Team augmentation

Key senior resources from Nexteam were part of the Times mobile app team. We had the following key resources within the Timed team. Product Manager, Senior ReactNative Engineers, UX Designer, Application and Platform support

User Research

Part of creating the new App The UX designer and the Product Manager did extensive research. This included analysing usage data on Google Analytics, app store reviews, feedback from call centre staff, surveys to customers, diary study from the customer and face to face interviews.

Beta Program

Because of a significant change to the UI we ran a beta program with a prototype as the main app was being developed. We invited users to join the program and give feedback on a weekly basis. Over time we were able to change the perception of the users with negative feedback to positive one by listening to them and mocking the necessary improvement.

The Apps

At the time we worked on the new app React Native was still at its infancy stage. We had some challenges getting the apps to a place where it was acceptable. Main challenge was on Android and the fragmentation in the android ecosystem Lower end and older devices had performance issues. We resolved this issue by using the latest libraries on components and not what was bundled into React native.

App had a mobile phone and tablet experience within the one app bundle. If you install the iOS app on an iPhone then users get an iPhone experience and if they installed the same app on an iPad they got a tablet experience.

On a foldable android device, when you open the app when the phone is folded then the users get a mobile phone app experience and when they unfolded the phone to a tablet form factor then it automatically changes to the tablet experience.