Applications are used to optimize user experience in smartphones, and most of them are helpful in maintaining lifestyle, diet, health, or simply stay informed about the world around us. Developers are now focusing on android tablet app development to follow along with the trend.

The Aarogya Setu app has been introduced as a contact trace healthcare app as a result of the pandemic. This app was launched to promote national updates on the global pandemic and to act as a compass-guide in avoiding getting infected. Here is the full article that mentions the inside view of how an app like Aarogya Setu is made.

All You Need to Know About Contact Tracing App

Apps like this have features that include self-assessments, active location, Bluetooth connectivity, remote consultancy, and so on. The Aarogya Setu app is an app used to trace any recent contact with COVID-positive patients within a range of distance, it is a health-focused app launched by the Government of India in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This app also provides healthcare services and ongoing COVID news.

Current Facts About the App

The app was released in the month of April 2020 and was first developed by an attached office under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the Indian government, called the National Informatics Centre. The app was based on two programming languages- Kotlin and Java, it is available for both Android and IOS phone users. The app is available in 11 languages to reach a wider range of users.

How the Setu App Works

This contact tracing app works by helping users detect nearby users with recent contact with COVID positive people. It later warns the user about the threat and updates information. The following are the steps of registration and use:-

1. Install the app from your App Store and register your phone number and name accurately.
2. The app asks to enable Bluetooth and GPS features
3. Next comes providing basic information, such as your user name, age, nationality, gender, health status, and country
4. Then users can take the self-assessment test to review their health report, this is processed through their travel history, health status, and any recent contact with an infected person.
5. Additionally, the use of GPS and Bluetooth features is to help provide a fixed record of other Setu users nearby. The records are stored until a new contact with an infected or asymptotic person is tracked. Thus, continues to alert the user.

Additional Features

Alerts

Alerts or warnings are used to notify the user about their current or upcoming status, usually in cases of threats or danger. This acts as a cautionary step to prevent issues and conflicts.

The alert feature is a major component of the app’s overall function and use. In the scenario when two smartphones with the Aarogya Setu app installed and their Bluetooth activated comes in range with each other, and if the other person is symptomatic or infected by the virus, the app instantly alerts the healthy user. The alert is streamlined to the workers in charge.

Compatibility

For apps and games to work properly, the software system they are built on must be compatible with ongoing versions of smartphones

In order to reach the masses, the app is built to be compatible with almost all versions of smartphones. And since this is the age of smartphones the app is widely available for all. Except in the case of really old phones, a helpline number-1921 is additionally provided. Users can dial in a missed call on the number and health workers immediately reach out to assist and provide relevant details and information.

UI Design

User Interface is an important part of a software application, without a proper one, users fail to experience the optimum function of the respective app, game, or software.

In the Aarogya Setu app, the UI is seen to carry four key functions

•     Reporting the present status of the locality the user lives in.
•     Notifying the user about the danger of getting infected with the virus
•     Provides information on a local and national level to the users; news and updates relating to the pandemic

Location

Location features in smartphones are used to track user’s location in maps or apps. Some apps and games request Turing on the location during its use to let users experience the optimum functions.

In the app, it uses location data to figure out the user’s location from the three zones - red, orange, and green. These color-coded zones represent the density of infected, symptomatic, and non-infected users respectively. It also finds out the estimated infection rates and active COVID-19 cases in a particular region. 

Tracing via Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a smart feature available in all smartphones and it is mainly used to connect a link between one phone user to the next, under the close radar.

Here, the app uses Bluetooth to connect with other users within a distance of six feet. Since all users are requested to switch on their Bluetooth and location for the app to work, this allows nearby users to trace their precise location and give alerts if any infected person is close by.

Self Assessment

Self-assessments are usually found in health and fitness apps, and there is a good reason why it is an important component in apps like those. These tests help evaluate an individual’s status remotely through advanced technology and mediums similarly in the app, users can evaluate their health at their own convenience. The test is simple and easy to understand, the app asks general yes/no questions and feeling-point value-based questions. This creates a full Covid health report at the end, users have the option of sharing the given report.

Multi-Languages

Including a list of common languages before the launch of an app or game globally is crucial so as to reach a wider audience. Hiring professional translators to edit your UI status is helpful to use correct grammar and sentence construction.

The app is also available in a total of 11 languages. This helps carry out the message of measures and instructions to follow throughout a mass of diverse individuals in India.

Estimated Cost

For creating an app that is constantly using the default features of a smartphone, the cost can be higher than the average app development cost ie., usually $100k-$200k.  It costs a number of features and designs. The more complex an app is the more intricate software and programming language is used. Thus, hiring highly skilled professionals for a national health scheme costs higher.

The overall budget covers hiring app developers, application testers, and deployment activities. Advanced App developers cost a lot higher than regular app developers, they are more aware of the type of system and design tools to use in making a complex app like Aarogya Setu. App developers work in android tablet app development too, for the use of tablets has recently increased.

Then there is the time for testing the new app, it takes several trials to come up with that are successful. This consumes a lot of time and perfection.

For deployment activities, includes marketing and launching the app at the platforms. Introducing marketing campaigns to promote the app’s utility to the general public is another way of deploying. This is seen as newspaper ads, online ads, and video ads. The app also needs to be well-recognized in the app stores.

Conclusion

The full article mentioned what the app offered through its features and functions. There are upcoming apps similar to this app to fulfill user demand and satisfaction.