As a business consultant with years of experience in mobile app development, I strongly advise my clients to start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) when embarking on a new project. Not only does this approach help to minimize risk, but it also allows you to focus on the most important features of your app and gather valuable user feedback before investing significant time and resources into the development process.

At Rockwolf, we specialize in helping clients build successful mobile apps, and we believe that building an MVP is the best way to get started. In this article, we’ll explain what an MVP is and why it’s important, and provide some examples of Android and iOS projects that should be started with an MVP.

What is an MVP and Why is it Important?

An MVP is a version of your app that includes only the most essential features needed to test your concept and gather user feedback. The idea behind an MVP is to create a version of the app that is functional but minimalistic, with only the core features necessary to test your idea and gauge user interest.

The benefits of building an MVP are many. First and foremost, it allows you to test your idea with real users and get feedback that can help you improve your app before investing significant time and resources into the development process. It also helps to minimize risk and reduce the cost of development by focusing on the most important features of your app.

What Kind of Android and iOS Projects Should be Started from an MVP?

At Rockwolf, we recommend that all of our clients start with an MVP when building a mobile app, regardless of the platform or industry. However, there are certain types of projects that are particularly well-suited to the MVP approach.

For example, if you’re building a social networking app, starting with an MVP that includes basic features like user registration, profile creation, and messaging capabilities can help you gauge user interest and identify areas for improvement before investing significant time and resources into the development process.

Similarly, if you’re building an e-commerce app, starting with an MVP that includes basic features like product listings, shopping cart functionality, and payment processing can help you test the concept and gather user feedback before investing in more advanced features like personalized recommendations and loyalty programs.

Interesting Cases

One interesting case study is the mobile app for the ride-sharing company, Uber. When Uber first launched, they started with a minimalistic MVP that included only basic features like ride requests, driver location tracking, and payment processing. By starting with an MVP, Uber was able to test the concept and gather valuable user feedback before investing in more advanced features like surge pricing and driver ratings.

Another interesting case study is the mobile app for the language learning platform, Duolingo. Duolingo started with an MVP that included only basic features like language lessons and quizzes. By starting with an MVP, Duolingo was able to test the concept and gather user feedback before investing in more advanced features like personalized learning plans and social sharing.

Here are some tips on how to build an MVP for your mobile app:

1. Define the core features: The first step in building an MVP is to define the core features that are necessary for the app to function. This may include basic functionality such as user registration, login, and basic navigation.

2. Prioritize features: Once you have identified the core features, prioritize them based on their importance and impact on the user experience. This will help you focus on the most important features first and avoid getting bogged down in less critical features.

3. Create a prototype: Create a basic prototype of the app that includes the core features. This could be a simple wireframe or a functional prototype that allows users to test the basic functionality of the app.

4. Gather user feedback: Once you have a working prototype, gather feedback from users to help you identify areas for improvement and determine whether the app is meeting their needs.

5. Iterate and improve: Based on user feedback, iterate on the app and continue to refine the core features. This may involve adding new features, improving the user interface, or optimizing performance.

6. Validate your idea: Before investing a lot of time and money into your mobile app development, it’s important to validate your idea to ensure there is a market for your product. Conduct market research to determine if there is demand for your app and analyze the competition to identify any potential gaps in the market.

7. Use a lean development approach: The lean development approach involves building only what is necessary and focusing on the core features of the app. This helps to minimize risk and reduce the time and cost of development.

8. Keep it simple: When building an MVP, it’s important to keep it simple and avoid adding unnecessary features. This will help you focus on the core functionality of the app and ensure a better user experience.

9. Choose the right platform: Depending on your target audience and the features of your app, you may need to choose the right platform for your MVP. For example, if you’re targeting iOS users, you may want to start with an iOS app, whereas if you’re targeting Android users, you may want to start with an Android app.

10. Set goals and metrics: To measure the success of your MVP, set goals and metrics that align with your business objectives. This could include metrics such as the number of downloads, user engagement, and revenue generated.

