• The app is structured around the concept of
• Once registered, a user can be an organizer and invitee.
• A user can register using social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google accounts.
• The profile can have a user’s personal, professional details.
• The organizer can view the profile details of the invitee, chat online with them, and send them an invite for the event.
• The invitee can view the information of the event like venue, date, location, duration.
• The invitee can send friend requests to the organizer.
• Both users can have their favorites. There are dedicated “Favorite me” and “My favourites” buttons.

The following challenges were encountered on the way to building the social networking mobile app:

• TSearch: Searching based on the matches between the hosts and the dates involving multiple parameters such as interests, just to name a few.
• UI/UX: The user interface and the user experience needed to cater to both the hosts and the dates with the look and feel that would make both the parties comfortable and even enjoy a sense of belonging.

The secret behind the success of every project is clear and unmitigated communication between our development team and the client. To ensure that everybody is on the same plane, we decided to take on the challenges and responsibilities of the project in two phases, described below.

Phase 1

Dot Com Infoway understood that this mobile application development project is a unique platform catering to two parties of varied interests: hosts and dates. Consequently, we need to understand the expectations and aspirations of both hosts and dates to bring the BugsBee application tourists to its successful fruition.

The first phase involved

• Requirement gathering/elicitation: This involved completely understanding what was expected of the mobile app. What are the features? What those features must lead to? What should be the end result?
• Wireframing and prototyping: These are prepared to give a visual idea of how the various screens and elements of the mobile app are going to gel together and transition from one section to the other. This is like using the actual app, but on the paper or on the graphic screen rather than the actual mobile app.
• Preparing the ER diagram: Establishing relationships between the various functions of the mobile app and the associated database and its tables.

Phase 2

Whatever information we have gathered in phase 1, we use it to start laying the bricks of the structure of the mobile app. Phase 2 involves

• UI/UX design: Based on the wireframe, our graphic designers and mobile app designers created the look and feel of the mobile app that would be a charm to use both for the hosts and the dates.
• Programming and development: The coding was done in an optimized form using the latest mobile app development tools to leverage maximum benefit from contemporary technologies.
• UAT: User acceptance testing was conducted at multiple, but crucial stages, so that in case some disparities were creeping in, they could be nipped in the bud and the right course of action could be taken.
• Integrating database: The stability of the database was of prime importance because every valuable information would be derived from the database. We ensured through database integration with the interface of the mobile app
• Testing at the DCI side: We repeatedly did testing of the mobile app on our own side according to our own, indigenous benchmarks.
• Deploying the mobile app: Finally, the mobile app was deployed both on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

How we approached the challenges

As mentioned above, when designing and building the social networking mobile app, we faced challenges from three aspects, namely, search, UI/UX, and security. This is how we approached them:

• Search: We took advantage of the latest search technology to make sure that there were exact matches between the hosts and the dates. Searching based on location and profile preferences from within the database was one of the most pressing needs of the social networking mobile app, which we were able to meet.
• UI/UX: The mobile phone interface needed to be short and simple. It also needed to be impressive in terms of packaging and experience. We also ensure that the interface functioned smoothly on different screen sizes and on multiple devices because both posts and dates may use a wide array of devices.
• Security: Advanced encryption was used to protect confidential data of both posts and dates. Monetary transactions take place with the highest level of security. Features have been incorporated within the code to protect the users from threats and vulnerabilities.