your search history becomes a cinch, when you start using Google Now. Consultants of any mobile app development company would be able to familiarize you with the way each of your searches on the application is arranged as a research topic on it. You can also find out about the links you had clicked on earlier, while looking for certain information.
The ‘OK Google’ phenomenon – This has been one of the most convenient factors about Google Now, at least for American users, so far. To provide voice commands on the app, all that you need to do is register your voice, and say ‘Ok Google.’ At times, there might be problems in the assistant understanding heavily accented US English, but an update is expected soon, to get rid of such issues.
Getting email notifications – From flight information and travel plans, to hotel bookings and restaurant table reservations – you can get emails for practically everything, from Google Now. You have to, of course, provide enough data to the application, to ensure the accuracy of the mails. Don’t worry, Google would never compromise the confidentiality of your information!
Never missing your favorite television shows – That’s right – Google Now can help you with this too. A lot of credit goes to the latest techniques for Android and iPhone app development in India, for incorporating a customized reminder setting in the virtual assistant. If you provide information about your favorite tele shows, the app would automatically ask you whether it should remind you when the next episode would be aired.
Provision of getting updated information – The informative research cards of Google Now are all very helpful, but what if you have to search for a large number of topics within a span of few days? You can keep things organized, by tapping on the ‘Remind Me’ button, that’s present on the knowledge graph-accompanied search results. That way, you will be notified whenever updates on the topics you are interested in become available.
Messaging with Google Now – Just like Siri, Google Now handles all your messaging requirements in an efficient manner. For sending text messages, the voice command is ‘Send To’, while for emails – you need to say ‘Email to’. Apart from the email recipient(s), you can tell Google Now to include Cc and BCc information too.
Personalized image lookup option – If you mostly upload photos on Google Plus, this would come across as a really useful function. You can give voice commands to look for any type/genre (e.g., sunset pictures) of snaps, and Google Now will promptly look up images that match your description, from your collection. At present, this facility is not available for users outside the US though.
Making the Google Now dashboard completely customized – Although the app figures out your search preferences and the stuff you are interested in, you can further expedite the process. For instance, if you are a regular investor, you can choose the stocks/securities, whose prices you need to monitor. Similarly, if you wish to check the progress of a football team – you need not go through all the weekend match results. Simply ensure that you have chosen only your favorite match reports to be displayed.
Commute sharing option – Google Now goes one up on the regular location-sharing features offered by Siri, and most other GPS-based mobile apps. You can share your commuting information with your contacts on a real-time basis, via Google Plus. In case you are facing transportation problems and/or traffic hassles, such information would serve as early warnings for your friends!
Keeping things private – Not many iPhone application development companies would recommend this – but you do have the option of not sharing any of your private information with Google. For this, the web history has to be completely removed, after every search. Remember, if you do opt for this option, most of the above-mentioned Google Now functionalities might become unavailable.

If Chrome is your preferred web browser on PC, you can integrate the features of Google Now with it as well. For Smart TV owners, connecting the virtual assistant to the same wireless network is also an option. Google Now for iPhone still has a long way to go to emerge as a serious threat to Siri’s popularity, but it does have a host of user-friendly, interesting features.

Won’t You A Love A More Efficient, Improved Siri?

Among iPhone-users, Siri is already a rage – but can the virtual mobile assistant become even better? It definitely can, and here’s how!

We have already dwelled on the enormous range of tasks that Siri – the virtual assistant on iPhone – can perform for users. The ready wit and humor that has been programmed into Siri has also been touched upon. However, is Siri the quintessential ‘perfect’ mobile assistant? Probably not, if the lawsuit that Apple faced over the shortcomings of Siri is anything to go by. Let us here take you through some features that an improved Siri (if and when available) should have:

