It’s easy to create apps for desktops, because the developers just have to create their products only for Windows and they will anyway reach 90 percent of the users. The smartphone market is way different, where most of the smartphones made in 2009 were based on the Symbian operating system and about 20 percent were BlackBerry handsets. Now the smartphone market is dominated by the Android and iOS operating system.
While all smartphones have web browsers and they handle emails and SMSes, the Android and iOS devices run apps which give turn by turn directions, tag the pictures with location and even search movies, restaurants for the users and do much more but making the same App work well on all the platforms still remains difficult. The bottomline is that the smartphone platforms are not homogeneous at all and it takes effort for the app developers to create apps which work well on all the platforms.
Still, there are apps which do manage to make it to the finish line in terms of their performance for different platforms. These cross platform apps include:
Prey Anti-Theft
Prey Anti Theft, as the name suggests, is a mobile app that helps the user track the device in case it is lost. If lost, users can send an activation SMS which activates either the GPS system of the phone to relay its location, or it even relays its location through WiFi to make sure it is tracked by the users. Users can also trigger an alarm on the device, which can be used in different ways.
WhatsApp Messenger
What’s App is just like other messages app but with a difference – the messages are all free. This is like sending a regular SMS, but it comes with an icon and the users have to ask their friends to communicate.
The app automatically extracts the contact list from the phone and then finds out which users have already been using the Whatsapp Messenger. Telling your address or location to your friends is always a pain through other communication channels, but with Whatsapp the users just have to choose “Share Location” and their location on Google Maps is automatically sent.
PhoneCopy
PhoneCopy is the cross platform backup and sync solution which lets the users keep their contacts, messages, notes and events safe all the time. Users can have real time access to their data through a browser, they just need a PhoneCopy profile and save all their data safely in the cloud.
PhoneCopy works with most of the major platforms and even many feature phones. The data in the phone is delivered the moment synchronisation work is complete, and if some changes have happened in the data, the app shows that too to the users. The app is designed especially for the smartphones which means the app stays on all the time. The data is also saved on PhoneCopy servers, so even if the phone is lost – the data doesn’t go anywhere.
Bump
Exchanging information, especially telephone numbers is a ritual we all want to do but don’t want to make the effort for it. With Bump, the process becomes effortless and as straightforward as it gets. Both the users need to use Bump to use this facility and they just have to touch the phones against each other.
What’s more, the iPhone users can connect with iPod Touch users as well. Currently users cannot send apps or music to their friends through Bump, may be this will be possible in future.