Apple has no room for Iranian Apps on App Store.

It is regular that we hear some malicious app is removed from the app store. These apps usually spy over the users’ privacy and data thereby bringing their own expulsion. But this time the entire Iranian race of apps has been attacked.

This time the tech giant, Apple attacked all of the Iranian apps and bringing them to the ground. The reason for such unreasonable crackdown has been cited as the U.S. economic sanctions. This is a crisis situation for the Iranian Iphone users and grave problem for Iranian application development company. Product down can mean decrease of users and profits for developers.

As per report of New York Times popular cab hailing, food services and other services apps have been removed from the Apple app store. Such action over Iranian apps has been confirmed from the Iranian media too. N.Y. Times also posted Apple also notified the Iranian developers that their apps were removed from the iphone app store, “Under the U.S. sanctions regulations, the App Store cannot host, distribute or do business with apps or developers connected to certain U.S. embargoed countries.”

Iranian telecom minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted, “Giving respect to consumer rights is a principle today which Apple has not followed. We will follow up the cutting of the apps legally.”

Jahromi told through a twitter post that Apple users in Iran account for only 11% of mobile phone market even though Apple is not officially established in their region or any other Persian Gulf region, therefore reflecting upon the minor impact upon the country, as per associated press.

The dynamic evolution of the app development companies in the entire Gulf region offers great potential to revolutionize the industries. Apps like Snapp and Careem have been making the news around the world for their acceptance and adoption by the people of Gulf as well as Africa.

When I’ve been in Iran, I’ve really enjoyed using that because it’s regulated by customer response, the prices are lower, they are fixed, there’s no haggling.” The professor of economics at Virginia Tech, Djavad Salehi Isfahani, said about his experience of utilizing the cab hailing service, Snapp. The app has been reported to be one among the apps removed from the app store.

Isfahani also said that the ban is not going to have a large impact on the economy and technological sector of the country. The more important part is that the sanctions are the effect of the nuclear deals that Iran made with six other nations in the year 2015 that has started to affect the economic and international ties.

The impact in terms of what people’s perception is of where Iran is going with globalization and with relations with the West is fairly big,” Isfahani said.

Summarizing:

The present trend of Apple’s removal of Iranian apps is discomfort to the iOS users and a blow to the iOS app development company. Though the officials clarified that the iOS user base is relatively low but the emerging iOS developers will be facing tough times since the option only remains with them is Android. Google also being a U.S. company may end up putting such sanctions upon Iran because of the U.S authorities.

What happens next can only be witnessed.

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Apps to the rescue!! 7 unique apps for iOS and Android you can consider installing

Not long ago, the mishap happened with Nirbhaya in India gave rise to a lot of speculations on serious issues pertaining to women safety even at a time when technology has crossed all thresholds and advanced way beyond human mind could have ever imagined before. We live in a time where, on one hand, progressive discussions take place for the betterment of human civilization and, on the other; we fight to keep our women safe and alive. However, the mobile app developers considered it as their responsibility to come up with such unique applications for iOS and Android helping the women section of our society to travel independently across the world.

Both the App stores are lined up with many mobile applications build with this concept and considering the present situation you are likely to get quite a few clones or spam apps lurking to ruin your phone. To ease your task, I have shortlisted 7 such unique apps for iOS and Android that not only cater to women safety but also help users in other ways. Read the list to find out:

• Nirbhaya app- A city-based android app development company, keeping women safety crisis in mind, launched a GPS enabled application named Nirbhaya allows the victim to send a distress message across to a specified contact group in her mobile specifying the exact location of the woman. The contact list can be self- configured incorporating numbers of cops and close relatives.

• GPS Directory- This application, launched on 21st August 2017, by Find Me Solutions LLP, a wing of CMC Group aims at helping women folks in emergency situations such as harassment in public places. GPS enabled application has inbuilt ‘SOS alert’ feature allowing the victim to seek help from pre-selected and nearby logged-in GPS Directory App users, even send SOS message to the inspector of the closest police station, on pressing the SOS button. Also, app users can locate nearest gourmet store, Italian restaurant, non-vegetarian mess, hospital, petrol pump, auto rickshaw stand or even a liquor outlet, getting a benefit of both Justdial and SOS apps.

• Safetipin- This multilingual women safety application have inbuilt features such as GPS tracking, emergency contact numbers, directions to safe locations and more, also feeding safe areas with their safety scores to access at the time of crisis, also helping others.

• VithU- This is a popular GPS enabled women emergency application which is activated as soon as the Power button on the user’s smartphone is pressed twice, sending alert messages comprising of the following text, "I am in danger. I need help. Please follow my location", to the user's emergency contacts every two minutes. Also the link of users' exact location is forwarded to the receiver feeding with updated location details every two minutes.

• Himmat- This unique application for iPhone and Android came up as an effort made by the Delhi Police highly recommended for the women section of the society. All they need is to register on the Delhi Police website to use the service. If an SOS alert is initiated from the application, immediately her location information and audio/video gets directed to the Delhi Police control room, allowing the police to reach the user easily.