Tweeting – Given that the Twitter integration on iPhone 5 is really great, the fact that Siri cannot create and publish tweets on your behalf comes across as a disappointment. Surprisingly, the virtual assistant does understand the task – but is (as it says itself!) is incapable of doing it. A newer, better version of Siri should definitely address this issue. A tweet-reader functionality would also help.
Understanding heavily accented English commands – The fact that Siri is now available in multiple languages has been hailed by general iPhone users and representatives from every mobile application development company worldwide. However, there have also been reports that Siri often fails to understand English commands without the traditional American accents. With the global user-base of Apple iPhone steadily on the rise, Siri simply cannot suffer from a language barrier.
Less reliance on web connectivity – It’s as simple as this – if your iPhone does not have internet coverage, Siri will not work. The latest iOS devices have done away with the old offline voice dialing features – and that often adds to the problem. In late-2012, there was a serious network problem on Apple devices, and Siri was rendered useless for over 24 hours. An improved Siri should retain certain basic functions even when there is no internet connection.
Better performance as a task-scheduler – Setting reminders with Siri is easy – for activities ranging from important business meetings, to a visit to the local grocery store. However, there is no option to edit a reminder, after you have confirmed it. Setting up a list of goods you need to buy is an unnecessarily time-consuming task as well. Siri is, at present, the most trusted mobile reminder app – but there are still scopes for improvement.
A bit more common sense – Siri’s pool of general knowledge is mighty impressive, but she should really stop taking every command in the literal sense. In particular, if your command is a fairly long one (e.g., a command to text a contact about something important), the response can often be erroneous. If you say ‘Tell Mark he has to play tonight’, Siri would send the text ‘he has to play tonight’ – leaving poor Mark completely confused!
Managing the Bluetooth and Wi-fi connections – For managing your iPhone’s wi-fi and Bluetooth features, there are no options other than browsing to the ‘Settings’ tab, and doing what’s required manually. Siri cannot help you with enabling/disabling these connectivity features – which is strange, because it is programmed to perform much more complex tasks. When those up top at Apple plan a new and improved Siri, they should surely implement these wi-fi/Bluetooth toggling features in it.
A better ‘raise-to-speak’ option – Wish to raise your iPhone near your ear, for giving voice commands to Siri? You might find that the feature does not get activated – even though you have made the required changes in the Siri settings. A common complaint that many iPhone app development companies in India and abroad often receive is that, people are still having to press the ‘Home’ button, even though ‘raise-to-speak’ has been turned on. When Siri gets a makeover, users (hopefully) would find using this option to be easier.
Email readability – Siri can read text messages, but email messages are, apparently, too difficult for her. While you can instruct the iPhone virtual assistant to compose and send emails, reading new mails has to be done on your own. If you receive spam mails, Siri won’t help you to mark/flag them either. Siri might have problems in reading long emails with heavy attachments – but why it can’t read even short mail messages remains a mystery.
More voice options – Probably a petty complaint, but even so, it is worth a mention. You can toggle between the male and the female voices of siri – but that’s about it, when it comes to the speaking versatility of the popular virtual assistant on iPhone. If you do not like the default male/female voice (there’s no guarantee that you will), there is no option to browse other voice tones and modulations. People interact with Siri every day, and they should be able to choose a voice that they find to be the most pleasant.
Ability to add contacts – Another inexplicable shortcoming that Siri, in its present avatar, has. Since the mobile assistant has easy voice-dialing features, you would expect it to add new contact names on command too – but Siri can do nothing of the sort. You have to tap on your phone screen, to make a fresh entry to your address book. Siri cannot edit any contact information either.
Option to initiate apps with Siri – The Spotlight feature of iOS devices does make using multiple mobile apps simultaneously possible – but things can be made much easier. If only Siri could be instructed to launch the applications you require, you would no longer have to browse through the apps that are already open. In case you have lots of apps running, choosing the one you need at a certain point in time can be tiresome.

With iPhone app development in India and overseas steadily picking up pace, we can probably expect Siri to have better voice-transcription abilities in future. The new version of the virtual iPhone assistant, when it comes along, should also provide the option of directly navigating to specific web addresses (Siri can’t do that at present). Siri is relied upon by many for tasks of various types – and with a proper upgrade, it would become even more useful!

Mac-Magic! 22 Facts About Apple Mac That You Should Know

It’s birthday time, and that too of an entity all of us are very much familiar with. Mac was launched in late-January 1984 – and on its 30th b’day, we take a trip down memory lane about some facts associated with it.

