ezstockspro Retrospective !

ezStocksPro Retrospective

AbbaMobile App

ezStocksPro Retrospective for iOS and Android

The mobile application development has changed quite significantly since I first released ezStocksPro on iOS and Android four years ago. The applications were built using Objective-C and Java respectively. Some of the reasons, I choose native app development at that time were:
  • Relative novelty of Mobile apps.
  • My interest in learning Objective-C.
  • 14+ years development experience with Java.
  • High demand for native application developers.
  • Ability to use device capabilities like GPS, Motion events, etc.
  • Immaturity and availability of hybrid application development frameworks.
My hobby app project did extremely well both on Apple and Google store. It was a great learning experience in terms of technology and techniques to make the app stand out. Some of the things that I incorporated in my apps that garnered 5 stars reviews were :
Is great now that ads were removed when first loading. Now it doesn’t crash at all. Thanks for fixing. I use the app all the time again. It’s very helpful. Thank you.Lizzard11
  • Keeping it Simple and provide value.
  • Keeping users engaged.
  • No bells and whistles, rather using continuous improvement.
  • Highlighting features in app description.
  • App description in multiple languages.
  • InApp Rate Dialog to nudge users to write reviews.
  • Helpshift integration for app FAQs and feature requests.
    • Seems to do everything needed. It is indeed pretty intuitive, and that was the goal. Thanks! Like the how the stock is doing over time both in graphics and analysis. Short and sweet.Big Hat Man
  • Implementing requested features quickly.
  • Google Analytics to track app usage by country.
  • Flurry Analytics for tracking most used features and logging app exceptions.
  • Freemium app model with InApp purchases.
  • Implementing in-demand features at the time like, pull to refresh, sound, new version notifications, etc
  • Dropbox, iCloud Integration for data backup.
  • Facebook and Twitter integration.
  • Email Integration to receive user feedback and comments.
    • A very good app to get a lot of info fast. As you get to understand how to use it better and better. You can drill down into particular securities and markets and do it fast. It has a very good charting page that allows you to use a few technical analysis indicators as well. It’s well worth the price and immediately useful before you even learn much more about its features.Herbert Glass
  • Supporting multiple device sizes and orientations.
  • Admob ads integration.

With the success of ezStocksPro both on iOS and Android meant increase in the number of user requests for features. Most of the features were quite involved and needed to be implemented in Objective-C and Java. That involved keeping on top of all the iOS and Android versions, device sizes and the nuances of each platform. Supporting the app quickly became a nightmare and thus began the quest for write once, deploy anywhere framework. Checkout out ezStocks Pro app on IOS and Android.

I believe that approach I took initially to develop ezStocksPro is still viable with some tweaks. With the maturity of the HTML5/Javascript/CSS3 frameworks, I now strongly believe that you can write most of the apps using one the several frameworks prevalent now. I had been following several frameworks to rewrite ezStocksPro so I do not have to write multiple versions of the app. Some of the frameworks that I had been investigating were :

After reading and experimenting with different frameworks, I am settling for Ionic. Several reasons working in favor of Ionic are:

  • Beautiful UI out of the box. I am not a UI designer.
  • Performance comparable to native apps if you take time to design your app.
  • Based on AngularJS. Gotta love and use AngularJS if you are in Web development.
  • Cordova – which exposes tons of device capabilities via APIs
  • Automation capabilities using Gulp.
  • Ionic View App – A container app that lets you view the app without installing the app been developed.

Keeping in mind, the anatomy of a good Hybrid Mobile App, I am going to consider the following features in the app rewrite :

  • Targeted audience
  • Easy of use.
  • Clean UI
  • Deploy features quicker and gather feedback.
  • Collect app analytics.
  • Incorporate Social media features.
  • Freemium app with inApp purchases.
  • AdMob Integration
  • Minimal device platform specific code but still employ device specific patterns.
  • Extensive use of light weight backend APIs to get data.

In my next post, I will list all the Cordova plugins that I plan on using in the ezStocksPro rewrite. Stay tuned & peace out .