Choosing the Right mHealth App Development Tech Stack

The ongoing transformation in the healthcare business makes care more affordable and accessible to the normal population, particularly in underprivileged regions of the globe. The recent pandemic made the need for health technology more critical and obvious and helped the business grow and develop to meet the market.

Mobile healthcare apps connect doctors and patients and deliver smooth and easy communication. While the technologies allow physicians to be precise in interpreting and treating, people can receive skilled medical assistance from their homes.

However, creating a medical application requires a lot of legal and technical expertise, detailed planning, and specialized human aid. Recognizing the importance of the mobile health app development tech stack in achieving medical-related purposes, organizations throughout the globe are creating apps that are available to customers via their smartphones.

The term mobile health (mHealth) is crucial because it is gaining popularity among people. It guides the use of phones in light of the importance of public health services and medical care.

Nevertheless, when it comes to the project of any mobile application, the customers do not know what is going on behind the outcome. But worry not, as we are going to put some highlights on what is happening when you have just a notion for a great medical health application but do not understand how to enforce it.

In this blog, we will run through various kinds of app development tech stacks and how they will help both patients and physicians, discuss the most significant features and economic plans, and take a glance at the factors leading to mHealth app development and the outlay.

Selecting the Right mHealth App Development Tech Stack

Technology stacks majorly affect any app project. Depending on the technology selected, the quality, cost, and time of system development can vary. Furthermore, it impacts scalability; if a development project is created on a wrongly selected technology stack, it can ultimately impact some issues. That is why it is all right if you are more than prepared to select technology stacks for mHealth app development.

Related Read: Custom Healthcare Software Development Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

Mobile health app development tech stacks are a group of coding languages, software, and frameworks needed to create an app. It comprises languages, libraries, APIs, frameworks, SDKs, etc.

Before beginning telemedicine application development, you will need to determine the configuration of the app. Choosing components for the development of mHealth apps is normally not a simple task, particularly if you like to offer full services to physicians and people.

🔹 iOS App Development

Swift is a technology for iOS telehealth application development. This coding language lets you create rich apps supported by robust and protected code. Apple made Swift a more reliable and simpler programming solution for iOS apps. This led to its main competitor, Objective-C, being pushed back out of the market quickly.

The core returns of Swift comprise the following ⬇️

◾️ Effortlessness

Apple likes simplicity. That is why Swift has a plain syntax. It is simple to read and code; it can simply be comprehended by developers who distinguish other languages. This element is crucial when making an app for several platforms.

◾️ Interoperability

It is interoperable, and because of its configuration with Objective-C, it is crucial to write code in Swift, Objective-C, C, and C++ concurrently.

◾️ Easy to Access

The event significantly influenced the approval of the program. It became the preferred coming program among users.

◾️ Safety

Another strong fact about Swift is its useful safety. This statically keyed language lets programmers swiftly find mistakes before fixing and compiling them. Protection is a crucial aspect of any mobile health application and is a good technology to offer a great level of data security. It has good memory management, which manages the app’s memory by itself. App developers do not have to spend excessive time organizing. As an outcome, it helps cut the time essential to creating an app.

🔹 Android App Development

Kotlin and Java are used for Android application development. Kotlin was created as an equivalent of Java, and several developers trust that Kotlin is greater than its principal. Therefore, Kotlin has the subsequent returns. ⬇️

◾️ Enhanced Performance

Kotlin’s makers achieved enhanced performance through an instinctive tax. It takes fewer lines to code a program, so not as much time. Therefore, the result is attained much more quickly.

◾️ Completely Compatible with Java

It means that Kotlin features Java, and Java approaches Kotlin. Good news for both large companies and programmers working with big data storage in Java.

◾️ Easy Assistance

Kotlin is made into the most general IDEs (like SDKs and Android Studio). Therefore, Android app developers do not have any issues supporting the program. Especially since the app toolkit remains known. Working in diverse versions could be a great headache for coders. But not Kotlin; the modern version of this programming is retrogradely compatible with all of the earlier ones.

◾️ Easiness

It has strong syntax rules and rich semantics. Brevity and rationality are very valuable for managing code with technologies with restricted resources.

◾️ Certified Android Studio Assistance

Kotlin is supported by Android Studio, and with the variation tools, coders can use both Kotlin and Java at the same time. Despite gaining the approval of Kotlin, it is still a versatile and powerful platform for making Android apps. Java has dense libraries and ready-made development solutions in its armory. It is certainly the leader in reliability, security, and agility.

◾️ Protection

Developers have put a lot of effort into defending the Java solution. It is extremely difficult to hack or bypass safety mechanisms.

◾️ Liability

Coding in Java is constant in all circumstances. The code compiler can identify bugs at the initial stages before the program is even performed. Runtime control prevents memory catastrophes (such as those caused by an imprecise pointer). Individuality from the operating system and the hardware. It is only significant to have a feasible JVM and environment. A mainframe architecture can be easily understood by an automation program.

🔹 Cross-platform App Development

Xamarin, Flutter, and React Native are implemented for cross-platform application development. These coding languages are selected based on the significance of care software development.

◾️ Xamarin

It is a free platform for making effective Android, Windows, and iOS cross-platform applications founded on a .NET solution. It allows for the development of one code for every platform and offers a direct approach to the intuitive API of individual platforms.

Xamarin supports numerous platforms. The key ones are Android, UWP, iOS, and Tizen. Supplementary platforms developed by the group for MacOS, GTK, and WPF.

◾️ Flutter

It is an open-source and Google-made framework for cross-platform medical app development. It is part of the Dart program. Flutter knowingly speeds up the app development progression. It has a flexible and expressive interface.