When Steve Jobs presented the Apple Macintosh on the 24th of January, 1984 – not many really believed that it could compete with Windows PC systems. Thirty years have passed, and Mac has more than held its own in the global computer markets. Although Windows still remains the leader in desktop computing OS, the market share of Mac is steadily moving upwards. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Apple Mac, we take a look back at a few interesting facts about it:

The first Apple computer – Steve Jobs, then a twenty-one-year old youngster, had the guts to leave a plush job to collaborate with computer engineering wizard Steve Wozniak – to create the very first Apple computer. The chunky machine bore a price tag of nearly $670!
Keyboard and monitors – what’s those? – Apple I, which came out in 1976, did not resemble a computer in the way we visualize it at present. The device only had loops of wires and cables and circuits, and did not even have a monitor or a keyboard. Not surprisingly, marketing it initially was a bit of a problem.
Arrival of Mac – According to people related to the field of iPhone app development in India and overseas, this was one of the most defining events in the timeline of Apple Inc. Jobs had been frustrated by internal unrest within the company, and had taken charge of the Macintosh project (then perceived as a low-value project). The ‘1984 will not be like 1984’ commercial for Mac became a part of Apple’s folklore.
Color screens – The first-launched version of Apple Mac did not have any color features. Jobs and his team changed up things with the Mac II, which could support nearly 17 million colors (with the help of an external graphics card). The price of Mac II was not competitive though, by any stretch of the imagination.
The first Apple laptop flopped – At least it wasn’t the big success that most Apple products are expected to be. However, the 1989 launch of the Macintosh Portable did reveal that the company wanted to design computers that could be used from any location.
Money Matters – In the modern day world, when iPhone application development companies from all over are raking in huge revenues, it is easy to forget about the profitability of the Apple Macintosh. It was revealed in a report that the company made around $1280 on every Mac machine – more than double of the money flowing in from the sale of an iPhone handset.
Apple vs Microsoft – Apple and Microsoft were at loggerheads from the very start, and things came to pass in 1988 – when Apple sued Microsoft for allegedly ‘stealing’ copyrighted graphic user interface (GUI) systems. The lawsuit verdict went against Apple though, and there was a bad buzz about the company for some time.
The ouster and return of the genius – Steve Jobs’ journey with Apple Inc. was not a uniformly smooth one. Inspite of the promising start to Mac systems, internal quabbles led Jobs to resign from Apple in 1984, and start another company – NeXT Inc. 13 years later, Apple was in such a bad shape, that the then-CEO had to get Jobs back on board. Ironically, that CEO (Gil Amelio) was fired at a board meeting soon after.
Speed – A high operational speed has been one of the standout features of all Mac versions. Once, a race between the performance of a 1990 Mac Classic was tested against that of a Windows Dell PC (2007). The former won, in a canter.
Most popular Mac system – Surveys have shown that almost half of all the Mac-users across the world have the MacBook Pro computer. The user-friendly features and the superior reliability of the model have led to its widespread acceptance among people.
Can a Mac flop? – Oh yes it can, and there have been several cases of Mac models not finding a decent-enough market. The biggest disappointment in this regard has got to be the Mac Mini. The sales figures of the widely hyped MacBook Air also fell way short of expectations.
Fierce competition – In 1990, Microsoft showed clear signs of edging out Apple, after the Windows 3.0 platform had been released. Apple responded by designing and launching Macintosh LC, IIsi and Classic – three relatively cheaper Mac models. None of the three were poorly-received, but they were not big money-spinners either.
Visual appeal – Jobs wanted to break the conventional visual features of computers, which, till 1998, bordered on the boring. That was when the colorful iMac made its appearance, with the Apple CEO even challenging Mac-lovers to get all the five versions that were launched. Disk drives and USB ports were present on iMac systems, instead of the soon-to-be-useless floppy drives.
Internet Explorer on Mac – That’s right – the old Mac OS9 did have a version of the Microsoft Windows Explorer. Firefox (more well-known as ‘Camino’ to Mac-geeks) and Chrome took over later, and IE made an exit from the Mac OS framework.
What does OS X mean? – If you are using a Mac OS X system, you should be aware of the meaning of the platform’s name, right? OS X is the acronym for ‘Operating System Extreme’ – which, remarkably, uses features of OPENSTEP (from NeXT, the company Steve Jobs had founded when he was out of Apple).
A cube-shaped computer! – Never shy of experimenting with device design features, Jobs and his colleagues brought out the Power Mac G4 Cube in 2000. The machine had a protective casing around it, and could be put in any spacious cubical structure. Power Mac G4 Cube was not quite the financial success that Apple had hoped it would be.
The man behind the Mac design – It wasn’t Jobs who actually designed the iMac. That credit goes to Jonathan Ive, who was later officially recognized for his creativity and imagination. Ive also designed the iPhone and the iPod – and deserves much applause for the ease with with which people can now use the various iPhone apps.
Launch of the iPhone – 2007 was a landmark year in the timeline of Apple – with the launch of Apple TV and iPhone. The company, hitherto known as ‘Apple Computer Inc’, was renamed to ‘Apple Inc’. The timing for this name-change was right – for Apple was increasingly diversifying its electronic products.
End of the PowerPC microprocessor – A year earlier, the era of Mac computers with PowerPC microprocessors came to an end. Instead, the new Mac systems were powered by the x86 processor, and a customized Boot Camp software program. The latter helped many users to set up Windows OS on their Mac systems.
First Mac with wi-fi card support – As early as 1999, Apple managed to introduce the concept of wireless web access, with the iBook G3. At the time, using a computer without wires and cables was nothing short of a miracle, and Steve Jobs indeed make the launch event of iBook G3 look like a magic show.
The steady increase in exposure – Any person with the remotest knowledge about computer usage is familiar with the name of Apple at present – but things were not the same three decades back. In fact, there was a time when delivery personnel in Japan thought that Apple was into marketing…not computers, but apples!
And then, there was iTunes – The year was 2008 (18.7.08, to be precise) when the iTunes app store was launched. The range of iPhone and iPad apps showcased at the store grew steadily, and have, at present, surpassed one million. People find it easy to download apps from iTunes, and the latter has also helped many mobile application development companies make handsome money!

