What Constitutes a "Good" App?

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I consider myself to be a relatively social person. However, there are plenty of times that I find myself stuck in awkward small talk with strangers. Generic weather comment, generic sports team comment, what do you do? This question more often than not leads itself to a slightly more entertaining back and forth. When I reveal that I work for a company that “creates mobile apps” the response I usually receive is “I have a great idea for an app!”.  The entrepreneurial culture of the US today leads everyone to believe that the next big idea is just around the corner. It is this kind of thinking, combined with ingenuity, that has started some of the world’s most profitable businesses. However, this thinking does not always lend itself to the best ideas. There is such a thing as a bad  app. Whether that means it is completely useless, devoid of interesting content, or poorly made and maintained, they are certainly out there.

What is it that makes an app successful? What is it that makes an app effective? There are several factors that should be taken into consideration when rating an app. First and foremost, does it bring anything new to the table? Is there something that is unique and sets it apart from other apps? With over 600,000 apps in the Apple App Store alone, this is very critical. If you can get the same content somewhere else and it’s easier to navigate, or more visually appealing, the app will lose its competitive edge.

The user experience of the app is of utmost importance. Using applications should be a delightful experience and should require minimal effort. Giving your audience the opportunity to access your content in a beautiful and simple way on their mobile device is the ultimate goal. Often times, mobile-friendly websites just don’t cut it, and that’s where the app steps in.

Lastly, it is incredibly important to have fresh new content being added and updated on a regular basis. You must give your user a reason to keep coming back to the app. There are countless times that I have downloaded an app that seemed interesting, only to realize that I would never actually use it. No one wants to suffer the fate of a being downloaded and subsequently being deleted right away. Games and news are the most popular app categories - news apps are constantly being updated with new articles and content, and games are just plain fun.

Everyone is beginning to take notice of mobile - and it’s here to stay. With each product launch, it is evident that one of the most significant and growing markets is the smartphone industry. Although there are plenty of ideas out there, a really good one can fall through the cracks sometimes without proper execution.

Here at Subsplash, we want everyone to keep dreaming and exercising their creativity. Do you have a great idea for an app? We’d love to hear it.

Does Your Church Need an App?

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Watch Interview

Our very own Chris Sharpe was recently interviewed by ChurchNext about the benefit of creating an app for your organization. Check out the full interview here.

The Mobile Renaissance: How Mobile Technology is Changing the Way We Do Life

There's an app for that. Chances are you've heard this catchphrase, and chances are it won't be going away any time soon. Mobile technology and smartphones are here to stay. With 6.8 Billion people in the world, there are an astonishing 4.6 Billion mobile phones - that's almost as many phones as there are people! In fact, there are four times more smartphones activated daily than there are births! Mobile is blowing up, and we are too! Check out these recent mobile stats:

- 1.3 Million Android and iOS devices are activated daily.

- Predicted 2.5 Billion smartphones sold between 2010-2015.

- iPhone and Android app users spend 80 mins/day using apps.

- People on average spend 30 minutes per launch of a Subsplash App.

- Over 50% of video traffic is now on mobile.

- There are 91.4 Million smartphones in the United States alone.

- Smartphone sales are up 73% since the start of 2011.

- 9 out of 10 smartphone users use their phone on a daily basis.

- Estimated $15.9 Billion in expected end-user spending with smartphones in 2012. We're feeling pretty good about these stats here at Subsplash. Smart phones and tablets have slowly but surely edged out PC's with more sales and daily web consumption in 2011. It seems that we're right on the cusp of this mobile web explosion - making anywhere, anytime technology pocketable.

We feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the mobile movement with The Church App. Included in the uprise of mobile web use is the frequency of application use and downloads. Mobile applications are setting the bar for user experience, and staying innovative is essential to having a competitive edge. We are ecstatic to share that there are roughly 500,000 page views a day on The Church App platform! We can only anticipate these numbers growing significantly as we go live with new applications everyday. As we like to say, "When it comes to mobile, it's not if but when," and that "when" is now.

*Stats and estimates found at ITU-D Measuring the Information Society 2010, Flurry Analytics, The Coda Research Consultancy, and AdMob, Google.

Why Mobile? Do I Need An App?

The Question:

“Do we need an app?” That’s one of the primary tech related questions being asked today by organizations of all sizes. There are a number of reasons to consider taking your message and offerings mobile, but how do you know if it’s right for you?

Today, people are consuming data nearly as much on their mobile devices as they are on their computers. In fact, mobile is projected to become the dominant source for data consumption in the near future. Just two short years ago, app development was largely reserved for game creators or huge corporations with substantial budgets for custom development. Today, apps are being created daily for anyone looking to connect with their audience in a new way. It’s no longer a conversation for the Fortune 500 or tech elite, it’s now mainstream.

The Story:

It all started with a little company called Apple, you know, the world’s most valuable company (http://bit.ly/pcSTu4). Or you could say it started with Palm in the late 90's, but we'll just start with Apple when they created the iPhone and subsequently the App Store, which then started a revolution of mobile mania that created a new industry and attracted competition from other humble companies such as Google and their Android Platform and Marketplace. When the iPhone first came out, mobile websites were the first to break ground. These mobile friendly sites made navigating easy on a tiny screen. But soon, the incredible features and overall experience of apps began to seize control. These days, apps are by far the preferred choice by mobile users. In fact, people spend an average of 81 minutes per day using apps. Apps give users the ability to do things that still aren’t possible with mobile websites such as bluetooth, camera, and GPS. Apps have the edge in the overall speed, performance, and user experience because they are designed specifically for your device. Now, with HTML5 on the scene, mobile sites are growing in feature capabilities and experience, but will likely always be a step behind. Furthermore, to have an app in the App Store is a big deal. It’s more than just having something that works with a mobile phone, it’s about making it incredibly available. The App Store, as well as the Android Marketplace, are today’s storefronts. It’s the market and it’s where the mobile generation shops!