With Flutter programming, it is possible to quickly submit functionality based on the end customer experience. A multi-staged architecture offers complete customization for extremely fast expressive and rendering designs.

Also, these technologies provide quick performance. Hot Reload functionality helps programmers test quickly and simply, make custom interfaces, enhance features, and mend bugs more quickly. Here is the Guide to Flutter App Development which you can refer to.

◾️ React Native

It is fairly versatile; app developers can implement a similar code to employ an app for distinctive operating systems. Similarly, it is easy to appraise. Any modifications completed to the JavaScript function of the program on React Native let developers modernize the application without having to install the latest version from Google Play or the App Store.

React provides decent UX and simple UI changes that accelerate many opportunities for users and app developers.

Related Read: Basics of UI/UX

New Age Development Features for mHealth Apps

Online technology has reformed the distribution of medical care in several ways. The redirection toward user-centered care creates favorable situations for the additional development of care technologies and confident growth subtleties for this market section.

Telehealth is realized as the prospect of care, and it will last. Among the advanced technologies implemented in telehealth application development are artificial intelligence, machine learning, voice assistants and chatbots, and the Internet of Things. Let us discuss them in the feature.

🔹 Machine Learning

Automation and ML help optimize clinic processes, treat infectious diseases, map diseases, and develop personalized cures. ML can similarly be used to make smart electronic health records for diagnostics and imaging, remote user monitoring, and more.

🔹 Artificial Intelligence

Deep learning and AI can be implemented in mHealth apps to classify and identify images to help advance diagnostic accuracy in disease findings and promote improved patient results. AI technologies also help systematize telemedicine development, from scheduling to discussions, exams, billing, and diagnosis.

🔹 Voice Assistants/ Chatbots

Virtual medical assistants and chatbots can perform several functions, from user service to virtual therapy and diagnostic tools. Voice recognition technology remains improving, and customer interest in speech search is rising. It is conceivable to create practical assistants to see all patient requirements for quality and the whole communication with the service provider.

Related Read: The Impact and Benefits of Internet of Things in Healthcare

🔹 Information Security Needs

mHealth apps aim to make healthcare more convenient and affordable for individuals. Regardless, these applications have their drawbacks when they appear to help.

Let’s look into information security needs for mHealth apps that keep your patients’ data safe

1. Consent Management and Data Sharing

🔸 Ensure users have control over their data and how it is shared.
🔸 Use secure data-sharing protocols and encrypt data in transit and at rest.

2. Access Permissions

🔸 Implement granular access controls to restrict who can access user data.
🔸 Use strong authentication methods to verify users’ identities.

3. Anonymity and Confidentiality

🔸 Design your app to minimize the collection of personal information.
🔸 Use anonymization and pseudonymization techniques to protect user privacy.

4. Mobile Devices Threats

🔸 Choose a tech stack that can mitigate common mobile device threats, such as malware and phishing attacks.
🔸 Implement security measures to protect user data on mobile devices, such as data encryption and device encryption.

5. Compliance Research

🔸 Identify the applicable compliance requirements for your mHealth app.
🔸 Choose a tech stack that can help you meet these requirements.

Related Read: How to Become HIPAA Compliant?

6. Malware Contagions

🔸 Use a tech stack that includes security measures to protect your app from malware infections.
🔸 Carry out regular security scans to identify and remove any malware that may have infected your app.

7. Ensure Correct Encryption

🔸 Execute encryption algorithms to encrypt data in transit and at rest.
🔸 Put into practice key management best practices to ensure the security of your encryption keys.

8. Implement Patient Authentication

🔸 Utilize authentication methods to verify patients’ identities.
🔸 Carry through multi-factor authentication (MFA) for additional security

9. Conduct Security Analysis

🔸 Conduct regular security assessments of your app to identify and address any vulnerabilities.
🔸 Use a variety of security testing tools and techniques to ensure the security of your app.

If your application fails to make this secure, it might result in an invader taking over the people’s session. This video might help ⬇️

10. Protect Your Application from All Types of Penetration and Attackers

🔸 Implement a layered security approach to protect your app from a variety of attack vectors.
🔸 Use a web application firewall (WAF) and intrusion detection system (IDS) to monitor and protect your app from attacks.

Common Guidelines and Agreement Acts for mHealth App Development

🔒 GDP

GDPR is the strongest security and privacy law on the market. It mentions a group of regulations for businesses that transmit and collect EU people’s data on the web. To make mHealth apps for different markets, you should use GDPR guidelines.

🔒 HIPPA

HIPPA defines medical insurance accountability and portability regulations. HIPAA is a must for the mhealth app or any system used in smart devices for the world market that transmits and stores protected information. It helps to secure sensitive patient information, regulates the means by which data is distributed, and limits the visibility of data to people who are not permitted.

Watch this video to learn more about HIPPA:

🔒 HL7

It is a seven-level standard that defines a format for the interchange of any medical-related data. Learn about the HL7 interoperability standard by watching this video.

Integrations in the Process of Mobile Healthcare

An important requirement for excellent mobile app development and choosing the best tech stack is their unified integration with current tools and systems.

For instance, these can be video calls, EHR and payment getaways, conferencing, etc. Moreover, your healthcare application may need a record of telehealth visits, management of insurance plans, integration with people portals, health APIs, income cycle management system, etc.

Every one of the above is significant for offering users convenient medical care. Every technology implemented must offer compatibility to allow a higher level of safety and not introduce redundant vulnerabilities to the solution.

To do this, mHealth app development needs to conduct a detailed examination and choose a technology stack that meets your business needs and protection standards.