The MacBook Air Platinum is the most pricey Mac system, and only five units of it were released in the markets. Apple had to ward off allegations of environmental abuse (most prominently by GreenPeace), and Jobs and Wozniack had to face severe fund crunch during the nascent years of the company. It’s remarkable how Apple successfully competed with Microsoft and Exxon, and finally surpassed them – to become the most valuable public company and technology company in the world. If it had not been for Steve Jobs’ vision and the charm & usability of the Mac systems, modern-day computing would have not received that extra dash of sophistication.

Happy 30th Birthday, Mac!

How to create a Facebook Application ID and Twitter Consumer and Secret Key

Obtain a Facebook App ID

If you haven’t already registered your app with Facebook by creating a Facebook app, you can create a new app on the App Dashboard. In the App Dashboard, select Apps > Create an app:

And fill in the information:

On the ‘Settings’ page, set the ‘Native or Desktop App?’, ‘Social Discovery’ and ‘Client OAuth Login’ keys to ‘Yes’. You will get these under the ‘Advanced’ tab.

Next up, make the app and its live features publicly available, by setting the key under Queue ‘U’ to ‘Yes’.

Enter your contact email, set ‘Single Sign On’ to ‘Yes, and disable the ‘Deep Linking option.

Enter your unique App ID and App Secret Code.

If you already have a Facebook app (and corresponding Facebook app ID) that you’re using for the same app in another platform (for example, Android), you can use the same app ID for iOS.

Next, you need to set the Bundle Identifier and configure your Facebook application to support login from an iOS application.

Select “Settings” from the left-hand nav. Inside the settings, click on “Add Platform” and choose “iOS”. Then provide your Bundle Identifier in the “Bundle ID” field and enable “Single Sign On”. Don’t forget to save the changes!

*note Please provide bundle ID as->com.flokk

Follow these Instructions to create Twitter Consumer and Secret Key:

Click on create Application.

Go to https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new and log in, if necessary

1.Enter your Application Name, Description and your website address. You can leave the callback URL empty.

2.Accept the TOS, and solve the CAPTCHA.

3.Submit the form by clicking the Create your Twitter Application

4.Copy the consumer key (API key) and consumer secret from the screen into your application

Create Your Access Token for OAuth

After creating your Twitter Application, you have to give the access to your Twitter Account to use this Application. To do this, click the Create my Access Token.

Get the Consumer Key, Consumer Secret, Access token, Access Token Secret

In order to access the Twitter, that is to get recent tweets and twitter followers count, you need the four keys such as Consumer Key, Consumer Secret, Acess token, Access Token Secret.

Android Kitkat – Know All Its Main Features

Since its release late last year on the Google Nexus 5, Android Kitkat has managed to garner a pretty respectable device distribution figure. The following discourse is focused to familiarize you with some salient features of the latest mobile OS version of Android.

