How to Use Geofencing for Mobile App Development

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Let’s learn what is geofencing technology, its potential use cases, and how to use geofencing for mobile app development.

Have you ever wondered how local ads are displayed in mobile apps?

Geofencing is a technology that allows businesses to target specific ads to potential customers in a certain geographic area.

The use of geofencing in mobile apps is now a widely accepted method of engaging potential customers directly with promotions and information via their mobile phones when they enter a specific geographic region.

Here, you’ll find, what geofencing is, how it works, how you can leverage the power of geofencing in your mobile app, and so on.

So, let’s get started.

What is Geofencing?

Put simply,

Geofencing is a technology that enables mobile applications to leverage location-based marketing. By utilizing this strategy, marketers can target app users at the right time in a specific geographic area.

Let’s comprehend the broader understanding of geofencing with an example:

Suppose you are a jewelry retailer in Canal St, New York. With geofencing, you can create a virtual boundary some miles away from Canal St, instead of focusing on the entire city to display your ad. It means you’re appealing to a local demographic that is most likely to frequent your location and may become a potential customer. This results in a higher return on investment with less marketing expense.

Essentially, geofencing utilizes technology to give in-market shoppers relevant offers about nearby stores so that they can catch their attention.

How Does Geofencing Work for Mobile App Development?

A geofence is set up on a mobile device using GPS technology. A geofence (a virtual boundary) is set up to alert mobile applications whenever a device enters or leaves the area. These alerts can be an email, text, app, or media app notification.

Geofencing relies entirely on software, is independent of hardware, and can be conveniently managed through online dashboards or APIs.

An area of geofencing reaches between 50m and 50,000 m in radius. Geofencing apps are also becoming smarter and lighter as technology advances so that they are easier on the battery and more compatible with mobile phones.

What is Geofencing Used For?

 

geofencing used for

As mentioned above, geofencing is used primarily for marketing purposes. Nonetheless, geofencing has uses beyond marketing, let’s explore them here in detail what is geofencing used for:

Bringing Customers to In-Store Showrooms

In today’s era of online commerce, in-store showrooms are experiencing a lack of platforms to engage with their customers. A mobile application with geofence technology enabled offline stores to establish direct communication with their potential customers.

Similar to eCommerce applications, they can also send push notifications to aware customers of the latest offers to attract them to your retail showroom.

Geofencing has the advantage of allowing marketers to focus on customers who qualify as potential customers and not blindly target everyone.

Fleet Management

By geofencing, fleet managers can set geographic boundaries for their vehicles when they leave the prescribed area an alert will be generated to implement the necessary adjustments.

Among the obvious examples of geofencing is Uber’s fleet management. A geofencing system was used by Uber along with GPS to prevent its drivers who lack the proper permission from picking up passengers at the curb at Los Angeles International Airport. As a result, Uber drivers will no longer circle airport terminals waiting for requests and clog up the airport terminal.  Only drivers who are parked in the proper parking lots will receive the ride request.

Inspired by Uber, fleet managers can implement geofencing technology to make sure all their vehicles follow the proper route and remain in the permissible area.

Drone Management

Drones are gaining attention due to the benefits they offer. A drone can be used for a variety of purposes, such as capturing events or monitoring security, and so on.

With geofencing technology, the management of drones can be improved. Besides tracking drone locations, a geofence can be created to ensure the drones remain within the said area.

Human Resources Management

The benefits of geofencing technology can be extended to human resources management. Most importantly, it eliminates the need for employees to punch in and out of attendance devices. When an employee enters the office premise and leaves, the geofence technology will automatically record the time.

The use of geofencing becomes more apparent for organizations when dealing with remote employees possibly working across different sites. Human resources managers can relax knowing that their employees have arrived on time on site and will remain on site until the end of their shift with geofencing.

Home Automation

Home automation refers to the automatic control of electronic devices at home. For example, when you enter the home lights, the air conditioning will turn on automatically.

But how will your home know you are close to home and that it’s time to make preparations to welcome you?

With geofencing technology, you can define a geofence around your home. Whenever you enter or leave the geofence, the home automation system comes into action.

Animal Tracking

Geofencing can also be used for animal tracking. Pet owners or farmers can set up a geofence, whenever an animal leaves the prescribed area an alert will be generated allowing them to track the animal.

Parental Control

If you want to keep control of the kids, then geofence technology can be helpful in a variety of ways. It can enable the parents to set up a virtual boundary around certain locations such as the child’s school, park, home, or anywhere else. Whenever the kid exits the virtual boundary an alert will be generated when the kid exists in a safe location. This will give parents peace of mind that their children are in a safe location.

