No one is already surprised with the fact that medical services have also gone mobile. However, there are still many challenges and niches for creative app developers to take bringing their ideas of building medical apps to life. Prompt delivery of medical services and finding the right doctor are actually the main challenges, as it comes to people’s health and even lives sometimes.
Whenever you want to gain success as an application developer, you need to think over some efficient ways to implement a successful health app development and provide communication to improve the healthcare services in general.
According to the latest statistics, medical and healthcare apps will be in a huge demand at least within the next 5 years featuring over 510 million users today. In other words, ambitious developers can benefit from plenty of different sectors to develop a mobile health application, as the competition level is not as tight as in other segments. For this reason, both small and large enterprises as well as independent development teams are eager to enter the niche of online medical services delivered by mobile apps.
Despite the fact, the entire world has already gone mobile, the whole mobile app industry is still in its primary stage with so many things still to develop and introduce. The same thing is with healthcare industry. So, grab your chance and be among the first to enter the market with an outstanding mobile application.
Essential Medical App Development Tips
Every time you do not how to get started when building your own medical app, these tips will certainly come in handy.
- Know Your Audience. Identifying the target audience is the key to success in spite of the project complexity and type. Your goal is to keep constant concentration on the end user. You need to put yourself in user’s shoes and think like your end user but not like a developer. Feel free to use the examples of some leading apps in the niche. Compare and contrast their pros and cons as a user. The development process is much easier when you set clear targets.
- Purposes. The second stage is to clarify the key reasons and objectives why you want to build you medical app. You need to have a clear understanding of how your app will be useful for the end user and what problems it can solve. Developers will need to have answers to some crucial questions at their first stage. Why should a user download their app? What are the purposes of building an application?
- Personalization comes as another vital aspect of the development process. The idea is to create a well-structured and personalized information about a particular user. It needs to be accurate and precise making it easy for the doctor to interact with a patient remotely in case of necessity. The information should include some general medical data in addition to required specialized information.
- Trustworthy Content. Always keep in mind that you need content your users can trust. It is supposed to be not only realistic but also innovate.
- Direct Communication with the Doctor. You need to establish some reliable communication sources linking a patient with his or her doctor. Every medical app user is searching for healthy communication with a healthcare provider. This could be a major problem your app solves.
In spite of the above-mentioned, you should think of methods to implement some efficient communication means. If your app does not let a user keep in touch with his or her doctor, the product is 100% useless no matter how cool it looks. You need to think of some messaging tools as well as chat and email services letting your target audience communicate directly with a personal healthcare provider. Moreover, if you are able to motivate doctors as well to keep in touch with their patients, your app will be just priceless.
Where to Use?
Defining the right area for the app is another crucial factor you need to take into account. Note, that you are not dealing with a dating or music streaming app. As a rule, medical mobile applications have a limited number of specified users. Retrieving the information on the usage area will let you also think of some fundamental features and wireframe you need to implement in your product.
Every time you come up with an idea of building a medical application, you need to consider a high level of dedication and creativity. This product differs from all other types of mobile apps you are generally used to. The challenge is rather tough and complicated. You need to take into account various crucial factors as well as enable smooth and fast performance of the application.
Issues Developers May Face When Building a Medical App
People are more tended to trust their mobile devices. They are used to relying on their smartphones and tablets when the situation gets tough. We use different mobile services when stranded alone in the middle of nowhere to find the best route. We use booking and reservation apps to have dinner or stay in a hotel.
The same thing is with medical and healthcare applications that have only started to shape the mobile market. The medical field has always been of great interest for some of the biggest names in the development niche as well as for independent developers looking for a chance to hit the headlines.
As soon as we use different mobile devices in spite of their platform or carrier, knowledge of how to employ a particular medical app will be of great use. Here is a list of some major issues every developer may face when launching the project:
- Unpredictable Results – Medical application is different from many other products. You will always face many users who will hardly love using the app. For this reason, it is always hard to predict the result. It does not matter, how skillful or creative developer you are as well as how many dedicated teammates work on the project. You will never be able to launch a 100% trouble-free product. You can ensure a foolproof application only after its release featuring a strong customers’ feedback;
- A Life-Saving App is Still to Be Developed – in spite of millions of medical app users (over 500 million), there is still no life-saving app. In other words, you are free to come up with the most dare idea aimed at developing the healthcare service. On the other hand, you should not be rather enthusiastic about this issue, as any digital product will hardly bring critical relief to the patient;
- Mobile Platform Fragmentation – The variety of mobile devices is growing rapidly today. This fact comes with a set of challenges and obstacles whether to create a medical app for iOS or Android. Every device is powered by different operating systems. Moreover, you should consider some other crucial factors like network connection, non-standard portable gadgets, geos and verticals, etc.
When you develop an app for different mobile devices, you need to think of specific features that will fit those devices. iOS and Android platforms come with different specifications and requisites that may turn into a real nightmare for the developer.
Ways to Overcome Those Issues
A thorough testing before submitting is actually the best and most reliable way check whether it will fit the demands of the target audience. On the one hand, the process might seem too expensive. On the other hand, it will let you reserve some amount of your budget rather than spending it on further bug fixing enabling the app quality and smooth running avoiding the lack of customers’ trust. It will certainly influence the cost to build a medical application on Android or any other mobile platform.
Another way to overcome all possible obstacles is to provide end users with an alternative mobile network connectivity option. The thing is that you are very unlikely to predict the mobile network availability accurately especially when it comes to congested or jammed connectivity.
Final Word
Every time you are about to launch the process of medical app development, the only thing you should always keep in mind is your end user with his or her requirements and problems. Every product is aimed at solving users’ problems making their lives easier. Medical apps are not an exception. The level of their appreciation and trust will determine the level of your general success in the market.
If you think the challenge is too tough for you and you need help to make a mobile app for finding doctors, our team of professional app developers is always here to do the work for you. We establish a clear and efficient development process starting from the prototyping to QA and release. You can track the progress in real time and benefit from professional customer support available round the clock. Contact us, don’t hesitate.