Google Android has this strange tradition of naming all its versions of mobile OS after delicious food items. Last September, KitKat (Android 4.4) was launched – a worthy follow-up to Cupcake, Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread and Jelly Bean, which are its predecessors. Since its release, Android Kitkat has got mostly positive reviews from users worldwide. If you are new on the Android 4.4 mobile interface, a brief rundown of its major features would come in handy:

Better calling features – Android Jelly Bean (particularly the latest version of it) had high-clarity voice calling options, and Kitkat builds further on it. Apart from your phonebook, you can now directly browse your phone apps, and even nearby locations, for making a call. The video calling options have also been significantly improved.
Onscreen app-recording – Probably the feature of Android Kitkat that has won the most praise from professionals of mobile application development companies all over. The settings in the built-in Android SDK can be managed, to create MP4 videos of mobile apps, directly from the screen. Seamless video-sharing options (to PCs or other devices) are available too. A cool feature for users, and a delight for app developers!
Excellent QuickOffice support – QuickOffice on Android was already free – but on a Kitkat-powered device, it is pre-installed too. Apart from enabling users to easily read, create and modify Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, Android QuickOffice lets them access documents stored on Google Drive without any hassles too. A sophisticated Android handset is now an excellent document manager.
Presence of Google Hangouts – The constant efforts to promote Google Plus are evident in the Android Kitkat platform too – which has Hangouts in place of the earlier Google Talk app. Users are not likely to find any reason for complaint though, for the Hangout feature comes with top-notch animation (in GIF format) sharing facilities. High-definition video calls can also be placed within a Hangout. Chances of call drops are minimal.
Animated screens and full-screen app displays – In a bid to keep up with the pace of iPhone app development in India and other countries, Android Kitkat has been provided with an integrated transition framework. It allows users to view interesting animation themes between the pages of the mobile apps they are using. What’s more, Android applications can be launched on it in full-screen (immersive) mode. If you wish to view the controls, all that is required is a horizontal screen swipe.
Better integration with Google Now – On an Android 4.4 handset, launching the Google Now service is easier than ever. You only have to utter the words ‘Ok Google’, to launch the service. Your location and preference information would be accessed, to provide just the search results you are looking for. There are provisions for displaying related results as well.
More user-friendly caller ID – High-end integration of the new mobile OS with locational features also enables you to avoid picking up calls from unknown numbers as much as possible. Even if you get a call from a number not stored in the phonebook, the device would try to match it with the contact numbers of companies and businesses in your city. In case you wish to get the details on any particular corporate house, simply use the search features of the built-in Google Maps app.
Managing the phone memory is easier – If you are fed up with your old phone freezing whenever 3-4 apps are launched simultaneously, the superior memory-management features of Android Kitkat would come as a pleasant surprise. With better, more efficient allocation of internal memory, Kitkat makes sure that the speed and performance of high-end apps are never compromised. Toggling between different applications is also easier. Of course, installing lots of unnecessary, high-bandwidth apps is still a ‘no-no’ (after all you have 512 MB to work with).
Print API functions – Hardly any iPhone application development company in India has managed to come up with a top-class cloud printing app for iPhones – and Kitkat cashes in on this opening. The pre-installed Google Cloud Print can be resorted to, for printing practically all types of mobile documents. Print tasks can also be done with the help of the wi-fi coverage of the phone. New APIs are available, for greater printer-compatibility.
Change in the text font color – Remember the blue fonts in Android 3.0 devices, which made the overall handsets look decidedly boring? Google has been trying to move away from that font color in its later mobile operating systems – and on the Kitkat, it has given way to a much more user-friendly white text. Apple fanboys/girls often go ga-ga over the elegance of the text in their handsets, but the settings on Android Kitkat are not far off the mark either.

The presence of two alternative Bluetooth profiles is yet another high-point of the KitKat OS from Android. The hitherto mediocre camera features of Android handsets are also all set to improve, after the Android 4.4.1 upgrade is rolled out. Initially, the new mobile interface was available only on Google Nexus 5, but it has since been released for Nexus 4 and 7 as well. Most of the Android updates have been as savory as the food items they were named after, and the Kitkat can also emerge as a major success for Google over time.

iPhone Antivirus Software To Keep Your Apple iOS Device Safe

Although the basic security features of Apple handsets are more than reliable, it is still a smart option to get an additional antivirus application installed in them. For your iPhone and/or iPad, you can consider using any of the antivirus tools listed here.

