Top 10 Costly Mistakes To Avoid When Developing Wearable Apps

With the recent advancements in wearable apps, everyone now wants to have them. So, more and more companies are trying to develop them. However, the technology is so sophisticated that not every company can do it right. App development for wearable technology requires customized technology solutions, including unique designs with a wide range of functionalities. If you don’t do the most important things in the right way then it may cost you a fortune. 

So, to help the business owners who are just getting into this field, I have compiled a list of costly mistakes that you need to avoid while developing wearable applications. In this post, I have listed 10 mistakes that happen during the designing and development phase. So without any further ado let us get into the details. 

Costly mistakes that you should avoid during wearable app development

1. Failing To Validate Assumptions

One of the biggest mistakes that have led many startups as well as large organizations to being burned out of cash or crashed while trying to build wearable apps is that they do not clearly understand which problem of a user they are trying to solve or which requirement of the client they are trying to address. 

Any company developing any product must have that clarity, they just can’t go into production assuming that their product will be useful to the people. You must validate your assumptions for whether they are true or not and if you find them to be wrong then you need a valid reason to build these apps. Then and only then you can truly build solutions for your customers.

2. Imitating Rather Than Complementing

Another mistake that most wearable app development companies tend to make is to copy other successful wearable and mobile apps and replicate the value they provide to the users. Well, you may get yourself a product here but it won’t be appreciated in the long run. Developers must create their unique value offering application. 

And don’t try to fit all the functionalities that every other app offers. Go for the LESS IS MORE rule. This will get your priorities straight. By following this rule you will be able to imply solid features to your application that enhance the user experience and product efficiency. 

3. Overinvesting In Hardware Early On

The reason IT companies rush into the trends is that the digital world moves very fast. If you lost the opportunity or didn’t get on board on time then you may lose. Hardware is no exception. Every software needs hardware to support it. But you need to be careful about investing too much in hardware. 

Check whether or not you are building your entire system infrastructure around the hardware. Because similar to other things moving fast in the digital world, hardware can become outdated soon enough. And if that does happen in any case, you should be ready and willing to pivot. Wearable technology development is an iterative process so focus on learning and evolving and not perfecting it at a time. 

4. Not Balancing Design Functionality

Another costly mistake you should try to avoid is executing a functionality in the app that early users will love to use but the later customers would find it not useful or impractical for a wearable. Developers must take a disciplined approach and think about the costly features for whether they are short-term wow factors or can they offer incredible value to all the customers who use them. 

5. Complicating The UI And Functionality

Users need a clean, simple, and easy interface to read and operate the application. Also, the screen of the wearable app will be tiny so it will be better if the user doesn’t have to face any kind of complexities regarding the user interface or other functionalities.

6. Forgetting About Visual Aesthetics

People buy products because it makes them feel good. So, it is also necessary that your product should look good. Visual aesthetics adds value to the user. Also, the physically attractive look of the product makes people less price sensitive. It’s a human tendency to judge a book by its cover, so make sure your app looks good. 

7. Forgetting About Security And Privacy

Wearable applications are becoming somewhat of a trend nowadays. And the field in which it is used mostly in the healthcare sector. So, it is highly recommended that you take security and privacy very seriously. Your app may contain the user’s health-related information which is way more sensitive than generic personally identifiable information. So, make sure that you do a thorough security and privacy assessment before delivering the product. 

8. Not Testing Them For Safety

As we just discussed, such apps are mostly used in the healthcare sector so before the question of the app’s security, you must also check whether the app is safe for the users or not. You might be developing something to help people live a healthy and happy life or in short a balanced life and not an addicted life. So you need to test your application for whether it is safe for the people to use it for it did not injure them or make them some addicted kind of zombies. 

9. Forgetting Efficiency

Never do this. Wearable apps are meant to offer the most value when they notify the user about something for it comes in handy and the user does not have to bother themselves with every little detail. But there is another problem, wearable devices have a shorter battery life because they have very limited power. No one would use an app if they can’t get through the day anymore so, you need to develop an app that is power efficient too. 

10. Requiring Too Much User Input

One of the most glorious advantages of wearable apps is that they are a kind of automated system. The user doesn’t have that much physical interaction. So it would save a lot of time and resources. The less a user spends interacting with the app the more frustrated they become. They want more done by giving in less. That is one of the main concepts behind the development of wearable applications. 

Final words 

So, after reading this article I hope you have got how missing out on some small things can cost you a big fortune. Many types of mistakes happen during app development but here in this post, I have included some important ones only. Tell me in the comments section below if you know about more such mistakes a developer should avoid.