• Swipebuster- This is not exactly an application ensuring women safety rather this application goes a long way in helping you to track your partner’s movement and notify as soon as your partner plan on deceiving you. Swipe buster application allows users to search for a particular profile and check on when they last swept across other profiles and was last active online.

• Jinyiwei app- This unique mobile application has been conceptualized on the basis of taxi applications catering to the Chinese users for now. It provides bodyguards usually retired military personnel, across the city in real-time for those who feel unsafe or are particularly concerned transporting valuables.   

Wrapping Up

This article briefs you on 7 such unique apps for iOS and Android that can come in handy at the time of emergency faced by the app user whether it is catering to women security issues or ensuring general welfare to the app users. Mobile applications are not all venomous to users’ life. If technology is rightfully molded, they can actually prove highly beneficial to the users. Afterall, technology advancement is done keeping the users’ benefit in mind. But offenders utilize the same medium to instill fear. Technology or mobile phone is not the ultimate villain. It is human mind which is the main instigator working behind silently.

Change your mind, change the world.

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What’s causing Billion Dollars loss to App Developers?

Piracy has been a constant menace around the globe. The latest addition to this hack was Game of Thrones. The figures are available all over the internet to show the lossesincurred by the makers of the show.

Similar are the app developers who put their sincere effort to deliver a fine product out of their talents but the pirated versions do eat the share of developer’s cake.

Tapcore is a mobile advertising company which has estimated that mobile application development companies and publishers lose about $3-4 billion annually because of the pirated apps. The pirated installs are estimated to be around 14 billion globally each year. The pirated versions are stolen from original creators and then made available on third party app stores websites.

The European and North American don’t have any role in pirated apps installs where there are majorly legitimate downloads from the developer’s locations i.e. Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Maximum of pirated apps downloads are recorded in the Chinese mainland and other nations from the third party app stores.

The people are not unaware of these pirated versions of the apps but in some cases the users prefer to use these pirated apps, as cracked games that offer unlimited life, etc. to the user.

An official chat between Tapcore CMO Remco Smit and Forbes executive, CMO said, “For many developers, mobile app piracy is still a bit unknown. We calculate that of the 70 billion installs across alternative apps stores and the $20 billion in revenues they are forecast to generate, 15-20% of the apps will be pirated."

Reflecting from the opinions given by Smit it is around 1/5^th of the market revenues are at stake. The journey of the OSes and their apps has not been very long, around ten years, and a considerable share of their market deals in black.

Stealing an app is not that hard. Begin with downloading the app from the app store and then deconstruct the app. Google’s apps are more prone to mobile piracy. Now the monetization methodology is replaced to earn profit. The hacked app is then uploaded on various third party apps offering sites. The advertisements running on the screens direct profits to hackers.

"This means that the developer community stands to lose between $3 billion and $3.8 billion in revenue per year," says Tapcore CMO.

Smit offers the solution of adding hidden codes inside the apps to identify the situations where the apps are tried to be hacked. There in such a scenario the app even after hack will display the ads which will benefit the original app developer. Also, he offers to vigilante top third party app download sites and then taking legal actions against them for selling pirated versions of their apps.

It is to be noted that the application hackers are no rookies; they are technological professionals and are expert hackers. Smit also says that the app developers stand to lose around $3 billion to $3.8 billion in revenues per year.

Summarizing: It is to be understood that the makers and developers stand to lose great deal because of the pirated versions of their apps. The pirated versions can also be harmful for the users as they may plant infected files in your device.

Such pirated versions of the apps are causing billion dollars loss to every mobile app developer. Building a strong community to act against such piracy will definitely prove to be beneficial.

7 Essential m-government Mobile Applications Simplifying Dubai City Life

Mobile technology has touched every corner of the world, simplifying our complex busy schedules that form an integral part of modern city life, whether you are living in India or as far as Dubai. Mobile app developers exploit the growing technology to find out solutions that can answer any of our requirements, be it for entertainment or meeting our lifestyle. The Government of Dubai has recognized the rising potentiality and initiated ‘m-government’, campaign to allow public service bodies better serve the countrymen. The many ‘m-government’ mobile applications, in addition to 2000 ‘e-government’ services on the web, are a corrective step undertaken by Dubai’s government to ease out the time consuming public services.  

Now if you face any sewage problem in your locality, there is no need for you to wait for unending hours getting the work done. Even filing complaints on such issues is quite time taxing. These apps will bring you in direct contact with the authority by eliminating the intermediaries who basically slow down the whole process.

Allow me to familiarize you with 7 ‘m-government’ mobile apps rendering public service solutions bought out by Dubai government.

• myDXB

This particular application that comes free of cost is best suited for those flying in and out of Dubai, or need to check on flight details. A location based map that points out the different places of interest and the many retail outlets including fine/casual dining hubs covering cafeterias, confectioneries, bars, fast food centers, smoking lounges etc. present at Dubai’s three sprawling terminals. This application allows you to check on flight timings and navigate across the massive terminals. However, the continuous Pop-up ads can be the cause of irritation for the many app users.