If you do a bit of online research, you will find that antivirus applications for Android handsets are much more in number, than similar protection tools for iOS devices. The underlying reason is simple – Apple phones and tablets have robust in-built security features, which render many functions of regular anti-malware programs redundant. However, you should still have one reliable iPhone antivirus application installed in your handset, to rule out all risks of bug attacks and related device problems. You can choose from the following programs:

Avira Mobile Security – The mobile-version of the Avira antivirus software makes use of the cloud network, to scan every file and app present in your iPhone. It even displays a message if and when a jailbreak is done on the handset. Whenever new mobile apps are installed, thorough malware checks are carried out, and problem files (if any) are removed. The anti-theft feature of Avira is reliable too.
Sophos Mobile Control – To keep a tab on all the probable virus threats on mobile handsets, experts from many iPhone application development companies in India recommend using Sophos Mobile Counter. Updates are generated on a real-time basis by this device safety app, covering all possible malware and virus attacks. Users are also informed about the courses of action necessary to remove such risks.
Anti-Virus Detective – The user-reviews about this one have been rather mixed till now, but the sheer range of functionality of Anti-Virus Detective impresses. The scanning process of the software is quick and seamless, and does not affect the device speed in any way. Automated logical decision-trees are created, on the basis of the threats and malware found. You can even share information about mobile viruses with your contacts, directly through Anti-Virus Detective.
Lookout – Also available for Android handsets, this free mobile safety program is exclusively meant for finding misplaced/stolen smartphones. Lookout can be installed on both iPhones and iPads, and has top-notch data backup facilities. In case your phone is irretrievably lost, you can use the remote features of Lookout, to erase all confidential data from the device.
Intego Virusbarrier – In the realm of custom mobile applications for protecting your iPhone from viruses, this one is probably the best. Prior to downloading attachments from emails received from unknown sources, getting them scanned by Virusbarrier practically ensures that your mobile will not get infected. The software also rules out the risk of buggy files being mistakenly hosted on your iOS device. It also has efficient file-syncing options.
McAfee Global Threat Intelligence Mobile – Over the last few quarters, iPhone app development in India and overseas has undergone a complete revolution – but antivirus programs like McAfee remain effective to this day. The uncluttered mobile application development framework of this tool complements its comprehensive set of malware-protection tools and controls. Since McAfee is regularly updated, you need not worry about working with an outdated virus database either. At the iTunes store, McAfee Global Threat Intelligence Mobile enjoys high download figures – clearly underlining its steady popularity among users.
Avast – Contrary to the beliefs of many iOS device-users around the world, Avast is not solely a VPN application. The iPhone protection program of Avast is known as SecureLine – and it serves as an effective block against practically all types of fake/phishing websites that you might come across, while browsing the web on your mobile. SecureLine also blocks potentially buggy pop-up advertisements.
SkanAware – If you frequently scan promotional QR codes sent to your iPhone or iPad, this is one anti-malware tool you should definitely have. The safety app offers high-end guard against cross-site scripts, theft of virtual identity, and unauthorized access of personal data from your phone. You can rest assured about the safety of your phonebook as well. A comprehensive tool against all forms of mobile hacking.
Norton Mobile Security – Not an antivirus system that has lots of customized features for iPhone users – but the sheer reliability factor of Norton makes it worth a mention. Norton Mobile Security can be used to keep a group of handsets (under iDevices) protected as well. Like most of the other mobile safety apps listed above, this one also has anti-theft alerts. The relatively high download price is a factor though, particularly when cheaper (even free!) alternatives are available.
ESET – Powered by the high-end NOD32 technology, ESET is a mobile antivirus tool that is fast gaining acceptance among iPhone users the world over. The basic firewall and top-notch social media scanning features of ESET are two of its high points, while it also offers user-friendly parental controls. After all, you might have several iPhone apps for kids on your device too, right?

Apart from those listed above, Trend Micro Smart Surfing is a useful app to keep your handset protected, particularly while browsing the internet. The Mobile Security and MDM app has an interesting set of features as well. Representatives from any mobile application development company would tell you to be wary of virus attacks on your iPhone – and these programs enable you to do just that!

11 Factors Which Have Pegged Back The Blackberry Platform

Over the last three years or so, Blackberry has fallen far behind the pace, in terms of popularity figures among mobile-users worldwide. Several factors have contributed to the steady decline of Blackberry – some of which have been highlighted here.

