Smart Home App Development: Step-By-Step Guide

In addition, modern digital solutions make it possible not only to keep track of the in-house safety but even to switch on a kettle, microwave oven or air conditioner. These capabilities can be determined by the term smart home. Such homes allow you always be aware of what is going on in your residence. The only thing you need, apart from the high-tech hardware, is the smart home app development created with mobile app development services which can be connected to all devices. And we can tell what you should do to develop a home automation application to rule your apartment. Please, join us to learn th secret!

First, we should consider the definition of a home automation app or a smart home app. What is it? Even a few years ago people considered a smart home to be something interesting but almost a useless toy for the rich. But today the public's opinion towards smart technology for home is changing - these technologies are becoming more and more available.

Benefits

Apart from the protection of your dwelling, a smart home can also help you reduce electricity, water, and gas bills. In addition, these technologies contribute to the comfort and safety.

Smart economy. We can estimate the economical benefits from the integration of intellectual technologies in a private house. The IoT smart home system allows you to save up to 30% on heating. How? Simply by heating only specific areas of your apartment only in specific time. When a family leaves the house, the meantime system switches to the minimal heating mode. Why should the house be heated if nobody is there?

Then, when the owners return, the temperature may increase. Time of arrival can be indicated in the relevant app too. But you can also send a signal to the system via app and the heating will be turned on.

In the summer you can save money on air conditioning using by using the same method. Actually, a smart home system allows your to save on electricity consumption by domestic electrical appliances as well, due to the automated lighting system.

Security technology. Smart homes have serious advantages over the conventional technical security systems. First, it is possible to apply rather complicated scenarios to some pretty menacing situations. Second, you can not only track your home remotely but also control all systems in case of an intrusion or any other harsh events.

For example, somebody climbs over your fence, and home automation security system detects it. In this case, you receive a signal. You can see that there is a thief that wants to steal something precious. Then you can activate a dogs barking that you have recorded on your computer or lighting system. Thus, the thief will be unlikely to keep on doing his dirty work.

Multi-Room feature. It is one of the advantages of a smart home that can substantially increase the level of comfort. Especially if you are a true music lover. Imagine that your house has a few rooms. If you start listening to music in one room, you can decide to continue listening to it in another room, when you go there. Usually, you buy many music devices and take a disc or flash drive with you. It isn't convenient, is it?

Multi-Room is a device for music playback, and all the speakers in the other rooms are connected to this device. You turn on your favorite disc or radio frequency, and music follows you around your home. Moreover, it is possible to listen to different music in various rooms. You can control everything with one smart home app for Android or iOS. Smartphones or tablets allows you to control the Multi-Room system. If necessary, you can check your e-mail via the Multi-Room system too.

Internet of Things (IoT). We just cannot allow ourselves to ignore this important issue. Due to the Internet of Things, it became possible to create a smart home. What is this? IoT is making the whole environment smarter using a Web Network that covers various hardware. Any appliance that is capable of exchanging information can be a part of IoT.

IoT functions on the basis of two main technologies. It is the radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless sensor networks (WSN).House automation and security system use these technologies to the fullest extent.

A smart home app, or a home automation app, allows you to control all of your home with a remote home control, pushing a single button. The only thing you need is to have a smartphone or tablet for proper interaction with the smart home system.

Single-purpose apps. According to it's designation, such an app is developed for controlling only one type of technology. For example, it can control only kitchen appliances. If your home is not completely smart, like for example only the kitchen or the living room can boast about having smart devices, you'd better use a special app for one specific area.

Multipurpose apps. If you are lucky to have a dwelling covered with innovative IT tools including home automation remote control, the multipurpose app is just what you need. It makes it possible to control heating, lighting, doors opening/closing, security features, appliances etc. Everything is possible because of a bunch of complicated sensors and devices installed in your home.

Smart hub. It is impossible to use the multipurpose app without this intelligent device, which is the main component of a smart home using IoT. It is a central unit that connects all appliances functioning on various standards of data transfer. In turn, it substantially simplifies the life of users in their complicated digital environment.

There are numerous devices and gadgets on the market with a wide range of prices and brands. Smart home developers keep up with the pace. So anyone can find something interesting especially for him or her. But as for the software, what features should it have to manage all necessary processes in a house or an apartment? We will check it out.

So, you've decided to create your own smart home app. Congratulations! What should you do first? This task may seem like a real challenge, full of obstacles and troubles, but everything can be implemented if you really want to pursue your goal. We will try to analyze everything and provide you with a reasonable solution as to how to create a smart home app.

MVP feature list. To begin with, it is necessary to determine what features your smart home app should implement. There is an obligatory feature list that should be integrated into the new app. These features may be the following:

Determination of your goals. What are you aiming for? The development process will depend on what app you need and what you can control with it. If we consider one or two smart home devices we need to make an app for, the development time and cost of the final product should not be not very high.

But if you need a multipurpose app that will be your first assistant in a home control, then the price will be substantially higher, and it will take a quite some time to create it.

The idea itself to determine how to build a smart home app is rather sophisticated. If you want to make a commercial app to gain money, you should consider it to be simple. The smart home app is created to simplify and improve the life of users, but nobody wants to rack his or her brain using your complicated app. Therefore, it must be user-friendly.

Development and technologies to be used. In case you are not a software developer, and you don't know at all how to create an app, it is better to find a good app development company. Especially if you want to get a high-quality product. Anyway, you should be aware of what you need and what the development process will be.

Platform

It is the first issue that must be taken into account when you start immersing in the development. As we noted above, the app should be available for both iOS and Android in case you want to add it and gain some profit. But if you are intending to make it only for you and your family, there is no need to go through the hassle and choose only one operating system. Moreover, a number of platforms will directly influence on the development cost.

Technologies

Proceeding from the fact that software cannot function without a proper hardware, first, you should ponder what is smart home technology. Then you need to purchase smart devices for your home. It may include cameras, smoke and fire sensors, kitchen appliances etc. But it is unlikely that all this equipment is manufactured by one company. So in order not to use many applications for these devices, it is better to order one multipurpose app. Or if you are cognizant about how to build a smart home system, there won't be any problems.

UI/UX design. Of course, despite the fact that back-end is the most important component in any software, primarily we see the interface of the app, i.e. front-end. Good and attractive design, as well as elaborated user experience, mean a lot. UI/UX designers are those who usually make their contribution to the full-fledged app development.

This list of technologies can be changed or modified depending on what you need and how complicated your app can be. Also, you can never forget about serious obstacles that you may come across - proprietary hardware that has closed-source software and it makes it impossible for anybody to find out how to create a smart home app for this specific hardware. So when you are planning to develop a smart home app, you should consider it. Software and hardware are a single whole here.

Having read our article, now you can decide eventually whether you want to have your own smart home app or not. The process of the development will be labour-intensive and costly, but you should do it if it is worth the candle. Having such an app, your home will become the center of a futuristic environment where you can feel like a magician.

We are always ready to help you and answer all your questions, so just get in touch with us! Our knowledge makes it possible to find the best solution for you.