With the rapid adoption and impact of the latest technologies like AI, IoT, AR, VR, Robotics, many of us are still confused about the blockchain concept, specifically when it comes to mobile app development.
Blockchain technology has recently become one of the most dynamic and secure technologies built in this century. With the popularity of blockchain, many companies outsource mobile app development to reliable mobile app development services to utilize blockchain technology.
So, what exactly is Blockchain Technology? How mobile apps benefit from it?
Blockchain technology allows storing transactional records and that makes it difficult or impossible to modify, hack or cheat the system. It is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the whole network of computer systems on the blockchain.
Each block contains a number of transactions in the chain, and whenever a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, that transaction record is added to every participant’s ledger. So, blockchain technology is a decentralized database that multiple participants manage.
It is also called as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). Blockchain is a type of DLT in which transactions are recorded with an immutable cryptographic signature called a hash.
To be more clear, you can consider Google Doc as an instance for Blockchain technology. When you create a document and share it with many people, it is distributed instead of copying or transferring.
It makes a decentralized distribution chain that provides everyone access to the document simultaneously. Here, no one is locked out awaiting changes from another party, while all the changes to the doc are being recorded in real-time, making modifications completely transparent.
Of course, blockchain is more complex than a Google Doc, but the analogy is right as it illustrates the following three crucial ideas of the technology:
Instead of copying or transferring, digital assets are distributed.
The asset is decentralized and allows full real-time access.
A transparent ledger of changes maintains the integrity of the document; it creates trust in the asset.
Today, Healthcare, Government, Real estate, Insurance, Banking, and other industries are using Blockchain technology. Now it looks like Blockchain is making inroads into the mobile app development segment. It supports digital currency like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin enabling a secure and transparent payment process and reducing a middleman’s necessity.
If you are in the mobile app development industry, you have to stay updated with the latest trends to stay ahead of the competition. Blockchain technology can help you by providing several hidden benefits like improved productivity, efficiency, performance, and even uplift the user experience.
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How Can Mobile Apps Benefit from Blockchain?
Blockchain technology will allow developers to develop seamless eCommerce apps that permit buyers and suppliers to trade online without any intermediate or pay any fees to the third party.
Not only this, there are many benefits that Blockchain technology can offer to the mobile app development industry.
Some of them are:
Increased data security:
One of the main concerns among both mobile app developers and users is security. The initial benefit of blockchain technology is that it makes the application safer. The technology makes use of the most advanced cryptography. With its strengthened encryption, the technology offers the highest level of safety.
Blockchain is essentially a chain of interconnected blocks. Each block stores the information of all the transactions, and it contains the timestamp of the next block.
All the data is encoded and stored using a cryptographic hash. Due to this, altering any block becomes extremely difficult. So, when you develop apps with Blockchain technology, the high level of encryption and cryptography increases data privacy or security of the mobile applications. It allows mobile app developers to worry less about safety and encryption and focus more on building applications with better functionality.
Increases reliability:
Apart from the security blockchain technology offers, it allows mobile applications to stay consistently good in quality or performance. It means blockchain technology increases the reliability of mobile applications. Blockchain technology builds on strong foundations is resilient and robust. This feature can heavily help to improve the reliability of mobile app development.
The implementation of blockchain technology not only does this but also helps to prevent frequent crashes and collapses, both of which are common complaints against mobile apps currently in development.
Instead of saving the data as a single entity, the data is divided into smaller pieces and stored at multiple locations. It makes the entire process more secure and reliable.
Additionally, as the data is stored in different places, blockchain technology also helps to avoid the risk of a hack or any unwanted entries.
Promote simplicity:
Another significant advantage of blockchain technology is its simplicity. If the technology is complicated, it needs more time, effort, and money to integrate, maintain, and modify.
It simply means that if the technology is sophisticated, it increases the app development and maintenance costs. Developing a new blockchain is a difficult task, but implementing blockchain is comparatively easy.
For developers, the simplicity of blockchain technology enables easier development and cost-efficiency in mobile app development. It allows companies to reduce costs while offering customers a feature-rich mobile app.
Increases transparency:
The decentralized system records all the transactions in the public ledger, and only the authorized users can track them whenever they want. It brings transparency and reduces the risk of any fraudulent transaction or fabricated information. Blockchain technology makes the application and the whole system tamper-proof and resilient to any fraudulent activity.
Also, blockchain technology help you to gain trust from your customers. They can safely transact through such mobile applications and ensure that their valuable data is protected. The concept is also scalable to manage multiple users at once.
As blockchain technology has the chief attributes like secure data storage and transaction, it can benefit businesses of any field like healthcare, logistics, real estate, etc. It is not limited to any market. Additionally, blockchain guarantees the safety of mobile apps when you are upgrading the features.
It sets you free from passwords:
Even if you put a strong password for your device, you will always have a fear that it may get leaked. Blockchain technology helps you to eliminate this fear. With Blockchain, there is rarely any need for the password to check any transaction or device.
Usually, the payments between the two parties in the deal is done through an SSL certificate. Along with that, the blockchain network reviews everything while making it visible and transparent to all, thus avoiding the possibility of being fake.
It will improve the advertising model:
In the current situation, developers invest in cost-per-installment ad campaigns so that they can reach more people. But there are a lot of middlemen who take part in the proceeds from sales. It decreases the amount gained by the developer.
Blockchain can replace this cost-per-installment approach with a cost-per-attention strategy, in which users will get app coins as rewards for the time spent using the app. Therefore all the middlemen will be eliminated, and the users will get coins as rewards and can use them to make in-app purchases.
It will address in-app purchase issues:
The process necessary to make in-app purchases has always been a problem. The majority of the users are using smartphones today, but many of them still lack the means to make in-app purchases. Because, the required payment methods like credit cards are unavailable to them.
Even if a user has a credit card, the entire process is subject to the possibility of fraud (which other users eventually pay for), card-processing fees, gateway fees, app store fees, and bank transfer fees. In the end, the developers receive only a small fraction of the amount paid for the app.
However, if you use the decentralized model of the blockchain, you can use the app coins to pay the app store. So, that the developer will receive more than 80% share.
As the users will have app coins to use as a payment method, it makes in-app purchases easy and eliminates the need for all the credit card processes. Moreover, users can earn app coins through a reward system as developers reward users for making a purchase and for continued usage.
Open-source:
Blockchain technology is unlike most other technologies globally available today that are strictly controlled by companies. It is an entirely open-source development platform that allows developers to enjoy a lot of freedom and creativity.
Being an open-source platform is one of its significant advantages. It helps developers to employ the latest technologies to bring about new and updated changes, release them in minimal turnaround time, and keeps the whole process cost-effective and highly-efficient.
As it is an open-source platform, it also encourages the fact that anyone with coding knowledge and expertise can promote the development of the platform. Thus, it makes the process much faster compared to technologies already in existence.
Blockchain is developing:
Comparing to some other techniques, the rate at which blockchain technology is advancing is very high. Therefore, choosing a blockchain is the best decision. In the future, blockchain technology will have many software updates and more enhanced services for your mobile application. The processes and tools are readily available, and users can access them.
The technology allows its users to make suggestions that may contribute to the future success of the organization. With all the emerging technologies, it is better that you should stay updated as we move to a more digital world.
To conclude, from this, you can understand that Blockchain is a promising and revolutionary technology as it helps reduce risk, eliminate fraud attempts, and bring transparency in a scaleable way for unlimited uses.
So, if you are looking to increase data privacy, make your apps more secure, and provide enhanced customer service. It is time to approach an established mobile app development company to develop your app with Blockchain technology.
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