According to many experts from the worldwide mobile markets, the failure of the ultra-hyped Blackberry Z10 was the final nail in the coffin for the already ailing Research-In-Motion (RIM). If one were to go by handset and mobile app statistics too, Blackberry cannot even come close to the attractions of Android and iPhone handsets. Once considered to be a phone exclusively for the elite business class, the fall from grace of the Blackberry platform has been remarkable. We here take a look at the factors that brought about all this doom and gloom for BB:

Static nature of enterprise services – The secure and reliable nature of the push-mail feature was, once upon a time, the standout point of Blackberry handsets. There were no updates to this feature for years though, and when Apple came up with the revolutionary iPhone, Blackberry was caught unawares. Users, understandably, started to shift to the much more dynamic iPhone handsets. The latter offered more seamless web access too.
Inability to gain first-mover’s advantage – Be it iPhone app development in India and overseas, or the launch of new handset models – competitors have mostly been able to stay a step ahead of Blackberry. A classic instance of this would be the release of the QWERTY Blackberry Q10 – relied upon by RIM to make up for the failure of the touch-based Z10. While the phone was not bad in itself, it did not offer anything extra over what the Samsung Galaxy S4 already had. An earlier release might have led to better sales figures.
Entry into the tablet market with a dud – To match the popularity of the Apple iPad, Blackberry needs a truly robust, multi-functional tablet – and the Playbook is, unfortunately, not the answer. Apart from being way more expensive than most comparable devices, the absence of a default email client on Blackberry Playbook was regarded as a serious flaw. Why the makers opted to leave out the one feature that BB was known for remains a mystery.
No hype about the upcoming products – It so seems that Blackberry is still out to revive the Z10 in some way and promote the Q10 as much as possible – instead of planning to come up with another handset which would have all the desired features. The so-called ‘leaked’ updates from Blackberry has failed to excite anyone – indicating that the quarterly revenue figures of the company won’t show any significant upturn in the foreseeable future.
Disappointingly small size of the phone screens – The display quality on Blackberry handsets is pretty much uniformly good – but the relatively small size of the phone screens is a huge downer. The screen dimensions of the two latest BB handsets were well-below the average on Android sets (around 4.7 inches). The upcoming Blackberry A10 might finally have a large screen, but will it have enough attractions to make users switch from other phones? A question – and a pretty serious one!
Poor range of the Blackberry App World – If this had been a three-way boxing match, Blackberry would have been beaten to a pulp by Google Android and Apple iPhone by now. Compared to the range and variety of apps at iTunes, the Blackberry App World appears horribly poorly stacked – and the quality of many Blackberry apps is rather suspect too. It’s not a matter of coincidence that there are many more iPhone application development companies in India, than agencies exclusively into creating Blackberry applications.
Over-reliance on a single product – We are not saying that Apple would have prospered if its iPhone had flopped – but the fact that it had the iPad, iPod, iTouch and even the Apple TV as backup products certainly helped. On the other hand, Blackberry has been relying only on its mobile handsets to keep earning big bucks – something that has not been happening for the last 3-4 years. The feeble attempt at tablet marketing also fizzled out soon.
Confused advertisement campaigns – Have you watched the Super Bowl ad for Blackberry Z10? If you haven’t, you have not missed much – for the commercial focuses more on being unique (not essentially in a good way), rather than being informative about the product that it is supposed to promote. Even the series of ‘Keep Moving’ commercials have not quite been focused enough. It’s surprising that RIM is constantly failing to create a nice, attention-grabbing, informative commercial for Blackberry products. Even the best stuff have to be promoted well!
Hardware – Complaints about the basic hardware architecture of handsets had been a bane of the Blackberry platform – and that had been one of the main reasons why the new hardware for the Q10 and the Z10 was launched. The end-result was far from what was expected though – with the high-end Blackberry phones registering lower sales than even the Nokia Lumia phones. The new hardware was not defective or anything – it just did not have enough ‘EDGE’ about it.
Failure to work its way around the battery backup issue – With even Android phones and iPhones having rather poor battery lives, Blackberry had a potential to capture some of the market – by coming up with devices that performed better on this count. That, however, has not happened, and the Blackberry phones continue having battery backup that is about at par with the other smartphones. Yet another reason why no one has bothered to switch to a BB handset.
Steadily eroding user-base – Speaking about switching, the flow has been more from Blackberry handsets, to other smartphone models. Except for the hardcore Blackberry fanboys/girls, many users have become exasperated with the poor performance of BB phones, and have started using Android/iOS devices instead. At a time when Blackberry requires a loyal customer base more than over, these signs are worrying.

There is also a marked reluctance on the part of many mobile application development companies around the world to create Blackberry apps. This is rather natural, for iPhone apps have much higher revenue-generation potentials. The Blackberry platform, with its standard features and niche positioning, was doing fine. The moment it started to compete with Apple, Google and Samsung, the downward spiral started.