Today Bluetooth Technology becomes more and more popular in many areas: different sensors, devices, electronics. Mobile applications make this technology fully functioning.
Medical devices, activities and sport, automobilism and tracking devices always require their Android and iOS applications to be developed so as to give users the best possibilities.
Bluetooth have to be a separate part of mobile apps developers’ expertise, if they want to implement professional solution in this area.
Rockwolf have vast experience with using both Bluetooth Classic and BLE in mobile apps on Android and iOS platforms for our clients. We have good awareness about all the aspects and issues which developers usually are faced to and have to manage to fix. Some of them:

• Bluetooth pairing problems and frequent disconnects

• Transfer large amounts of data via Bluetooth link

• Security Issues

• Drops or hiccups when we have multiple simultaneous Bluetooth connections

• Bugs in the operating system on devices with newer Bluetooth Smart technology

• Hard-to-update firmware problem

• How to test Bluetooth Android and iOS apps

Some typical apps we made:

1. The project protected by NDA where we have implemented communication with ultrasonic device. That was the project for big cosmological company. The idea was to monitor absorption of the cream. The app used Cloud Service for data storage and has some realization of gamification approach.




2. Apps for Golf Clubs where we use Bluetooth/BLE for sending commands and transfer data from/to portable user devices and hardware (user touch devices, watch, hardware with gps and BLE)




3. Heating insoles – Very interesting project – mobile app for heating and tracking shoes. Application allows you to connect to your insoles using the Bluetooth (BLE) connectivity of your phone. You can set the temperature of each insole separately and quantify your daily activity : with the build-in sensors, you can keep a precise count of your daily steps, distance and burned calories.




4. iKeyFinder – one more simple Bluetooth app.

To summarize I can say that we have experience of work with both platforms (iOS/Android) as well as both Bluetooth technologies (classic and BLE). Also, we have experience in communication with Chinese vendors of such hardware.

WhizKid educational Android game for kids developed by Rockwolf exceeded the mark of 100 000 downloads on the Google Play Market. A good indicator for the application, which was not promoted and advertised. It is own experiment of Rockwolf, it was developed by our programmers during their staying on the bench.

Whiz Kid is the Brain & Puzzle Android and iOS application for children. This is the the colorful and funny educational game. You will meet many interesting scenes with lively magic animal characters and different locations.

The application can be downloaded from the Android Market. iOS version called My Whiz Kid??is available on App Store.??The game??is free of charge, but user can pay to unlock all additional levels and to remove Ads.

The rules are simple and well-known. Click Start button to see the list of locations with tasks. Select first item ??? the 1st level will be opened. Tap the ??????? to read the task. Tap the lock icon to see some response alternatives. Make your choice ??? see the result. Some levels contain distinct specific but obvious mechanics. You have to solve previous puzzle(level) to make the next level available.

What is the age of the children whom this game intended for. The complexity of tasks is different. The idea was to demonstrate all features and possibilities of application to show the mix of levels, which are planned to ripen into the series of educational programs for children with narrowed specialization. So, the age is between 4+, 7+.

Music and sound. Android application was implemented with possibility to turn on/off sound and music. The music is well-chosen. It is playing in random order on each level.

Graphics. We have been cooperating with professional and experienced UI/UX designer, who created funny characters and beautiful locations. He spent much efforts to give the children and their parents as much pleasant emotion as possible during their educational process.

Very stylish and user friendly program has the following types of tasks:

1. Find differences at 2 pictures

2. Find hidden objects

3. Complete the sequence of figures, numbers

4. Buy goods for a certain amount of money

5. Determine the time, which the watches have been set to

6. Calculate the value of a simple mathematical expression

7. Compare numbers

8. Multiplicity of numbers

9. The simplest equation

10. And just for fun ??? general knowledge puzzles

Full HD Android Tablets and iPad versions are ready to be used. Localization also is available for many languages.