The Answer:

So, do you need an app? Well, it really depends on what you want to do. We’ve seen two primary keys to having a successful mobile app; content and experience. First and foremost, you have to have the content. If you are creating an app as a novelty, you are probably wasting your time and money. But, if you are giving your audience a reason to use your app and to return to your app, then you should think about mobile. It’s just where people are! Why not make your content easier than ever to access? Second, you need to make sure that your mobile app is good, really good. If people download an app and it just doesn’t look good or work right, they will likely delete it immediately or never open it again. Be very cautious with how you proceed. You need to make sure your app is high quality and you need to have a plan to keep it up to date. If you focus on keeping your content fresh and having a high quality experience for your audience, you should have a very positive response.

The final piece of the puzzle is to figure out how to get your app developed and then published. There are a few options to consider and they couldn’t be more different.

1:Custom

You can work with work with a consulting firm like us to help you build an incredible custom app across multiple platforms. This will result in the best possible end product and you can really do anything you want. It will truly be a brilliant bit of software, but it will cost much more and will take time.

2: In-House

The second option is to try to do it yourself or work with an individual developer. This process is often the longest and the end result will vary largely depending on what you are trying to accomplish. It may also end up costing more money than you bargained for.

3: Platform

The third option is to use a native app platform to create a high quality mobile app at a fraction of the cost of custom development. Using an app platform like ours, the Subsplash App Platform, gives you complete control of your content and helps you offer a variety of features without having to break the bank. You would use our App Builder to control all aspects of your app from layout and branding to new content. This is also the best option for keeping your app up to date. We take care of OS updates, bug fixes, analytics, add in new features, give full tech support, and more. It is really the simplest option if you have content that you want to present to your audience. With these apps you have a number of robust features for content presentation such as videos, audio, blogs, calendars, news, maps, social sharing, and more.

I hope this has helped you answer some questions about mobile. It’s an amazing new world where people can access content from anywhere, anytime. We want you to be a part of it!

The Church App: by Subsplash

What is The Church App? It’s an incredibly flexible platform that helps you develop mobile apps for your ministry!

Every single week, churches and ministries create incredible Gospel-centered content that needs to be shared with the world. Sadly, this content is often never published or is simply trapped within undesirable, clunky technology. So, the big question is; how do we get this incredible content into people’s hands? Here at Subsplash, we want to see the Gospel proclaimed to the ends of the earth. With that vision in mind, we brought our team of world class developers and UX designers together and created The Church App platform. This cutting edge platform allows churches and ministries to very easily create their own mobile applications (apps) for iPhone, Android, iPad, Windows Phone 7, and web. With rich features designed specifically for the presentation of the Gospel through an app, ministries can present full length audio and video messages, share blogs and articles, keep people connected with calendar events and social networks, integrate with online giving, and much more! With the growth of mobile technology, it only makes sense that the Church needs to be at the forefront of this tremendous tech revolution. Today, people actually consume as much data on their mobile device as they do on desktop computers. It’s an incredible cultural shift being led by mobile apps. We truly believe we can help churches and ministries get their Jesus-driven content into the palm of your hand. We’ve been blessed to work with some incredible ministries who are all about using technology to share the truth of Jesus Christ. We've worked with Billy Graham, Saddleback Church, Mars Hill Church, IHOP, Harvest: Greg Laurie, and many more. We’ve even worked with several churches that have less than 50 members who are using the apps as an outreach tool. How cool is that? The Church App is a tool built and designed for churches of all sizes who want to have their own custom app in the App Store and Android Marketplace to present the Gospel and keep people connected to their community.

Interesting facts about mobile and the Church

1. People spend an average of 80 minutes per day using apps
2. People spend an average of 30 minutes per launch of The Church App
3. Nearly half of all Americans will use a smartphone by the end of 2011 (Nielsen)
4. The Church App give people access to your video and audio sermons, news, blogs, calendars, and much more from anywhere, anytime

Things you can do inside of The Church App that you can’t do on your website

1. Advanced Audio Player: Listen to audio in the background while multitasking, download audio to your app for offline listening, and have your audio sermon remember where you left off if interrupted
2. Utilize your phones native features like Map and GPS
3. Watch Apple approved high quality video that won’t drain your battery life, never buffers, and uses data efficiently
4. Utilize a Music Player to sort by album and give users the ability to download songs

Other cool features of The Church App

1. Calendar/Events: Create a custom calendar or integrate with your existing calendar
2. ESV Bible: Include the entire ESV Bible, Audio Bible, and Life Journal Reading plan in your app
3. Blog Reader: integrate with any RSS feed
4. Social Networks/Sharing: Integrate with Facebook, Twitter and Email for social sharing of media
5. Bulletins/News: Integrate your Sunday bulletin and any e-news
6. Online Giving: Integrate with your online giving solution
7. Short videos: Integrate with Youtube/Vimeo for short videos

We are excited to continue to dream and develop for the future of mobile technology and hope to see it used more and more for the advancement of God’s Kingdom. If you have any questions at all, we’d be happy to help!