Can it recover? Let’s wait and watch!

Android Jelly Bean – Is It Always ‘Tasty’ Enough?

With a device distribution share of nearly 60%, Jelly Bean is, undoubtedly, the most popular Android operating system platform. Jelly Bean is not entirely free of problems though, and we focus on some common user-complaints about the OS here.

Since its release in July 2012, the Jelly Bean has been widely hailed as the best operating system rolled out for Android devices. Recent surveys have shown that, the Jelly Bean OS comfortably outstrips the popularity of the Gingerbread, and has stood strong in the face of the recently launched Android Kitkat too. However, not all is hunky-dory with the performance of Android Jelly Bean – with users around the world having certain common complaints about it. Let us here take a look through some such Jelly Bean issues:

Poor Bluetooth Connectivity – While the Bluetooth features in the Android 4.1 version were pretty much okay, that of version 4.2 leaves much to be desired. In fact, those up top at Google admitted that the version had minor bugs, and users needed to upgrade their devices to Android version 4.2.1. While the corrected version does promise fast Bluetooth connectivity, the process of upgrading is far from easy.
Unreliable wireless network coverage – The rather mediocre quality of wi-fi coverage of Android Jelly Bean allows many iPhone application development companies in India and abroad to steal a march over those exclusively into developing Android apps. Being able to connect to a wi-fi network is not always possible, and users have also found the coverage to be going off on its own at random too. Turning the router and the wi-fi settings off and on again (basically, a reboot) can serve as a temporary fix to this problem.
Device lags – Particularly after an Android phone has been kept on standby for a few hours. According to users, phones powered by Jelly Bean on Android 4.1 (in particular) took quite a bit of time to start functioning normally, after being removed from the standby mode. The issue even compelled many people to avoid keeping their phones on standby.
Alarmingly low battery life – If you are in the habit of installing every alternate app released by any random mobile application development company, the battery life of your smartphone (nothing to write home about, in any case) will go for a toss. However, it has been seen that devices with Android Jelly Bean had even lower-than-average battery backup period. To be fair, this might not be a specific problem with the OS – since turning off stuff like Google Wallet has often resulted in improved battery performance.
Automatic device reboot – A mobile handset should reboot only when the user wants it to – but that is not always the case with Android Jelly Bean phones. Once again, version 4.2 is the worst offender, with the screen of devices also often freezing at random. Although doing a complete factory reset can get the phone back to life, this problem is reported to recur. A probable cause might be the presence of smartphone apps from earlier versions on the Jelly Bean powered handset.
Incompatibility with the default music application on Samsung phones – Hardly anyone has been able to listen to interruption-free music on the go, on their Samsung smartphone, running on the Jelly Bean platform. There have been reports of a frequent stuttering of the music, with the playback even coming to sudden halts in certain cases. Understandably, Samsung-users are looking forward to a fix/update from Google, so that the music app can be used without any hassles.
Eleven months in a year! – Okay, let’s just say that Android 4.2 was a bit of an embarrassment for Google. People who had newly upgraded from version 4.1 were shocked to find that there was no mention of the month of ‘December’ in the default People app calendar whatsoever. One of the many reasons why the corrective 4.2.1 update had to be released in a hurry.
Problems after receiving a call – Make no mistake – there is no room for complaint about the voice-clarity or other calling features in devices using the Android Jelly Bean platform. Things, however, can go wrong after you have received an incoming call and finished talking. The device can freeze/hang completely, or become inexplicably slow. Unless a hard reboot is done, the problem tends to persist.
RAM management features not up to the mark – Not a general, sweeping statement against all Android Jelly Bean handsets, but an issue that many users have actually faced. Managing the internal memory space of Android devices is not always the easiest task, and setting up a few mobile apps can easily exhaust the default storage space of the phone. Of course, if you are careful about regularly removing unnecessary files, apps and other stuff from your phone – such RAM problems would be a lot less likely to crop up.

Probably as an offshoot of the Bluetooth problems in Android Jelly Bean 4.2, the in-car audio performance of devices running on it is less than satisfactory. To keep up with iOS handsets and products from any good iPhone application development company in India, Google needs to get these problems fixed as quickly as possible. At present, Jelly Bean is still ‘tasty’ for users, but there is considerable scope for the OS platform to become even ‘tastier’!