Native iOS/Android Apps and Device Software for Wearable Pet Trackers Delivered in 4 Months
Customer
The Customer is a government-sponsored U.S. enterprise with a huge experience in telecommunications. After extending their plans and services to 18 U.S. states, they shifted their device focus from smartphones to wireless wearables.
Challenge
ScienceSoft had been cooperating with the Customer for two years and had successfully delivered two of their latest telecom projects when the Customer addressed to the company again. This time the Customer wanted ScienceSoft to implement their privately-sponsored side project. The concept involved creating software to power a wearable pet tracker. A backend and two client apps for iOS and Android devices of pets’ owners were to be developed as well.
The Customer had a very strict schedule: they approached ScienceSoft in May and wanted to have a pet tracker app, two native mobile apps and a backend all delivered by September. With Christmas holidays in mind, the Customer wanted to release their product as early in the fall as possible so that their customers could have enough time to learn about the product and order it as a present for their pets.
Solution
Pet tracker app
ScienceSoft started by developing software for pet tracking devices that were provided by a third party employed by the Customer. Given the existing limitations of the hardware itself, our team of mobile app developers strived to write software that would make the pet tracker as efficient as possible.
The final product enables two-way voice communication and nationwide GPS tracking, snapshotting the surroundings with a 2-megapixel camera, as well as switching on a flashlight. The device also has a virtual ID tag that shows the pet’s name and the contacts of its owner on a small display.
Mobile apps
The animal tracking device can be managed via an iOS or Android mobile app. The app asks the pet owner to create an account and link it to their pet’s device (friends and family of the owner can link their accounts too: they will be listed as ‘guardians’). After that, the tracker’s features can be remotely triggered from the app’s menu.
For instance, to shine the way while walking their dog in the dark one can switch on a flashlight located on the dog tracker. Also, the pet owner can request a snapshot from the camera on the linked device to see their lost pet’s surroundings. All incoming or outgoing media, including voice calls, are displayed in the app’s messaging window and saved automatically.
In their app, pet owners can also set certain locations as ‘safe areas’ and mark certain spots as ‘safe places’. Once the animal crosses the geofence marked by the owner on the map or arrives at a safe place, the owner gets an instant notification.
Results
ScienceSoft met the Customer’s tight deadline and delivered software within 4 months. Further maintenance and functionality upgrade of the pet tracker and mobile apps are planned too since the Customer wants to expand their services and design similar tracking devices for kids and older people.
Technologies and Tools
Android SDK, iOS 9 SDK, Python, MQTT
