Client
Leader in the Baby Care industry with an IoT platform and a portfolio of smart, baby care IoT products.
Company size
51 — 200 employees
Services we provided
- Frontend Development
- Backend Development
- Infrastructure Setup
- Native Mobile Application Integration
Tech Stack
- React
- Zustand
- Context API
- Custom React Components
- AWS IoT Core
- WebViews
Project
Eclept collaborated with a leader in the Baby Care industry that had an IoT platform and a portfolio of IoT devices.
The client’s main challenge was the lack of support for smooth updates on their native mobile applications, where adding new features often required updating the mobile application version on users’ phones, leading to inconsistent user experience and burdensome maintenance.
Eclept addressed this by proposing and delivering a generic Web application embedded within the native mobile app to dynamically deliver updates and new features. This innovative solution demonstrated that the overall maintenance and expansion of supported smart devices could be achieved without requiring mobile application updates.
The Requirements – Rethinking Native Mobile Updates
With an existing IoT ecosystem, the client faced a significant hurdle: how to efficiently update their native mobile applications to support new devices and features without the cumbersome process of re-releasing the app through app stores.
Eclept, as an end-to-end technology partner, provided a strategic solution by designing and building a performant React application with reusable components. This web application was engineered to seamlessly load the entire smart device control section of the native mobile app using a web view.
This enabled the dynamic delivery of new functionalities, bypassing the traditional app store update cycle and enhancing agility. The web application was given full control over the device once the user opened the control center.
- Eliminating frequent app store submissions: The process of updating native applications via app stores is often time-consuming and can delay the rollout of new features or device support, causing “painful maintenance”.
- Ensuring seamless integration: The new solution needed to integrate smoothly with existing native mobile applications and backend systems.
- Maintaining security: Crucially, the communication between the embedded web application and the native app, as well as the backend, had to be secure, involving “token passtrought”.
- Achieving high performance: The embedded web experience needed to be as responsive and performant as a native application, with “near identical performance” achieved through “custom rendering components with efficiency in mind
The Solution – Agile & Embedded Web Technology
Eclept acted as the technology partner, leveraging its expertise in custom software development, frontend development, and backend development to deliver this solution. Our approach focused on creating a highly efficient and adaptable system:
- Embedded Web Application: We developed a performant React application with reusable components designed for top performance, allowing it to load the smart device control section within the native mobile app using a web view. The technology stack included React, Zustand, Context API, Custom React Components, AWS IoT Core, and WebViews.
- Secure Communication Framework: A crucial part of the project involved setting up a framework for tokens exchange to ensure security between the web application and the native mobile app.
- Real-time Backend Integration: The web application was designed to communicate with the backend system for device control and real-time event management (realtime updates). Connectivity was critical as AWS IoT service was used.
- Content Management System (CMS) for News: The project included a CMS for managing news, suggesting a comprehensive content delivery mechanism.
Project scopes:
The project was structured in two main parts:
Framework Setup: Establishing the foundation
The first part, Framework Setup, was crucial for establishing the foundational elements of the solution. This involved setting up the mechanisms for secure tokens exchange between the embedded web application and the native mobile app, described as “token passtrought”, to ensure secure communication.
Additionally, this phase established the necessary infrastructure for backend communication, which allowed the web application to interact with the client’s existing AWS IoT service for device control and real-time event management, facilitating “realtime updates”.
The framework also incorporated a Content Management System (CMS) for news, indicating a broader scope for dynamic content delivery beyond just device functionalities
Specific Device Control: Showcase the device control
The second part, Specific Device Control, focused on demonstrating the high performance and capabilities of the new embedded web application. This involved implementing a full device control with custom UI components, with seamless transition between native and web application once a user opened the control center within the native app.
To achieve the desired user experience, Eclept developed custom UI components with efficiency in mind, resulting in a “near identical performance” compared to native mobile applications. This phase validated that complex device interactions could be managed seamlessly through the embedded web view, without requiring traditional mobile application updates
Impact – Accelerated Development and Enhanced UX
Faster Development up to 3x: The developed framework and shared library project proved to be 3x faster than traditional native development.
No Distribution or Maintenance Issues: The core objective was met, as the client no longer faced distribution or maintenance issues associated with releasing new application versions to app stores for updates.
Dynamic Feature Delivery: The ability to dynamically deliver updates and new features via the embedded web application transformed the client’s agility in product rollout
Improved User Experience: Users benefited from immediate access to new features and device support without needing to manually update their native apps, allowing for “faster development and user adoption” for the client
Recap
With the successful implementation of the embedded web application, the client is now uniquely positioned to accelerate their innovation and expansion efforts for their IoT platform.
The adoption of this new framework and shared library project means future development can proceed at a rate 3x faster than traditional native approaches.
This significant increase in agility allows the client to seamlessly roll out advanced features and integrate support for new IoT devices without the previous requirement for constant mobile application updates.
It elimitates the distribution and maintenance issues that were once associated with releasing new application versions to app stores. Ultimately, this strategic technical advancement ensures the client can provide their users with an ever-evolving and improved experience, enabling faster feature deployment and enhanced user adoption within the competitive IoT market.
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ECLEPT
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