uKnowFamily App Keeps Family Members Safe, Offers Peace of Mind
When it comes to the safety of my family, I don’t like surprises. Enter uKnowFamily, the latest iPhone app project completed by ArcTouch, and now available in the App Store.
Sometimes, your loved ones can’t always respond to texts or pick up the phone, especially children that may be in class or involved in an after-school program. But for your peace of mind, you might just want to know that your 10-year-old made it to school safely or that your spouse left work on time. A caregiver might need to verify their patient is where they expect them to be. This is the problem our client uKnowKids is trying to solve.
Safety really comes first with uKnowFamily
The uKnowFamily iOS app allows parents and caregivers to ensure that their children and dependents are safe by virtue of their iPhone’s location. Parents can create a family group simply by inviting any family members who use an iPhone. Through each person’s device location, parents can see their family members on a map, set alerts to inform them when their family members arrive or leave (or when they do not arrive or leave) from specific and important places, and view day-by-day location activity.
Parents and/or caregivers can create and customize alerts to inform them when a family member leaves or arrives (or if he/she doesn’t leave or arrive) from a specified place. Kids can “touch base” when they arrive at a place, which triggers a notification to keep their parent/caregiver informed.
Parents can also choose whether other parents/caregivers can see their location, and set alerts for them. And kids can also see the location of their parents.
The uKnowFamily project 411
The technology behind the app is powerful — it uses location sharing, notifications, and Apple’s MapKit, combined with Amazon’s SNS notifications and deep-linking functionality. However, the ArcTouch app design team is most proud of the app’s intuitive user experience.
Our team took great care making the setup process for creating family groups and onboarding new users super simple.
“A lot of apps promise a robust set of features but fall short when it comes to user experience,” said Steve Woda, president of uKnowFamily. “Given that this app will be used by family members of all different ages and backgrounds, a simple user experience was crucial. And we think ArcTouch and our team nailed it.”
Beyond UX: The code behind uKnowFamily
To design the UX so that it’s easy for family members to connect with one another (and, subsequently, be able to track each other’s location), we used a tool called Branch.io.
When a caregiver invites another family member to join his family, the invited person can simply tap on the invite link, download the app from the App Store, and upon opening the app, the user will see the invite from his or her family. Branch.io passes this unique invitation and family group information through the App Store, making it much easier for the user to join their family, and bypass the need for remembering or copying/pasting invite codes.
Some of the other featured technologies include:
- Amazon SNS and Localytics for in-app messages, including both traditional and rich media push notifications. This powers the app’s ability to deliver the right messages to the right audience.
- Apple MapKit to allow users to see people’s locations, as well as to find and set your favorite places. Parents and caregivers can also choose who in their family can locate them on the map. Parents can also choose to share their location with other parents/caregivers, children/dependents, or both.
What do you think?
Download the uKnowFamily app for iPhone from the App Store and get more peace of mind today.