• iDubai

This free government app from Dubai Municipality notifies you on any service that needs help from the civic body. You can get a street view map of Dubai, and input your feedback about the employees on their service rendered to you. The application contains many points of interest such as GPS and street panoramas, also contains a list of pharmacies on duty. However, some users pointed out that street-view maps often fail to work properly.

• mParking

You can now pay for vehicle parking via your cell phone. All you need is to feed in the vehicle number, parking zone number and duration (one hour to four hours) and get a summarized picture of your parking history by week, month or year.

• Start a business

Launched in September, this Smartphone app caters to licensing and business registration services at the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) through your iPhone or iPad. iPhone or iPad. This application allows you to register a business, apply for license renewal, reserve/renew your trade name, obtain initial approval of licenses, and pay license fees and fines. But this application is only available for selected platforms.

• DHA

Dubai Health Authority’s free government app help you to locate nearby physicians and doctors, to seek appointments, set reminders for your child’s vaccine, directions to near location DHA facilities, discover a medical facility, maintain and recall your medical records, schedule for a blood donation and give feedback to health authorities. It can also calculate your body mass index (BMI). However the benefits of this application are limited to government medical services.

• Al Ameen Service

This is a bilingual app that comes free of cost, from Dubai Police, available for filing police report on anything unusual sighting in your locality. However, this is a new application having no user reviews as of now.

• Dewa

This particular mobile application allows you to check and pay utility bills in Dubai. All you need is to simply type your Dewa account number to get the details on your electricity, water, sewage, cooling, housing fee and other charges. You can pay off the charges via mPay mobile application. The app also displays various payment centers as well. You can also lodge complaints by sending coordinates and supportive images of defects to the concerned parties. This is undoubtedly a great mobile app for sorting out your many in house and out house utilities while you are travelling.

Wrapping Up

There are few other such ‘e-government’ mobile apps that require worth mentioning:

• Apply for online visa
• RTA
• Pay traffic fines online
• Help during an emergency
• iLingual
• Personalised Nol

The other countries need to get inspired from this move undertaken by the Dubai government placing the interest of its countrymen in the top of the ladder. You must remember a country’s strength lies in its countrymen and fighting for their civic rights is the duty of any good governmental body. Mobile application developers can draw ideas from these applications so that we users can eat the fruit of such m- government apps that protect our civic rights and public services gets praiseworthy.

Do you Feel Secure while Paying Through Online Payment Apps?

Easy payments platforms, wallets, introduction in the global market were facilitated because of the increasing global popularity of mobile payment methods. People use wallets apps for making online purchase at petrol pumps, shops and online shopping. But is it secure enough to share our essential data with apps that share our information with third party apps?

Span of online pay apps

As according to Research and Markets, though the payments apps were first launched for test by tech giants as Apple and Google in U.S. and Europe but the apps are not a huge success in those markets while in Asia-Pacific makes the most use of wallet apps for payments, signifying the growing trend of wallets usage in developing countries than in developed nations.

Security A report by Qualcomm states that the payment wallets available in India are not fully secure for transactions. India is an important region in Asia-Pacific that recently saw the surge in wallets payments after the demonetization of currency requires the need to address their issues.

Since payments are to be made, we would like to suggest some measures to make your payment transactions safer.

1! Never download apps from anonymous locations. Yes, it’s known to all of us but it has to iterated and cannot be neglected. You always have to make sure that you download from your respective app stores. In Ios devices installing from other stores is nearly impossible but in android it easy. As secure wallet apps for android are rare and do not enter your bank details immediately after installing.

2! On the address bar always look for the “https” connection. The “s” stands for secure and this guarantees that the data is transferred between the sender and the receiver only.  Accessing sites through mobiles is risky business as complete info cannot be accessed for good so it’s better to wait till a computer or a laptop is in your reach.  Having one you can go for any our business.

3! Protect your device. Setting up a password to lock your device instantly can work against thefts. Just as a friend’s of yours eat up your data packets using Wi-Fi, similarly it would be really killing if your money is gulped up by goons. Even though you may be forgetful and don’t use passwords to protect you have to work upon it to protest your hard earned money.

4! Use secure connection. Never go for free and public Wi-Fi and especially when going to send personal data over the connection. Using these networks hackers actually use your device’s IP to access your passwords. A personal Wi-Fi connection is the most secure way to transact you business. At the same time a 3G or 4G connection may compromise on security since a large users using same bandwidth. Even though you may use a secure wallet app for iphone to keep your data secure, the carrier may compromise on security.

5! Search for the apps on the store but don’t just download it, analyze the ratings and reviews awarded to the app, check them properly, learn about the drawbacks & advantages and then go for it. Since you are dealing in money any haste can cost you.  

6! Tracking your bank accounts status and transactions regularly is always a good move against any irrelevant activity. As soon as you track any suspicious activity don’t hesitate to act. Also keep logging in and changing your passwords periodically as this is the best recommended move to check on thefts.

These are some basic tips which are really effective to protect important personal data. Use these while accessing your social profiles if you really feel that your social accounts can affect.