What are the Best Geofencing Apps?

best-geofencing-apps

Top Geofencing  AppsFoundedCountryDownloadsRatingPlatform
Geofency • Time Tracking2013Sweden1M+4iOS
Pathsense Smart Geofence2012 Israel1K+3.5Android
Geofence Attendance2015USA1K+4.1Android | iOS
AT-ZONE2017INDIA1K+4.5Android | iOS
Find My Kids-Phone Tracker Арр2020USA10M+4.7Android | iOS

Geofencing technology is being used across many different industries. Let’s learn a few of the best geofencing apps that are ruling the market:

1. Geofency: Time Tracking

Geofency is one of the best examples of a geofencing app. It is available for iPhone, iPad, Mac & Apple Watch. The app automatically records the time whenever the device enters or exits a geofenced area.

This app works best for organizations to monitor the working hours of employees. Having an intuitive user interface makes it easy for users to set geographical boundaries.

Geofency also aims to improve the battery life of the device. The app is designed to use GPS resources efficiently and never in the background process resulting in increased battery life.

2. Pathsense Smart Geofence

Pathsense is one of the most popular geofence apps available for Android users. The app enables the users to create a geofence around their most often visited places like home, school, work, gym, and so on. Whenever the user enters or exits the geofenced area, Pathsense sends a push notification and records the time to eliminate the hurdle of manual time records.

3. Geofence Attendance

Geofence attendance app is meant for organizations to replace their traditional day of maintaining employee attendance records. It is available for both Android and iOS users and helps organizations track the attendance, working hours, leave, and absences of employees.

Backed by the IP-based attendance system, Geofence attendance ensures that all the attendance records are accurate. Furthermore, this app also enables the administrator to assign tasks to employees and track their progress.

4. AT-ZONE

AT-Zone is yet another best geofencing app that is meant to serve multiple use cases for  family, friends, and businesses.

With AT-Zone, users can keep track of all their family members i.e. grandparents, kids, spouses, etc. You can create a geo-fenced area for the places where your family members often visit and AT-Zone will alert you whenever your family members enter or exit the geofenced area.

For businesses, AT-Zone served the purpose of automating the employee attendance process. Create geofenced for your workspace, whenever your employees enter or exit the area, the time will be recorded that can be used for preparing the attendance.

5. Find My Kids: Parental Сontrol

Findmykids is a parental control app available for both Android and iOS platforms. It enables the parents to set the virtual boundary for the place kids visit often. Parents can get peace of mind knowing their child is safe by receiving notifications when their child enters or exits a place.

How to Leverage the Power of Geofencing Technology for Your Mobile App Development Projects?

geofencing technology for mobile app

The use of geofencing is on the rise, specifically in the marketing field. The use of geofencing by retail outlets has become an increasingly popular way to attract customers to their stores by providing them with a personalized experience.

When considering geofencing for mobile app development, a few common practices need to be followed while implementing the geofencing technology:

GPS Dependencies Should be Decreased

Users often uninstall apps that are found to be using battery excessively. Since geofencing apps make use of location services, developers often tend to use GPS.  The GPS does, however, contribute to the draining of the battery. Therefore mobile app developers should look for other technologies instead of GPS to improve battery life.

Accuracy Should Not be Comprised

Apps that use geofencing must trigger actions whenever users enter or exit a particular area. To ensure that the action is triggered in time, accuracy should be maintained.

Strategic Approach to Utilize the Data

Today, data has become the gold of companies, proving to be the biggest successor in their history. The geofencing should be implemented in the right way to collect the essentials required to offer a personalized experience to the customers. Evaluate these data and align your marketing efforts according to them to ensure maximum results.

Make Proper Use of Notifications

You have to plan your application’s notification strategies precisely to ensure the maximum outcomes. Optimize the app-collected data and strategically set the frequency for the notifications.

Interested in utilizing the geofencing feature in your mobile app? Konstant Infosolutions is driven by the rich expertise that can help you use geofencing for mobile app development following the best development practices. Let’s connect with us to learn how we can help you with your mobile app development needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How Much Does Geofencing Cost?

The cost of geofencing is the result of multiple variables like app development platform, developers’ experience level, region, features, complexities involved in the implementation, and so on. These variables go in-hand-to-hand with the project. Since the projects vary from each other, so do the variables. Considering these variables an accurate estimation of cost cannot be provided prior to knowing the right understanding of your requirements. Let’s consult with an app development company India about how much geofencing costs.

2. How Accurate is Geofencing Technology?

Geofencing technology is working on polygon mapping and blueprint mapping which makes it the most accurate technology. The accuracy of the technology also depends on the range; about 100 to 200 meters is a good estimate. 

3. Geofencing vs Geotargeting?

Location-based marketing includes geofencing and geotargeting, but they serve different purposes. In geofencing, you draw a virtual line around a particular geographical location, while in geotargeting, you identify a specific user based on a variety of factors.

4. Examples of the Brands That Are Using Geofencing Technology?

Here is an example of some of the popular brands that are using geofencing technology:

  • Starbucks Coffee
  • Dunkin
  • Uber
  • R. England
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About Author
Manish Jain

Manish Jain

Manish Jain is the co-founder and Managing Director at Konstant Infosolutions. He is responsible for the overall operations of the company and has played a major role in bringing Konstant up from its humble beginnings and, with his immense energy and drive, transforming it into a globally trusted name in IT solutions.

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